2012jarrett

Just realized how beautiful Banshee's going to look across that lake! They get rid of Sling Shot and move it to Cedar Point or X-Base and it's even better! There's a perfect spot for it in X-Base and it would open up ability to expand behind Banshee. Thanks for the pictures! It all looks great!

Every time the Kings Island Halloween Haunt commercial comes on (the one with the zombies on Silver Bullet that I assume is the same across the chain) my dad asks me if it's Top Gun (referring to the one at Carowinds). I tell him it isn't and that it's Silver Bullet. The conversation has gone a few different places, but this one was just legendary! Dad: Jarrett, is that Top Gun? Me: No, it's Silver Bullet at Knotts Berry Farm in California. Dad: But it looked like Top Gun! Me: The ride hardware's the same for all coasters of that model. They all look like that. Dad: But it has that curved drop like Top Gun. Me: Almost all coasters like that do that. Alpengeist and Batman did too if you remember. Dad: Okay... Me: [pulls up pictures of Afterburn and Silver Bullet on iPad] This is Afterburn- Dad: Where's that one? Me: Carowinds... Dad: Oh, you mean Top Gun? Okay. Me: Here's Silver Bullet Dad: It's the same thing... Me: Silver Bullet's drop isn't as flared an you can see the colors are different. Dad: Oh, I don't care about the colors. I've not been on Silver Bullet but if it's as icky as I hear it is he might learn something if I get him on it! My old man has decent taste in coasters but has NO idea how to tell what one does by watching it offride. We pull up to Carowinds and he can't tell what Intimidator does! IT'S A BIG FRICKIN HUGE SINUSOID WRAPPED AROUND THE PARK!!!! That conversation goes up there with the talk I had with my cousin about why X2 and GateKeeper weren't the same kind if coaster. The same cousin that thinks that X-Scream at the Stratosphere is a credit but Top Thrill Dragster isn't. And my sister (trying to mess with me when I was on an "I hate Vekoma boomerangs" rant) told me that my favorite park (Cedar Point) had one. I tell her it doesn't. Wicked Twister" she exclaimed, trying to know something about coasters I didn't. I should probably stop before my family somehow stumbles upon this post... They're awesome, I wouldn't trade then for anyone, but some of the things they try to tell me about parks are just funny!

It's funny because if I'm seeing this so much, a lot of people must be excited for it!

So with 2013 winding down for most of us in terms of seasonal parks (I'm visiting one more park this season and I'm done until 2014 when I open it with Banshee) I was thinking about which moments really stood out for my past season. So I was thinking, what are your; *Best moment *Best individual ride *Funniest moment *Scariest moment *Strangest moment *Favorite individual park visit *Nerdiest moment *Best non-coaster related thing to happen at a park *Best thing to happen on a park trip outside of the park *Favorite new experience *Anything else you'd like to mention as a highlight I'll start: 2013 *Best moment- Winning the GateKeeper Plinko that was set up outside the park gates before the park opened and winning a front of the line pass for GateKeeper. It was my first time on it and walking past a three hour line that had the cattlepens slammed and was pouring out down by MaXair was INCREDIBLE. And then we rode in the front for my first ride on it. It's now my favorite B&M! *Best individual ride- Millennium Force (my favorite coaster) at 10:30 at night. The track wasn't warm and it wasn't running as briskly as it has the first two times I've been on it but it was still a sick ride. There was a harvest moon out and GateKeeper, Giant Wheel, and Windseeker were lit up and the DJ show outside the queue on the plaza had some minor pyrotechnics firing off behind the final overbank, it was absolutely beautiful. *Funniest moment- At Kings Island, we were getting on The Beast at night. It and Diamondback get absolutely SLAMMED since they're both supposed to be good night rides (I think The Beast is more special if you ride it at night than Diamondback, so we decided to do The Beast instead even though I think D-Back's an overall better ride) and as you might have seen in the Banshee announcement video, the park definitely aknowleges that this night ride "rivalry" between both rides exists. So while we were loading, the ride op asks us "How many of you think The Beast is better than Diamondback?" A few cheers come from the train. "How many of you think Diamondback is better than the Beast?" which was me, if you're talking overall ride. I just yelled "YEAH!!! WOOO!!!" and clapped, alone. "Get out," the ride op joked, pointing to the exit. Scariest moment- Getting virtually forced onto Drop Tower by my evil sister who threatened to ditch me if I didn't ride with her at Kings Island. Despite my passion for coasters I am afraid of heights (only reason I can do a lot of them is because they usually get you down from there pretty quickly if you know what I mean... ) and while I thought I could at least get a good view of the park and Banshee construction, we get a breathtaking view of the PARKING LOT. AND the ride scared the living daylights out of me! At least the drop was sick. I'm glad I did it; NEVER doing it again! *Strangest moment- Going to Kings Island with another TPR member, we wanted to ride Flight Deck, but as soon as we got to the station they shut the ride down because a storm was blowing through. All of us were pretty tired but wanted to ride eventually, so decided that we would retain our front of the line spot when it opened back up and asked the ride ops if we could set our stuff down and hang out in the station. They didn't care, and that ended up with all three of us sleeping on the concrete station deck. We slept in a roller coaster station! Strange, but EPIC!!!! *Favorite individual park visit- Cedar Point in July with my cousin. GateKeeper front of the line pass AND night ride on Millennium as well as my first time on Dragster, it was awesome! Spent 15.5 hours at my favorite park! *Nerdiest moment- Getting in line for Adventure Express and flipping out when I saw Banshee pieces for the first time in person. *Best non-coaster related thing to happen at a park- Tie between my first time trying Famous Dave's at Cedar Point and seeing Dolly Parton in person at Dollywood *Best thing to happen on a park trip outside of the park- The night before I went to Dollywood with my friend and her family, we were in our cabin in Gatlinburg. We were watching Firefly upstairs, just chilling, and the next thing I know, the power's out. So we're stuck on top of a mountain at night with no cellphone reception and bears. AND I hadn't charged my electronics for the trip the next day. Luckily it was just a tree falling across the power lines and it came back on an hour later and I was able to charge my camera and phone. *Favorite new experience- Dragster's launch and having my ears pop at the top of a coaster. -x- So what were the highlights of your season? I love hearing these stories!

