A.J. Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 I'm an Arrow fan boy, won't lie. But the fact of the matter is, coasters have life spans. Vortex will be around for a bit longer, but it will be gone eventually. No one really knows yet when that'll be. My hope is that with today's technology, older rides can be refurbished to get more life out of them. Not necessarily as dramatic as Steel Phantom into Phantom's Revenge, or the RMC coasters in Texas, but just something that keeps the attraction going, especially if it's still popular. Old-school B&M multi-looper to replace Vortex for 2018? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stashua123 Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 (edited) Well Kings Island today revealed all the Fast Lane Details and the new thing is Fast Lane PLUS. It gets you The Beast and Firehawk and costs 10 more than reg. Fast Lane 45$ FAST LANE - Make the most of your day with a Fast Lane wristband that allows you to bypass the regular lines on more than 20 rides and attractions including Diamondback, Flight of Fear, and more. Ride as many times as you want all day long. The only thing we limit is the number of these exclusive passes we sell! BUY NOW AS LOW AS $35.00 FAST LANE PLUS - For the ultimate Kings Island experience, upgrade to FAST LANE PLUS. Enjoy all of the Fast Lane attractions PLUS, unlimited rides on The Beast and Firehawk! A very limited number are available each day so buy yours today! BUY NOW AS LOW AS $45.00 Huh. I may try it out on opening day. Edited March 22, 2013 by stashua123 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper39 Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 Wow, glad to see this option is still available this season, and I love the added bonus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PennStater Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 I thought Fast Lane included The Beast anyways... in fact, I know it did because I used it. So, I guess it's actually the $35 option that's new, not the PLUS option. PLUS is the old "regular", right? Or, am I just crazy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lareson Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 Yeah, they basically subtracted The Beast from the standard FastLane. I think the reason why they added the FastLane Plus was to add rides that they weren't sure it was a good idea to add previously cause of already existing capacity issues, but decided to add the "Plus" option to cut down on the people who buy it so that it wouldn't disrupt operations too much. They added Firehawk, Top Thrill Dragster, Nighthawk, and Volcano to FastLane at their respective parks under the Plus pricing. It's only rolled out to the major parks that have around 20+ FastLane capable rides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aceattack52 Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 I'm an Arrow fan boy, won't lie. But the fact of the matter is, coasters have life spans. Vortex will be around for a bit longer, but it will be gone eventually. No one really knows yet when that'll be. My hope is that with today's technology, older rides can be refurbished to get more life out of them. Not necessarily as dramatic as Steel Phantom into Phantom's Revenge, or the RMC coasters in Texas, but just something that keeps the attraction going, especially if it's still popular. This got me thinking about Mindbender at SFOG. It's been around for so long now. (Since 1978) It is still a great ride and always has been, but you said that all coasters have lifespans. When will Mindbender's usable lifetime end? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simaticable Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 I'm an Arrow fan boy, won't lie. But the fact of the matter is, coasters have life spans. Vortex will be around for a bit longer, but it will be gone eventually. No one really knows yet when that'll be. My hope is that with today's technology, older rides can be refurbished to get more life out of them. Not necessarily as dramatic as Steel Phantom into Phantom's Revenge, or the RMC coasters in Texas, but just something that keeps the attraction going, especially if it's still popular. This got me thinking about Mindbender at SFOG. It's been around for so long now. (Since 1978) It is still a great ride and always has been, but you said that all coasters have lifespans. When will Mindbender's usable lifetime end? Fortunately, the only issue Mind Bender would have is the trains aging. That can be fixed by getting new ones from Gerstlaur. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimaster1227 Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Kings Island has sent us a press advisory as work continues to prep the park for its 2013 season! Ride technicians rebuild a car for the yellow train on the Woodstock Express roller coaster Monday at Kings Island. The wooden roller coaster is located in the 12-time, award-winning Planet Snoopy kids’ area of the 364-acre amusement and waterpark and has given more than 43 million rides since it opened in 1972, the fourth-most in park history behind the Racer (97 million), K.I. & Miami Valley Railroad (50 million) and The Beast (47 million). Kings Island opens for the 2013 season April 27. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFOGdude25 Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Seems like this year will be a really great year for Kings Island! I love how they are focusing on the little things like ride maintenance and improving the restaurant in Rivertown. I can't wait to visit this summer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aceattack52 Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 I'm an Arrow fan boy, won't lie. But the fact of the matter is, coasters have life spans. Vortex will be around for a bit longer, but it will be gone eventually. No one really knows yet when that'll be. My hope is that with today's technology, older rides can be refurbished to get more life out of them. Not necessarily as dramatic as Steel Phantom into Phantom's Revenge, or the RMC coasters in Texas, but just something that keeps the attraction going, especially if it's still popular. This got me thinking about Mindbender at SFOG. It's been around for so long now. (Since 1978) It is still a great ride and always has been, but you said that all coasters have lifespans. When will Mindbender's usable lifetime end? Fortunately, the only issue Mind Bender would have is the trains aging. That can be fixed by getting new ones from Gerstlaur. I know, it's really nice Gerstlaur is making new trains for the Schwarkopfs. Hershey Park got the new trains for SooperDooperLooper and they really look fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TyRush Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 SDL's trains make it so much smoother! