Kings Island (KI) Discussion Thread

[goatdan]

Adventure Express - Still the best non-Disney mine train, even though it seemed that only the final effect was actually working.

 

False, that title belongs to Thunderation at Silver Dollar City. It's like Adventure Express with an actual drop after the lift hill.

 

Noted. It's on the list as a possible next year visit, however one of the things that I find totally charming is the HUGE build up for the end of the ride with Adventure Express. NOW YOU WILL PAY! (Get off the ride!)

[2012jarrett]

Well I went with Garbanian earlier today and we had a blast...and I got to see Banshee's pieces for the first time in person!

 

So I have construction shots from today! This transfer track assembly is flying up! They were lifting beams that ran perpendicular to the long sides of it earlier, and I saw a lot of track onsite, including two pieces towards the back of the lot near Adventure Express that looked like they could be for the drop.

 

I FLIPPED when I saw this queueing for Adventure Express!

 

Say hello to Mr. crane!

 

Construction walls are updated with Banshee layout renderings and logos.

 

Well the park has introduced this new ice cream cone called the Banshee Twist to go along with the coaster. It's a swirl of blueberry ice cream that boasts a suspicious shade of royal blue, and a mixture of vanilla ice cream and red dye number four that sports an equally sketchy shade of pink. And it's HUGE.

 

Well this is me with mine...

 

If you think that this oddly-colored ice cream wrecks your insides, you're probably right...

 

I finished it, but not happily. I ate it all because it was four dollars, but honestly, I wanted to blow chunks afterwards. So we have the cinnamon challenge and the gallon of milk challenge, now we have the Banshee twist challenge! Eat an entire Banshee twist in under twenty minutes without vomitting! (Do NOT get one of these and eat it all in one sitting. They're messy, get all your stuff blue, and make you wish you were never born. I wish they made a smaller version, though, because it was actually good ice cream.)

 

Footers and supports! I feel like those supports are for the lift hill.

 

We can see a lift support rising out of that triangular footer soon!

 

Those closely bunched beams that go perpendicular to where the track will be was what they were installing today. I have footage coming later.

 

It might help in the future, but there's a large gap in the bottom of the construction fence. When more of this goes vertical, you might want to try using this in October to snag pictures.

 

Supports!

 

Those two track pieces behind the truck intrigued me since they were out all alone like that. Could these be for the first drop?

 

Both of them a bit closer. They look like part of a pullout.

 

It's small but here's a pretty clear picture of them.

 

Didn't notice it at the park, but I noticed that they flattened out that area in the grass. Just ways for construction crew to get around or a temporary thing that will become permanent in the future?

 

This one shows a bit of everything. You can see the brake run/transfer track supports on the far left, and those lonely pullout supports on the far left of the shot.

 

Noticed that bar-shaped footer on the bottom left of this shot that had space for two supports. If I'm looking at the rendering correctly, the support on the left is for the entry into the dive loop, the one on the right will be used for the pullout.

 

The fact that you can't see the transfer track assembly from here is a great indicator to just how huge this thing is going to be. I would definitely classify it as a giant invert with Alpengeist, Montu, and Jubilee Odyssey.

 

Again, if I'm looking at this rendering correctly and matching the right supports to the right footers, the dive loop will be just to the left of where I was standing when I got this shot.

 

Back to marketing the coaster. There is Banshee merchandise in the gift shops, which include (pretty plain) Banshee logo shot glasses, travel cups, and water bottles in black, blue, clear, and metallic. They're not that exciting right now, but they do have a second style of t-shirt with the Banshee logo against a night skyline of the park, and I bought the blue one. I also noticed that the generic logo t-shirt also came in pink, which I found fitting for Cedar Fair's first female-inspired thrill ride.

 

Also noticed that they sold (very plain) Banshee hoodies. As much as I'm not keen on the plain merchandise, I did ask a cashier at Thrill Seekers (the logo merchandise shop on International Street) if they had anything more interesting. She told me that they would start getting the cooler stuff in next year when it opened, which is what I was expecting. This stuff's already pretty cool, can't wait to see the bulk of it! Diamondback and Beast have some great things already, I can't wait to see the cool stuff they sell for Banshee!