Now that you post that, I looked up pictures of it at Geauga Lake and I couldn't help but immediately notice its resemblance to Banshee. The layouts are nothing alike, but with the colors of it (pink-ish red and blue) and it being inverted and having what seems to be a (horror) themed station, it almost looks like a low budget Banshee. I never got to go to GL but looking at it online, Cedar Fair didn't build Serial Thriller. I almost feel like they might have been slightly inspired by it, though. Though other than appearance, the rides probably aren't different. I've not been on an SLC but I hear B&M inverts are better anyway (I HAVE ridden four, soon five inverts, and they all rocked!) so Banshee'll probably ride better, and the hues they picked for Serial Thriller are icky, but Banshee's shades are amazing. It feels like they might have had Serial Thriller on their minds when they were coming up with Banshee (whoever's in charge of colors and the like). I doubt it and maybe the resemblances I see are subtle enough to be negligible, I was just reminded of Banshee looking at Thunderhawk during the Six Flags era. And if anything, seeing those shots of the mist on bare ground just made me eat my words with a side of fries. That means it's definitely possible for Banshee!

You're WRONG!!!! WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!!!!!!!!! It's a Wacky Worm. A 300 foot Wacky Worm. Just kidding, that's exactly what it'll be. Goofing around aside, I don't think there's enough room under the bridge for a dive machine train to fit. And a 300 foot dive machine would look stupid in my opinion. The smaller ones at the Busch Gardens parks and Diving Coaster in China all look okay because of the turn size being wide enough to seem appropriately sized for the rest of the structure, but a 300 foot one with the same turn radius (which is as tight as they can go I would imagine) might look too small for such a massive structure, and supporting a bigger one would be a nightmare. Not saying it won't happen, but it would look bad in my opinion. It would be an amazing ride, though. I'm still guessing B&M giga is most likely, with a 300-foot Intamin winged outer seats (Skyrush) the second most likely. Paint it white with a red spine stripe (Patriot but reversed) and light blue supports (matching Carolina Skytower) and it would look great going under the bridge, into a giant hammerhead turn over that backstage area, and back under the bridge. Maybe theme it to space exploration?

There was fog around the gravestones on the parts of the ride that were close to the ground in the night POV rendering, so it might be a possibility. I bet they just put heavy misters (Afterburn's tunnel, Apocalypse, Iron Dragon) around them at most. Not sure if that's even possible, honestly. The others were in man-made structures, where as these would have to be on the natural ground. I want to say the system works like a fountain but I'm not sure. Even if they do, though, I bet it gets turned off after 2013. Liking the look of those dive loop supports! That thing shoul be intense! As much as I think it'll look stupid going through it, it'll ride like a dream. After my last park trip, I'm hibernating until April because the wait is killing me!

