Kings Island
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cedar Fair Entertainment
 Park News - (10/27/2024) New Activity Spotted Around Former Vortex Location
(7/12/2024) According to a local news update, the official cause of death to the man thought to have been struck by the Banshee roller coaster is listed as blunt force trauma to the head and a traumatic brain injury, along with contributing damage caused by blunt force trauma to the body.
State Inspectors allowed Kings Island to reopen Banshee three days later after determining that all the ride’s systems were in “satisfactory” condition and that the park’s use of fencing, railings and gates were also listed as “satisfactory”.
(6/23/2024) Guests visiting Kings Island on Saturday confirmed that the park’s Banshee roller coaster did reopen to guests sometime during the afternoon, and is now back in operation following the incident earlier this week.
(6/22/2024) The local news posted an update last night regarding the man who climbed into a restricted area and was struck by the Banshee roller coaster at Kings Island around 8pm on wednesday night while trying to find his lost keys. They named him as “Arntanaro Nelson”, a Ohio resident, who was at first taken to University of Cincinnati West Chest and then flown to UC Medical Center, suffering from critical injuries. No further updates about his current medical condition were offered, but searching for his name on Google did come across a few mentions posted as of mid-day Saturday, claiming that he had passed away. This has not been confirmed officially at this time.
Banshee is said to remain closed until authorities are finished with their investigation of the incident.
(6/21/2024) I mentioned this on social media yesterday, but if you visit Kings Island for the immediate future, you can expect to find Banshee closed for the time being. It seems that a 38 year old man reported that he lost something after a ride on Banshee, and as per standard procedure, when he asked about going in to look for the item, he was told they had to wait until the park closed the ride for the night and then they could look for them on the grounds.
This answer wasn’t good enough and the man left and eventually located a place where he felt he could climb over the tall fencing and entered the restricted access area of his own accord and began to search for what is believed to be a set of keys that he may have lost, only to be struck by the inverted roller coaster. According to a comment from a rider who was aboard the coaster when it happened, they said it sounded like the ride “hit a deer”.
Emergency services were called and the man, still alive, was taken in for treatment, though it isn’t known what his condition is.
(4/28/2024) Kings Island Taking Guest Survey About New Ride Concepts
2024 - Camp Snoopy, Snoppy’s Soap Box Racers and Beagle Scout Acres - (5/19/2024) You can see a new POV video of Kings Island’s new Snoopy Soap Box Racers family coaster below.
(1/27/2024) Kings Island has announced that three of the existing rides in the Camp Snoopy area will be renamed for the 2024 season:
The former “Race For Your Life Charlie Brown” flume ride will now be called “Charlie Brown’s Rushing River Log Ride”.
“Flying Ace Aerial Chase” family inverted coaster will be renamed “Woodstock’s Air Rail”.
“Woodstock Gliders” (Flying Scooters) will be renamed “Franklin’s Flyers”.
(8/12/2023) Kings Island made a surprise announcement this week to announce an expansion of the park’s Planet Snoopy kinds area was coming for the 2024 season. The expansion will be called Camp Snoopy and it will be Snoopy’s Soap Box Racers, a new family boomerang shuttle coaster. As the name suggests, coaster fans will recognize this as a Vekoma Family Boomerang style coaster which starts by pulling the themed train backwards out of the station and up a 73.5 foot lift hill before dropping the train back down, passing through the station at 36mph, and then into a series of twists and turns before running up a steep spike track. After a brief moment of weightlessness, the train will roll backwards and through the entire course backwards once again to the station.
Also coming to Camp Snoopy is Beagle Scout Acres, a new shaded play space where kids can run, crawl and play with their friends and family. Themed like a campground, the turf covered space will feature grassy mounds and a variety of interactive play equipment to climb on (or through), make noises with and more.
2025 - Soak City Improvements - (8/9/2024) Kings Island has announced that a new dual-racing water coaster is coming to the waterpark in 2025 called RiverRacers. In addition the waterpark will also expand further to add Splash River Junction, a new cool place for families to relax and cool off, featuring a water tower and seven new kid friendly slides for the younger set.
(7/6/2024) Backing up those rumors we had the 2025 Kings Island plans to update their Soak City waterpark, a screen capture was posted to KICentral showing off a series of permits that have been filed for the various waterpark projects as well as other behind the scenes improvements (fire suppression, cell tower upgrades, signage) and it looks like the park is also adding a Human Claw Machine too.
(7/2/2024) Screamscape sources has confirmed to us that Kings Island’s plans for 2025 will focus on some improvements to their Soak City waterpark. This will include an upgraded “pumphouse” to improve the water flow at the park’s Mondo Monsoon (Tornado) waterslide, an upgrade to the kiddie area that will likely see some new slides added, or possibly replace some older ones, and for the thrill seekers, look for a new Master Blaster slide to be added.
From what I’m hearing however, the Master Blaster slide may be a smaller model, as it was described as featuring one major uphill blaster section near the start of the layout, and maybe a couple of minor mini-hills along the course before arriving at the splashdown.
2026 - Family Thrill Ride / Former Vortex Site - (11/14/2024) A press release from Six Flags today confirmed that the company is planning to spend over $1 BILLION on the parks over the next two years. Some of this will come in the form of enhancements to the guest experience, such as new themed areas, dining upgrades and technology enhancements. While we’ve seen the 2025 capital projects ($500 million) already announced, they decided to post a list of teasers of what they are already confirming will come to some of the parks in 2026 as part of another $525 million capital investment plan.
Kings Island made the list with a teaser to add “a new family thrill attraction”. This could be just about anything, but as the park already added new attractions to Camp Snoopy in 2024, I’d think this might be something a bit bigger and with wider appeal. Plus there are survey markings said to be around the former Vortex plot, so keep your eyes peeled here during the 2025 season.
(10/27/2024) Something new may be in the early planning stages for Kings Island. I’m told that a number of metal stakes have been pounded into the ground and pathways at Kings Island around the plot of the former Vortex roller coaster, with a number visible along the pathway from the Jukebox Diner to The Beast.
Obviously this is the biggest open plot of land available in the park and can easily accommodate the biggest of attractions when they are ready to do so. So what do you want to see built here?
Future Ride Concepts Guest Survey - (4/28/2024) A new guest survey was sent out by Kings Island to get opinions on possible new ride concepts for the park. Similar surveys were also sent out to guests about Carowinds and Cedar Point, though the style though not all the rides were the same.
Rides proposed for Kings Island include a strange sounding ‘Tower Coaster’ that would launch riders out on outwards-facing circular cars, through an upside-down launch and up a 200 foot tower with a spiral at the top, only the roll backwards through the course again.
Also proposed is a 4,500 foot long family launched shuttle coaster, a 300 foot tall B&M Dive Coaster, and unique to Kings Island was a proposal for an Indoor/Outdoor Dark Ride Coaster. Described as taking riders “through a high themed mysterious adventure, part dark ride, park coaster. Encounter multiple scenes and show elements through darkened passages where you’re never quite certain of what lies ahead. Experience surprise track switches, speeds reaching up to 40mph, snaking riders indoors and out, with unexpected moments and a startling finale.”
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