Losantiville Mining Co.

Maybe they're wanting to run it during the 2 new operating weekends and during Winterfest as well. Weirder things have happened I'm sure.

Only $5??? That's a bargain! (I wonder if they'll take a media crew through it to show off progress at any point. You'd probably need to have a relationship with the news media to begin with, but it would be cool to see the building emptier.)

Last night was very empty, but very nice overall. I hope they choose to keep some of the Thursday night operations next year. I've been having some issues with roller coasters this year (due to personal matters) and haven't gotten to ride too many times, but I would've loved to get on everything last night with their short waits. Definitely go on Thursdays if you can. Some new props seemed to be added around the park as well sometime between opening night and yesterday night. There are still a number of lantern interactions that I'm bummed about losing, but things change. KI did finally get the dripping blood Stanley-lookalike cups, which is a big win — although still no $100 leather jackets. I'm really hoping if we ever see those new Six Flags mobile apps they will make it so BAF tickets and pass renewal promotions show up. They should also put out signage telling passholders to go to a ticket window if they can only be processed there. It's the little snafus like this that keep adding up to make the overall guest experience worse.

I suspect the current phase of the renovation is dedicated to changing the sets over. Then it will be the animatronics, then it will be the props. If the castle facade is changed, I think that will happen during the off-season. I'd love to see some (legally obtained) photos from inside the building during this phase!

An awesome speculation map! I've got some thoughts of my own that continue with your speculation, so I'll use it as a framework (I hope that's cool with you!) I think the current bridge and facade structure will be reused with some changes to make it look more like an old theater The queue "preshow" room should be returned to how it was in 1992 with something extra above the entrance. Maybe it could have some scaffolding and boxes on top to make it look like there is some restoration work going on. Ditch the can lights and TVs as well. It would look so much better if the chandeliers and other fixtures could provide enough light for the room. I don't have major hopes for this room at all though, considering it is most likely to be the one part of the ride Six Flags will be allowed to get their grubby little hands on to mess it up. The statue busts would be nice to see although I'm worried about how the illusion will look if people have to stand next to them for too long. No on-ride photo unless it's for the scoreboards like you said (I'll get into that later). I'm really hoping we can see the theater scene (the now former skeleton chase/giant living room) can be restored. If your plans are right there is still space back there to open it back up into a bigger room. It could be a great show scene and — despite the challenges it might have with pointing and shooting — would harken back to the original. Arpeggio should be in most scenes and could be running through the theater with riders as they catch each note. He'd be a great little animatronic if they can find a way to make him go around like that. I don't know how big or small of an area they need for the score boards, but I'd assume those might go where the BBoBH score board was instead of on the other wall. If they try to bring back a Pepper's Ghost effect, I think it should go with the auditorium scene right where it was during the original PT. The places for it are presumably still there under layers of plywood. The biggest hurdle would be getting the glass back in and making it work with the shooting aspect. My doomerism is getting me worried about Phantom Theater again since there are so many places Six Flags could mess something up, but I'll have to remain hopeful that SDR will be able to work its magic. I'd love to hear what the excuse for not taking the Boo Blasters signage down yet is. It doesn't feel like it would be hard to do unless there isn't anyone there to do it.

I think they just made a 7 minute ad to make a 7 minute ad. It gives Six Flags the opportunity to say "Look at this cool thing we had people make" without needing to actually do much on the corporate/individual parks end. This one might've also been made at Great America (they seem to love that park/both of those parks for their ads). Going into restricted areas might've been some creative freedom. It still baffles me a little that they are still using the old Six Flags logo for all 41 parks considering how it cheapens the overall brand. Maybe that's part of the point of the merger because it keeps cost down. Why did they even make the new logo if they're not going to use it? I'm hoping that we'll see an actual rebrand come with the new websites and the new CEO if those ever come to fruition. Overall I think I liked last year's extended commercial a lot more. This one looks like a wonderful production, but it might've been better to lure the characters into more haunted houses instead of the places they did.

Kentucky Kingdom might get one of the biggest glow-ups out of the newer HFE parks going from a Six Flags park to independent ownership to being an HFE park. I think next year will be a good indicator as to whether or not any scary Halloween events stick around. It feels like Kennywood might get to keep their Phantom Fall Fest since it's successful enough. Plentiful opportunities for alcohol sales might not stick around though. I guess it'll also depend on if the Palace name gets turned into a division of HFE in the same way Dollywood and Silver Dollar City are.

That sounds a little more like a training and/or POS system issue (which would be a Six Flags thing) than something related to the drink passes themselves. I think the associate might've hit the ICEE button and the season pass cup button instead of the former twice. It's also possible that the system glitched and only allowed them to hit one, especially if both passes were scanned from one phone. Very odd thing to happen either way.

