purdude86

I don't see SoB's old area being suitable for it, especially utilizing the station. A dark ride is going to need a strong, solid foundation so to build up enough of a platform around it would take a lot. A flat surface would be much better for it. I still think the ideal spot right now woul be the old Action Theatre.

It would fit the space theme but the ride names used are more ones that would work as project code names whereas Halley's Comet is an actual object. As far as FOF being predicted to go I think it's more that it's proximity to the ride and part o the area it ties into the themeing of the ride itself so they used it. It's more a sign that Invertigo would be next to go to me which many have theorized already.

Can’t wait to ride Orion. It would probably be a toss up between Diamondback and MT for me. Both are tons of fun and very rerideable to me. Other like Banshee I love but are a bit intense to redo a lot. Don’t really have a least favorite either as nothing inherently wrong with any of the rides I feel but if I had to pick (excluding Planet Snoopy stuff) I’d say Shake Rattle and Roll. Think the ride looks great and glad it’s there but for some reason it makes me nauseous when the other rides don’t.

I’m the exact opposite for my favorite. Not sure about smoothest ride but the seat facing down on the lift is my favorite. You can’t see the end of the lift to know how high and just see the ground getting further below and held there looking at the ground before you release. Then on the other side you see the end of the track racing towards you as you go up the hill.

I don’t think it’s necessarily that. The fact that they didn’t give a timeline for it seems to point to saving it for when they can afford. The timing initially seemed a bit convenient for it to have been in development for a year or more, but I’m thinking it’s something planned for the future and they went ahead and announced it now due to the petitions and everything going on so people know it’s in the plans. I don’t see them going cheap on something as well loved and major an attraction as Splash Mountain. I’m just curious to see how it will work at Disney World. In Disneyland it’s right next to New Orleans Square so can fit in there and so boy just change all of Critter Country into a bayou themed area. Maybe they could even change Hungry Bear into Tiana’s restaurant. However, at Disney World, Splash is right in the middle of Frontierland and the bayou definitely doesn’t fit the Western theme of the area

It wouldn't be my top choice but it woudl be better than an empty building. Considering how much our theater was gutted not sure it'd be any easier for them to do versus just something completely new though.

Yea that too for sure

Liking all of these little upgrades to the area along with the new Dodgems sign. I really hope to see this continue in the area leading up to the 50th. Think a good revamp of it and International Street would be perfect for it as they really encapsulate the original park with the main street and its origins with Coney Mall. The main remaining change I'd like to see would be a new model for the Monster, especially a newer one that can load all of the cars at once as that would probably help a lot with capacity. Do some refurb on Racer and new chaser lights all down the midway and it would look great and should be fairly inexpensive and feasible to do.

I could see the holidays theme work well as it would be very similar to what the Smurf's boat ride was like as it went through the different seasons. I tend to prefer an actual story to random scenes but as it would be aimed at kids and families more so I think it would work alright still. I might just keep it focused on the fall holidays as they are the most well known specials and it would allow for more scenes to tell with them. If they tried to do all of them each would only get about one, but could do truncated stories of Great Pumpkin, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. If they wanted to keep it interactive could incorporate "falling leaves" as the targets too since it would tie in with the overall season, though maybe switch it to snowflakes for the Christmas portion.

He has to get in the stats while he can. Once Orion opens it becomes the tallest, fastest, longest, biggest metal coaster to hit KI

I think it's a tough question. I think dark rides really round out a parks ride collection and can elevate a park as a whole, but an individual dark ride is not going to have the huge impact on attendance that a big coaster or even a thrilling flat ride would have. It can influence people's decisions on where to go but they don't really think about it as a whole. Also to keep them going strong after years it takes a lot of upkeep and money. People keep pointing out how great they can be an using examples of rides like Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean or Spider-Man at Universal. But these are far from affordable to a park like Kings Island. Haunted Mansion would cost $45M to build today,, that's almost double the biggest investment the park has made. Also as mentioned above it can be hard to really get a good story across if it's not well known to sot hat can hold stuff back. This is where Kings Island could at least have a step up. With Boo Blasters practically in Planet Snoopy it could easily be converted into a Peanuts dark ride which would be well known and liked. Also fans of the park would love to see a return of Phantom Theater. Would be great to see two true dark rides in the park. Especially they could do interactive with Peanuts and classic one where you just ride through with Phantom. I do think that Cedar Fair has done well with some of their recent ones like Voyage to the Iron Reef and Knott's Beary Tales could be good. I like the idea of building stories for areas of their parks and could attach that to a ride. I think Mystic Timbers could be a good foundation for a dark ride akin to Iron Reef at KI. Can see elements of its theming throughout Rivertown and could even connect The Beast into it. Could put it where The Crypt was. I do hope to see more parks add them in, really think Cedar Point could use one as well to round out the park.