^^ 19 years old and love that movie! My family actually has a tradition of getting to a park and saying "oh, hey, guys, the park's closed! The moose at the front should've told you!"

Kicked out of IAAPA? How on earth does that happen? Mine is definitely Vekoma. Carolina Cobra was vile even with the new restraints, and they made my least favorite coaster (Ninja at SFOG) as well. Gerstlauer's close second, if Dollywood hadn't done such a good job with Mystery Mine's theming I'd never ride it.

Thanks! Accuweather says a 55% chance for rain and an afternoon thunderstorm for that day (though it hasn't been the best predictor for me in the past. It said our Dollywood trip would be a rainout this past August and I didn't need to take shelter once.) so sounds like Florida to me! We're booked! And I ran around the kitchen and crashed into the island in excitement when I got a text while watching out puppy and she thinks I'm nuts now! Thanks for all the help, guys! I'm psyched to go now! One last question; which rides require you to get those metal boxes with combination locks on them to store your stuff? (Didn't say what they were exactly because it filters to lockers.) And I'll gladly make a Falcon's Fury update down there! It's a ride I'd never ride but I'll update you with how it's going!

It's in my signature, but... 1. Millennium Force 2. Maverick 3. Top Thrill Dragster 4. Intimidator 305 5. GateKeeper 6. Diamondback '7. Wild Eagle 8. Intimidator 9. Thunderhead 10. The Beast After a trip to Busch Gardens Tampa in two-ish weeks, I expect Cheetah Hunt to take the #2 slot from Maverick (I might be disappointed like everyone here says I'll be, but looking at other rides on there like GateKeeper and Intimidator, you can tell I don't care much for forces. I'd much rather have a good ride than a forceful ride.) and I expect Montu to fall somewhere in between Intimidator and GateKeeper. That spot'll probably be short lived, too, as Banshee might knock it down a peg when it opens. Probably not the best time to post a top 10 but at least I know what could happen to it!

Just book it - not a lot to risk. There is just as strong of a chance of crazy weather hitting you wherever you live than in Tampa. And tropical storm/depression is the same thing as a hurricane just weaker - you would know several days out. Thunderstorms happen anywhere and everywhere - and when they do in Florida it usually isn't an all day rain. Don't stress too much over the weather - what happens, happens, you are booking a trip to one of the best parks in the country don't forget to enjoy it! I'll enjoy it if we can go. I'd rather not go if we can't go to the park. I had to walk past GateKeeper for a whole day in May when we went because lake effect wind shut down all the big rides at CP and it was torture, I can't imagine doing it to the coaster that's been at the top of my bucket list for two years. Luckily the two below it (Outlaw Run and Skyrush respectively) should be easy, but I want this one off of it and we have our schedule built around the daily operation. I just want to know how soon we'll know if there will be a hurricane there. I'll probably book it anyway, though. I know you can't predict storms as soon, but I know you can predict tropical storms two weeks out. Sorry for all the questions. I grew up in a somewhat landlocked state (Michigan; the Great Lakes aren't really counted as coastline) and Ohio. Closest run in we've had with a hurricane at a park was having to evacuate Kings Island before Hurricane Isaac showed up and caused a mass of a few hundred people to cram their way out the gates in thirty seconds.

I understand that lying test seats are a real issue and parks should fix them, but it's better than making them too small! And I understand how it feels. I had to really suck it in to get that belt in on Millennium's seat but I drew a good amount of slack on the belt.

I wasn't sure how long it took to form/hit. My dad said it took about a week to form and a week to hit, so we should be fine. I bet we'd know about it, but if nothing forms this week I bet we're fine. We're booking flights ourselves through United and staying at a Courtyard, so I'll have to check their policies. We're using frequent flyer miles and hotel points, so it's all free, technically. And while a hurricane might not pose an issue, a tropical storm/depression/thunderstorm/squall/monsoon/waterspout/that weird phenomenon where it rains animals/running of the pygmy goats (okay, it's an issue, but not a weather related one. ) might, so anything that could become anything I want to avoid. But thanks for the help! If I'm in a risky mood tomorrow I might bite the bullet and do it. And if I got hit in the face with a fish falling from the sky on Cheetah Hunt it would make my season ten times better.

The worst Cedar Fair name I would have to say is a three way tie between Spinning Dragons, Flight Deck, and Top Thrill Dragster. All three are awful. Thunderation's pretty bad too. So is Matterhorn Bobsleds.

