aCoasterStory

I would love to know where to find all the single rider lines for these coasters. I don't ever remember seeing any in the park.

As much as I believe that coaster restraints are safe, the Vekoma flyers always make me nervous since the first time you put any weight on the restraint is when you're already a hundred feet in the air.

I would recommend it. That being said, I visited on a Saturday last August and was able to get through most of the rides with minimal wait. Used the Gold Season Pass to get early entry at 10:20 and hustled to Full Throttle. Went out on the first train, and I was on my way to X2 by the time the main gates opened. Had nearly no wait for X2 because I was ahead of the main rush. By the time I got off X2, the main rush was just getting up that way, and I was able to stay ahead of it and hit Tatsu and then Ninja, all within the first 45 min. Then I hit Superman (minimal line, but it went down briefly), walked back to see if Apocalypse was open (it wasn't), and then Goldrusher, Riddler's (via the SR line), Batman, Green Lantern (via the SR line). Even with only 1 train, Scream's line wasn't more than 15 min. Followed that up with Colossus & LL:DoD (via the SR line). At that point, it was nearly 2, and Goliath's hour wait was the first line I encountered longer than 15 minutes all day. At that point, I'd hit all the adult coasters that were open except Viper and Revolution, both of which have SR lines. The trick was just keeping up an aggressive pace and staying ahead of the crowd as they circle around the park. Single Rider lines helped a lot (which I know won't be an option for your group), but I just thought I'd share my experience.

What would a theme park forum be without wild, unfounded speculation?

Not only that, but they will dispatch with the clamshell in the minimum safe position (I think it's 3 clicks), even if it could come down another click, giving you plenty of extra room to float on the hills. And (at least for me and my body shape), with the way the clamshell is designed, I know there's no possible way I have to worry about coming out of the restraints, even with it not all the way tight. I feel like seatbelts might not have that extra degree of freedom. The sensation of floating between your seat and the clamshell is what makes it so fun.

Best part of the ride is the great floater air. One of my favorite B&M hypers for that very reason.

When I've visited KI, I've usually ended up going on Saturdays, and I've purchased the FLP to get the most out of the day. Historically, that has afforded me the ability to ride all the coasters twice-ish by early afternoon, then go do something else for a little while (once I went and saw the Dark Knight in IMAX; other times I've gone to the waterpark till it closed). Then there's usually enough time left in the evening to go back and hit all the highlights again another time or two (or three for the really fun ones). Of all the coasters at KI, Diamondback is the one I usually end up re-riding a bunch back-to-back. Most of the others can get stale after a couple of re-rides, but the Beast at night is a definite must. My guess is Banshee at night will also be pretty sweet.

This.

I have historically enjoyed the GA Scorcher. It was my first coaster with inversions, and I figured out how to ride in the restraints comfortably fairly early on. I also really liked Riddler's Revenge. I've ridden a good number of stand-ups (I think Vortex at CGA is the only one in the US/Canada I haven't ridden), and those two are definitely the stand-outs IMHO.

Unless she was like the chick from the NTaG accident that claimed to see everything and then described an impossible sequence of events (thus proving she didn't see anything and was just attention whoring).

Cheetah Hunt. Front Row. 2nd to last train Sunday night. In the dark. It was awesome.

I consider I305 and Maverick to be top-5 coasters. They aren't infinitely re-rideable like the SheiKras and Expedition Everests of the world, but they are definitely re-rideable--you get off and you want to go back and try that again because it's crazy and intense and like nothing you've ever ridden before. (at least a time or two before your shoulders start hurting) I wouldn't put Kumba anywhere near my top 20. It isn't a coaster I get off and want to try again, partly because I don't enjoy banging my head into the restraints, but also partly because I can experience (and have) each element of that ride on another B&M, whether in the sit-down, floorless, or even stand-up models. Heck, Bizarro @ SFGAdv (and thus Scream at SFMM) have the exact same structure of elements (and are nearly the same height/speed). Bizarro to me delivers a much better ride experience; I didn't care for Scream. (FWIW I don't consider the floorless element to be a significant differentiating factor like I would with inverts or dive machines or wing coasters or flying coasters.) B&M's with interlocking corkscrews generally deliver the same experience across the board. B&M's with cobra rolls generally deliver the same experience across the board. There's nothing special about them that sets them apart from any other similar model. At the end of the day, Kumba doesn't give me anything I can't get at most any other park I've been to in the US. Coasters like Maverick and I305 are unmatched. There's nothing else like them out there in the US today. But in 23 years when they're as old as Kumba (and have clones/successors as plentiful), we'll probably be talking about them the way I'm talking about Kumba now. (I'm not the *hugest* fan of Hulk @ IOA, but it at least delivers a unique ride experience with the launch that you can't find on any other B&M...just sayin')

