bonsaiisuperstar

I went to King's Island one chilly fall day in 2012 and rode Diamondback 38 times without leaving the train. It was fantastic

WOW! Gatekeeper is already about to give it's millionth ride. People Eater Extraordinaire. To think i was under number 500 or so. Time flies.

The Beast. It's a different animal at night. It goes way out into the woods and the temperature is very cool in the dips. Pitch black and only screaming while it runs at 78 mph. There is even a sign in the operator booth that reads "famous night rides".

Thanks for clarifying the lift hill questions i had! It all makes sense now! Here is Beast video of 1979 with the tire brakes.

Speaking of the Beast, i have a question for anyone. We all know the Beast's first lift hill is super slow. We also know that the second lift hill has always run faster than the first. First question: Does anyone know why this is? Is it for pacing and suspense? Last night I went and ride the Beast numerous times at night. 8 out of 10 times the first lift hill was running as fast as the second one! I first thought that they had changed out the lift motor but i then took another ride and it was slow again. It did the opposite of what it normally does. It was fast and then went slow at the top when normally it's slow as molasses until the top where it speeds up. I am super curious about this. I doubt they can adjust the speed in the operator booth considering kids are running this giant machine. And the Beast is seriously one of the smoothest woodies out there. All the new wood and track refurbishment over the last few years has made it like new again! Grab a non wheel seat and it's like B&M built it. Still in the top 10 after all these years in my opinion.

Was at KI yesterday. Soooo many footers and more laid everyday. I think it looks like the lift is going out heading to Firehawk. This thing is going to be massive.

While I've been to King's ISland 1,000 times, I never made it to Cedar point until recently. July 3rd and 4th was my third visit and one where i finally had two days to ride everything numerous times. On my first visit to Cedar Point I discovered TTD and then rode it 6 times the entire day and rode nothing else lol. I then joined TPR and went coaster crazy. Second visit was Gatekeeper media day so only select rides were operating. This time I had two entire days and fast pass plus. I had a hard time deciding what my favorite coaster was. Great park. Friendly staff. Wonderful time! Raptor 9.5/10 - The best B&M invert ever. Fun and fierce from start to finish. Has the best B&M "roar" of all the ones i've ridden. It seems to be a people eater too and the line is always short. Maverick: 7/10 - I love the twisty's and 95-degree first drop. The second launch goes immediately into a brake run which is kind of lame to me. The restraints are strange and they make women remove ear rings to ride it. I learned to stick my head out beyond them and then did not have to ride defensively. Has a couple of launcher air hills that were great! The theming is nice with this one. Gatekeeper 8.5/10 - It is a beautiful ride, it's very graceful in it's movements and it's very quiet. (It's filled with sand, is it not?) Adds a huge WOW factor at the entrance to the park. People just stand out front with their mouths open watching it all day! It's lights are awesome even though they half work. I rode it on media day many times. It's a little rougher now in the rear outer seats than it was in April. I've read comments of people say it's running faster now than when we rode it on media day. It feels the same speed to me. The restraints still try to kill you. Mantis 1.5/10 - Painful. Shame on B&M for making this torture device. It's like being in a boxing match. Rode once, never again. Millennium Force 7.5/10 - It's a good ride. Fast and smooth.It's over hyped a whole bunch. Rob Alvey sums it up best when he says "i305 eats Millennium Force and craps it all over Cedar Point". Cedar Creek Mine Ride 7/10 - I love Arrow rides. This one is smooth and is arranged nicely. It's family oriented i suppose.I really liked it. A lot Corkscrew 6.5 /10 - Arrow invert and a good one. Very short ride but you see where all the Arrow loopers got their zing in the 80's...from Corkscrew. Top Thrill Dragster - 8.5 /10 INTENSE! I love the view at the top. I amaze that people will wait 3 hours for a 17 second ride and then go right back into line to ride again. That means it's a winner. TTD is a winner. It operated sporadically both days. Magnum XL-200 - 9.0 / 10. An Arrow hyper coaster! (The only?) First drop is great! The bunny hop hills at the end are serious! With no seatbelt it could launch a child 20ft in the air i bet! I love Arrow stuff. Iron Dragon - 6.5/10. Arrow suspended! It feels about the same speed as the Bat but with very minimal swinging. Really, really tame. I hated it first but then it made me remember the Bat because it feels like the Bat! A winner! Blue Streak 5/10 - It was an OK woody. I don't have much opinion on it. Wicked Twister - It was not operating either day. A shame. No credit for me. Mean Streak - 7/10 - It is a pretty good woody. It's a bit rough in spots. It smells like grease, i like that. Dinn Corp never really came close to making another Beast. Gemini - 6/.5 /10 - Another Arrow. I never realized Cedar Pint had an entire fleet of Arrow coasters. It's a fun one. In closing. Cedar Point rules! I'm glad it's only several hours away from me.

