Project 2025: Jungle X-Pedition Retheme Phase II

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We have to remember that Kings Dominion is a mid-tier Cedar Fair park. They will not get as big investments as the top five parks. But we still got an Intamin giga, Hurricane Heights, and an RMC. They could still get investments within the price range that would be excellent additions like an infinity coaster, a modern Vekoma (now that a family boomerang is going to KI) and some Zamperla thrill rides (maybe even a Lightning launch). These obviously haven’t happened yet but they could. Do I think Cedar Fair is neglecting KD? Not really. Their emphasis on theming lately was really good for the park and hopefully that continues.

Maybe another guess why it’s looking like no new rides for next year is all the money is going into the 50th celebration (which could include more JX revamps!). Which reminds me they’ll have to announce that too. There wasn’t any new ride hardware in 2014 either.
 
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I think people tend to underestimate how much CF invests in KD. Beyond the increased investments into improving the park itself, CF has added a new ride or attraction to KD pretty much every year they’ve owned the park.

2007: Zoom Flume, Tornado (rip)
2008: Dominator
2009: Americana, El Dorado (rip)
2010: I305
2011: No new rides
2012: Windseeker
2013: 8 Planet Snoopy rides
2014: No new rides (40th anniversary renovations)
2015: Hurricane Heights, Splash Island
2016: Delirium
2017: 3 Planet Snoopy Rides
2018: Twisted Timbers (+ Winterfest)
2019: No new rides
2021: Coconut Shores
2022: Tumbili + Jungle X
2023: No new rides (Grizzly revamp)

It’s not always a huge new coaster ever season, but CF has added attractions to KD almost annually. Considering that post-COVID CF only seems to be investing in one or two new coasters across the entire company, I don’t think it’s all doom-and-gloom for KD.
 
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cschnizer said:
We have to remember that Kings Dominion is a mid-tier Cedar Fair park. They will not get as big investments as the top five parks. But we still got an Intamin giga, Hurricane Heights, and an RMC. They could still get investments within the price range that would be excellent additions like an infinity coaster, a modern Vekoma (now that a family boomerang is going to KI) and some Zamperla thrill rides (maybe even a Lightning launch). These obviously haven’t happened yet but they could. Do I think Cedar Fair is neglecting KD? Not really. Their emphasis on theming lately was really good for the park and hopefully that continues.

Maybe another guess why it’s looking like no new rides for next year is all the money is going into the 50th celebration (which could include more JX revamps!). Which reminds me they’ll have to announce that too. There wasn’t any new ride hardware in 2014 either.
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I sorta agree, but with Worlds of Fun getting a GCI out of nowhere last year, and Dorney getting a Dive (with the largest layout that could have possibly fit in it's plot of land,) Cedar Fair is displaying a willingness to invest in their smaller properties. And I'm not sure Kings Dominion even counts as a smaller property. I mean, it might not be Kings Island or Canada's Wonderland, but it certainly isn't on the same level as Worlds of Fun or Dorney Park either. Heck, I'd place it higher on the ladder than California's Great America at this point.

So I do think when they finally replace Volcano, it'll be something far more substantial than a Gerstlauer.
 
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orangeclay09 said:
I sorta agree, but with Worlds of Fun getting a GCI out of nowhere last year, and Dorney getting a Dive (with the largest layout that could have possibly fit in it's plot of land,) Cedar Fair is displaying a willingness to invest in their smaller properties. And I'm not sure Kings Dominion even counts as a smaller property. I mean, it might not be Kings Island or Canada's Wonderland, but it certainly isn't on the same level as Worlds of Fun or Dorney Park either. Heck, I'd place it higher on the ladder than California's Great America at this point.

So I do think when they finally replace Volcano, it'll be something far more substantial than a Gerstlauer.
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Well obviously it’s not as high as Kings Island or low as Dorney Park because it’s a mid-tier. CF is giving the smaller parks coasters because they haven’t gotten any in a long time, that doesn’t mean they’re gonna move them up the tiers. It is possible they are saving up for something big at Kings Dominion, let alone the fact that Jungle X-Pedition was the pilot for heavily themed areas at other parks in the chain.
 