Here's a midway point check in on my Medieval Faire redesign of Action Zone! I'll go through my changes below in case anything isn't clear. It's kind of like the Medieval Faire area at Canada's Wonderland in terms of initial vibes, but it could be a little more Ren Faire village than castle village. Chicken Shack gets renamed to Court of Crowns; keeps a similar menu with a new presentation style. The seating areas are enclosed like at KD. Drop Tower is renamed to Giant Drop. A new RMC hybrid coaster called Demon Slayer is built to span I wanted to incorporate an element that would resemble a 40 degree loop (I can't remember the name, but its like halfway between a vertical loop and a helix), but couldn't figure out where to put it. It has a lift hill structure like Iron Gwazi, some nice inversions, and a Son of Beast station pass-through similar to the Yeti scare on Expedition Everest. The track would be black and could have one section with red, orange, and yellow track to call back to the Screamin' Demon. Three new flat rides are added, including an S&S Scream n' Swing that goes over the lake left over from Congo Falls. Knights of Fire (a callback to the nighttime show at some Cedar Fair parks) and Wild Dragons aren't specified because I can't figure out what they could be. Delirium is "moved" to be a part of Oktoberfest and renamed. A small part of Timberwolf is retained and turned into a permanent stunt show amphitheater. Banshee's lockers are integrated into the line under the station. The ride photo booth is put in a new building near the exit (like Orion has). A new building containing a ride photo booth and a new store, Merlin's Lair, is constructed and includes a covered pass-through. A new restaurant (this iteration is based off of Coney Bar-B-Que) is built near Chimera and Wild Dragons. I'd like to also see The Bat's entrance moved in this iteration to go between Demon Slayer's entrance and the new amphitheater entrance. I tried to lay out the pathways a little differently than they currently are. Personally, I'd be fine with losing the center path and turning it into a ring path. The trees would also get saved as much as possible. Take the names and exact locations with a grain of salt. I hope you enjoy!

Something tells me that Herschend doesn't like to deal with too many external IPs in their properties... This might've been the plan from the point when the Palace acquisition was completed. I wonder how long Herschend is planning to keep the Palace Entertainment brand around now that they've acquired it. It'll also be interesting to see what's still under the HFE/Palace banner after a few years and how it'll compare to the parks that have been with HFE for a while.

Circling back to this now that we're almost in October As of September 29, 2025 here is what the capital investments currently planned for the 2026 operating season look like: Carowinds will introduce a record-breaking water ride WORK STALLED Canada’s Wonderland will add a new record-breaking water attraction UNOFFICIALLY CANCELLED Kings Island will introduce a new family thrill attraction ANNOUNCED; "Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare" Knott’s Soak City will receive a water park refresh and aesthetic enhancements UNKNOWN Six Flags Magic Mountain will debut a first-of-its-kind coaster in North America WORK STALLED Six Flags Great America will celebrate its 50th anniversary, debuting a new kids’ area, commemorative events and park enhancements UNKNOWN Six Flags Great Adventure will unveil a record-breaking launch coaster WORK CONTINUING; PROJECT DELAYED Six Flags Over Texas will unleash a record-breaking dive coaster ANNOUNCED; "Tormenta: Rampaging Run Six Flags Mexico will introduce a family thrill boomerang coaster ANNOUNCED; "Speedway Stunt Coaster" Valleyfair TEASED; "Superior Shores Waterpark" So, currently we have 4/40 parks confirmed to be receiving capital investments for 2026... Carowinds and Magic Mountain's additions seem to be canceled, Canada's Wonderland could go either way, and nothing has been released for Knott's Soak City or SF Great America. Great Adventure's new coaster is still steaming ahead, so I'm curious as to if their "beyond 2026" statement was meant to mean something other than it opening in 2027. SFOT said they'd like to finish their work by early 2026. I wouldn't be shocked to see Knott's open Montezooma's Revenge as a New for 2026 attraction either. The Six Flags/Peanuts license agreement was renewed so we likely won't see a massive changing of the guard for that in 2026. Am I missing anything? It doesn't look like Cedar Point will get anything ride-wise for 2026 so far. There could be a bunch of relocations from Six Flags America (Valleyfair is probably getting slides from them), so it'll be interesting to find out about those. We might see the new websites and mobile apps in November as well as the new CEO being named around then. The future of Six Flags is definitely looks interesting right now.