Just got back from KI this morning. I noticed they had moved the Banshee fence closer twards where the water tower once stood and had placed footers where the old fence was located. There are 5 or six scarecrows around some of the footers and Don Helbig and Kristen (PR) were not far away taking pictures and watching people peek through the fence. I watched them for 20 minutes and got bored and left, could not figure out what they were doing. They kept watching a lady sitting by herself along the fence, at one point the lady "waved them off" and they left. It was weird.

OK, I have a hot lead. One of my co-workers knows I love coasters and she said that her uncle was visiting and mentioned to her Dad that his company had been working on the new King's Island coaster for a while now. Her ears perked up and she asked him questions about it. He said he was not allowed to disclose any info about it. He works at Champion Bridge in Wilmington, OH. It's a steel fabrication plant. I went to their website and looked around. They have no mention of roller coasters and all project seem to be steel buildings. Anyone near Wilmington that can go look around and see if any coaster parts are sitting around outside??

All the lights worked on media day until about 6:10 am, then they flickered and failed. They shut it down for about 10 minutes to try and fix, then just turned them off. Seems like they have not worked correctly since that morning funny enough. It does look magnificent when it's lights are working, especially the glowing eyes.

Glad it got you pumped up Tunasled! It's a very nice park and i305 is as good as it gets. I wish King's Island had it so I could ride it everyday.

Just a rumor from a while ago. Seems like someone living in Mason is friends with a higher management person at KI who mentioned that it was very close or going to be Cedar Fair's biggest investment ever. Again, a rumor, but I could see this being the case. KI draws LOTS of people and needs another media grabbing fun machine. Something to fill the skyline to be seen from I-71 and to make them more than a regional player. This coaster is probably going to be just the thing.

Yes, that was me! Were you the one that commented on the shirt? If so, small world! Busch Gardens was very pretty and well maintained but seemed to be geared more for older people and children. The coasters were all good and fun, just not jaw dropping. Verbolten was interesting theming wise. The Bat t-shirt gained extra power being at the former site of Big Bad Wolf! Alpengeist has the best name ever, but is kind of forceless but fast.

I just got back from a trip to Virginia. I rode my first B&M dive machine (Griffon). The first drop was intense in the front row. it looks kind of weird with that giant akward train and was short in length. I also got a ride on another B&M invert (Alpengeist). Alpengeist is very fast and smooth but not forceful at all. The Raptor at Cedar Point is much more thrilling. I'm hoping that KI does not build a dive machine, and if they build an invert it should be low to the ground, forceful and intense. Rumor has it that This coaster will be Cedar Fair's biggest investment to date which should put it over $30 million. Whatever it is, it's going to be big (very tall or very long). I'm still hoping for a inverted giga but chances are slim. KI has a tendency to push boundries so this may be something new. Cable lift B&M? Launched B&M? Time will tell.

i305 in Virginia on Wednesday. I'm back in Ohio now for some 9:30 AM Diamondback ERT.