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cschnizer said:
Well obviously it’s not as high as Kings Island or low as Dorney Park because it’s a mid-tier. CF is giving the smaller parks coasters because they haven’t gotten any in a long time, that doesn’t mean they’re gonna move them up the tiers. It is possible they are saving up for something big at Kings Dominion, let alone the fact that Jungle X-Pedition was the pilot for heavily themed areas at other parks in the chain.
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It's a very jarring departure from their former strategy, which is why I'm being speculative here. There's a possibility that Cedar Fair is moving away from the whole "tier" strategy that they've been using for over a decade, or it could very well be that Dorney and WoF's recent investments were a one-off. I'm kind of banking on the former for a multitude of reasons, but the main one is that everything Cedar Fair has done recently is just so uncharacteristic of them. The idea of Dorney getting a B&M while Vortex's plot at KI sits empty for 4 years would have been unthinkable not that long ago, as would the idea of Cedar Fair selling California's Great America, even when it came with the risk of the park closing completely. It's hard not to get cautiously excited about what this could mean for Cedar Fair going into the future.
 
orangeclay09 said:
It's a very jarring departure from their former strategy, which is why I'm being speculative here. There's a possibility that Cedar Fair is moving away from the whole "tier" strategy that they've been using for over a decade, or it could very well be that Dorney and WoF's recent investments were a one-off. I'm kind of banking on the former for a multitude of reasons, but the main one is that everything Cedar Fair has done recently is just so uncharacteristic of them. The idea of Dorney getting a B&M while Vortex's plot at KI sits empty for 4 years would have been unthinkable not that long ago, as would the idea of Cedar Fair selling California's Great America, even when it came with the risk of the park closing completely. It's hard not to get cautiously excited about what this could mean for Cedar Fair going into the future.
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Dorney and Worlds of Fun used to get routine investment (even B&Ms!) back before the Paramount Parks were purchased and folded into the portfolio. Once CF had to manage their huge debt, then things slowed way down. WOF had about a 14 year gap between new coasters, while Dorney got hand-me-downs (Stinger was a dud) during it's 19 years between Hydra and Iron Menace. There are employees at Dorney who weren't even alive the last time Dorney Park opened a new coaster custom designed for it.

King's Dominion, on the other hand? Has seen plenty of investment. I305 to Twisted Timbers was 8 years, which is the largest gap in the park's history. Then only four years between Twisted Timbers and Tumbili. So I think they're doing fine.
 
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paintervision said:
Dorney and Worlds of Fun used to get routine investment (even B&Ms!) back before the Paramount Parks were purchased and folded into the portfolio. Once CF had to manage their huge debt, then things slowed way down. WOF had about a 14 year gap between new coasters, while Dorney got hand-me-downs (Stinger was a dud) during it's 19 years between Hydra and Iron Menace. There are employees at Dorney who weren't even alive the last time Dorney Park opened a new coaster custom designed for it.

King's Dominion, on the other hand? Has seen plenty of investment. I305 to Twisted Timbers was 8 years, which is the largest gap in the park's history. Then only four years between Twisted Timbers and Tumbili. So I think they're doing fine.
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"only" 4 years after a massive 8 years, which altogether encapsulates the entirety of CF ownership, when we used to get something big at least every other year is NOT the level of investment we deserve. Minor flats and minor water park expansions don't cut it - I get it, this site is full of CF apologists, but don't try to claim we're getting the same level of corporate commitment we always have. Those of us who have spent decades of our lives down the road from the park know better (And we don't really care what happens at Dorney or WOF).
 
