robintodd

They are working around the base as well as 6 square black pieces of metal. You can see it from the Orion webcam. Plus there was a trick and a van parked there this am. My guess is they may have it ready for next weekend (Columbus day weekend) since it will be the busiest days of the fall seaon.

Activity around the Monster this morning. No sight of the arms back yet, but movement none the less.

Went Saturday and Sunday and over all I would say this event is better than last year. Overall hard to judge how people are taking to being charged for the mazes on Saturday because from what I understand the Toyota guests got wristbands for the mazes and the park was packed all day. Got there at 6 and was told to go over by the old Timberwolf entrance (behind the smoking area). From there they had you go to whre Invertego was and had it roped off at the restroom across from Amazon Falls. It was a nice large area and having access to a restroom and water fountains while you waited I thought was very thoughtful. At about 6:15 several people were going around checking to see if anyone wanted to purchase an armband for maze access or if they already had a ticket and needed an arm band. Since the tickets were only $10 for a Saturday I went ahead and got them for myself and my grandson (14). We decided to wait on the Conjuring till another night, but did get through all the mazes. Here are my thoughts on the mazes on Friday: At 7 we went directly to Order of the Dragon which had a very small line. I think because it was new and not many people knew about it. The pathway to the maze and the props outside are a nice touch to set up the atmosphere and the outside entrance is amazing. As others have stated I think it may be best to wait until it gets dark outside to give your eyes time to adjust because it was pretty dark. If the lighting was 10% brighter I think the scares still would have worked and you could see and appreciate the work and detail of this maze. I definitely would love to have a lights on walk thorugh of this. The faux cave walls and other details were fantastic. Lots of neat stuff to see and very much worth while. Next we went to Alien Abyss. Very short line (10 min). Pretty much the same without the spinning tunnel. The dark part of the maze is still the worst part and continues to log jam the walk through. In my opinion, this one needs to be the one replaced next year if they replace one. It's old and tired. After that we went to Kill Mart. Short line again (15 min) and over all a little upgrade from last year with 2 (I think) new animatrionics. I always enjoy this one as it has a simple premise that's easy for the scareactors to play off of. Next was Hotel St. MicHELLe. LONG line about an hour. Not sure why but the line looked as long as it did for a normal busy haunt night. Didn't notice anything new, still a nice haunt although I do miss the bed bugs lighting effect from a few years ago. Went to Cornered and it had a decent (30 minute) line. I do like the way it is set up this year with starting at the invertego side and ending at Drop Zone. Seems cleaner and uses the amazon falls queue better. Seemed a better experience than last year. Finally went to Slaughterhouse which was a walk on around 10:15. Great as always and again seemed to be a better experience than last year. For the most part I feel the major "improvements" seemd to be mostly things haning down from the ceiling to bump into and go around. Almost like that was the way they were trying to "enchance" a maze on the cheap. Seemed a bit overdone. A new thing I also noticed was they seemed to be moving away from the bright light in your eyes to help mask a scareactor. Moving instead to using darkness to mask them. Finally rode The Beast at 11 and amazing the difference it make to ride it on a (nearly) new moon in a crisp fall evening. Just absolute bliss and why I continue to love The Beast. Entering the helix tunnel the second time still has about 3 jack hammers, not sure why but hope they address it in the off season. They don't ruin the ride but with as smooth as it is it just seems more noticable. Saturday we went with my granddaughter (10). Didn't do the mazes since she doesn't want to do them yet but the lines for the mazes were considerably shorter than on Saturday. That being said a thunderstorm passed just southeast of the area around 2 which closed down the coasters and seemed to have people exiting early. Rode a couple of rides and unfortunately I forgot my lantern (will try those spots out next weekend). Watched NyteWalkers and this season is the best version of the show I've ever seen in my opinion. The premise is better, the third guy doesn't dissapear, the music is better, they background video is better and at one point all 5 performers are moving on the ramps at the same time, it's simply amazing and hypnotic. The ONLY complaint I have is the same one I've always had with this show. Why on Earth do we need to see "jacked", shirtless devil and company on the screen during the curtain call. It's so distracting when the performers are taking their bows. Focus should be on them, having the wall off in my opinion would be better so people can appreciate the performers making their final bows. Overall the show is so enjoyable and worth the trip on it's own. Well done. Finally I did notice something I haven't seen mentioned. The Royal Fountain has a different song each time playing that has the water, lights, fire and pyro synchronized to the music. It is absolutely INCREDIBLE and a show upon itself. I feel this is what was intended for the royal fountain to do when they refreshed it. It is absolutely a MUST to see and simply put something that is much appreciated because it is obviously a cost they could have avoided to save money, but instead they quitely put in something that is a can't miss. Hope to stay till close next weekend to see the finale. Definitley and upgrade from last season. Over good job on improving the overall experience from last year. Nice job to all involved will certainly be making it out at least once each week this season.

