Losantiville Mining Co.

I thought non-ambulant guests were already restricted from most coasters due to an inability to transfer into/out of the seat, were they not? It may depend on who is considered "ambulant" (able to walk/transfer into a seat). I have a feeling this may lead to more restrictions in Europe where their accessibility laws are much looser than here in the US with the Americans with Disabilities Act. I hope Mack Rides is able to further clarify their updated restrictions. Wheelchair users may not entirely be restricted from riding — there are plenty of wheelchair users who can safely and somewhat easily ambulate for short periods — but the aforementioned knee-jerk reaction is often not incredibly thought out. Did anyone else see that this might be opened into a manslaughter case? I can't imagine how that might work, but it's crazy to think about.

There is an alternate route so you don't have to crawl, although some scenes may still feel claustrophobic due to the size of the rooms. If you stick toward the back of the group you'll probably be led through the non-crawling route by the actor anyways.

Bumping this thread for anyone who might want to read through as Kings Island celebrates 25 years of scary good fun this fall. For those who love the Haunt sign as much as I do, check out this article from Sign Builder Illustrated about how it was made by E3 Fabrications in 2017! https://www.signshop.com/dimensional/equipment-materials-a-software/ahauntingsign/

I'm hoping one of the reasons for moving Cornered's maze layout is so they can have space to work on Invertigo as they need. I think it may be out of the running to reopen before November (just like Monster), but maybe work can be completed during the off-season?

The map can only be found on one Facebook post and in certain parts of the park so far. I'm hoping they get it together while the park is closed this week and fix some issues that have come up. It seems they either ran out of time on most things Haunt related, or someone simply chose to not have as much of everything as they did last year. All of the Interactive Lantern points especially seem to be a point of disappointment this year. It also looks like every lantern tag shows the 2024 interaction points as well, which isn't helpful now that a good amount of things have been moved/removed. I'd like to submit "Grimmwood Grove" as a potential name for that area!

I figured that's what it was but I just found it odd that they didn't put up a sign to say that. The PT ride vehicle being there makes sense for it, but I feel like they could've at least done one other thing for it to say that. Not everything needs to be laid out and directly stated, but I think it would've been better if they'd at least turned the ride vehicle around or just let it stay in storage this year.

La Ronde seems to have quietly removed the Kids Pumpkin Festival from their website. It was only supposed to take place over 4-ish days in October, but for now it looks to have been cancelled.

For those wondering, last night they had the Coney Maul circus posters on the fence and a separate light illuminating the Monster sign. While it might not mean anything big, it's a new sign of life that Monster will return.

Rightfully cashing in on all the people who feel ripped off by Six Flags!

I know I've pushed for a mythical creature and a New Oktoberfest theme for an AZ redesign, but how about a Medieval Faire theme? They could have rustic architecture in Rivertown, (return to) Victorian and early 20th century architecture in Coney Mall, and Medieval/Gothic architecture in whatever replaces Action Zone. Maybe Banshee's station could also get a small renovation away from the blocky brick paint scheme that Cedar Fair used in every big project from 2013-2016.

The line for the Grand Carousel was 0 minutes around 11:30. I wasn't really looking at wait times for other rides, but I don't think any of them had crazy lines.

There is a theory that the guest trend is shifting toward wanting more PG experiences than PG-13+ events (generally as part of another trend of wishing for lighthearted things to do in dark times). Some "family" events even appear to be getting more G rated than PG as well. I think there is still enough of a market for scary Halloween events to be successful at regional parks, but it seems that the poor quality associated with the Six Flags name and the downward trend Cedar Fair had been on before the merger were not helping to show that. Universal and United Parks seem to understand how to properly run a good Halloween event with good scares. Maybe if someone ever figures out how to gut SF management and replace them with people who actually know how to run parks & resorts we'll finally see some improvement. I can't express just how much I wish they would bring back the PG-13 shows as well. Having all three of your live entertainment options be PG only further contributes to people thinking it is A-OK to bring their children to an event like this. You can see some of the yellow string queue lines here. The whole thing looks better at night, but there is nothing besides actors and associates to stop someone from line jumping.

