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I don't believe Cedar Fair wants to make Kings Dominion into Kings Island or Carowinds—they want to make it into Knott's. Expect major guest experience and theming upgrades to be prioritized over new ride hardware.

This is a perfectly valid path forward—parks don't have to add big new rides all the time to be great.
 
I don't believe Cedar Fair wants to make Kings Dominion into Kings Island or Carowinds—they want to make it into Knott's. Expect major guest experience and theming upgrades to be prioritized over new ride hardware.

This is a perfectly valid path forward—parks don't have to add big new rides all the time to be great.
This would be the right direction for KD, particularly with the regional demographics having so much disposable income. There’s way more money in the DC/Richmond area than around Charlotte, that providing guests unique experiences and events has better ROI than simply adding rides to get guests in the gate.
 
I’d be pretty disappointed if the big announcement is the free spin and a few more parades.

Anyone who is hyping themselves up for anything more than a well-presented FreeSpin, some rethemes, and an adjustment in the area's thematic trajectory is likely to come away disappointed.

I don't say this to downplay the announcement—I'm very excited for the things I've been hearing about for the last couple years—but keep announcement expectations in check. I've seen comments elsewhere about how we could hear something Volcano-replacement-related this year alongside the FreeSpin announcement, but from what I know of the timelines here, I would classify those takes as tremendously unlikely.
 
Someone posted earlier about the clue from 2019 where there was the sign stating "Expeditions on the Horizon" that was put up after the mountain/volcano was razed. That tells me CF/KD had been in the planning stages for something to replace the Volcano/Lost World.

Now it is past mid-2021 and we are getting clues to various places around the world as points of interest to explore, starting in 2022. It is appearing that this/these project(s) is/are more than just something to go into one former attraction spot.

What are the potential possibilities?
  • New Major Coaster - Never say never; but, not something I see on the horizon until 2024-2026. Plus, not even sure if KD wants to put yet another major coaster in that area of the park. (Notice I stated MAJOR coaster; not a compact rail based attraction).
  • Major Dark Ride - Quite a legacy for KD to bring back given what was in the Lost World from from 1979 to 1995.
  • Themed Flat Ride Package - To be honest, this does have the closest tie-in to the 2022 clues that have been provided by KD to date. On the flip side, some folks with insider info have stated that there is no indication of any additional ride hardware in the pipeline for KD.
  • Re-Theme of an Existing Attraction - there is potential for that to happen in addition to any new stuff.
It will be interesting to see if the Safari Village makeover is a multi-year effort, spread out over 4-6 years (every other year) or if it is done, say in 2 years (back to back).
 
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For the insiders here, is this the same teasing campaign the park would have done last year if COVID hadn’t happened?
Someone posted earlier about the clue from 2019 where there was the sign stating "Expeditions on the Horizon" that was put up after the mountain/volcano was razed. That tells me CF/KD had been in the planning stages for something to replace the Volcano/Lost World.

Now it is past mid-2021 and we are getting clues to various places around the world as points of interest to explore, starting in 2022. It is appearing that this/these project(s) is/are more than just something to go into one former attraction spot.

What are the potential possibilities?
  • New Major Coaster - Never say never; but, not something I see on the horizon until 2024-2026. Plus, not even sure if KD wants to put yet another major coaster in that area of the park. (Notice I stated MAJOR coaster; not a compact rail based attraction).
  • Major Dark Ride - Quite a legacy for KD to bring back given what was in the Lost World from from 1979 to 1995.
  • Themed Flat Ride Package - To be honest, this does have the closest tie-in to the 2022 clues that have been provided by KD to date. On the flip side, some folks with insider info have stated that there is no indication of any additional ride hardware in the pipeline for KD.
  • Re-Theme of an Existing Attraction - there is potential for that to happen in addition to any new stuff.
It will be interesting to see if the Safari Village makeover is a multi-year effort, spread out over 4-6 years (every other year) or if it is done, say in 2 years (back to back).
 
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Thinking this announcement will be anything other than a re-theme, 4D-Spin, maybe maybe a new food option is just setting yourself up for disappointment.

As for my speculation:
Pompii, Stonehedge, Mayan Pyramids, Malaysia Snake Temple.....I think we're gonna get an area themed after the mysteries of the world. A world myth explorer type theme.

The bamboo themed supports on the 4D can relate to the Snake Temple.
The myth of the Mayan Pyramids is aliens, so FoF can be tweaked to fit that storyline.
Stonehedge can work with a potential theme update of BLSC.
Pompii can be a retheme for Avalanche.

And if I had a say in this line of thinking, I would do an Amazon based myth location for Anaconda.

I-305 gets left out of this as a stand alone oddity (Kinda like Dominator is just randomly on it's own with no theme area).
 
I-305 gets left out of this as a stand alone oddity (Kinda like Dominator is just randomly on it's own with no theme area).
It would save them a lot of money to re-theme and not use DEI branding. I know they re-upped the license but that works more for the Carolina's than it does Virginia.

Paint it white and light blue and give it a Denali (mountain in Alaska) theme
 
I'd like to see I-305 repainted, but the red and yellow combo IMO is iconic to the park by this point so I'd guess there wouldn't be much ROI in doing so unless they can figure out how to give a coaster sitting in the middle of a field a deeper thematic overlay than the small amount of NASCAR tie-ins mostly summed up by the train decals, checkered flags, and the 'Gentlemen start your engines' spiel.
 
It's super weird that the locations they are teasing are all over the place.

Brainstorming time:

I could see how the layout of a 4D free spin might be looking slightly like the path on the map you would take to travel around the world to all these locations?

1627913438524.png

1627913511636.png
 
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It's super weird that the locations they are teasing are all over the place.

Brainstorming time:

I could see how the layout of a 4D free spin might be looking slightly like the path on the map you would take to travel around the world to all these locations?

View attachment 24027

View attachment 24028
Given the way Cedar Fair themes things you may be on the right track and at the same time this would be depressing.
 
I can't see KD themeing a ride after multiple places to get somewhere when the place up the road did something just as silly and got massive backlash for it.

Given the way CAG was redone completely with TT, I think this is on a similar level. New ride and the entire area getting an update. I know the big push from CF corporate is to get rid of the "parking lot" feeling of blacktop paths and planters. They want something that looks unique and fits the area. I can see them doing a tan paving to make it look like dirt, or stone based paving to make it look like gravel, or just a tan paver design to make it look like an established trail.
 
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Its what BGW is doing with Pantheon, each element is supposed to represent a roman god.
Yes I Know GIF by Raghav Bansal

Hence the statement "when the place up the road did something just as silly".

1 - it looks tacky like they are copying BGW
2 - Lots of people didn't like it
3 - it looks tacky like they are copying BGW
4 - People will not remember why there was those teasers at all
5 - it looks tacky like they are copying BGW (yes it's worth repeating that it looks tacky to do that with almost 2 years to come up with something else)
 
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