I agree. I don't see Disney spending the time or money, especially right now, to converting the theme of this attraction. It would be much more intensive than just replacing the animatronic characters. None of the sets, nor really the mountain, as a whole fit with Princess and the Frog. So they would need to essentially gut the entire ride and rebuilt it from scratch, and preferably do some rework of the exterior as well to fit in more with New Orleans setting. This just does not seem feasible, nor likely for an attraction that is well loved. I understand that Song of the South is a controversial film but Splash Mountain as stated has little connection to the movie aside from the attractions main three characters. They didn't include any questionable material from it and a vast majority of people that ride it don't even realize that it is connected to the movie. While I would love to see a Princess and the Frog based attraction, about the only reason for it to go where Splash Mountain is would be it's location next to New Orleans Square to be incorporate into that section.

i agree with Congo likely going with Invertigo. The two of them would provide a good size plot for a new coaster. Plus Congo Falls doens't seem to have huge ridership.

I don't think KI should get a front gate coaster or change up the entry too much. Need to keep the "entrance reveal" of the park with going through a tunnel opening up to International Street. However I do feel like it could get up dated in some manner with a more spruced up entry of the type and a new restaurant on the second floor.

The concept with the track changes looks interesting but this exact layout looks pretty dull honestly

I'm mixed on the new trains if that's what they are like. Prefer the t-bar design and open feel, not a big fan of OTSRs especially on a coaster that doesn't have any inversions. However, the current trains are a tight squeeze for tall people. They were by far the most uncomfrtable train for me at the park, and any I can think of in the midwest at least

Agreed they have a lot of other options to pick from with a more reliable track record. Plus i don't foresee any major new additions the next couple years after all of this. Could reach back out to them if some of these new coasters do well. But while I do love hte Intamin's I've ridden, Cedar Fair can get similar coasters to pretty much any of their models from other manufacturers like Premier and Mack.

Agreed a Raptor coaster would be great. And an off the shelf model would probably keep cost down more. It would be an amazing and affordable coaster for a park like KK and their smaller size would also help with the riders per hour.

It's a hard choice for me. Diamondback is a fun coaster with lots of great airtime and our first really huge coaster in awhile. Banshee gave us another great looper and filled a gap that was a bit of an eyesore in that area of the park and brought a lot to Action Zone. I overall went with Mystic Timbers though because it is a fantastic thrilling coaster that also provides a ton of great theming to the area. The ride itself is even themed pretty decently, and as much as some people hate on the shed (and it was a little anticlimactic after the hype), it is still a great use of the break run to keep you in shed and entertained while waiting. The plaza area also looks fantastic and even provides some backstory for that area of the park. Would love to see Cedar Fair continue with this level of theming for future additions. Feel like it's a perfect amount for a regional park like KI.

Hope to hear some good reactions for the park when they reopen. Haven't been in years and want to go back but was always hesitant because of all the operations issues, was afraid to go and pay all the money and have half or more of what i wanted to ride not operate.

The park always looks great at night but the extra splashes of color during some events really enhance it.

Since they announced its closure I felt the same. Think a nice size dive in that spot with the lift in the same spot and the drop looking out towards the front. Could have the initial loop up come up where the batwing was. Agree it would be a gp crowd pleaser and think it would look great in that spot too to keep the picturesque nature of that spot. Most of the other ideas I’ve seen I think would be great but would t provide the same skyline view that Vortex had.

Mack just makes what they're directed to. The ones in the US are weaker but they have shown that they can make the fast intense ones too. Coasters like Blue Fire and Helix would be great additions. I would love an Intamin Blitz like Maverick but I don't feel they have improved their record enough but could with their new installations but can't see CF going back to them just yet when they have other options. Hagrid had a lots of issues and downtime when it opened (though that's to be expected with all the systems in play and working out the bugs), but if it can sustain it's operational capabilities now as well as Pantheon and the Velocicoaster perform well I could see them possibly become a viable option again.

Yea. I like the site but it is pretty much a catch all for news and rumors. They are usually pretty good at noting what is a rumor but I wouldn't really take anything from it as just a fact.

It might have been a tv edit then. I just remember there hardly being any footage inside the park itself, compared to Brady Bunch spending the whole episode around the park.