coasterbill

I'm glad they finally came around... it's so obvious that this is a coaster.

Thanks for posting this, it was long but it was worth reading because there was some great information in there. I still can't believe how much those night rides last weekend have totally changed my perception of this coaster. It deserves all of the attention and fame it gets... words just can't describe how good it is at night.

It's really not the mentality of this part of the country at all. The crowd at Great Adventure isn't horrible, but it's not great. They're really not a representation of the majority of people in the area (it's a lot of teenagers in groups who think they're god's gift to the world). As far as your opinion of the rides, I think it's fair... though I'd like to throw Batman in the mix even though it's a clone. That doesn't make it any less awesome.

I love Splash Mountain, Ripsaw Falls and Pompeii but for me nothing beats a classic log flume. This sounds amazingly stupid but my favorite may be the one at Knoebels, though for some reason I'm a big fan of the one at Kings Dominion too. Those are my favorites but I have never ridden a log flume I haven't loved. Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to ride the one at Knott's as it was undergoing it's renovation when we were there.

By the way I'm not sure if this has been discussed but it looks like Shoot the Rapids has reopened.

What's the lastest on the relocated mouse that's not open yet for some reason? Are they testing it? Is all the track in place?

Patience is a virtue...

Are you talking about Viper at Magic Mountain? When I rode it last year I actually really liked it, I think it may be the smoothest Arrow looper I've ever ridden besides Tennessee Tornado, Loch Ness Monster and Canyon Blaster. If you were referring to the one at Great Adventure then nevermind, I completely agree with you.

I love the way they run Banshee with the exception of the grouper. Because of the grouper rows were constantly going out empty as they always missed entire rows and I do think it's annoying when you can't wait for the front or back seat if you choose to do so. Sometimes they let you wait, other times they don't and it just depends on who's working. Just let the people who want to wait wait and put the next group in the next empty row (to their credit some people were doing this). What I was impressed with was the locker policy and flip flop policy. They just tell everyone to take a seat and they'll take the flip flops for them ( It's a great idea as it's the only loose article you do have to be concerned with just because of the nature of inverted coasters.), and if you have any other loose articles when you reach the platform you have to take them with you or not ride. They don't waste time with overweight riders either... they'll give one or two pushes on the restraint and then they have to leave. They're not mean about it, but they don't waste time either. The only thing I take issue with is the souvenir cups. Parks should always allow you to store them for free, otherwise they'll end up losing money because a lot of people will stop buying them. I'm not saying you should store them on the platform, but they should have special storage locations for them somewhere... even Six Flags figured this out.

God this coaster is flying through the course. This looks great.

It does seem that way, but you have to look at them on a case-by-case basis. Nothing should come as a major shock. - Nothing at Six Flags is ever open on opening day and usually opens in June if it's a larger ride. - Cedar Fair generally opens their new rides on time, though with prototype rides they may be a little late. - B&M rides almost always open on time unless they're being built at a Six Flags park. - Intamin rides rarely open on time, especially when they have brand new technologies but they're usually awesome once they open. - Dollywood always finishes construction on new rides really quickly and everyone is shocked at how fast they manage to get everything built. - Disney and Universal usually don't announce opening dates very far in advance because they always push the limits of technology with their rides. Planning around these things until a date is announced is pointless. Just be patient and it will be worth the wait. This is what happens every year and seems to sum up what's happened so far this year. Yes it is pretty funny that Six Flags America hasn't been able to open a relocated Wild Mouse yet and it's after Memorial day and SFMM is on pace to open their kiddy coaster during Fright Fest at this point but Six Flags does things like this every year.

What the hell are you talking about? The cameras are always in the same place, they don't move around from day to day... and why is 3 the magic number of how many photos you can buy before they become expensive? The camera on i305 is right before the brake run. I don't know where the others are off the top of my head.

I rode Diamondback last week and it had no effect on the ride at all. I understand that the restraint is unnecessary but as much as enthusiasts point the finger at the "GP" for freaking out and overreacting in regards to ride accidents, we're freaking out and overreacting about seatbelts which aren't nearly as serious of an issue. The rides may take an extra few seconds to check and dispatch (though the Diamondback ops were still very fast) but the ride experience is exactly the same. I do agree that the "GP" is overreacting, but the way enthusiasts are reacting to these seat belts is ridiculous.

It's completely random and you don't get a choice which tower you want to ride. Don't bother asking as you WILL be greeted with a rude response no matter how nicely you ask. You'll have no problem riding everything in a day but I'd suggest riding Goliath first because it breaks down all the time. The sooner you get that credit the better because it will break down at some point. It's also unable to operate if it's cold, raining or too windy. I'm really interested to hear your thoughts on the park... mainly it's operations as I always find them to be horrendous, especially when compared to the operations at Great Adventure which are stellar (except for Bizarro). I know you work for Six Flags and can't come out bashing the place, but given the way the ride ops act towards the guests at Great Adventure I'm expecting you to be pretty disappointed in the policies and staff at Six Flags New England.

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing.

