Kings Island (KI) Discussion Thread

[thrillseeker4552]

^Yes, there was a magnetic trim after the zero-g roll, before the pretzel. It was hardly ever turned on though. Good to hear it's gone!

[rcjp]

The trim is removed from Banshee!

I'm surprised they're doing this so soon. Is it common? I imagined they would just turn it off, or are they going to send it to rougarou?

[PKI Jizzman]

I will say this I don't think I ever felt it, but in the front row....it was a CRAZY headchopper.

[marth555]

I could barely if at all feel the trim

[rage88]

N/A

Edited May 12, 2015 by rage88

[bonsaiisuperstar]

Oh how i wish the surviving Arrow suspended coasters did this. I'm sure the shock companies do too. Just look at that car past 90 degrees! Nothing but OTR restraints too. You can also see how the brake design was already blowing the paint off the cars a few weeks into testing. One of the best things about getting old is saying that i got to ride the Bat.

[Midgetman82]

If they had banked the track so it wouldn't crash into the rails every time it went past 90 degrees, I'm sure it would make for a frighteningly epic suspended coaster! Flight Deck/The Bat sort of does that right before it lands on the brake run, but only if you're in the right car. Looks like an awesome concept that just needed more time in work and precision, which I'm sure a company could achieve today.

[cfc]

^Yeah, having a coaster that beat the living crap out of itself all day made for a bit of a maintenance nightmare. It would've been "interesting" to ride the original "Bat," but I like the current version well enough.

[coastercoaster5]

thats, woah

[rcjp]

Based on the TPR POV of eagle's fortress I would say that there are a few places where the cars (at least some) went beyond 90. It's a shame that it is gone, it looked like the best suspended.

[tanthonyam]

This may have been discussed before, but why did the park remove The Crypt ride? (Giant Top Spin)

[whatabeast]

This may have been discussed before, but why did the park remove The Crypt ride? (Giant Top Spin)

 

It was originally themed to the movie Tomb Raider when Paramount owned the parks, and it had a relatively tame (but heavily themed, and honestly... downright awesome) ride cycle. Once Cedar Fair bought the chain, they took all of the paramount stuff out of the park pretty quickly, including Tomb Raider's story (hence-- "The Crypt" instead of "Tomb Raider: The Ride")... and without any of the theming elements on, the tame ride cycle made no sense whatsoever. It was dull. Lackluster. So, new management replaced it with a more standard top spin cycle, doing a bunch of quick flips, drops, sudden changes in direction... basically all of the things categorized as "high thrill" on the park map. Unfortunately, being a GIANT top spin (instead of a regular one), The Crypt had a different center of gravity than most top spins. Different enough that the quick flips and changes in direction caused immense strain on the ride structure. Basically, nobody told cedar fair that the Crypt would tear itself apart if it tried to do the things a normal topspin could. After a couple seasons of wrecking the structure with a much more fun ride, they changed the cycle again to something that was much more dull than the original ride, but deemed "safe." And it sucked. Didn't even go upside down, if I remember correctly. The ride's popularity dropped faster than Son of Beast's lift hill, and a couple years later the ride was gone.

[Fat-G]

It was originally themed to the movie Tomb Raider when Paramount owned the parks, and it had a relatively tame (but heavily themed, and honestly... downright awesome) ride cycle. Once Cedar Fair bought the chain, they took all of the paramount stuff out of the park pretty quickly, including Tomb Raider's story (hence-- "The Crypt" instead of "Tomb Raider: The Ride")... and without any of the theming elements on, the tame ride cycle made no sense whatsoever. It was dull. Lackluster. So, new management replaced it with a more standard top spin cycle, doing a bunch of quick flips, drops, sudden changes in direction... basically all of the things categorized as "high thrill" on the park map. Unfortunately, being a GIANT top spin (instead of a regular one), The Crypt had a different center of gravity than most top spins. Different enough that the quick flips and changes in direction caused immense strain on the ride structure. Basically, nobody told cedar fair that the Crypt would tear itself apart if it tried to do the things a normal topspin could. After a couple seasons of wrecking the structure with a much more fun ride, they changed the cycle again to something that was much more dull than the original ride, but deemed "safe." And it sucked. Didn't even go upside down, if I remember correctly. The ride's popularity dropped faster than Son of Beast's lift hill, and a couple years later the ride was gone.

 

You are right except for two things. 1. during construction Paramount opted to use a different form of braking than what Huss recommended in order to save money, thus during the ride cycle when the gondola was supposed to stop in a certain position, the cheaper breaks would slip causing the ride computer to E-stop, leading to loads of downtime, so the ride was "doomed" from the beginning. Also Paramount never invested to keep up the theming so as such many of the theme elements were broken when the park was sold.

 

2. the ride did flip upside down twice in its last years, the cycle went like this: 1 complete non inverting rotation backwards followed by one backward slow flip, the gondola would them stop and repeate that in the opposite direction.

[Midgetman82]

I remember being pretty darn disappointed when I got to ride it for the first and last time in 2011. I have a TR here from that trip where I mentioned that the intricate theming in the queue built me up to nothing but a huge dark box with a ride inside. The ride did exactly as Fat-G mentioned. I am a bit let down that it's now gone and wish the park could have added some spice (theming) to make the ride somewhat interesting, but I suppose removing it was for the better.

 

I'm still crossing my fingers that KI (or Cedar Fair in general) will take a year out from installing new rides, go back to select old rides with inoperable theming, and simple clean or refurbish that aspect of them. Add some theatrical/strobing lights to certain coasters, at least (*CoughFlightOfFearCough*).

[whatabeast]

Also Paramount never invested to keep up the theming so as such many of the theme elements were broken when the park was sold.

 

I think the first time I rode it was in 2003, were they already broken by then? Or did my nine-year-old self get the full TR:TR experience?

