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Kings Island (KI) Discussion Thread

p. 832: Camp Snoopy announced for 2024!

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  • 2 weeks later...

A quick trip report from last night (Friday, October 26):

 

We almost ended up not going because of the steady rains all day, and we figured everything would be closed. Much to our pleasant surprise, every ride was up and running the entire night. I guess I'm so used to Cedar Point's rain policy that I didn't expect another Cedar Fair park to actually operate coasters in the rain! Plus, with the weather being as bad as it was, the park was completely empty and we rode pretty much every open coaster within four and a half hours, as well as going into a few haunted houses. Diamondback was running great, and there was actually quite a bit of airtime compared to my last (disappointing) ride over the summer. I'm glad it had a bit more "punch" this night. The Beast was running the best I've ever felt it run. Everyone knows that The Beast runs best at night, but yesterday's ride was phenomenal. The track (and presumably the brake fins) were so wet that the train overshot the station,and we were positively launched into the final helix. I have never felt the ride fly so fast through the course. On top of that,the retracking has done wonders for the ride, and it's the smoothest I've ever felt it run. Incredible. I only wish it could run like it did last night all of the time.

 

We had come mainly to say our final goodbyes to roller coasters for the season, but that didn't mean that we skipped the haunted houses. Quite frankly, the five we went into weren't that great. I understand that it was the end of the season and that the houses were probably understaffed and the scareactors exhausted, but none of the mazes were anything special. Here's a quick rundown of the ones we went into:

 

Holiday Horror: Interesting concept, but nothing terribly frightening. Nothing really made us want to do it again.

 

Madame Fatale's Cavern of Terror: Certainly the most elaborate one (It helps that it's in the old Tomb Raider/Crypt show building), and the sets looked pretty good and were the best we saw all night, but again, nothing too memorable. One room, which featured bodies stuck to the wall with melted wax, was pretty creepy, though. If there was one I would have done again, it would have been this one. I assume that Eden Musee at CP is pretty much the exact same house?

 

Mysteria: Quite possibly the worst excuse for a haunted house. It was nothing but a maze of white walls and exactly *four* scareactors in body suits. No props, no scenery, nothing. White walls. Maybe a disco ball. There is no reason for this pathetic maze to exist.

 

Club Blood: I don't care for this one at CP or here. Sets are OK, but again, it wasn't very memorable.

 

Wolf Pack: At any rate, it's a much better use for Son of Beast than Son of Beast ever was. There were werewolves climbing up SOB's structure near the old queue, which was interesting. The actual maze, up in SOB's old station, was dressed up decently, but again the house felt completely understaffed and was devoid of scares.

 

Urgent Scare: I skipped this one, but a few others from our group went through and said it was decent.

 

I had hoped to go through Cutthroat Cove again, as it was my favorite one last year, but it seemed to be closed last night. I'm not sure if this was due to understaffing, the rain, or the complete lack of guests in the park. We also skipped Slaughter House and Massacre Manor, mainly because we couldn't find them!

 

All of the outdoor mazes were closed as well, unfortunately. Interestingly, CP runs (or used to run, I haven't been to Halloweekends in two years) their outdoor scare zones even in the rain. I'd much rather have the rides open and the scare zones closed, if I had to make a choice, however . Perhaps I'll get to check out Tombstone Terror-tory next year.

 

Overall, despite being soaking wet, we all had a blast, and it was a great evening to say goodbye to the regular operating season. Now for a few quick photos:

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The Beast was running amazing. I'm glad I got to experience it like that.

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Despite its horrendous load times, I do enjoy Firehawk.

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Question: When Firehawk operated as X-Flight, I'm pretty sure that the trains weren't lowered into position using this mechanism (which the prototype flyer NightHawk uses), but rather rotated down smoothly like the other 2nd-gen Vekoma Flyer, Batwing did (using some other mechanism/motor, anyone care to clarify?) Why, then, when X-Flight moved to KI, did CF modify the ride to lower the trains in this (presumably outdated, seeing as it was only used on the prototype) manner? What was wrong with the old "2nd gen" method that it used? It was certainly a lot more fluid of a motion. Also, I could be mistaken, but I thought that X-Flight's trains would raise back into the sitting position as the train was still moving into the station. Is that correct, or is my memory failing me?

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Yes, it's leftovers from the Paramount days, but it looks nice. Glad that it's sticking around at least as a haunt, for the time being.

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What a great space. TR:TR was probably the best-themed ride in Ohio, despite making zero sense being in Rivertown.

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I love these seats. I just had to take a picture.

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Didn't Beast used to have tires located under those metal squares along the edge of the platform?

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I know I'm overly nit-picky, but it bothers me that Beast's gates were never re-designed after the ride switched from four-bench to three-bench cars. How long did Beast run the four-benchers for? When were the gates put in, or did it open with them?

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The one good thing about Mysteria is that it dumps you out behind Racer, so you get a rarely-seen angle of the first drop.