For those who haven't seen, Dent Schoolhouse and the USS Nightmare are hosting a joint sale where you get one-time Fast Pass Admission to both haunts for just a $66.66 total cost. The ad said these tickets must be purchased by 9/27, so act fast if you want to take on this deal!

I think there is at least some market for a Stricker's Grove-sized park up there near where Geauga Lake was, but who knows how big it could actually get at this point. If Ohioans think Six Flags is running Cedar Point and Kings Island into the ground, maybe they'll start going to a new GL and it'll be a nice little regional park in 20 years. Just in time for Six Flags v8.0 to buy it up and run it right back into the ground from whence it came! Just kidding I'm sure someone will have understood the Six Flags curse by then and changed the company's name altogether. The site redevelopment is looking good from the photos I've seen so far. Lots of new housing, including a ton over on the old SeaWorld Ohio parking lot. The municipal park that's supposed to take over Wildwater Kingdom also looks very promising. I think all that's left of the park is all of the water, some of the parking lots, and the part between where Villain and Dominator used to reside. I wonder if anyone still has a trademark on the Geauga Lake name or if they could pull off a Coney Island-Kings Island type deal... Things to ponder.

Just saw a comment on a KIC Facebook post claiming "Typical six flags for ya" — except... it's a photo of the Nytewalkers show times... is it typical Six Flags behavior to offer 4 showtimes of a popular show spanning the entire event night? Is that any different from the 3-4 shows a night that I had seen from Cedar Fair for the past few years? Some people just love to complain, and somehow they manage to complain more than I do.

Very technically yes, generally no. Elitch Gardens in Denver, CO (To Not See Elitch Is To Not See Denver!) had a standard Ghost Blasters attraction up until about 2018 when they removed it and replaced it with Meow Wolf Kaleidoscope. Meow Wolf is the same company that has/had the Omega Mart installation at Area 15 in Las Vegas. I think Kings Island will be the first park to remove an attraction named "Boo Blasters" on Boo Hill, which is why it is a very technical yes. I'm also super curious about this. I think there is some kind of licensing agreement that parks use for the standard SDR attractions, but I don't know exactly how that works. That's partially why the Six Flags parks used the Scooby Doo IP and why the former Paramount Parks may have had the option to continue using Scooby-Doo and the Haunted Castle/Mansion after 2009 instead of changing over to BBoBH. Personally, I think Six Flags should find out how much it would cost to ship everything up to Cedar Point and give them a new BBoBH dark ride. It looks like everything is still up at the now-shuttered attraction, by the way. As expected the garage door is closed, all signage is still present, a collapsible fence has been placed in front of the exit, and the giant promotional sign has been moved to block the queue entrance.

There is another funeral set up in the ride graveyard this Fall. It doesn't have any signs pointing to a retiring ride or anything, but the vibes are there. It uses the Phantom Theater car (turned around for some reason) as a backdrop next to the podium and behind the casket. (Yet another removed lantern interaction point). No visible gravestones for BBoBH in case anyone was wondering. Photo by me, LosantivilleMiningCo. (Sorry it's so dark, but you can see the metal on the casket, the chairs, the podium, and the turned around PT car. Maybe someone can get a better photo during the day?)