There was some variation on the Fright Feast buffet/dinner for at least a few years I believe starting around 2006(?) and was at one point held in the Wings restaurant (now Brewhouse). I don't know why they stopped hosting it, but Kings Island now seems to be lacking in standard VIP experiences like that overall. I really just want to see some good shows come back to Kings Island overall. We were spoiled by the 50th anniversary entertainment, but now it feels like the park is falling off in terms of how much quality entertainment it puts on. Bringing in outside entertainment is good, but much like with F&B operations, a park shouldn't rely on third-parties for their shows if they hope to maintain quality. I also simply have an issue with the stunt shows being in the International Showplace which doesn't help my feelings on it at all. If Kings Island falls from the higher tier of Six Flags parks, I think it'd just be another sign that the company doesn't understand or value their portfolio. A park like KI doesn't drop in rank like that unless it is willfully neglected. It would be nice to see some people who know how to run higher quality parks come into positions with power in Six Flags.

It's possibly this way because the associates are being trained at a minimum level of customer service, unlike the higher levels you might see somewhere like Dollywood. I think you might be able to find them at one of the register counters in either Coaster Connection (Action Zone) or the KI Trading Co. (near the front gate). They don't really do a good job of marketing anything these days.

It feels like it shouldn't be too hard to add a free BAF ticket to each renewed pass on the app considering they added my one-night Haunted Attractions Pass to my app without ever asking for my pass number. Hopefully these issues might be resolved if they ever release those new mobile apps and websites that were supposed to be published in July, but knowing this company I wouldn't expect them until mid-2026.

I don't see this being needed to drive attendance as much as it's needed to keep attendance where it was. If someone was on the fence about whether or not they should attend KI's Haunt, they might skip it because Kings Island/Six Flags has done a horrible job with promoting things this year. Yes, they can get a season pass with access to 40 parks for the price of 1 day at Busch Gardens Williamsburg or Dollywood, but what is there to entice them to come? There are 6 mazes that you now have to pay for and of which 5 are the same from the last few years. There are 4 "shows" — but actually one is an opening ceremony and another is a participation game show — with a fifth one that isn't advertised, even inside the park. As has been shared previously, it would take a more knowledgeable and competent marketing team to advertise the changes to the event well enough to maintain attendance. Separately, I also wanted to share something I noticed on my visit to Cedar Point this weekend. They have some absolutely awesome Halloween shows up there that have lines comparable to some of their coasters (we waited an hour for a showing of Wake the Dead). Is there a good reason as to why Kings Island can't put on anything similar that might also draw a cult following? I doubt the budget would even change much to bring in something like Fangs After Dusk, which is more or less a rock n' roll live band put on by Cedar Point. Hot Blooded brought in its own sizeable crowds throughout its run, as did the street drum corps shows did throughout theirs. I don't think the "Kings Island is a family park" argument would work here either because Cedar Point has a show on the Main Midway (where literally all of the families are) with a 14+ age rating.

I have to agree with this! While I'd love more theming at Kings Island, I don't know that The Racer needs much more than itself. Thunder Road at Carowinds was originally themed to directly correlate with the titular film and had fiberglass train fronts to match. Racer fits into Coney Mall because it is a classic wooden coaster in an area themed to a classic amusement park of the early 20th century. I love the thinking that went into that Tower Topics retheme though! If we need to find a coaster to retroactively add theming to, I'd vote for Diamondback. The park could enclose the upper queue line inside a building and theme it similar to the queue Snake River Expedition had up at Cedar Point. The side that faces the pathway could even be used as a facade to bring some of that "town" feeling back to Rivertown — something that Diamondback's construction notably interrupted.

I tried to do something like this for my Haunt Remaster I posted around this time last year, although mine weren't as connected to the rides as they were themed to the areas they inhabited. I had three mazes themed to Rivertown and mining (Runt of the Mill, Deep Waters, and The Legend of Kenton's Cove), one themed to Coney Mall (Manic Midway), and two themed to Area 72 (Circles: Field Report and Calisto's Reach). Runt of the Mill in particular was themed after the mill building that is The Beast's station. That might not be what you're thinking of, but feel free to go check it out and see! Having mazes/houses related to rides isn't something I've seen a ton of Halloween events do, although it seems like something that would need to be done sparingly. Keep one of those around for too long and any staleness might affect guest views of the ride. That being said I think BGW might have struck a balance this year with something close to that. Their houses and scare zones appeared to be themed to fit in each area of the park last time I looked at the Howl-O-Scream map. The closest I think Kings Island has done is have Order of the Dragon themed to vampires while being right next to The Bat.