Is this going to be NCSO are are you using some custom scenery? I think custom scenery would work wonders for this park.

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing.

Also, as soon as you pass the Flash Pass attendant who let's you into the station, reserve your next ride. Don't wait to get off the ride... that's a waste of time. Then you can wait for the front of Kingda Ka (I'm using this as an example but obviously it could be any seat on any ride) and be waiting for something else at the same time.

We decided to spend Memorial Day weekend at Kings Island and had a great time. It was my first visit to the park in 10 years and my girlfriend's first visit to the park ever. We left from work on Friday and drove 8 hours to a town right outside Columbus where we got a hotel and then finished the drive on Saturday morning... arriving right before opening. The park was packed on Saturday and they were telling people not to ride Banshee first to avoid the crowds. We took this advice and instead headed to Diamondback where we were greeted with a full queue. We hadn't planned on it but it became apparent that we should spring for the Fastlane plus and it was a great decision. Banshee's line was back by Delirium, Delirium's line was full, Diamondback and Beast had full queues and Adventure Express and Vortex had lines spilling way beyond past entrances. Rather than go in chronological order for the sake of organization I'll break this trip report down by ride as we bounced around the park a lot in the 2 days we were there. We didn't get Fastlane the second day and had a much slower pace as we had already ridden everything the day before. Diamondback - This was my first time on Diamondback and I have to say that I was really impressed. It has way more airtime than most other B&M hypers and has a very enjoyable layout. It does have a significant rattle in the back but the airtime more than makes up for it. We probably rode this 6 or 7 times over the course of 2 days. Adventure Express - This is probably my favorite non-Disney mine train. The ending makes no sense but the ride is themed pretty well and has a fun, lengthy layout. It's hard not to love this ride. Backlot Stunt Coaster - I've always enjoyed these coasters... especially with Fastlane. Some of the effects were working which was a nice surprise. This ride really packs a punch for it's small size. Racer - This ride is a ton of fun. I enjoy this a lot more than Rebel Yell and Thunder Run (the similar Paramount / Cedar fair wood coasters), it's very well maintained and has some nice pops of air. The red train won every time though. Firehawk - I love vekoma flying coasters... is that weird? There's not much to say about this ride as it's a clone, but it's a very good clone. Thank god for Fastlane Plus though as it turned a 2 hour wait into a 15 minute wait. Invertigo - I guess it could have been worse, but I'd love to know why this thing had an hour wait. Flight of Fear - I think I prefer the Kings Dominion version as it's a bit smoother, but this is still an awesome ride. I actually think these coasters are great and have always felt that they were underrated by the enthusiast community. Most "GP" seem to love them though as this ride had a 2 hour wait all weekend. Vortex - I remember liking this as a kid... I guess I was a stupid kid. I generally like Arrow loopers as my height usually prevents headbanging but this is a horrible piece of crap. I'd rather ride Anaconda 10 times than ride this once. The ride looks great and always has a long line but it's really, really terrible. The Bat - I think this is one of the best rides in the park but I've always loved Arrow suspended coasters more than most people. The ride is a little short but it's incredibly fast and has some very dramatic moments of swinging where the car feels like it's at a 90 degree angle (though I know it's not). We lost count of how many times we rode this. What a great ride! Delirium - Even with Fastlane this ride had a 30 minute wait on Saturday and the regular queue was full bit it was well worth it. What a great ride. Race for Your Life Charlie Brown - What is it about this little flume that gets you so incredibly soaked? This ride is a blast and we rode it a lot over the course of 2 days. Windseeker - The world needs more of these. Not only is it a great ride but the enormous capacity gives you a nice break from standing in long lines. Banshee - Obviously this was the main reason for our trip and it didn't disappoint. The area around the ride looks great with the dramatic lighting, headstones and great sign complete with fog effects. The Banshee scream is really cool and I love the projected logos in the queue line. We lost count of how many times we rode this, especially on Saturday when we had Fastlane. Most of our rides were in the front but we had a few rides in the back and in the middle and it was great every time The crews were really fast and the ride had virtually no line at all with Fastlane even when the regular queue was totally full. On Sunday when we did wait in the normal line we were shocked at how quickly it moved. Kudos to B&M and the Kings Island staff for the awesome capacity on this ride. As far as the ride itself I'd definitely rank it as one of my favorite inverts with only Raptor, Alpengeist, Montu and maybe Afterburn at Carowinds ahead of it. It really packs a punch and has some very intense moments (especially after the zero g roll). My favorite part of the ride is probably the loop after the Batwing element which is very tight and forceful as well as the tight turn immediately after it. The final barrel roll is incredibly fun too. The first drop also surprised me, it really yanks the train down the drop with a lot of force which is really refreshing to see on a modern B&M ride. The first 2 elements are great and the first zero g roll is fun (though it's probably the weakest zero g roll I've experienced on an invert). This ride is all about the second half though. The ride makes such great use of the terrain that on a few of our rides there were noticeable temperature changes at the bottom of each element on the second half of the ride. That was a great experience. Banshee was definitely worth the trip and gave me a lot of optimism that maybe B&M is going to be a force to be reckoned with again. It's really forceful and even has a few snappy