I had a wonderful time at Halloween Haunt at Kings Island presented by SNICKERS tonight! Most of the haunted attractions had a 3 minute (or less) wait time and there are some good improvements and some definite let downs to talk about. I'll also give some thoughts on my Haunted Attractions Pass and ticket for The Conjuring: Beyond Fear that I purchased online. A couple of things to note: tonight is the Homecoming football game for some local schools (so staffing might've taken a hit from that) and it is opening night for an event that is going through a big change (so some guests may be waiting to see if it is worth paying for). Spoilers ahead, if that wasn't obvious. I decided to be one of those people who waited for the parking lot to open and found out very quickly how nice it was when trying to park near the central berm (between the big sign and the entrance). The park opened security lines relatively quickly and seemed to be doing well at moving people through them. It looked like there are somehow still some issues with the chaperone policy though. Turnstiles opened around 5:30 or 5:45 and they let everyone onto International Street with the paths out roped off until 6:00 PM. Our good friend, The Undertaker, was back to calling himself "The Undertaker" this year — something I haven't heard in years! The new set on the International Street Bandstand looks really good; although it'd look better with a real show to go with it. At 6 they blasted the cannons and rolled up the ropes, releasing us into the rest of the park. My first ride of the night: el baño next to Diamondback. As good and clean as it's been since its renovation. Next, I went to the DB Trading Post and got my HAP wristband. It was a quick and painless experience. Next stop was an ice cold Coca-Cola from the Refresh Station. Spoilers for The Conjuring: Beyond Fear are hidden below in case anyone is trying to avoid them like I did. Throughout the night I was able to do all of the mazes and will do my best to give a rapid-fire review starting... now. SLAUGHTERHOUSE: 0 minute wait. This was my first time going through and I was pleasantly surprised. I know this is normally a good maze, and it was nice and long. Bonus points for getting to go back near the old exit for The Beast. I think I might've even seen a werewolf in there... HOTEL ST. MICHELLE: 15-ish minute wait, felt longer because we were already getting tired. A splendid haunted maze, but Kings Island really needs to do something about the queue line. They should find a way to redo that queue to be one big line with zero merge points (besides the Express lane). ORDER OF THE DRAGON: 15-ish minute wait. This is the new one and it is absolutely amazing! The actors and animatronics combine with all of the static stuff to provide one of the best mazes that I've experienced in years at a Cedar Fair park. Very happy to see vampires back at Haunt again as well. My biggest gripe with it is this: the queue line is horribly set up. They are strict about crossing through the stanchions, but they're all made up of flimsy yellow cord and posts in buckets. It's a good solution for something that is quick and cheap, but it's awful in practice. The associate did make a kid (who cut in line to be with his friends) go to the back of the line, but had to warn everyone to not go under them at least 20 times. CORNERED: 0 minute wait. Allegedly an entirely new path this year. It takes you to the right back toward Drop Tower instead of to the left toward Invertigo (go crazy with what that could mean for the inverted blue boy). Very nice sets, not as many actors as I would've liked. KILLMART: 1 minute wait. Same old KillMart. Good to walk through it again after taking a break from it in 2024. I would not be sad to see this one go, although if it does I hope they put its replacement in a different location. Not enough actors for ALIEN ABYSS: 0 minute wait. I didn't know they got rid of the spinning tunnel and was kinda sad about it. The alien design is always good and cool to see. It's VERY dark in there (no wonder they call it an "abyss" bah dum tss). Kind of anticlimactic without the mirror maze or the tunnel. Turn off any more lights and add a safety rope to get Blackout 2.0. REDEEMING AND USING YOUR HAUNTED ATTRACTIONS PASS, HAUNTED ATTRACTIONS EXPRESS PASS, AND CONJURING TICKET: FINAL THOUGHTS: Get a ticket for TC:BF. Pay that $15-$30. It is so worth it. If you'd like to see what the mazes have to offer in 2025, buy the normal pass. I hardly waited for anything tonight, which is good for me and a little concerning for the park. Hopefully once October rolls around we'll see higher wait times for the mazes. Setting up a return time system for TC:BF is a great idea. I wish I would've gotten the All-Season express pass for $59 just so I could do The Conjuring once per visit (would've paid for itself rather quickly). Good news: each Haunted Attraction ticket is more money than they directly made off all the mazes over the past 15 years combined. Bad news: if everyone stops buying Haunted Attraction tickets then this whole thing fails and we either go back to boring and free or start on a path to losing Haunt forever. I'm all for up-charging for the mazes if it means we'll see more improvements over the years and more changes from year to year. If the trend that's been happening since 2021 continues, though, I can't imagine anyone would want to keep paying for sub-par scares. I didn't have an Interactive Lantern with me tonight to try anything with it, but I tried to keep an eye out for interaction points. They are still selling the 2024 versions (spider decal) with the new 2025 versions (ghost decal). The 2025's can do a few more things than the 2024's can, including vibrating with the effects. I don't know if it is just this weekend or if it'll be like this all season but Poe's Garden is gone, the giant troll is gone, and it seems a lot of other interaction points may have been removed as well based on Facebook comments. Overall, I had a really good time because of The Conjuring: Beyond Fear and the short lines for every maze.