Three more that I found. These are back at Potato Works: This one is at Juke Box: And I believe this was a Coney BBQ: All photos taken by me.

Preliminary reports this morning mention a "big piece of metal" in the seat with the man who was passed out. Seemed to be part of the seat?

I've always felt that Rick didn't come to KI from California just to watch the show. I believe he had plans with him back then.

I've been to KI a couple of times now since the announcement and the line for Boo is always to outside the building. The "ghosts" in the trees is a nice touch, not sure if they are the current "boo" ghosts leaving the park or new ones coming in....

Said should infer when I mean could injfer. We'll see when haunt get's here. I would think there would have to be a limit on these because the Conjuring has a limited capacity. Either way capitalism will rule the day, the stockholders must be appeased. I hate that. Corporations no longer care about their employees or their customers, just the stockholders who are often NEITHER an employee or a customer. As far as the "sold out" situation I think what happened is management changed their mind on the price. Maybe a 59.99 will be offered without Conjuring or express lane. They recognized the problem and the quickest way for the IT department to "stop selling them immediately" would be to just put them as "sold out" because that option is probably already on the system (as we saw with Coasterstock). I'm sure their IT Department took a hit when the cuts were made. I think Disney may be interested in that land for their new park.

Montgomery Inn Ribs!

I've always expected this may happen ever since Rick visited years ago. If Bastrop's company is doing the ride, maybe he did a couple of plaster casts of "certain cast members of a particular show" to use in the new ride. That would be epic.

First since entry to the Conjuring is limited (just like VIP Parking) it seems wrong to sell something that is one time every visit for something with limited capacity. I think they would sell more season long if they offered a 39.99 or 49.99 tier that included one (or two) conjuring along with all mazes through the regular line. Again, we are in a capitalistic society so one could infer that they are selling alot of these, otherwise there would not be upping the price. Hard to blamke them. Capitalism is King most chase the almighty dollar. Sure the mazes used to be free and now they charge for them, kind of like putting podcasting content behind a pay wall when all content used to be free. The old swicheroo.

I actually saw qutie a few people skating last year, along with cookies, etc. I find myself spending more now thatn ever and I have all 3.

With the amount of locals I would think there is enough attendance to keep Winterfest around. Maybe not, we'll see. I still feel like where as there will be Winterfest, this may be the last year for the Ice skating.

My comment was it IS and always WILL BE a park for locals. I did comment that in the beginning because it was new to the industry it had different needs than it does today. (remember the first year attendance blew the estimates out of the water). The only thing missing is a "resort" (it was a hotel with a conference room, far from what I would consider a resort). Golf has lowered in popularity over the decades and the campground has been replaced with Camp Cedar. New hotels have also been built in the area. It all comes down to what's said in business quite often: Location, Location, Location. KI being where it is has brought more jobs to the area as well has housing developments.

Abolutely my point, check out CP with it being on a coast it's numbers are similar to HW. Try ChatGPT and ask it how many people live with in an hour drive of each park. It tells the story very well. Also explains why there is no express need for marketing at KI. Reguardless of what word get's out or what's added or taken away, "They will come". It cannot be overstated how the pick of the location was vital to the success of the park.

