RollerManic

I’m not going to touch anymore on whether or not Dragon’s Challenge should have been removed - that’s gotten more than enough talk in this thread. I disagree with it too, but It happened and there’s no rebuilding it. I do want to say say though, before I move on, that I watched that queue walkthrough and nothing keeps it from being a pretty sore reminder of what was once there. That said, I applaud Universal for doing the best they could have done with the situation. We have been begging Universal for years to make an attraction like this, and finally for the first time in recent history we have a ride without screens. I also appreciate the level of detail put into the ride. Okay, so the ride goes too fast to appreciate the theming on-ride, but I’m not sure what any of us can do about it. We can only hope Universal gets feedback and resolves it, but considering all I’ve seen the GP is eating this ride up; I’m not to confident Universal is going to feel pressured to change anything. The theming might have been a flop, but from what else I’m hearing this is a FANTASTIC family coaster and I am very pleased to hear that. I commented on Robb’s video Media Day and have just been reading along since because I don’t post too often anymore, but one thing that’s surprised me is the lack of mention that the JP coaster will be filling the thrill gap, which was what I commented on his video. I’ve seen it now thrown around once or twice in this thread but not enough as it should given all the complaining about how a family coaster has replaced (two? one?) thrill coasters. I have a friend at school who interned with Universal last summer and worked for rides safety, working on the likes of the Nintendo project and the safety nets under Hulk. He described to me how the leak for Hagrid's and other projects came about through a Google Drive system between employees and how even he could see projects that were not intended for him. Basically, somebody screwed up the permissions for the files and many employees had access to thing they shouldn’t, and of course, in human nature, an individual took advantage of that and posted them online (he ended up in trouble big time, from what I was told). But, he did mention how scary accurate the video of Hagrid’s was way last summer and the big disruption it caused at Universal. When the leak for the Jurassic Park coaster came out, I went to him and he corroborated the whole thing from what he recalled seeing that summer. It’s also no coincidence that the construction has followed the rumors exactly to this day. TLDR; if you haven’t already seen the JP coaster leaks, go look and start believing it. I’m not going to post them here for this site/Universal’s sake. EDIT: look for older articles, I'm seeing now with a recent search that Google is returning mostly newer articles that are stuffed with a ton of speculative crap and not information on what was actually leaked, which was pretty much just the ride layout and some stats. Read above. Bingo. It's supposed to reach speeds of 70+mph and heights of 150ft; I think it's reasonable to assume a launch coaster of that magnitude in that relatively small footprint should be a fairly intense ride, but time will tell. I'm just happy that we are getting the JP coaster on top of this and didn't get another Gringotts to replace Dueling Dragons. Sure, DD didn't need to go for the JP coaster, but that's history unfortunately. Robb, thanks for the review and positively about the rest of the ride -- it helps me still look forward to it in light of all this negative feedback surrounding one aspect of it. Oh, and I nearly forgot -- we have a BRAND NEW park coming that is a CLEAN SLATE for Universal to redeem themselves should they do so correctly. Can we focus on that a little bit?

Yes, because rest assured, rides like Raptor have never valleyed I still think I prefer these wing coasters to a plethora of “actually” forceful B&M’s.

Don’t forget for us St. Louis people, going to KI means passing HW and KK. And soon as they get that giga next year — a GIGA within reasonable driving distance from STL? Whew.

Yeah... a cobra roll wouldn’t be a fair comparison here. I think the issue might be with the angle of the picture itself. It doesn’t look like it “completes” the first inversion for it to be considered two inversions. Take a look again at a construction picture. You can clearly see that the ride is banked >90* in the middle of the first element. I think a cobra roll is a more than fair comparison here because the same thing happens: Invert -> <90* -> Invert. Also taking another look at RCDB’s element database, I see that each element considered more than one inversion has the number of inversions listed on it’s database page. Case in point, a lot of the funky, grey-area RMC elements that I don’t care to remember are listed as two inversions, and only extra particularly-questionable examples (like banana rolls) are listed as one. Matter of fact, the last element (inversions four and five) is kind of similar to the unique stall on Untamed that is listed as two inversions on RCDB. Nonetheless, RCDB lists Maxx Force as having five inversions, and while you may not agree now, I think once you ride it the inversions will actually feel pretty well defined. IMO it’s hard to miss being upside-down, continuing to rotate 90* upwards, and then quickly changing direction of rotation and finding yourself upside-down again.

^RCDB lists cobra rolls and interlocking corkscrews as one element but counts two inversions for each. I think the logic is fair.

I think this park might be the reason I even ever go to Poland now. (No offense, but there’s already a lot of historical stuff to see and things to do in Europe elsewhere)

Cedar Point! First time in 10 years!

This is by far the nicest looking Superloop installation.

I don’t think anyone likes the way Six Flags does theming, but you are just beating a dead horse here. What I was told by a manager at the park is the reason Supergirl’s placement is two-fold. Getting a new attraction is the only way to get funds from cooperate to improve an area of the park. Sucks that they “improved” it like so, but the real smoking gun here is actually DC. They are extremely controlling on how their intellectual property is represented in the parks: down to the colors for the area, the overall appearance, and even wether or not an “‘s” can be used after the name in possessive cases (See: Riddler’s Revenge vs Riddler Revenge). What’s worse is that their standards change so frequently that the JL area of the park is already out of code, and so to have installed a new DC ride would have meant major detail changes in the area.