I don't think we'll see more of an official menu posted on any official channels from the park considering they left them off of the map. Other parks in the chain seemed to find a way to add their menu to their map, so it's puzzling to me. It would be nice to have the menu boards posted here though!

The No-Boo Necklaces do not guarantee that wearers are immune from scaring, but they are also (unfortunately) a way to ensure that nobody within a 5ft radius of the wearer gets scared either. I did see some comments from former Halloween Horror Nights actors that said those necklaces would make the wearer a target for them, but I don't think that's the norm for any scare actor. The necklaces are supposed to be turned off and/or put away inside all haunted attractions, yes. That being said, if an actor sees it on someone then there is a chance that the scare will be toned down. Nobody wants to make a kid cry even if they seem to be okay with going to an event for adults. I did see someone question why Six Flags would use a spider for the necklace when there are children deathly afraid of spiders. All I have to say to that is that if your child can't handle a cartoon-y fake spider on a necklace, you shouldn't be bringing them to a Halloween event oriented to older crowds. My personal feelings aside — I think they need to be severely limited during events like Haunt/Fright Fest/HHN — they do seem to provide some comfort to those wearing them. Each necklace sold is another little bit of profit for a company that is struggling for money as well.

Which is unfortunate for Kings Island, but it's not like Six Flags really cares about winning any Golden Ticket Awards anyways

One of the biggest issues with Kings Island's Action Theater is its location. It's tucked away back between each side of The Racer and its main entrance plaza is almost entirely occupied by WindSeeker. The way KMAA also severely narrowed access to that plaza might contribute to hiding it away from guest view. It would be a great thing to bring back those two indoor theaters, but getting people to go back there (for anything but a Haunt) is probably much harder to do in 2025 than it was in 2005. If Kings Island ever removes WindSeeker and builds a new coaster to replace Vortex, I think we could better evaluate the feasibility of reopening Action Theater.

In my experience, Aramark can be kind of hit or miss in terms of their operations. Outsourcing games, caricature artists/face painters (Kaman's), ride/guest photo services (FunPix/Colorvision), app/website services (Six Flags used to use Amazon Web Services at least as their hosting), and park map services are somewhat common. I don't really know how things like the dining plan might be affected by outsourcing, but I can't imagine they'd immediately choose to keep them. I'll maintain my stance of hoping that Six Flags keeps their F&B in-house. It not only feels more authentic, but the third-party dining suppliers tend to care less about experience and more about standardization. What you may gain in monetary savings or manpower, you lose in guest experience. They are far more likely to change legacy recipes, over-standardize menu options, and skimp on portion sizes while raising prices where applicable; and they won't often even get blamed for any changes. Their employees wear the institution's uniforms and their food is branded as coming from the institution.

Kings Island's Halloween Haunt and Tricks and Treats map has been released on Facebook! Still no PDF link available on the website though. Unfortunately, it looks like whoever was making it didn't finish their work before being forced to export it. There is still a lot of green in the middle of the map (we saw this on the 2017 Winterfest map as well), none of the Haunt stores or bars can be found on it, the Haunted Attractions Pass redemption locations use a different icon than every other park, and Delirium's name plate has been inexplicably moved next to Drop Tower. I'll also mention that the day after the park got publicly called out on not yet releasing a T&T menu they put something out and the day after the park got called out on not releasing the map they put something out. No mention of the new bar or store for The Conjuring either. It's nice to have the map, but I have to wonder why it took so long to make and why it's different from the other maps like at Canada's Wonderland, Carowinds, and Cedar Point. Link to the Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1F9PigVT5w/

If anything they're either painted with decals or have full-on vinyl wraps like can be used for cars and trucks. Personally, I think they're painted with decals, though I could see using a vinyl wrap if it conforms better to the fiberglass body of each ride vehicle. Does anyone want to take a guess at what could be on the left side of the stage in those boxes? The photo quality makes it look like an open-top cardboard box covered in plastic.