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3Mutts Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 ^ I agree, the new trains definetly make the ride seem less clunky than the old ones. Also those new magnetic brakes help aswell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Psst. Six Flags Over Georgia Discussion Thread I personally wouldn't give the Racer its 97 million total based on both tracks. They should break it up to rides per side, considering that it's not a möbius loop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lareson Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Kings Island has been fairly quiet on the social media end of things, posting a couple pics on Twitter, but Facebook has been pretty quiet. I did see though that on the 14th they did post that work was being done on Racer this year, including the queue and station. I did find though that the blue side last year was brutal, as it's so far the only coaster to leave a visible bruise on my arm, so hopefully there's going to be some new track on both sides. Did find this image that they posted on Twitter pretty cool, showing the wooden coaster parts stock. I can point out a couple of the parts here too! Did notice though that they still had the ride number for Son Of Beast listed there. Can't imagine they have many parts of that left. No idea what they're going to do with the trains either as Cedar Fair doesn't own any other wooden coaster with Gerstlauer trains so it's not like they can part the parts off to another park. Maybe they'll sell them to a Six Flags park since they still have a few of those trains running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat-G Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 ^ It would be kinda hard to as the trains were modified heavily for operation on S.O.B. Also a lot of S.O.B is scattered throughout the park, for example a couple of the breaks on Adventure Express are from S.O.B. I'm sure that most of the parts can be used for the other wooden coasters in the park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geauga Dog Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 I wonder what parts of the Beast have been rebuilt/retracked this year. Last year it was the turn before the shed brakes and the year before that the turn after the shed brakes. Less than a month to go to find out (it's about time - lol). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B&MBoy1982 Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 They sometimes use the SOB trains as Haunt displays. One year they used King Cobra trains with skeletons in them, as well as an old parking lot tram. There are 2 really bad areas on Vortex that just needs new track. When the train makes the turn toward the vertical loops, there is a terrible transition there, and on the MCBR. I like Vortex, but can only ride it once or twice per season, however, I can ride Diamondback all day long. (that is actually what I do at KI, ride Diamondback all day.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOCTOR DOOM!!! Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Kings Island has been fairly quiet on the social media end of things, posting a couple pics on Twitter, but Facebook has been pretty quiet. I did see though that on the 14th they did post that work was being done on Racer this year, including the queue and station. I did find though that the blue side last year was brutal, as it's so far the only coaster to leave a visible bruise on my arm, so hopefully there's going to be some new track on both sides. There's NO fixing that side of Racer! Its been like that for as long as I can remember from when I was a WAY younger kid! I think it's worse than Son Of Beast and Mean Streak combined! Its like the bottom of every drop the wheels turn into squares! The Red/Backwards side never was that bad! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Curt Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Heading to Kings Island for the first and probably only time. Date we will be in the park is May 15th which is a Wednesday. Now my question to all you Island experts, do you think being midweek that we will need FL or FL+? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KI Kidd Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 If you get there at opening and Firehawk is behaving then you can almost certainly get away with just regular Fast Lane (or possibly neither). The other factor will be the number of school groups there that day. Either way I hope you enjoy the park, it has gotten a lot of love the past couple of seasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildStangAlex Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Mid-week in May days are typically dead, last summer I went a few days mid-week in May and was able to ride all coasters once, and diamondback 10+ times and still leave the park before dinner time. It really is the best time to visit Kings Island, as it will be swamped the rest of the summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lareson Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Yeah, Kings Island is one of those parks where it can be dead or pretty busy, no matter when you go. I've gone near the end of July the past 2 years and it hasn't been bad. Don't think we waited any longer than 45 min for all of the coasters, with Flight of Fear being the longest with Diamondback and The Beast the shortest. I'd wait until you get to the park to decided on FastLane, especially this early in the season. If there's a lot of busses and the parking lot is fairly full, I'd get FastLane so you can bypass them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoopScreweD Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Hello ive been to KI once and found Vortex on that day to be having a ten to fiteen minute wait all day and giving (IMO) pretty spectacular rides at least for someone used to Demon at SFGAM.Im asking anyone who goes to Kings Island frequently give a honest no BS assement on the popularity,maintenace state, and its importance/place in the park of Vortex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Curt Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Thanks for the replies, we are going to probably stay at Great Wolf Lodge (unless there is a better one), and be able to get in a bit early to ride. Will check out or ask to see if anyone knows if it will be a busy day (schools and such) or just a fairly dead day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonsaiisuperstar Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 "On March 15, 2010, the General Manager of Kings Island, Greg Scheid, stated that the park had spent nearly $30 million on the ride 9Son of Beast) to date, and that it would not reopen for the 2010 season." as per wikipedia. 30 Million??!! Changing trains, removing loops, fixing poor supports. What a colossal disaster. Nothing but several lawsuits and an empty space in return for that money. The only cool thing about Son of Beast was that it was MASSIVE, a real presence at the park. I miss seeing its massive structure driving down I-71. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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