Tormenta is a really cool name! It could do without the tagline, but I'm guessing that might've been done for trademark reasons. Does anyone have the stats for this one compared to Orion's stats? It could be interesting to see if this one beats Orion on both the height and length stats. I also wonder how many people will actually try to claim this isn't a Giga like how they said Orion isn't a Giga The renderings make it look like the coaster really only takes out the tram loop and a few parking spots, meaning the tram systems are probably officially dead-er than they were last year at Six Flags parks. That's very unfortunate. Trams seem to be one of the easier ways to help improve guest experience. I'd also rather see a Tilt instead of a Dive at Kings Island since not many parks have that yet.

If Kings Island is looking for a coaster model to go with, I'd much rather see something else. A wing, a tilt, a spinner, or even a regular inverting sit-down would do the trick IMO. Let's hope KI gets something that Cedar Point doesn't have.

Don't get me wrong, I also hate that kind of cookie cutter housing. The site redevelopments look good in that there's something being done instead of just leaving the foundations of everything there. Either a nature reserve or a new park would have been better than what's going there. Since contemporary condo construction is so bad, maybe when all the little issues kill it in 20 years someone can buy up the land and rebuild Geauga Lake! (I'm only kidding a little for this one too, I wish they could bring it back.)

Started my own concept art for a Kings Island front gate redesign! This iteration uses the Matt Hunter Ross illustration as a base (really just for heights and widths) with everything else being my own. For this design I wanted to keep the main building while adding a new permanent facade to the front. It solves the issue of a blank roof with giant ads while adding visual character. Two new "blocks" protrude from the facade and bring the entrances to the restrooms and to Guest Services to the front of the building. There would need to be some reconfigurations inside each facility, but I figure the entire ground floor would be renovated in this concept. Two windows are located on the second floor of each block. The two outer entry portals have LED screens above each of them to keep with the Cedar Fair way, while the center portal could either have a third screen or another set of windows. I'd get rid of the screens entirely or move them down to the top of the arches, but this way meant I didn't have to draw more windows. I took some inspiration from the Moonlite Gardens at Coney Island for the original design (seen to the right of the tape). It was difficult to decide which architectural style I should go with for this design. I tested and erased and tested again. At one point I'd thought about whether or not Greek Revival could work or if I'd accidently get too close to copying either Moonlite Gardens (below) or Carowinds' original entrance. Finally, I realized that keeping the mansard roofs and attempting to emulate some form of Haussmann's Victorian Second Empire designs for Paris (as MHR was in his concept art) was probably the safest bet. Hopefully the vision is visible! It's not my best architectural design nor photo quality, but you can see most of it.

Order of the Dragon was designed and built by Plague Productions (https://www.plagueproductions.com/), a professional haunt/Halloween design company. They were the ones behind Ghost in the Machine at Dorney Park, CryptidLand at ValleyScare, and various things at Knott's Scary Farm. The company has also done work for Paramount Scares and Lionsgate for Midsummer Scream.

Kings Island will also be staying open for 1-2 more weekends in November this year. If those days are successful this year, I could easily see them becoming a great time to get night rides without needing to do anything family-friendly with Halloween Haunt. Do we think this weekend might be a better indicator as to how the Haunted Attractions Pass system might work out? Last weekend was a good test period but it was also a weekend where: it was the first night(s) of a new system Toyota families received maze passes guests wanted to hear if anything was better now that there is an upcharge

Port Aventura in Spain uses a reusable return-cup system where you buy the drink plan, redeem the cup, and use it similarly to Cedar Fair's drink bottle plans. The difference is that you can return the cup each day to get some of your money back. An apt comparison could be to can recycling programs where you get $0.10 or so back per empty drink can you return. Six Flags could probably do something similar to replace the One Day Drink Bottle and seasonal paper cup plan. The alternative is to switch to other paper cups, even though they may degrade while in use. Finding the space and staff for dishwashers/cup returns looks to be the biggest barrier to anyone in the US going the same route as Port Aventura. A $20+ "collectors edition" map each year would only really be worth it if the parks were able to make them look really good and changed them up every 3-5 years. It'd be better to have those in Kings Island Collections or the Emporium, and then provide actual paper maps (not the plastic-y ones from pre-COVID) at one stand with a limited stock available each day. It'd also help if they brought back some of their recycling programs, but I doubt Six Flags is interested in doing anything like that anymore. If Six Flags wanted to dive further into being a sustainable company, there are so many routes they could take if they just put in the money and effort — two things the company seems to be losing every day.

It looks like Area 13 up in Oxford is not operating this year. I was looking through a few reviews on City Blood (ohioshaunted.com) last night, and visiting Area 13's website showed a "We are closed for the season" message. Hopefully they're able to start back up next year and maybe get some Miami students and Oxford locals involved. I don't know if they still do it, but Miami's student activities org used to put on a small and short haunted house one night each Fall in the haunted Peabody Hall. It would be nice to see them have an opportunity to do something like this closer to where they go to school.