As I've stated before, the big problem with KI becoming a theme park with high thrills is it's location. It is and always will be a park for locals, not a destination park. Too many people/families live within a 30 minute drive to the park for it to be anything else. With a 1 million person consumer base there is simply no need for it to require people traveling hours to get here. It already has plenty of potential customers in the area. It has a niche that has allowed it to grow. If there is something the park is lacking in my opinion it is not a thrill ride but rather a quality dark ride (finger crossed for Phantom Theatre's Revenge ) and more flat rides. The industry is changing. I was born in 1969 and have been with KI through out the years. Back then the area around wasn't built up with houses and KI was new and they had to prove themselves in the market. They competed with area parks and of course the coaster wars between them and CP are legendary and will not (unforunately) happen again. Both KI and CP are now loaded with coaters some may say at an unsubstainable level. With the population base they are located in (and the mid-upper class of families, I'm using Blue Ash as an example compared to Sandusky) there is simply no need to draw from around the country. Don't get me wrong we do draw travelers (Camp Cedar isn't exactly sitting empty from what I can see of the amount of campers from the road.) and having a new large hotel would probably be a good addition. It's the location, so wisely picked when they moved Coney Island, that has led to making it the theme park it is today. Ironically it is the location which allows KI not to have international employees like other parks do. In the end I share, in part, with your frustration but at the same time it's the "home park feel" that make KI my favorite park (The Beast doesn't hurt either ). Steel Vengence is a great coaster but there is no way at my age I could marathon it like I could The Beast or Diamondback. It's a nice coaster to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. In the end I'm very happy to have KI as a home park, but I do respect your opinion and like to type as well

After riding Justice League battle for metropolis at Six Flags over Texas I would love to see something like that at KI. My first preference, of course, is that when Rick came to do the meet and greet at the Phantom Theatre Encore show, he signed a contract and has spent the last 2 years molding and modeling the anamatronics for Phantom Theatre's Revenge!

You are correct, it does say priority access. Still I believe that whreas I may be interested in going into all mazes each time I go, I feel the Conjuring will be a once or twice thing. Maybe a 39.99 tier that includes all mazes, only 1 conjuring for the season and regular (not prioirty) access would get my money.

I agree. I do think that the 59.99 for all Haunt season is too high. At 29.99 or 39.99 I'd be tempted, but 59.99 would be what I would expect to pay for ALL parks (with a passport of course). Even if they did the 29.99 or 39.99 without the Conjurng it would be better. Some may just feel like the new experience is too intense, plus with the limited availability it would seem more senible to make it an additional charge reguardless (maybe 5 or 10 for those with the full haunt season?). Either way, as I've always stated KI is a family park. For that reason I can see a path where this upcharge strategy absolutely bombs. What will they do when 2-3 weeks into the Haunt season there are a bunch of scareactors with nothing to do in the mazes?? I think it would have been better to just do the upcharge for the Conjuring and enforcing the "no boo", no strollers/wagons & age restrictions at the enterance to the lines. Your season pass should have your age information and for people without, they could get a "haunt" band that would require proof of age. Either way it will be an interesting Haunt season.

Questions is with an all passport do you get other parks for the $59? Looks like no.

Simply put, don't allow strollers/wagons or anyone with a no boo necklace (or have them turn it off) since they don't work in mazes anyway. As far as the strollers/wagons go maybe one call to the fire marshal would solve it.

Actually prefer it this way. Should keep the lines down for the and give the mazes less of a kindercare feel.

I, for one, am glad this decision was made. The mazes were getting ridiculous with the number of small (sometimes infants) being taken in strollers/wagons thorugh the mazes. Most probably voilating fire escape codes. I've been through alot of mazes at KI over the years and NOTHING beats riding The Beast at midnight. Scare zones will still be available and will make the lines more manageable without having to let groups in so often as to spoil the experience or having groups of 30 people. It has been proven this model works because it has been done at Six Flags for a long time. Change is inevitable, but I believe this is for the best.

Big shout out to the crews at KI. Looks like all Carnivale decorations have been removed overnight! Nice job.

I'm of the mindset that they took away from other parks to add to a park with a better attendance and season pass base. With the addition of an upcharge maze (mazes?) it would seem counter productive to cut hours that could bring profit. This is an answer to those that were becoming critical of how tame the haunts had become.