turns. I can't wait to get back to Kings Island and ride it again! The Beast - When I rode the Beast 10 years ago I thought it was a middle of the road wood coaster. It didn't have any airtime to speak and and it was pretty rough but the unique layout still made it fun. I tried to prepare my girlfriend for the ride and let her know that it was rough and didn't have any airtime but it was a classic. I figured if she went in with low expectations she might enjoy it. I'm happy to report though that the ride is running a lot smoother now than it used to. We rode it on Saturday morning and we both got off the ride pleasantly surprised and while it still wasn't anywhere near my favorite wood coaster I definitely had a more positive opinion of the ride than I did before. Let me set the scene for what happened later... We were using our awesome wristbands to marathon Banshee and were planning on doing that for the rest of the night. Banshee was clearly the star attraction in the park and we knew that the next day we'd have to wait in a huge line to ride it. After one of our rides I mentioned in passing that everyone said the Beast was a great night ride (I had never ridden it at night before). Neither of us really wanted to stop riding Banshee to ride a coaster that clearly wasn't as good but we decided that we should give it a try just to see for ourselves. When we got near the Beast we noticed a huge crowd of people heading for the ride which now had a line spilling out of the entrance. It was obvious that the Beast was the place to be. We walked up near the station with our wristbands and they told us that the ride was closed for the nightly fireworks show since they shoot the fireworks off near the tracks but it would re-open once the show was over. This was a blessing in disguise for 2 reasons. Not only did it give it the opportunity to get completely dark out (it gets dark really late in Ohio this time of year since the days are so long and it's so close to Central time while still being in Eastern time) but we also had a great spot to watch the fireworks as we were standing right outside the station. Once the ride re-opened the operators were really pumping up the crowd, asking every train if they were ready for the "best night ride in the world". Every train left the station screaming and cheering and every train returned screaming and cheering even louder. The Beast station had a real party atmosphere as people in the station were even cheering and at one point singing (the ops were trying to fill an empty row but gave up and one of them made the mistake of saying "let it go" over the mic in reference to the train... you can imagine what happened next). When we finally sat down in the front seat we were really excited. They dispatched the train and we headed for the lift which shines bright lights at you to make sure you won't be able to see anything during your ride and plays dramatic music which is really awesome when combined with the sound of the chain lift. Once we got to the bottom of the drop and exited the tunnel we were shocked at how dark it was. Obviously we've been on a lot of coasters at night but because of it's use of the terrain and it's close proximity to the trees, not even the moonlight reached the tracks. There is nothing like the Beast at night. The feeling of racing through the forest with no idea where you're going and going through tunnels that you only know you're going through because of the roar of the train (it's just as dark outside the tunnels as it is inside the tunnels) is unmatched. Not only is this the best night ride in the world, I can honestly say that the Beast at night in the front is the single best experience I've ever had on any coaster EVER. If you're reading this and you haven't ridden the Beast at night, stop reading this and go book a flight and a hotel so you can go ride it. I'm serious... it's that good. There are plenty of coasters that are great night rides, many of them (like Nitro for example) are far from the rest of the park and are very dark but you can still sort of make out the track and you have an idea of where you're going. The Beast is nothing like that... you literally have absolutely no idea where you're going and it makes the ride feel completely out of control. We came for Banshee, but the Beast stole the show. On Sunday we managed another night ride, this time we were lucky enough to be in the front seat on the last train of the night with the train mostly full of employees from throughout the park that came over to get a night ride on the Beast, and who could blame them? I can't believe I'm speaking so highly of coaster I always considered mediocre but this ride is a different animal at night. Overall we had a great weekend at the park. It's improved a lot since the last time I was there and they've added some great rides. Banshee is awesome, Diamondback is awesome but the Beast at night is an experience I'll never forget.

This looks like a great little ride. By the way, the pirate ship being removed is very interesting. With rumors of Bobsled being removed and with go kart tracks being removed from parks all over the place lately... they could open up a huge amount of land for expansion. Take a look at the area on google maps and you'll see what I mean.

I don't find Kingda Ka rough at all but that's because I only ride it in the front as I think the experience of riding it in the front is amazing. Now that they only use one loading platform the line moves much faster once you're queuing for individual rows so the line for the front isn't all that bad. It's much longer than the other rows but worth the wait. Personally I have a hard time comparing Kingda Ka to TTD as they're very similar... I might give the edge to Dragster but the biggest factor for me is the view from the top. Since the coaster is all about height, I'd much rather look at a theme park, lake erie and the lake erie islands than a parking lot.

I never knew that. How come almost every other new coaster (including other RMC coasters) need about a month of testing?

I don't think it's possible with the deluxe version as the Drexler patch isn't compatible with it.

Are they still pretending this thing is going to be ready for riders on the 29th or have they come to their senses yet? The ride looks great but the track work isn't even finished and that's less than a week away.