JZ's Ongoing Kings Island Update Thread!

[RIP Psyclone]

Wrong thread to be discussing SFMM, but I would say other parks have a far worse coaster selection. It has the world's best stand-up, the world's best flyer, one of the best inverts, one of the best Arrow suspended, a nice floorless multi inversion, and a 4th dimension. There are enough good coasters to outweigh the mediocre ones. If your only criteria is bountiful airtime, okay, but I think there's more to coasters than that (and I LOVE airtime).

[RIP Psyclone]

Oh, "Tamprica" = BGA.

[FeelTheFORCE]

Again, I'd say I'm a ride guy. I love going to Cedar Point where there are countless rides.

 

But the rides are mostly crap. Funny how a tiny park like Indiana Beach manages to have a better flat ride collection than the so-called mighty Cedar Point.

 

Cedar Point's rides are very thrilling and all out fun, which is what I like in parks. You may think differently, but I agree with JZ and tend to seek out parks with thrilling flats and coasters. Cedar Point fits that category perfectly.

[coaster05]

PKI I love how you don't want ginzo opinion forced on you, but when I criticized CP for what they have done to frontier trail you informed me"sacrifices have to be made" and "Go someplace else if you want a nature trail" I'm confused aren't those opinions, for that fact aren't all of our discussions based on opinions? I am not siding with Ginzo as I don't agree with all of what he has posted. The orginal comment was asking about what KI would do to that area of the park, and using CP or even Dorney as a reference my guess is they will ruin that area of the park to cram in a new ride. I hope i am wrong. I am also confused as how KI is not a theme park. Don't the have several themed sections along with themed rides? Or at least did until this year?

 

I guess i have been to enough parks to say as a fact that you don't have to sacrifice thrilling rides for an all out park experience because so many places don't

 

Alton, BGE, BGA, Universal, Port Aventura, SFOG, SFGAM, Liseberg, Tusenfryd, Parque Warner Madrid, etc.

[Wes]

Obviously PKI has space issues. Just look how they had to shoehorn Beast, Son of Beast, the mine ride etc. Just where do you think they can magically fit a hyper coaster?! Its not like they have a vast forest of unused space or anything. Sacrifices must be made.

[jamesdillaman]

The only place for it is if they get rid of either Fairly Odd Coaster or Runaway Reptar.

 

Seriously, everyone is entitled to their different opinions. I happen to rather like MF, differing from Ginzo, although I enjoy hearing ginzo's views on things, as he's been to more parks than I have, and is also 5 years older (That's right, old man!!) Just because Liz and Joe don't agree with you on everything doesn't mean you're wrong, just a different person.

 

And I have to agree that IB is a MUCH better park in terms of enjoyment of your day than CP is.

 

-James Dillaman

[ginzo]

Why can't we all just get along?

[PKI Jizzman]

Ah, Screamscape.

 

http://www.screamscape.com/html/kings_island.htm

[Reon]

A bit hard too tell if these are THE footers from this angle, but its enough proof that atleast SOMETHING is going down. I can't wait to take some shots on opening day.

[supertrooper]

Obviously PKI has space issues. Just look how they had to shoehorn Beast, Son of Beast, the mine ride etc. Just where do you think they can magically fit a hyper coaster?! Its not like they have a vast forest of unused space or anything. Sacrifices must be made.

 

Are you being sarcastic? I can't tell. Kings Island has tons of space.

 

"The park owns close to 775 acres (3.2 km²) of land, but only 364 acres (1.5 km²) are currently developed"

[Skramp]

Obviously PKI has space issues. Just look how they had to shoehorn Beast, Son of Beast, the mine ride etc. Just where do you think they can magically fit a hyper coaster?! Its not like they have a vast forest of unused space or anything. Sacrifices must be made.

 

Ahahahahahah!!!! Man Wes, sometimes you are truly magical!!! I agree, KI really has no unused space that they could build on, I mean it's not like they took a safari attraction years ago and just have a vast "jungle" of space that is open for future development. I mean that would be perfect if they had an area say 1/3 the size of the current park where they could continue to expand. I mean if they had something like that, who knows what they could do.

 

But, onto the real topic, I think the one thing everyone in the past three pages who have been arguing are forgetting is this, if you look at parks within certain chains, you will notice patterns. Let's look at a few:

 

Busch parks- Much more than rides. Heavily themed areas and beautiful gardens. Areas are planned to sprawl and not overlap too much. Rides are spaced out.

 

Disney parks- Well, what more can be said.

 

Cedar Fair- Parks aren't really themed. Rides are usually crammed into certain areas and overlap greatly.

 

If you look at the way a group designs most of their parks you will see trends, that's why alot of parks are different. But if you look at CP, Knotts and Dorney, you notice a lot of the same design structures in place across the board. Just my two cents.

[NewsPlusNotes]

^ That photo looks like it's of the footers for the transfer track area for a B&M hyper!

 

Mike

[jamesdillaman]

I'll buy a season pass again for a hyper...

 

-James Dillaman

[coaster05]

There is no coaster good enough to ever make me visit KI more then once a year. Heck I have only been there twice in the last decade and that seems like too much.

[ginzo]

^Yeah, but it's different for us locals. I can understand why someone would never want to drive for hours to KI. For me, I think a good B&M would get me to go back again. It's only about 20 minutes away from me.