Oh, Volcano Blaster was thrilling in the front row and rough in the back. It was Ok i guess. The supports for it were a tangled mess and it would be more aesthetically pleasing with a better looking support structure. Shockwave was fun! The first drop and loop were smooth and great, the rest of the ride was painful. Not many of those operating these days so glad to have gotten a ride on it.

I drove down from Cincinnati on Monday night and spent all day Tuesday at King's Dominion. Weather was perfect and crowd's were very small. A huge rain storm came and washed the rest of them away. I bought fast lane plus before i left for my trip, but did not need it as i305 was a walk on all day! Speaking of i305....INTENSE! Whoa! I got 35 rides on it, greyed out 32 times and completely blacked out three times. This is a serious machine. I loved it. My new favorite. I loved it so much that I went to Busch Gardens on Wednesday, stayed 3 hrs to get the coaster credits and then left and drove back to KD to ride i305 some more. Crowds were bigger on Wed and I only got 4 more rides. Dominator was awesome. Forceful and snappy. Great layout, great paint, nice speed. It felt like Gatekeeper to me without the wings. Anaconda was your normal Arrow looper. (I prefer Vortex at KI). Hurler was painful. If it was as fast a Son of Beast it would bruise your internal organs. Ricochet was closed and I did not get a ride. Grizzly was Ok and had a nice head chopper element that took me by surprise. Rebel Yell was smooth and nice. (Much better than the racer at KI) Backlot Stunt Coaster and Flight of Fear are the same as KI so not much to compare. King's Dominion has Flying Eagles so I rode them a bunch. The KI flying eagles were removed in 2004 and I'm still sad about it. The Berserker is AWESOME! Why does KI only get a dumb back and forth ship and KD's Berserker does 360's?? Also, that crypt ride with the flips,fire and water is sadistic. I had an excellent time and would drive back again in a heartbeat for more i305 rides. You all have a world class coaster down there. Great park. Very clean. Friendly people and staff.

They have 364 used and another 300 or so for future development if my memory serves me so there is plenty of room to expand. It seem like they even sold some of it to the City of Mason several years back. They could become a major, major player in years to come because they have so much land to utilize.

Just got back from the park. Lots of progress on the "Banshee". Footers everywhere, cement trucks going to a fro and teams of workers pouring concrete and manning shovles. I have not been at the park in 5 days and they have done a lot of work in that time. No pics from me though because i don't like taking my phone in with me. It really looks like they are moving the launcher pay ride, new footers are poured for it so perhaps the coaster will go through its current location?

Wow. That is the holy grail of vintage coaster POV there. I really miss the Bat. Rode it 3 times in 1983. I had 4 pair of socks on just to be tall enough to ride it. I was so excited because it was always closed whenever i went to the park. Still like one of my most favorite memories ever.

I also have never seen that Bat POV. (only posted a few days ago) I'll take Bat Reborn anyday if it still swung as violently.

I think it's going to be very big. I'm almost certain it's going to be a B&M. I think it will go over action zone where the water tower once was. I'm clueless beyond that.

It seems the general consensus for the Gatekeeper restraints are that if you are smaller than 5' 10" and 180 lbs they are painful. If you are over that line and a bigger person they are comfortable. I am 5' 10" and 165 and found them painful after forty rides, my color bones were even bruised but i loved every second of it.

And...if I was designing a coaster named Banshee, i would engineer special whistles that fit on the front of the train that made a unique a screaming sound. Not loud enough to hurt passenger ears, but loud enough for those watching it to be able to hear. For serious.

I was at Gatekeeper Media Day and saw Matt Quitmet say Cedar Fair had no plans for any new wing riders. Also, why would they put one at KI when they just built a record breaking one at Cedar Point? I'm confused now. While I've only ridden Gatekeeper, I LOVED it beside the sore collar bones from many rides due to the restraints. I'm just happy to have a new very expensive coaster at King's Island (whatever it turns out to be). If B&M is doing it, you know it's going to be good, safe investment for the park. After the Bat and SOB debacles, King's island needs this to be successful to be a bigger than regional player for years to come.