 

About the marketing, I've lived in Dayton (an hour from Kings Island) for 13 years and I've NEVER seen them go at it with as much gusto as they are for Banshee! They left a lot of viral advertising stuff up in Action Zone (owls, Gaelic gravestones, video surveillance signs) and every now and then they'd sound the Banshee scream in the area. They had the different rendering videos playing on a cycle on all of the gift shop TVs, and it was working. I saw a lot of people stop and look up to see this, even recall one woman smiling at the end and saying "that looks awesome."

 

So I have a few videos on the way (I'm still VERY tired, probably tomorrow for these) but that's how Banshee is. I realize some of it you've seen, maybe some of it you haven't, like those two lonely pullout supports in the back. Once I get my license this weekend or the next, on Tuesdays when I don't have class I'll be able to just run on down there and grab pictures. And even in the offseason, I might be able to borrow my dad's big, fancy camera with the telephoto lens and just find some place nearby to take pictures across the parking lot. Think Great Wolf Lodge would let me? Worse comes to worse I just pull over and hop out.

[Jhcbiinoc]

^Great photos, thanks for posting! I am actually planning to make a trip out there next year to ride this, as one of my friends whose finance is a coaster fanatic lives less than an hour from KI. Would be great to check out Diamondback as well as I hear good things about it.

[pyrocoasterkid]

This one shows a bit of everything. You can see the brake run/transfer track supports on the far left, and those lonely pullout supports on the far left of the shot.

 

Again, if I'm looking at this rendering correctly and matching the right supports to the right footers, the dive loop will be just to the left of where I was standing when I got this shot.

 

 

Not to nitpick, but I believe you meant "right" in both of these captions "those lonely pullout supports on the far RIGHT of the shot" in the first picture and "the dive loop will be just to the RIGHT of where I was standing when I got this shot" in the second picture. It looks like your standing right where the entry plaza/sign/queue will be. But I have yet to visit the park this year, so correct me if I'm wrong. Otherwise, awesome shots!

[DBru]

As I type this, the first supports for the lift are vertical, but construction crews are tearing down the old King Kobra footers. Sad day.

[Hilltopper39]

^That's funny, maybe they'll pay homage to the footers with a gravestone or something.

[2012jarrett]

Alright, I have a few videos for you. I'll post the PTR tomorrow or as soon as I finish it, I promise!

 

Banshee Construction Update:

EDIT: Posted the wrong video earlier. I've fixed it since.

 

Banshee Advertised on Gift Shop Televison:

 

Trip Music Video:

 

Kings Island & Miami Valley Railroad On-Ride Footage:

 

This one only takes you to Soak City. I got off there to go charge my phone in Planet Snoopy, but I do have an older video of the trip back:

[DiSab]

I didn't realize they still had the SoB station still up. I wonder if they'll use that for anything in the future? Maybe part of Banshee's queue?

[Geauga Dog]

^SOB's station is used during Haunt though I can see them tearing it down once they decide not to use it anymore in the future.

[2012jarrett]

I didn't realize they still had the SoB station still up. I wonder if they'll use that for anything in the future? Maybe part of Banshee's queue?

I set foot in the queue at the end of last season and all of its cattlepens are still there, but the station is REALLY far away from Banshee's future station. They started using it for a haunt called Wolf Pack a few years ago, and I bet they intend to keep that. I actually got a piece of the last bit of track they left, and you can see the Wolf Pack sign on it.

 

 

This one shows a bit of everything. You can see the brake run/transfer track supports on the far left, and those lonely pullout supports on the far left of the shot.

 

Again, if I'm looking at this rendering correctly and matching the right supports to the right footers, the dive loop will be just to the left of where I was standing when I got this shot.

 

 

Not to nitpick, but I believe you meant "right" in both of these captions "those lonely pullout supports on the far RIGHT of the shot" in the first picture and "the dive loop will be just to the RIGHT of where I was standing when I got this shot" in the second picture. It looks like your standing right where the entry plaza/sign/queue will be. But I have yet to visit the park this year, so correct me if I'm wrong. Otherwise, awesome shots!

I was REALLY tired when I posted that, don't judge!

[stevethespider]

I know that all the stuff about it is revealed, but in person and the riding experience must be amazing. Now that we have seen the actual track out there, I am very excited for this ride to build up.

[cmullin]

First actual track supports are up!

[larrygator]

The ops at Great Adventure were loading Superman a few weeks ago without stacking whatsoever. I'd like to see the ops on any of the Flying Dutchmen do the same.

 

Must have been with only one train.

