Kings Island (KI) Discussion Thread

[prozach626]

Oh Yeah!!! My first week in June getaway is looking to be one awesome trip. Besides visiting Kings Island, I will first be visiting Holiday World and Kentucky Kingdom. If you can imagine all those rides, both wet and dry rides, is it any wonder I'll be either all rode out or all washed up or maybe both.

 

In other words - another satisfied rider and amusement park flyer.

 

I'm not much for water parks, but you'll love Splashin Safari. I personally prefer it over Schilitterbahn.

[DJeXeL]

^All Schlitterbahns or 1 in particular?

[Superbatboy]

Love the color, looks like grape candy

[glouthan]

^Me too. The color is eccentric, but it totally works.

[bonsaiisuperstar]

Anyone know the guys name to the right of Don? I assume he is a electrical engineer from B&M as he was running Gatekeeper manually on media Day.

[rcjp]

I know this is not anything special but those wheel covers look like they are shaped slightly differently from the ones used on other inverts. Less round and edgier.

[Diamondbacker27]

Wheel covers are being placed on all the wheels correct?

[alilstronger]

Oh Yeah!!! My first week in June getaway is looking to be one awesome trip. Besides visiting Kings Island, I will first be visiting Holiday World and Kentucky Kingdom. If you can imagine all those rides, both wet and dry rides, is it any wonder I'll be either all rode out or all washed up or maybe both.

 

In other words - another satisfied rider and amusement park flyer.

 

I'm not much for water parks, but you'll love Splashin Safari. I personally prefer it over Schilitterbahn.

 

But Schiltterbahn New Braunfels is amazing! It does depend if you prefer slides of the river style rides though. I can understand what you mean.

 

Back to the coaster! Of course they have to put this in the year I move really far away and can not afford a TPR trip the summer of.

[DJeXeL]

Wheel covers are being placed on all the wheels correct?

 

My guess as to why the wheel covers haven't been put on is that B&M/KI are still experimenting with different Nylon/Polyurethane wheel combinations to get optimum speed of the trains. Just my two cents.

[coasterbill]

That sounds about right to me. For example if the train ends up traveling too quickly through an element it may produce actual G forces which is unacceptable for a modern B&M ride.

[DJeXeL]

^Especially seeing how this is a prototype train design for them.

[DavidW]

I think they have been running it without the covers and probably had to put the covers on for human testing.

[DJeXeL]

Riders can ride it without wheel covers.

[prozach626]

I'm not much for water parks, but you'll love Splashin Safari. I personally prefer it over Schilitterbahn.

 

But Schiltterbahn New Braunfels is amazing! It does depend if you prefer slides of the river style rides though. I can understand what you mean.

 

Back to the coaster! Of course they have to put this in the year I move really far away and can not afford a TPR trip the summer of.

It was neat when my wife (then girlfriend) and I went a few years ago, but I think the reason I didn't really care for it was the crowds. Maybe I caught it on an unusually crowded day.

 

That sounds about right to me. For example if the train ends up traveling too quickly through an element it may produce actual G forces which is unacceptable for a modern B&M ride.

 

Oh, I get it. It's funny because... it's a shot... at B&M...

 

good laugh..

[coasterkyle]

Anyone know the guys name to the right of Don? I assume he is a electrical engineer from B&M as he was running Gatekeeper manually on media Day.

His name is Walt, he's a really awesome guy. His knowledge on how to get each system to work just right is outstanding.

[GigaG]

That sounds about right to me. For example if the train ends up traveling too quickly through an element it may produce actual G forces which is unacceptable for a modern B&M ride.

 

Primarily wing and dive coasters due to their large, wide trains, I would imagine. I heard Oziris is forceless. But not all new B&Ms are bad. Even Silver Bullet - an otherwise rather forceless ride - has forces - the helix made me grey out, which never happens on Raptor to me. Hydra, while not particurally forceful, is a fun ride. Also, keep in mind that you're going through these inversions with no MCBR and (hopefully) no trims, at some points going faster than any other B&M invert. I think that this layout is hard to make forceless.

[ajfelice]

This B&M debate of forces or lack thereof, has led me to do some hard thinking lately. Well kind of.

