Kings Island (KI) Discussion Thread

[PKI Jizzman]

**UPDATE**

 

http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/stori...&thispage=1

Mr Kinzel interview

 

"Q: Kings Island had the well-publicized problem last year when more than two dozen people were injured on the Son of Beast. Has that ride reopened?

 

A: No, it hasn’t reopened.

 

That happened 10 days after the acquisition. It will reopen this summer, hopefully by Memorial Day. The loop has been taken out of it. It was the only wooden coaster that had a loop.

 

It’ll probably be a slower ride and a series of brakes have been put on it. New trains have been put on it. When it opens, we’re going to be sure it will be safe.

 

That does NOT sound good to me. Series of Brakes.

 

-PKI "SOB no longer faster woodie?" ManJZ

[ginzo]

That does NOT sound good to me. Series of Brakes.

 

-PKI "SOB no longer faster woodie?" ManJZ

 

Think of it as truth in advertising; like father like son.

 

I viewed a recent interview with Kinzel, probably that same one. My two main impressions were:

 

1) Kinzel seems like a decent, straight-shooting kind of guy with reasonable business sense.

 

2) Kinzel is not enamored with woodies, which makes sense. He's made his bones with steel coasters. They've been good to him.

[ParkTrips]

wait, Cedar Fair, adding brakes to woodies?

 

I am shocked.

[raptor6]

Ohhh! Maybe they'll put trim brakes almost all the way down the first drop like they do on Mean Streak!!

[snuggles]

Valley of beast!

[coastrfreak2000]

At least Kinzel is honest...

[haux]

2) Kinzel is not enamored with woodies, which makes sense. He's made his bones with steel coasters. They've been good to him.

Oh yeah. Kinzel hates woodies because Mean Streak (and to a lesser extent*, Hercules) has been so bad with the amount of maintenance they require. I was surprised Valleyfair got Renegade. I figured a Cedar Fair park wouldn't see a woodie until after he retired.

 

*As in, it's not in the park he actually has his office in.

[PKIDelirium]

Bump!

 

Test flights are officially underway!

 

 

All photos: http://www.kiextreme.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=259

 

Video coming soon...

[kennywood!007]

^Wow, I turned out looking way better than I thought it would!

[jamesdillaman]

^^ No other coaster at KI has single rider lines, mainly I think it is because they aren't a four passenger row rides, like a B&M. Well, Firehawk is. I think they that would want to fill every train full because of its low capactiy. There was one on BORG at Carowinds, so anyone remember if ther was one for X-flight?

 

Both trips I made to GL when X-Flight was there, there was no single rider line that I remember (I believe it was in 2000 and 2005)

 

-James Dillaman

[PKI Jizzman]

Can't wait to ride it!

 

I really like the X-Base theme!

[FlyingScooter]

I can't recall a single rider line either, and i rode X-Flight over a hundred times.

[PKIDelirium]

Video!

 

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=386812

[VegasCoaster]

^I'm going to venture a guess that I was taking video right next to you when you shot at least part of that. I saw it testing from the lift of Vortex which thankfully opened sometime after 4:30, and then proceeded to run towards Firehawk.

[PKIDelirium]

Haha yup, I was standing there nonstop the whole time it was testing. I was wearing a blue longsleeve PKI shirt and tan Legend hat.

[kewlcoasterdude]

Is it me or does Firehawk look real slow?

[VegasCoaster]

Most coasters look rather slow when they aren't broken in much, and I think they only had test dummies in the first few rows. I think I remember X-flight going a little faster than that, but its been so long since I've been on it that I don't remember if it was significantly faster.

[coasterdude5]

^^ To me it looked a bit slow, especially in the loop. Like VegasCoaster said, it'll probably speed up once it gets re-broken in.

[scruffy]

I was at Kings Island today and saw that Firehawk had both trains sitting on the track. One is red and the other is yellow. While ridding Drop Zone it looks like all the work on Son Of Beast train is done. Also almost all of the Paramount signs are gone from the park.

[kennywood!007]

Yeah, X-Flight looked really slow until I got in the queue and was right under the loop. When your close to it, it flies. When your on it....WOW, it really feels fast.

 

 

 

Anyways, it looks great, hopefully I can get out there this year and ride it!

 

 

*Edit* Actually after watching it some more, it looks way slower than it did at GL. That weird, when it was at GL it flew around the egg turn, loop, and lie-to-fly.

[PKI Jizzman]

Anyone see the trains go from a load to unload position? In the commerical, it showed the trains reclining back to lay position as it goes up the lift hill. Or were they even putting them in load/unload position since they didnt have to deal with 'pilots' today?

[PKIDelirium]

1. It's still breaking in the new wheel bearings and axles.

 

2. They were not moving the trains out of the Fly position for the sake of rapid cycling.

[steel]

I think the speed looks fine. It seems basically equivalent to X-Flight. If there's any difference, it's because it was recently completely rebuilt in a new location (don't know if you've noticed) and it needs time to break in, but it doesn't look that different to me, and I rode X-Flight only a few months before its removal.

[mudvayneimn]

It does look a lot slower than normal, but it just made a big move so it's gotta be broken in. Did anyone else notice that the covering on the zero car is missing on the trains? I wonder if they will put them back on or just leave it like that?

[PKIDelirium]

They're currently getting new lead car shells fixed up with the Firehawk logo. They'll be on when it opens.