Kings Island (KI) Discussion Thread

[coasterbill]

I’m always tempted by that but I’m always at the park with a bunch of complete whimps. Honestly this year I’ll ride the damn thing solo if I have to.

[Canobie Coaster]

Don't the people you're with ride Nitro? That is 10X worse than the sky coaster in the cold.

[coasterbill]

It’s not a “cold” problem, it’s a “divebombing 150 feet on a tiny cable” problem.

[tndank]

I never thought I'd do it. But what the heck. Pulling the cord and that free fall until the slack is gone is pretty darn cool.

[Haymaker]

My kids and wife have done it, I refuse. Free falling face first isnt my idea of fun (from 180 ft at SFDL)

[WolfBobs]

It’s not a “cold” problem, it’s a “divebombing 150 feet on a tiny cable” problem.

 

I was trained on the Skycoaster at GL (cool fact when you're certified as a site controller you can ride any skycoaster in the world for free!) and those tiny cables are very very strong. You can essentially put a car in a harness and swing in that and you'd be fine! If I remember correctly each cable is rated for 2000lbs. Of course, this was almost 18 years ago when I was trained so some things could have changed. lol

[coasterbill]

Brit picks and chooses when she wants to be afraid of things. I think the Kissimmee one scarred her for life.

 

Boldy, listen to this man. Let's do it.

[Haymaker]

It’s not a “cold” problem, it’s a “divebombing 150 feet on a tiny cable” problem.

 

I was trained on the Skycoaster at GL (cool fact when you're certified as a site controller you can ride any skycoaster in the world for free!) and those tiny cables are very very strong. You can essentially put a car in a harness and swing in that and you'd be fine! If I remember correctly each cable is rated for 2000lbs. Of course, this was almost 18 years ago when I was trained so some things could have changed. lol

 

The ops at DL said its the safest ride in the park

[coasterbill]

I think it's understood that the ride is safe. It's still terrifying to the vast majority of the population.

 

PS: Ask your Darien Lake friend to explain in detail how Moose on the Loose is objectively more of a deathtrap than the Sky Coaster.

[Coastard69]

Saturday had insane crowds. Still managed to get on Timbers twice, Banshee twice, Beast, Votex, Racer (both sides), Adventure Express, Backlot Stunt Coaster, Bat, Diamondback and Invertigo. Hadn't been to Kings Island in 10 years, Beast and Votex still suck. Banshee was alright, Diamondback was pretty good and Timbers was awesome. Couldn't believe it when I saw the line for the beast was 105 minutes. However the last hour of operation (12-1am) was light crowds and a great time to get some night rides. Went back the next morning and got on Timbers, Diamondback and Flight of Fear. WTH have they done or not done for FoF to become so damn rough?

[Canobie Coaster]

^ I'm just thankful I never rode Flight of Fear with the OSTRs. Yes it shakes you around a bit, but I don't find it uncomfortable.

[coasterbill]

I feel like the Kings Island Flight of Fear has always been rougher than the Kings Dominion one and I have no clue why. I'd imagine that Kings Dominion's formula for success is just making sure that the ride is down mechanical 99% of the time so the trains stay in pristine, "like-new" condition as they never actually move or do anything.

[Canobie Coaster]

Kings Island's was down almost all day when I went last year, so that one seems to have its fair share of closures too.

[prozach626]

I was just about to start bitching (jokingly) about how I thought more work on the lift and drop would have been happening at this point. Then, I saw the big crane on scene. Shit's about to get real.

 

 

WTH have they done or not done for FoF to become so damn rough?

Usually by the time I get to FoF my liver takes all of the pain.

[Haymaker]

PS: Ask your Darien Lake friend to explain in detail how Moose on the Loose is objectively more of a deathtrap than the Sky Coaster.

 

Lol good point. I suppose you could get bucked off the moose and hit your coconut on concrete

[Rai Fox]

Managed to get to KI Saturday night. Crowds were sort of nuts but manageable with Fast Lane Plus. Managed to hit all the coasters except Flight of Fear, and the Stunt Coaster which was down all day. Almost everything was running at 10/10, even Vortex was surprisingly good...by Vortex standards, anyway, enough to make me a little bit sad that it's leaving. A LITTLE bit. The Beast was absolutely crazy. Rode it late at night; it was such a clear night that the moon and stars made it far less dark than usual for a night ride, but it felt just as surreal anyway and it was absolutely tearing down the tracks, even with the trim brakes; it seriously felt like it was going to tear itself off its tracks around the helix, absolutely glorious. Every time I think I've found another coaster that can beat the Beast at night, it proves me wrong. The Bat was running like a brand new coaster too, Racer gave the smoothest ride I've ever had on it...Banshee had a noticeable shuffle going on but not enough to be unpleasant, still a great ride.

 

Other than the coasters...ops were generally pretty great, running fast on everything but Diamondback. Diamondback was stacking but I don't think it was the ride crew's fault; as usual the restraints meant that nearly every train they had to try to stuff someone into the restraints or make them take the walk of shame. To their credit they were finding a way to get people into the car nearly every time. The guy dispatching the train was having a lot of fun too. "Hey, remember that night when it was 45 degrees and you thought it was a great idea to ride Diamondback? Yeah, that was tonight...have fun!" It /was/ cold enough that it was hard to breath at 80 mph, but...no regrets!