Potentially booking flights for our trip tomorrow. However, despite the fact that I'm sometimes the weatherman of the group on trips I take, I have proven that I have NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING when I try to find hurricane info online. Help? I would like to know what the situation will be like on the 31st through the 2nd. Accuweather says it's clear on the app but I don't think it takes hurricanes into account that far out. Also, how stingy are they on wind? I hear that everything goes down if it rains, but does wind ever shut anything down? I got a Cedar Point trip in May borked due to lake effect wind shutting down everything (had to walk past an empty GateKeeper all day! It was torture!) and I don't want to go if it's going to be shut down due to wind. Back to the park in general, after Gwazi gets relocated to the great theme park in the sky, I'd say an Intamin winged outer seats could take its place. Apollo's Chariot has no sister coaster and if I recall correctly, Skyrush went up over some pretty hard terrain. If one of those can stand over a floody creek like that, building one over flat Florida terrain would probably cause no trouble at all. Maybe give it more of a "dark" theme and theme it to a type of African bat, and maybe give it some kind of dark ritual feel in the area around it? After Cheetah Hunt got its act together, I could see BGT opting for a more extreme one. I could see this happening as soon as 2016.

When I was there in August there was some theming (an airplane and a camo net) out near the queue. I'm on my phone but I can post the picture when I get home. They're not messing around with Banshee! There are a few more U supports in place. Looks like that dive loop will be massive! I think Dollywood calls Tennessee Tornado's loop/Immelmann comvination an Iron Butterly and treats it as its own element. Could Banshee's dive loop/loop be called a Reverse Iron Buterfly then?

Inspired by pretty much every time I try to ride a wing coaster on a specific side...

Busch Gardens Tampa will be my last trip this season followed by Kings Island for Banshee next season.

I only have two I can think of. *Scooby's Ghoster Coaster at Kings Island *Son of Beast at Kings Island I remember walking past King Kobra as a kid but never riding it. I wanted to ride Flying Super Saturator at Carowinds when I was there in 2005 but it was shut down. Quite unfortunate, really, it looked fun.

The only major photo requests I have are one of Banshee in the park's skyline with everything else. That and maybe one of it behind Slingshot. I've always wanted to work as a scare actor but I have a night shift job now so I can't get a clear schedule to do it. Though I believe you when you say it's fun!

Ones that come to mind for me: *Blue Streak- Easily my favorite out-and-back woodie. There's SO much airtime on that thing! *Tennessee Tornado- It's my favorite Arrow looper and I don't ever see anybody rant and rave about it. It's so intense as the loop is one of the funkiest ones out there. *Flight of Fear- That ride doesn't seem to end and is one of the most disorienting ones out there. Not to mention you spend most of the ride plastered down into your seat while up on the wall at a pretty good bank. *Volcano: The Blast Coaster- Such a unique ride and it never gets talked about! Flying around that mountain is spectacular with all the footchoppers. Just my two cents.

Yay! One I my favorite parts of Kings Island is driving up to it and seeing it from the road. It's no as impressive as Cedar Point's, but it's a nice skyline. I can't wait to see how Banshee looks from the road. Can't wait to ride it! I made a recreation in NoLimits (still a WIP, it needs supports and the like) but while I didn't pay THAT much attention to shaping it exactly like the real thing (I'm making it as an RCT3 custom track) it looks to be intense at the bottom of the drop but then after that it only pulls about 3 max. I was hoping for more forces and I'm fairly certain that my shaping isn't exact, but it's close. Though there was some decent hang time on that inline twist.

I have to ask, does Banshee break the skyline? I would imagine it does but I'd love to see it from outside the park. My prediction is that by next week, the dive loop will be up.

If you mean your typical Intamin giga (I-305/MF) but with the u-shape or Skyrush cars, it would rock. But if you mean a 300 foot u-shape coaster...goodness no! But a traditional giga with winged cars? EPIC!!! The thing I like about Intamin is that they engineer, B&M just provides. B&Ms are nice, smooth, and reliable, true, but they almost never build anything groundbreaking except for bigger versions of the few things they pioneer. Intamin really likes to push the industry forward and while they have their issues, true, it's part of engineering. That's why being an engineer in the industry is so hard, you really can't test out your concepts at all until it's go time, and because of how the calendar is for the industry, it's really hard to find time to tweak it until you get it right, and it unfortunately cuts into season time. Intamin's known for cranking out a lot of prototypes, so that's why it happens. I imagine that in a few years I-305 will run as flawlessly as Skyrush does now that they've tweaked all the issues out, and I bet since this won't be the first of its kind, it'll be fine even faster. Not ridden Kingda Ka but it sounds like it has less downtime than Dragster. That sort of thing.