 

Nice to see progress starting on Banshee.

Edited August 23, 2013 by larrygator

[coasterfreak101]

The ops at Great Adventure were loading Superman a few weeks ago without stacking whatsoever. I'd like to see the ops on any of the Flying Dutchmen do the same.

 

Must have been with only one train.

 

Nice to see progress starting on Banshee.

 

Nope. Two. Was plenty surprised myself!

[cmullin]

The ops at Great Adventure were loading Superman a few weeks ago without stacking whatsoever. I'd like to see the ops on any of the Flying Dutchmen do the same.

 

Must have been with only one train.

 

Nice to see progress starting on Banshee.

 

Nope. Two. Was plenty surprised myself!

That is surprising, because Superman is a pretty short ride.

[Coastergenius250]

The ops at Great Adventure were loading Superman a few weeks ago without stacking whatsoever. I'd like to see the ops on any of the Flying Dutchmen do the same.

 

Must have been with only one train.

 

Nice to see progress starting on Banshee.

 

Nope. Two. Was plenty surprised myself!

That is surprising, because Superman is a pretty short ride.

I Guess, Good thing this dosn't involve Superman @ SFDK!

[cmullin]

^ That would just be dangerous.

[PalmTree55]

^ I can't even begin to imagine how they could pull that off.

[cmullin]

^ Would be funny if they tried, if you weren't on the ride, obviously.

[LoopScreweD]

Why did Vekoma bother with dual station? I think an arrangement like millennium forces unload stop and then into the station is less complicated and works very well with a good crew. Come to think of it why do the Intamin rocket coasters use the more complicated arrangement which i hear is not used anymore on Kingda Ka (because it sucks) but Top Thrill Dragster still does...

[firewalk13]

When X-Flight (now Firehawk) was new, the dual-station seemed to work great and they were dispatching folks pretty efficiently. Now the fast lane plus gets to board on the right side and the rest on the left. This works great if you have FLP and you want to ride more than once (sucks for the rest though).

[cmullin]

Why did Vekoma bother with dual station? I think an arrangement like millennium forces unload stop and then into the station is less complicated and works very well with a good crew. Come to think of it why do the Intamin rocket coasters use the more complicated arrangement which i hear is not used anymore on Kingda Ka (because it sucks) but Top Thrill Dragster still does...

The TTD ops are really efficient and get people through quickly, so its a good design for them because they can dispatch twice as many people. But on Kingda Ka, the ops are MUCH slower.

[TheDarkMaxim]

Why did Vekoma bother with dual station? I think an arrangement like millennium forces unload stop and then into the station is less complicated and works very well with a good crew. Come to think of it why do the Intamin rocket coasters use the more complicated arrangement which i hear is not used anymore on Kingda Ka (because it sucks) but Top Thrill Dragster still does...

 

And ttd uses the unload then load, like MF, but they just do it with two trains.

[GigaG]

When X-Flight (now Firehawk) was new, the dual-station seemed to work great and they were dispatching folks pretty efficiently. Now the fast lane plus gets to board on the right side and the rest on the left. This works great if you have FLP and you want to ride more than once (sucks for the rest though).

 

So they devote the whole station to Fast Lane, meaning every other ride on a given train is Fast Lane only? That makes no sense and would seem to reduce the capacity more than if they just merged Fastlaners in. Or just pull a Six Flags and don't use the second side - this would have been good when the ride had 3 trains as X-Flight (I believe it did, right?), but now it serves absolutely no purpose at all.

[cmullin]

When X-Flight (now Firehawk) was new, the dual-station seemed to work great and they were dispatching folks pretty efficiently. Now the fast lane plus gets to board on the right side and the rest on the left. This works great if you have FLP and you want to ride more than once (sucks for the rest though).

 

So they devote the whole station to Fast Lane, meaning every other ride on a given train is Fast Lane only? That makes no sense and would seem to reduce the capacity more than if they just merged Fastlaners in. Or just pull a Six Flags and don't use the second side - this would have been good when the ride had 3 trains as X-Flight (I believe it did, right?), but now it serves absolutely no purpose at all.

That's not true. When I went to KI, I got FL+ and they would fill the right station with all the FL+ people and fill in the rest of the open spots with the normal lines. So in theory, if there were 24 or more FL+ people waiting, it could be a whole train for them, but they usually limit the number of FL people they let go at once, so it's unlikely that it happens often, or at all.