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Riboflavenus said:
"only" 4 years after a massive 8 years, which altogether encapsulates the entirety of CF ownership, when we used to get something big at least every other year is NOT the level of investment we deserve. Minor flats and minor water park expansions don't cut it.
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I’m partially of the opinion that some of these chains are too big and it makes it hard to properly allocate assets across the chain because you got to look at a tier of parks and have them “take their turns” rather than continually make smaller investments in them.
 
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warfelg said:
I’m partially of the opinion that some of these chains are too big and it makes it hard to properly allocate assets across the chain because you got to look at a tier of parks and have them “take their turns” rather than continually make smaller investments in them.
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This may be more a case of using consolidated P&L and financing instead of at the park level. If CF acted more like a REIT and simply used some common back end shared services, the investment could be more localized. When everything is consolidated, then trade offs occur that may not be in the best interest of the individual park just by the nature of their business model.
 
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rswashdc said:
This may be more a case of using consolidated P&L and financing instead of at the park level. If CF acted more like a REIT and simply used some common back end shared services, the investment could be more localized. When everything is consolidated, then trade offs occur that may not be in the best interest of the individual park just by the nature of their business model.
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This is some good insight. I think these parks do try to centralize things too much and it’s almost like they just go “oh smaller park doesn’t need much” instead of allowing some of these smaller parks to do what’s best for them. At this point Dorsey badly needs a modern woody, and frankly the dive machine is something that should have been done 5-8 years ago.
 
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Was at the ERT tonight and actually had a minute to chat with the social media guy Kyle. He’s the kid posting the videos on everything and running the KD Blog. He pretty much gave a hard confirm on no new ride hardware in 2024 when I talked about his blog post for reasons to own a pass and kinda described it as “not wanting to take away from Dorney” which I’ll take that at what it is. Nice kid though I recommend chatting with him if you see him in the park.
 
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The moon phase patterns surrounding Flat Rock have me thinking. How could they possibly be related to Jungle X-Pedition? Meanwhile Kings Island got a Zamperla Endeavor called Sol Spin in their Adventure Port.

So what if a Zamperla Endeavor could be added to JX but be themed to the lunar cycle, maybe named “Lunar Looper.” Then it could be the KD counterpart to Sol Spin. Place it by FoF and those Coke stands.
 
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cschnizer said:
The moon phase patterns surrounding Flat Rock have me thinking. How could they possibly be related to Jungle X-Pedition? Meanwhile Kings Island got a Zamperla Endeavor called Sol Spin in their Adventure Port.

So what if a Zamperla Endeavor could be added to JX but be themed to the lunar cycle, maybe named “Lunar Looper.” Then it could be the KD counterpart to Sol Spin. Place it by FoF and those Coke stands.
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I’m sorry but if a Zamperla Endeavor goes anywhere at KD, it better be in CAG and named Apple Turnover.
 
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vcgjr76 said:
I’m sorry but if a Zamperla Endeavor goes anywhere at KD, it better be in CAG and named Apple Turnover.
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Alright so we’re ignoring the moon phase patterns that barely anybody else has talked about. I’d rather see a Zamperla Disk’o go on the remaining land left from Shockwave and that could be named Apple Turnover (because the car turns you. Right?). Edit: yeah I know that Turnover used to be an enterprise which is similar to an endeavor and would make a great tribute to that past attraction. But CAG already has three thrilling rides with Delirium, Drop Tower, and Windseeker (also Skyflyer counting upcharges).
 
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war GIF

^over the placement of an Endeavor. I also want it to be Apple Turnover reborn.

Additional Edit: after seeing Supergirl at SFNE if there’s anyway they can cram it inside of I305 or Dominator that would be the only acceptable alternative otherwise, war.

/s
 
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I would love it if they filled some of Volcano’s plot with a flat ride package similar to Carowinds’ Aeronautica Landing and Kings Island’s recent Adventure Port additions. After the area is filled out, add the big coaster addition to top it off in 2025.

Kings Island didn’t announce their Adventure Port until later in the off-season if I remember correctly, so there’s still hope!
 
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