 

GateKeeper is a great example to me. Until the dive loop near Blue Streak, I would argue that GK is pretty much as intense as a coaster of that stature needs to be. After the dive loop, GK has lost some speed, but the elements of the track are still large and drawn out, so inevitably the forces on the riders are drastically reduced and their perception of the lost speed is enhanced. I get this idea from talking to several coaster engineers about the general theory of coaster design. The common denominator is that as you lose speed, the elements should be tighter to keep riders thrilled thinking they are going just as fast while still offering an intense ride. For Banshee, I believe the intensity will all depend on how well the speed is matched with the size of the elements at any given point along the course. Hopefully since the terrain and size of the trains are in Banshee's favor compared to a wing rider, the intensity will be maintained until the final brakes.

[gerstlaueringvar]

It's the same for FOTR, it is pretty intense before the Zero G Roll but everything after that are worse than a Roller Skater.

 

Hopefully Banshee would be a change. Come on B&M! It's time to get back! KI deserves an intense B&M!

[coasterbill]

That sounds about right to me. For example if the train ends up traveling too quickly through an element it may produce actual G forces which is unacceptable for a modern B&M ride.

 

Primarily wing and dive coasters due to their large, wide trains, I would imagine. I heard Oziris is forceless. But not all new B&Ms are bad. Even Silver Bullet - an otherwise rather forceless ride - has forces - the helix made me grey out, which never happens on Raptor to me. Hydra, while not particurally forceful, is a fun ride. Also, keep in mind that you're going through these inversions with no MCBR and (hopefully) no trims, at some points going faster than any other B&M invert. I think that this layout is hard to make forceless.

 

Oh believe me I don't think the rides are bad at all. I really like rides like Gatekeeper, Silver Bullet and Wild Eagle. They're fun... I'd even go so far as to call myself a wingrider fan as I love the gimmick and I definitely like even the least forceful inverts but I'd consider all of these rides to be "forceless". I'm sure Banshee is going to be a lot of fun, I've never ridden a B&M I didn't like (minus some old stand ups)... but based on what they've built lately it's pretty likely the ride will be forceless.

 

As far as Silver Bullet's helix being forceful it was probably the most forceful part of the ride but I didn't think it was anything to write home about. I have to admit that for a long time I thought complaints about new B&M coasters from people on this board (including Robb) were a little over-blown but then last month I rode Kumba and I completely get it now. After riding that coaster I agree that the stuff B&M builds now (while it's still fun) is kind of frustrating because they're capable of so much more.

 

I'm not going to judge Banshee until I ride it, and even if it's forceless I have no doubt that this coaster will be a lot of fun. That being said given the trend B&M is setting with their new coasters I really don't see any reason to think this one is going to be any more forceful than the rest of them.

[cedarpointer]

The layout kinda reminds me of Afterburn at Carowinds, (turning drop, dive loop, batwing, ext) which is probably my favorite B&M invert that Ive been on. I think Banshee will pack a punch!

[coasterbill]

I hope you're right, but the important thing isn't really the sequence of elements but the speed each element is taken at and how the element is constructed.

 

I hate to keep bringing up Kumba but it proves my point perfectly. The sequence of inversions is very predictable for B&M's and is the same as rides like Scream!, Bizarro and many others. Loop. Dive Loop, Barrel Roll, Cobra Roll, Double Corkscrew. The difference is that it blows through all of them like it's actively trying to kill everyone on the train.

[Diamondbacker27]

Kings Island and Cedar Fair are aiming at family friendly rides, so, there for the rides can't have a lot of forces. They aren't just trying to please us in the coaster world, but every single visitor.

[ajfelice]

Kings Island and Cedar Fair are aiming at family friendly rides, so, there for the rides can't have a lot of forces.

Banshee is intended to be a "thrill" ride. GateKeeper is also a "thrill" ride. It is obvious through every piece of Cedar Fair's marketing for these rides that they are intended to be thrill rides. B&M May have a forceless reputation lately, but Cedar Fair is building them as thrill rides. The day a park like Kings Island spends that much money on a family coaster...

[ccharle2]

Just want to bring it to everyone's attention that The Bat paint job looks complete! Wonder if it will be open during Media Day???? Thoughts?

I am SO READY TO RIDE COASTERS!

 

 

Hopefully everyone can see the photo??? Still new the forum!

[coasterbill]

That looks great. I think they're still doing some work on it as there's a crane in the background but it looks 99.9% done.