Amusement Views: Kings Island

From May 31st to June 4th, my mom and I visited Cedar Point, Kings Island, and Kentucky Kingdom! It was a fun road trip visiting these amusement parks during a week of beautiful weather! ☀️🎢

Kings Island - June 2nd, 2026:

This marked my fifth-ever visit to Kings Island over the course of the past 12 years! Kings Island forever holds a special place in my heart as it was my first American amusement park I visited after graduating high school in 2014. Last year, my mom joined me for her first-ever visit to Kings Island during our Ohio road trip.

I have always had a great time at Kings Island, so I was excited to return this year to ride the new for 2026 Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare! This replaced Boo Blasters which operated at the park from 2010 through 2025. It plays homage to the original Phantom Theater dark ride attraction that operated at the park in the 1990s in the same building before making way for Scooby-Doo and the Haunted Castle in 2002.

The reincarnation of Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare reintroduces the characters from the original Phantom Theater in a new interactive dark ride experience with some scenes paying homage to the original ride! I love it when parks do things like this! It is a phenomenal interactive dark ride that everyone should experience!

During this visit, I also got to enjoy many of the park's great coasters and rides, including the recently refurbished Monster as it was closed last year and take in a couple of shows despite the park being moderately busy! Be sure to check out my photos from another great visit to Kings Island, below! 🙂

After a 3+ hour drive from Sandusky, we arrived at Kings Island!

I was excited to be back one year later to experience the new for 2026 Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare!

Another beautiful day was on tap for our visit!

My first ride of the day was on the new for 2026 Phantom Theater Opening Nightmare!

As you enter the queue, a banner welcomes you to the re-opening of Phantom Theater.

The queue area is quite elaborate, with chandeliers, curtains, a snack bar scene, and ambient sounds and lighting to set the mood.

The Maestro and his cat over look guests, welcoming them back to his theater.

The snack bar is manned by the legless Usher, who reminds riders of proper riding procedures while they wait in line.

The hallway leading to the loading platform passes by paintings of the characters of the Phantom Theater that come to life every few minutes.

The park did a great job on theming the queue!

Once inside the loading area, you board onto one of the many omni mover cars that were refurbished with the debut of Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare. They are now fitted with flashlights instead of boo blaster guns, to better fit in with the theater theme. I won't give too much away, but you do travel through many parts of the theater as you blast haunted notes with your flashlight! It is a very fun and well done interactive dark ride experience!

Here's a look at the 2026 Kings Island park map.

Up next I took a ride on Diamondback! It provided a fun hyper coaster ride experience as usual!

For lunch, we went to the Miami River Brewhouse in Rivertown.
The experience was a bit chaotic as you order your meal from a cash register, which then they provide you an electronic buzzer system to place at your table once you do find a table to sit at. From there, it gets more interesting. Once seated at a table, you wait for what seems to be an eternity (for us it was 30 minutes) as you get asked by every server what your number is, despite it being listed on the electronic buzzer system that you place on the dock on your table.
I feel this system should match up with your table for the servers to locate you more easily. If not, then they should resort to a plastic card with your number for it to be greatly more visible than a small digital number.
I honestly felt sorry for the employees as you could see the stress that the current system was causing as they wandered around aimlessly with the food.

I ordered the pub burger with a double beef patty with a side of tater tots. The burger was delicious, but the tater tots were way too salty for my liking, making my tongue and lips tingle. Despite the salt, the tater tots were decently crispy. Reducing the amount of salt would make them better!

Surprisingly, until this visit, I had never been on White Water Canyon at Kings Island. Well, I can finally say I have been on it now, completing the White Water Canyon trio! It was quite comparable to its counterpart at Canada's Wonderland, although it moved at a faster pace, which was fun! Although the version at Kings Dominion is the most intense out of them all!

After a ride on White Water Canyon, we ventured over to Coney Mall. I always enjoy taking a ride on Shake, Rattle and Roll! This classic Troika has been operating at the park since 1975!

Here is a mini topiary Eiffel Tower standing in Coney Mall, with the taller version standing off in the distance.

While in Coney Mall, I took a spin on Zephyr. I always find it moves faster than other Zierer Wave Swinger rides that I have been on.

I was so happy to see the Monster up and running again as it was completely dismantled during my visit last year. From what I have heard, the Monster at Cedar Point became a parts donor after it was removed during this past off-season. I do hope the Monster at Kings Island operates for many years to come as it is a fun ride!

During the refurbishment process last year, it received a new light package, replacing the old tube lighting it once had.

It rides very good and looks great too!

The Racer continues to ride very well, too! I have always enjoyed my rides on this iconic racing coaster!

The Liberty Bell is helping celebrate America's 250th anniversary!

The flowerbed across from the Liberty Bell is also commemorating America's 250th anniversary!

The Grand Carousel is celebrating 100 years of operation in 2026!

While Kings Island opened in 1972, the Grand Carousel was manufactured by PTC and had previously operated at Coney Island on Cincinnati, Ohio from 1926 through 1971.
It's looking great for being 100 years old!

Here we are taking a spin on the 100 year old Grand Carousel!

It's not a visit to Kings Island without going up the Eiffel Tower!

It always provides such wonderful views, especially on nice weather days!

Here's a look down International Street from over 300 feet above!

The Monster was spinning riders around while I was up the Eiffel Tower.

Sunny skies sure make Orion stand out!

Although I didn't get on Delirium this visit, it is fun to ride and watch!

Here are the trains running along the tracks of The Racer!

I have always found it amazing how hidden The Beast is! You can see the recent track work that was done over the past off-season when looking at the second lift hill.

Here's a look over the other half of Rivertown.

Amongst the trees, the train on the KI and Miami Valley Railroad chugs along.

Here's a Birdseye view of Camp Snoopy and Planet Snoopy.

The splashdown effect on Diamondback is always fun to watch from ground level and from high above!

Once back on the ground, I took a ride on Viking Fury!

Afterwards, my mom and I went inside the Festhaus to see the Hollywood Hits Top 40 show.

It's a show featuring sound tracks of the top 40 hits used in films!

It was a great show of song and dance!

The performers did a great job and really got into it!

The shows lasted for approximately 25 minutes.

It was a great performance from start to finish! I highly recommend it!

After taking in a great show, I took a thrilling ride on Invertigo! I always enjoy riding it when visiting Kings Island as it is so intense, especially when travelling through the loop backwards!

From one intense inverted coaster to another! Banshee is also one that pulls a lot of gs when going through its 7 inversions!
It was a memorable ride for me this time as I was in line with a girl who coached her 59 year old mother in line who had never rode Banshee before. The mother was really scared, but I reassured her everything was going to be okay. I ended up riding with them. At the end of the ride, the mother thanked me for being supportive and reassuring. 😊

Up next was a ride on the fun Adventure Express! It rode very well during this visit!

While passing through Coney Mall, I grabbed my second meal of the day! I always love getting a meal from Skyline Chili when at Kings Island! The Three-way is so good!

With there only being a few hours of the day left, I got on Orion for an amazing evening ride!

With the sun starting a ventured over to The Beast. While it wasn't a night ride, the tunnels were definitely darker on this legendary coaster!

I then got in line for Mystic Timbers which had an approximately 30 minute wait. By the time I got on, the sun had set, making for a fun night ride on Mystic Timbers!