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I am NOT a fan of drop towers. I'll ride them if someone drags me on it, but I won't go willingly.

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A final parting shot of a blood-red Eiffel Tower. Goodbye Kings Island! We'll see you next year!

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When Firehawk operated as X-Flight, I'm pretty sure that the trains weren't lowered into position using this mechanism (which the prototype flyer NightHawk uses), but rather rotated down smoothly like the other 2nd-gen Vekoma Flyer, Batwing did (using some other mechanism/motor, anyone care to clarify?) Why, then, when X-Flight moved to KI, did CF modify the ride to lower the trains in this (presumably outdated, seeing as it was only used on the prototype) manner? What was wrong with the old "2nd gen" method that it used? It was certainly a lot more fluid of a motion. Also, I could be mistaken, but I thought that X-Flight's trains would raise back into the sitting position as the train was still moving into the station. Is that correct, or is my memory failing me?

 

Batwing has what is called a GAU Motor.. GAU = Guest Accommodation Unit - in other words the individual car. So each car of the train has a GAU Motor which controls the raising and lowering of the cars. In the station there are electrical rails on both sides of the track which the cars engage. These supply power to the motors and allow them to actuate the lifting and lowering. Unfortunately, these motors and all associated wires and such are on board the train and are subject to all the forces and vibrations. What happens when you have a loose wire? Exactly! So you can imagine the problems... it can be quite the headache. Especially when you have to figure which wire may be loose. It can be a hit one day and a miss the next. It can be fine one cycle and not the next. So I think Cedar Fair felt they had more consistency with having the motors and the mechanism embedded in the station instead of onboard the train thus you have the system that you see. Personally, I think Batwing should get the same system.

 

It appears from looking at the recent TPR Vekoma Stingray video that Vekoma may have worked out the issues.. because the trains can be seen raising up as they re-enter the station. The question is it consistent without any issues? If so, then I think batwing would benefit from an overhaul to install that mechanism used at Suzhou Giant Wheel Park.

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From my memory the trains on X-Flight didn't raise to the sitting position as they entered the station.

 

Glad you had a great time. I had been planning on heading down there to get my Gold Pass processed again for next year and get my final rides in but it has been difficult this past month to do that. I'll have to get my pass next year.

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Visted the park today and have a few photos to share. Enjoy!

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Son of Beast

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Son of Beast

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Son of Beast

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Good Grief!

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Forget Haunt, this is the REAL Monster at Kings Island

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Never noticed before, but the Wave Swinger was updated to LED's

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I was there Friday night. Rained early and late but from 9 to midnight was great. Nothing like being top of Drop Tower while raining and windy. We waited too late to ride Diamondback. I thought I was bleeding the rain hurt so much. If we went 30 minutes earlier it would of been great. I think the houses were lame because I think the workers had a hard time getting into the mood with less than 5000 in the park. Can't wait until April.

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vacoaster09 and Geauga Dog, thanks for the insight! I've actually been wondering about those things for quite a while now. The "GAU method" does seem a bit overcomplicated. I honestly wasn't sure about the seats rotating up as the train pulled into the station, but seeing as I only rode X-Flight one time way back in 2006, it's entirely possible that I mis-remembered what I saw.

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Great pictures! I first rode Firehawk as Stealth at CGA, but I don't remember how the seats were raised. I remember waiting over 2 hours for it, and thinking that while it was slow, it was pretty amazing and unique. Now, not so much.

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Was there all day yesterday and had a great time. The Beast had tons of new trackwork done on virtually every turn; it was incredibly smooth and enjoyable! Diamondback was amazing as usual. Top Gun at night = amazing.

 

Haunt mazes were much better last night than earlier this month. For a Saturday night, last weekend crowd I got to ride every coaster and 7/12 haunts.

 

Massacre Manor was the best, then Slaughterhouse, Urgent Scare, Wolf Pack, Madam Fatale's, Holiday Horror, and Club Blood.

 

So, Drop Zone's cable broke at 10pm last night. That blows. Also, look for something Leviathon-esque in 2014

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I was in Mason yesterday for a wedding and staying five minutes from the park, so today I stopped by for a couple of hours this morning. The park was empty and operations were the best I've ever seen! Firehawk was consistently releasing one train before the other had returned to the station (and the trains were actually full of guests).

 

In just 2.5 hours (10:20-12:50), I managed to accomplish:

-Diamondback: 10 rides (Gold Pass ERT)

-Beast: 2 rides (walk-on, running slowly since it was cold and early)

-Firehawk: 1 ride (5 min. wait)

-Flight of Fear: 1 ride (10 min. wait, no longer stops in the MCBR: makes a huge difference in the second half of the ride!)

-Racer: 1 ride (10 min. wait, running slower than usual)

-Adventure Express: 1 ride (walk-on)

-Flight Deck: 2 rides (walk-on)

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