 

Food has come a LONG way at KI, too. We hit a few snacks around the park and they were all pretty decent, then got dinner at the new Miami River Brewhouse and the food was, at least by park standards, genuinely good, without being any more expensive than food elsewhere in the park.

 

Overall, probably the best night I've ever had at KI apart from the somewhat overwhelming crowds, but I can't blame the park for me being there on a holiday weekend.

Edited October 16, 2019 by Rai Fox

[ytterbiumanalyst]

I agree, KI's food is much improved the last couple of years. The Miami River Brewhouse is much better than the Reds restaurant was, and Tom and Chee's is really good too.

[DILinator]

I have only ridden one of those "Sky Coasters" once, 18 years ago, and never again... However, it's not because I am scared to, but rather, quite the opposite! The one I rode was "the world's tallest" (at least at the time) at Old Town (now Fun Spot) in Kissimmee, and after that amazing rush of a 300 foot freefall, and then swing out to over 70 miles an hour, I've never felt like paying money to ride something inferior in height! I highly recommend the experience to anybody who is on the fence about it though! Such a rush, and it should definitely be on every thrill seeker's radar!

 

As for KI, I keep making plans to go some Friday night, and keep having to call it off for one reason or another. I'm not sure if I'll make it down to Haunt this year, or before Vortex is gone, which is a little disappointing, but it's not like I'm not doing enough other fun parks. But I do love me some KI Haunt! Perhaps the closing weekend, though I'm sure it'll be mobbed! Oh well... I've ridden plenty, so going to just relax and enjoy what I can isn't the worst thing! We'll have to see what happens...

[Pedrinho]

Looks like we might see some craning action today!

[RAWKIN_coaster38]

I visited on the park on Friday and while I'm not going to do as long a TR as I usually do, here's some pictures and story.

 

The night was reasonably in the 70s when I arrived at the park, but I had checked out the weather and the app told me it was supposed to rain and dip down into the 50s and even the 40s. I felt ridiculous arriving in a full winter coat but I've been to several rainy, cold KI Haunts before and I wasn't going to play.

I'm not gonna mess with cold weather haunt

 

The night started pretty busy with annoyingly long lines for the coasters and haunts, so I bunkered down at the show with a cocktail and food truck burrito and waited for my friend to arrive.

Picture of the men, as promised

I had the drink with Fireball and apple cider, and while I'm not a huge Fireball fan, I thought the combo was actually pretty good. Also, the burrito truck was on point!

MMMM burrito

 

By the time my friend arrived, the park had gotten significantly colder and wetter I was very grateful for my coat. If you've never ridden Diamondback in any amount of rain, you will easily get soaked and it will HURT if you're not prepared.

Cold

Anyone else experience rain Diamondback?

Also cold

I also convinced my friend to try Beast in the front, which was a horrible idea on that night but I was reasonably feeling the cocktail and beers I had consumed so I still enjoyed myself.

Rain Beast hurts but it's the fastest I see it run

Also, we had to do Vortex of course, and it was terrible. Even my friend who's a fan agreed that it was terrible.

NNNYUUHHH

Probably not going to miss this

 

Earlier in the night, I had done Field of Screams and ended up in the dreaded "conga line", but as people left because of the cold, we were able to get some solo walkthroughs of the haunts with little to no lines. Because of the rain, they had diverted the scare zone actors into the mazes, so there were even more scares than usual! (Although pirates in Cavern of Terror was a little strange).

Mermaids in the cavern?

Seriously, if you can handle the cold and wet, rainy Haunt nights are the best!

 

Oh, one more thing. Close to closing, we went to go ride Beast again and it was closed. We got lucky and made it to Diamondback in time, but I found it weird that Beast would close (presumably because of the rain?) but Diamondback wouldn't.

 

I'll include a terrible picture I took of Orion from Field of Screams.

I'm not the best at night photos and it was particularly dark with the rain, so you'll have to come see for yourself to get an idea of how huge these pieces look

I believe this piece is the bottom of the drop?

[Canobie Coaster]

A night rain ride on Beast sounds hysterical! I'm just envisioning the pitch black layout while being pelted in the face.

 

It's times like this that I'm thankful I'm visually impaired and wear glasses.

[DILinator]

There's been a lot of talk around about Cedar Fair not running coasters around the dreaded 40 degree mark, and I was wondering if people who've gone to Haunt at KI late in the season before have had any experience with them closing coasters when it got too cold. I'm going to KI tonight, and temps by the time the park closes at 1 are supposed to be at 40 degrees. So I was curious how they might handle things tonight. Thanks for any info!

 

Also, RAWKIN, nice pics! I'm very glad we didn't end up going that night, however!

[coasterbill]

A Beast night ride in the rain sounds amazing and terrible all at the same time.

[prozach626]

KI was running coasters sub 40 degrees last year. They only closed a couple times earlier in the day and night for wind. Although, I think Diamondback may have stopped running around 11pm when it was a few degrees above freezing, even though the wind wasn't too bad. But... my memory is usually a bit foggy after going to KI Haunt.

 

 

It looks like the construction crew is erecting a second crane running parallel with the brakes and lift. It's the white structure. I watched Fury's time lapse and after the second crane went up the crew started working on the lift and drop right away. It would make sense that getting the crane up today would make way for them to start hammering on vertical movement at the beginning of the work week. We'll see.

 

[Bamwa]

Yeah that crane making another crane is pretty cool.