bonsaiisuperstar

i305.

I would be pretty upset if my home parks main attraction was down half of the season. Especially if it was i305.

The more i watch the banshee POV the more I like that long zero-g roll into the helix at the end. That is going to be sweet!

I don't think most are posting pictures because KI has set up a live "construction cam" that can be seen here... https://www.visitkingsisland.com/banshee/live-view

The Bat. What a way to start things out!

Yeah, Firehawk would be well down the list on KI's most popular coasters. it only has longer lines because the trains take forever to load. Beast and Diamondback are certainly the top two, the third could be argued.

Justing seeing the letters SOB makes my internal organs hurt. I'm glad the Banshee exploded it in the promo video.

A news report from yesterday stated that Banshee can move 1400 people an hour. That's a real people eater! B&M was a no brainer for KI. The Diamondback is NEVER down. (I bet its uptime is over 99%) KI needed a home run with this one. Not a Bat that fails in 3 years or SOB that injures people and was terrible. They needed a beautiful looking, inverted coaster that eats people and has a tremendous uptime. They just purchased one for 24 million. I am excited for 2014 media day!

Banshee is so yesterday. We might as well begin the discussion for what the new coaster will be in 2019! Banshee looks really nice, looking forward to media day. I see attendance going way up next season.

Of the three, I've only ridden Gatekeeper. It's a great, fun ride that the GP loves and it eats people. I enjoy riding it. I LOVE just watching it as it is very graceful and quiet. I think its the most "presentable" coaster in the world. I also like it's trains when the lights are on (and working). That said, KI does not need a wing rider because Cedar Point just got one. Also,KI does NOT need a coaster named the Bat again. I think that disrespects the original Bat (which i have ridden) and will confuse people later on down the road. I still say it is going to be a B&M Hyper Invert breaking records for height, length, & speed. It will also be the most expensive at 31 million dollars with excellent theme. Did anyone consider that they are tearing down Flight Deck? And, I'll be there this evening. I'll be wearing my Bat T-Shirt.

I'm still saying Banshee. They sent silver combs to the Enquirer to run a story. The Bat stuff is diversion. Anyone can mock up a website like that. They do not want a new coaster associated with one that had an uptime of 12% over three seasons. Yeah, the Bat is a legend but you don't want to ruin what it created in mystery. It's going to be Banshee. Invert with 7 inversions.

King's Island went "All IN" with this one.

I'm hearing rumours of blue B&M invert track sitting outside Clermont Steel. No pictures yet though.

It's a shame that i305 has been down for so long. I live in Cincinnati and have dreams about that super intense Intamin masterpiece. I am ready to drive 9 hours and ride it all day long. Sadly, it will have to be next spring before i make it back.

And so it begins......!!! I bet lots of semi trailers start showing up now.

I've noticed that since Cedar Fair now owns King's island you see a lot of Cedar Point people traveling down I-75 to King's Island with their Platinum passes and vice versa. Lots of Cedar Point regulars visiting KI for the first time too. I am always answering questions for them while waiting for the park to open. Almost all of them love the cleanliness of KI, it's expansiveness and all the trees and shade. I really think KI could be the biggest park in the world someday. Excellent location and tons of open land to develop. Always seeing over 3 million visitors a year helps quite a bit too. I'm glad KI is in my backyard

Gatekeeper - 41 times on media day. i305 - 40 times on a low crowd day (I even went to Busch Gardens! i could have had another 40 rides most likely) Diamondback - 43 times on a cold fall day with no crowd.

B&M launched 4D.

Off topic of the Banshee. I stumbled on this last night. The "History of King's Island" detailing how the decision was made to move Coney Island, land searching, development etc. etc. I was enthralled for the entire 90 minutes. This person did a nice job with it.

I made the mistake of ordering Fast Lane Plus online before i went to KD. All day the crowds were VERY light and I was able to simply walk on everything. (40 rides on i305!). I suggest you get to the park early, check the weather and crowds and then decide if Fast lane Plus is needed. If crowds are large, it's very much worth the purchase.

I'm beginning to think this may be something special. The first B&M launched or even the rumoured B&M 4D coaster.

From Wikipedia. I knew this living next door to KI, but they summarize it better. While Kings Island was owned by Taft Broadcasting, the design and engineering was largely subcontracted to Curtis D. Summers Engineering, which was a structural engineering and architecture firm located in Cincinnati. Summers' team worked with Taft staff designers Al Collins and Jeffrey Gramke to design the Beast with John Allen providing profiling and dynamics specifications; Taft was unique in having constructed most of their wood coasters at Kings Island, Kings Dominion, Carowinds, and Canada's Wonderland during the 1970s and into the 1980s. Following KECO's sale of their theme parks to Paramount in 1992, Summers continued to partner with Charlie Dinn's firm on several coasters at parks around North America. The two firms continued to work together on coasters up until Summer's death in 1992.

Son of Beast tried to kill me. It bruised my internal organs and took weeks to recover from. I wanted to help them tear it down with my own chainsaw and gasoline! TTD hurts when raindrops hit you at 120 mph.

i305 has a nice airtime hill. Diamondback is great for floater airtime especially in the rear seats (Row 14 is best) The bunny hops on Magnum are INTENSE ejector air! Maverick has a few nice ones but the restraints keep you from enjoying them much.

Nothing beats the famous Elissa picture. Lots of great pictures here i've been looking at before work, but when i saw the thread title, I (and everyone else) knew the winner.