 

I could go up there on a weeknight: Get a few cycles in on the B&M, ride Delirium a few times, Drop Zon^H^H^HTower one or twice, Adventure Express, and, of course, FLIGHT DECK. Basically spend 3-4 hours and close out the park. That beats watching some awful reality TV show for me. Even if the Racer is too rough to ride now.

 

The one thing that scares me about the prospect of KI getting an actual good coaster is how bad the lines will be. I only rode Firehawk once last year because the line was consistently terrible. And that's a mediocre to OK ride at best. Imagine what kind of line an airtime machine would bring. UGH!

[PKI Jizzman]

The one thing that scares me about the prospect of KI getting an actual good coaster is how bad the lines will be. I only rode Firehawk once last year because the line was consistently terrible. And that's a mediocre to OK ride at best. Imagine what kind of line an airtime machine would bring. UGH!

 

That's true, but if it's running with 2-3 trains with 32-36 people, the lines might be decant. And Firehawk had constant breakdowns, coupled with one train operations. When I had my Aussie student here for 5 weeks, it was closed every time we went up. I haven't been on a B&M hyper, so I wouldn't know the line flow. But for Raptor and Mantis, the lines are pretty much always moving.

[PKI Jizzman]

The one thing that scares me about the prospect of KI getting an actual good coaster is how bad the lines will be. I only rode Firehawk once last year because the line was consistently terrible. And that's a mediocre to OK ride at best. Imagine what kind of line an airtime machine would bring. UGH!

 

That's true, but if it's running with 2-3 trains with 32-36 people, the lines might be decant. And Firehawk had constant breakdowns, coupled with one train operations. When I had my Aussie student here for 5 weeks, it was closed every time we went up. I haven't been on a B&M hyper, so I wouldn't know the line flow. But for Raptor and Mantis, the lines are pretty much always moving.

[ginzo]

That's true, but if it's running with 2-3 trains with 32-36 people, the lines might be decant. And Firehawk had constant breakdowns, coupled with one train operations. When I had my Aussie student here for 5 weeks, it was closed every time we went up. I haven't been on a B&M hyper, so I wouldn't know the line flow. But for Raptor and Mantis, the lines are pretty much always moving.

 

They're capacity machines. They eat riders like Homer Simpson eats donuts. Only having to check a lap bar and no seat belt makes a HUGE difference. Though, knowing Cedar Fair, they'll probably try to install some sort of belt that holds the lap bar down.

 

I still think lines could be really bad. Sure a moving line is better than one that does not move, but a 2 hour wait still sucks no matter what way you slice it. I figure a B&M hyper would pretty much look heavenly compared to everything else in the park and the line will build accordingly. Heck, I saw huge queues for Vortex last year and that thing has always been a champ on capacity.

[coaster05]

With me and KI it wouldn't matter if I could see it from my house, once a year would be more then enough. There is no park I have EVER been to that I could stand more then 5 visits a year too. For me, there is just way to much else in the world to do then to waste time going to someplace I have been to multiple times. I have way too many interests and as Joe will tell you I am not an enthusiast who does many multiple rides. I actually have no coaster that I have taken more then 50 trips on.

 

Again this is my opinion and I am not insulting someone wha can go to the same park 40 times a season. Whatever floats your boat, I am just statoing my preferance as a basis for my opinion.

[FeelTheFORCE]

^^ When exactly were these "huge queues" at Vortex? I understand it was one day I went, and a judgment based on that doesn't have a lot of credibility, but I went on a Friday in August and the park was completely dead. Everything was a walk-on all day, except Firehawk. On top of that, SOB was closed until about 3:00 pm, so it couldn't eat up people for half of the day, yet there was still no one there. The waterpark was packed, but I felt like I was at a park in May it was so empty.

[ginzo]

I am not an enthusiast who does many multiple rides.

 

Awesome. This just means more free seats on the ERT sessions this summer as I'll probably be using nearly every minute of ERT that we get.

[coaster05]

In Spain I took the whole time on Tarantula, Superman at Parque Warner because they were excellent. I also took the full time on Stampida, because it was funny and I wanted to see if my body could take the abuse.

 

I actually slept during the Dragon Kahn ERT on a bench outside the station. the ride was good but only great on one train, plus it was so much better at night I just relaxed.

[NINCUB]

Very interesting.... this is a very busy thread here lately!

 

I am heading to Columbus for vaca June 13-22.

 

I went to CP the first time last year... but this year I was wanting to take a trip to KI. I don't know if you guys are making me want to go to KI or back to CP for this trip coming up! LOL :0)

 

From passing by... KI doesn't seem to "woo hoo!" just kinda meh!?

 

So for my first trip... should I not expect busy days like at CP? Or would any day of the week be "good?"

[ginzo]

From passing by... KI doesn't seem to "woo hoo!" just kinda meh!?

 

So for my first trip... should I not expect busy days like at CP? Or would any day of the week be "good?"

 

Kings Island gets a lot of guests. I think they usually get more guests per season than Cedar Point does, but the lines have never seemed quite as bad as Cedar Point's lines. Not sure what that's about.

 

I'd avoid weekends, particularly Saturday. I've even seen it pretty bad there on weekends in April. If you have to go on a weekend, go on a Sunday. Weekends late in the season have been really good to me in the past. Weekdays are usually a safe bet.

 

If you wind up going on what you think will be a busy day, get there at opening and go right to Firehawk and Flight of Fear. They're right next to each other and usually have bad lines.

[NINCUB]

Groovy! Thanks ginzo..... very helpful. I probably will be going on a weekday as I don't like lines... expecially if it is a "new to me" park. :0)