Same! Sure makes me glad that I’m a TPR member! KIC is going ape-shit right now about this thing not reaching 300’, which is a ridiculous rumor to begin. People over there are calling this a “Kmart coaster”; not kidding. I don’t know about other members in my area, but I’d much rather drive seven hours every year to ride this “not a giga coaster” than just down the road to my home park, Six Flags St. Louis or Worlds of Fun (they’re equidistant). Sure enough though, I did find full blueprints over there and it shows the lift and station starting at an elevation of 10-15ft just like I predicted. I’m pretty certain this whole 285ft rumor started as an oversight to this fact which is why I think it’s ludicrous.

Ouch, we were planning on going today. Looks like that would have been a mess. Does anyone know how crowds usually are in the middle of June? We would be going on weekdays. Also, how bad does Steel Vengeance's line get on slower days? Is Fastlane worth it on slower days if we'd have two full days in the park?

I just rewatched a POV of OzIris keeping what you reported in mind and I can definitely now see where it's coming from. Thank you for clearing my perception I've gotten of the ride from other enthusiasts.

WOW, I had no idea they were this far along! Original photo credit goes to reddit user Flyingdrums. Photos were taken outside park property and after park hours. I am very excited to watch this rise because I for one have no idea how they plan to make this! I wonder if we will get a Goliath style lift hill and it hasn’t been announced yet the same as it was for Goliath. I have a difficult time fathoming a Steel Vengeance sized lift anyway in this plot of land.

Everyone is freaking out about this, but did we remember to add the 10-15 feet off the ground the lift it will start at just like Fury 325? It has no pre-lift section, just a transfer by the blueprints like Fury, and if nearly every B&M can be evidence enough, the station is going to have a platform height of ~15 ft alone. Give a couple feet for error in all our estimates plus the terrain and I’d say we’re looking at 300ft here still and no less.

It looks pretty different to Diamondback so I think I’ll be pretty happy with it if this turns out to be true. If I want a longer ride I’ll just walk across the park and ride Diamondback; hopefully this while shorter will give a more intense and relentless experience that I can’t get on Diamondback.

Okay, 2020 road trip it is.

Revenge of the Mummy at USH.

I don’t think you’re crazy at all. I place Storm Chaser above Outlaw Run, Goliath, and NTaG (all the other RMC’s I’ve ridden) because it focuses on sustained ejector airtime. All the latter were good rides but aren’t all that as some people suggest. Abrupt ejector doesn’t really do that much for me. I have the same predicament with Lightning Run. A GREAT ride, but not something I rave about. It has particularly abrupt airtime even amongst’s Allen’s creations (within my experience) and I just wish I could have more time to enjoy each moment.

^Don’t forget orange too! I almost got worried they didn’t have an orange coaster till I remembered The Bat! Hopefully we will see something unique.

Im pretty sure what’s “tried and true” for Cedar Fair and what’s been working for them is orange... I would welcome blue and silver as something new. Just no more orange!

I haven't been thrilled by how close it's getting to the Beast but perhaps you have a good point that it could get pretty dark out there at night. If this thing stays low to the ground like Fury, it could be INSANE flying through that area of the woods at night.

Good, wouldn't want to run it without any brakes for sure!

Top 10 at or under 100 ft - I would love to see this since we've had a lot of new kickass rides built lately meeting this condition. Don't worry, only three RMC's meet this requirement. Could be just one (Joker) if you limit it to under 100 ft only.

I agree. I normally try to talk people down from their crazy expectations but I think enthusiasts are getting what they want this time. Just now seeing this quote, but I was going to say I too usually belittle expectations but now (dare I say) I'm getting excited and starting to expect it myself. To be fair, there is a critical piece of information of which many KI outsiders have been either unbeknownst to or have been overlooking... It would be, that at Coasterstock in April 2018, when asked on the possibilty of a giga at the Q&A, GM Mike Koontz responded that he had requested one from Cedar Fair as a part of his 3-4 year plan (which GMs of each park present to corporate every year). You can watch him say it . Granted, he may have just said this just to prevent constant pestering at him about it (which is a very plausible reason ), OR Cedar Fair simply may have responded with something like, "NO. YOU'LL GET A WING COASTER AND LIKE IT!" Besides that however, its just what make the most intuitive sense at this point. Especially with the clearing we have now, if the park is ever getting a giga, this is the time and place. The only wings and dives added to any CF park are at ones that already have both a hyper and giga. This can change and likely will (if KD goes with a wing or dive soon), but that to me indicates that they seen them more as novelties rather than staples. Don't get me wrong, I for one wouldn't mind a diver sometime in the park's future. But come on, we can get those things later... Its freaking giga time I 100% am on the giga bandwagon as I was when I was sure Mystic Timbers would be a giga (before the layout leaked). BUT, I'm keeping this quoted for accountability just in case! I just don't by the narrowness and length of the plot anymore that we could be looking at a dive coaster unless it is something out-and-back and truly unprecedented. Sure, if they had just knocked out Firehawk and nothing else I think it would have been more reasonable. Same goes for a wing coaster - if this clearing gets any longer, I'd say "no way". On that, I just realized that the idea of King's Island getting a dive coaster has NEVER once occurred to me, but now that it has: that would be freaking AMAZING, especially if after a giga (but let's call this a pipe dream for now, okay?).

Sorry to screw up the even sweep but... you know... there was this blue thing across the park. Corkscrew? I’m thinking he means something he couldn’t rank anyway, the Skyride. Glad to see Mystic Timbers and Storm Chaser make it in the top 20’s (especially the latter being ahead of several of the RMCs). I rode both in 2018 and they were fantastic. Count me in as surprised by Twisted Timber’s placement. I’m also surprised by Soaring with Dragon, as I never thought much of it and didn't think many people had been out that way to ride it.