Montu's & Banshee's batwings are designed differently. Motnu's is broken into segments, with snappy transitions. Banshee's flows more uniformly. Also, the exit of the batwing passes under the entrance rather than to the side. This is more like the "pretzel knott" element used on Moonsault Scramble than a true batwing used by many Arrow loopers, and Montu and Afterburn Good comparison. I knew they were different, but I guess I didn't realize quite how different they were. Looking at those photos, I'd almost say Banshee looks closer to a dive loop/immelmann combo than an actual batwing. That being said, if you think about it, Banshee's layout is almost like they took Montu and stretched it. The order of the elements is remarkably similar. Montu starts off with curved drop, loop, immelmann, 0-G roll. Banshee starts with curved drop, immelmann, loop, 0-G roll. Then both have their "batwing" elements and a 2nd loop. Montu's last element is a corkscrew, while Banshee has that long inline twist, but their list of elements is remarkably similar. Of course, they're going to be nothing alike in actual ride experience, but it does make you wonder if someone was all like, "what if we took Montu but made it taller and made all of the ride elements huge instead of small and snappy?"

As to the discussion above, while Cheetah Hunt doesnt have the same kind of positive G's as some of the other coasters in the park (Kumba included), it does have several pops of negative G's (particularly in the front) that exceed those provided on any of the other coasters in the park. So depending on whether you're looking at positive or negative G's, both answers could be correct. That being said, Kumba gets a lot of love on here, but I really didn't think it was all that special. It's not a ride that you get off and go, "man, that was great! let's ride that again!" I think Montu, SheiKra, and Cheetah Hunt are all more re-rideable, which to me is a really big component of how good/great a coaster is.

After that hit the Congo to ride Kumba. Last row on the right side of course. I've seen this recommendation s number of times. The forces were good and all, but I can't deal with the headbanging. It's not like an Arrow or Vekoma where it's straight-up violent, but it was enough of a rattle where I didn't want to re-ride. FWIW, I've been finding that I'm becoming more sensitive to coasters rattling my head around. Didn't have a problem with that on any of the other coasters in the park, save Gwazi, but that's a whole different kind of rattle altogether (seemed to be a violent up-down bouncing that felt like there was something wrong with every joint between pieces of running steel).

Having ridden Montu today (and really enjoying the forces through the batwing), I don't know that Banshee will be going fast enough throughout the entire element for it to be anywhere near the same. Having said that, though...one of my favorite things at BGT is the Immelmann on SheiKra and how (in the back row and on the far right edge, at least) you get gentle floater air and also a gentle twist at the same time, really letting you enjoy the zero-g moment. I hope that if Banshee doesn't whip you around the tops of the batwing like Montu, it at least gives the same sort of twisty-floaty experience as what I encountered on SheiKra (and then takes you into massive positive G's at the bottom).

1. ^ That just looks insane. 2. I'm going to be at the park tomorrow. Any recommendations for what to hit when? I have no idea how the crowds are going to be, but I figure I need to get Cheetah Hunt and Sheikra in pretty early, no?

Are you really sure about that date? Good catch. My bad.

I really did not enjoy Maverick the first time I rode it in 2010, but I loved it when I visited again in 2012 and a couple of times since. I have found that with rides like this, they're a lot better once you know what to expect from them--the first time, the quick transitions catch you really off guard and aren't enjoyable, but once you know what's coming, you can be prepared for it and really enjoy the ride. My first visit to CP was in 2006, and I remember seeing the pile of red track that would eventually become Maverick.

Just came across this, which I present without comment: http://www.cracked.com/article_20957_6-awful-realities-behind-scenes-at-seaworld.html

You know what this reminds me of? One of those motion simulator rides where you build a "coaster" and then "ride" it.

^^ & ^^^^ Agreed. It's just a flipping map...I'm not even sure why people make that big of a deal out of these things as it is. But if you people really want to see it, look at the middle school and high school workbooks: https://www.visitkingsisland.com/youth-sales/education-days

I believe it was Full Throttle last August...can't wait till next weekend to get my first ride of 2014 in. It's been too long.

Mine will probably be Cheetah at Wild Adventures...dropping by WA on my way to BGT next weekend.

I've skipped a lot of Boomerangs/SLC's/Wild Mice/Spinning Coasters/Kiddie Coasters, and I've missed a credit or two because the line was too long for the time I had at that park, but the coaster I missed that I so very wish I could have ridden was Big Bad Wolf. We went to BGW on a field trip in the 8th grade, and it was closed that day. I never made it back before it was removed. I'm generally a fan of suspended coasters, and I imagine BBW would have been one of the better ones, particularly with that drop/turn over the water. Verbolten is fun and all, but I really wish I could have tried BBW at least once.