[John Peck]

I'd say by mid-2003 there were definite changes to the ride cycle. Normally, the line was so long or it was down I would only get a couple of rides a season.

 

With Cedar Fair, they rarely ever take out rides unless they have serious mechanical issues or extremely low ridership/very old, so for them to pull out two decade-old Paramount rides within the first few years of owning the park really says something.

[coasterbill]

I thought Tomb Raider was amazing the year it opened, and this is coming from someone who hates top spins.

[Midgetman82]

^Maybe because it wasn't as intense as as other Top Spins when it first opened? I wouldn't know since I never rode the original, but it looks amazing.

 

Oh, and I finally posted my Trip Report from Sunday, October 5th.

[imagineerz]

Well this certainly took way too long for me to post. Got my first visit to the park on the 11th, and WOW it was crowded. After waiting an hour for Stunt Coaster, one of my friends and I decided to forgo our broke-college-student roots and splurged on Fast Lane. Worth it. So worth it. We got almost 20 rides in while the other few people who came with us got five.

 

I won't go on about Banshee, it's been covered to hell. Solid ride, end of story.

 

The ride that made the trip for me, surprisingly, was Racer. We got three night rides on each side, and it was just incredibly fun, yet it still has the charm of a classic woodie.

 

The only gripe I have about the park is with their sorting for Fast Lane and the standby queue. Different employees on the same rides were incredibly erratic and inconsistent on how many FL people would be let through at a time, if at all. What was a 5 minute FL queue for The Beast at 9 PM suddenly became a 45 minute line at 10 PM because the employees rotated positions.

 

But all in all, I enjoyed my time. Oh, and this happened:

 

NERD SHOT

 

So I really shouldn't complain at all.

[marth555]

So kings island has touch screen maps now

(this is not me )

[nicman]

Well this certainly took way too long for me to post. Got my first visit to the park on the 11th, and WOW it was crowded. After waiting an hour for Stunt Coaster, one of my friends and I decided to forgo our broke-college-student roots and splurged on Fast Lane. Worth it. So worth it. We got almost 20 rides in while the other few people who came with us got five.

 

I won't go on about Banshee, it's been covered to hell. Solid ride, end of story.

 

The ride that made the trip for me, surprisingly, was Racer. We got three night rides on each side, and it was just incredibly fun, yet it still has the charm of a classic woodie.

 

The only gripe I have about the park is with their sorting for Fast Lane and the standby queue. Different employees on the same rides were incredibly erratic and inconsistent on how many FL people would be let through at a time, if at all. What was a 5 minute FL queue for The Beast at 9 PM suddenly became a 45 minute line at 10 PM because the employees rotated positions.

 

But all in all, I enjoyed my time. Oh, and this happened:

 

 

[attachment=0]10615570_943770375650647_2094807413598529076_n.jpg[/attachment]

 

So I really shouldn't complain at all.

 

I really don't like the fast lane it is basically just allows the rich people to cut in the line which is not fair.

[Woodie Warrior]

^LOL. In the post you quoted he said was a broke college kid who splurged and got Fast Lane. So obviously you don't have to be rich to get one.

[nicman]

^LOL. In the post you quoted he said was a broke college kid who splurged and got Fast Lane. So obviously you don't have to be rich to get one.

 

But you can not afford them a lot unless you are rich because they are really expensive.

[FaithPlus1]

Well this certainly took way too long for me to post. Got my first visit to the park on the 11th, and WOW it was crowded. After waiting an hour for Stunt Coaster, one of my friends and I decided to forgo our broke-college-student roots and splurged on Fast Lane. Worth it. So worth it. We got almost 20 rides in while the other few people who came with us got five.

 

I won't go on about Banshee, it's been covered to hell. Solid ride, end of story.

 

The ride that made the trip for me, surprisingly, was Racer. We got three night rides on each side, and it was just incredibly fun, yet it still has the charm of a classic woodie.

 

The only gripe I have about the park is with their sorting for Fast Lane and the standby queue. Different employees on the same rides were incredibly erratic and inconsistent on how many FL people would be let through at a time, if at all. What was a 5 minute FL queue for The Beast at 9 PM suddenly became a 45 minute line at 10 PM because the employees rotated positions.

 

But all in all, I enjoyed my time. Oh, and this happened:

 

 

[attachment=0]10615570_943770375650647_2094807413598529076_n.jpg[/attachment]

 

So I really shouldn't complain at all.

 

I really don't like the fast lane it is basically just allows the rich people to cut in the line which is not fair.

 

Im not rich but at this stage in my life I won't go to a park unless I have the money for fast lane. Stop whining that things aren't fair.

[nicman]

Well this certainly took way too long for me to post. Got my first visit to the park on the 11th, and WOW it was crowded. After waiting an hour for Stunt Coaster, one of my friends and I decided to forgo our broke-college-student roots and splurged on Fast Lane. Worth it. So worth it. We got almost 20 rides in while the other few people who came with us got five.

 

I won't go on about Banshee, it's been covered to hell. Solid ride, end of story.

 

The ride that made the trip for me, surprisingly, was Racer. We got three night rides on each side, and it was just incredibly fun, yet it still has the charm of a classic woodie.

 

The only gripe I have about the park is with their sorting for Fast Lane and the standby queue. Different employees on the same rides were incredibly erratic and inconsistent on how many FL people would be let through at a time, if at all. What was a 5 minute FL queue for The Beast at 9 PM suddenly became a 45 minute line at 10 PM because the employees rotated positions.

 

But all in all, I enjoyed my time. Oh, and this happened:

 

 

[attachment=0]10615570_943770375650647_2094807413598529076_n.jpg[/attachment]

 

So I really shouldn't complain at all.

 

I really don't like the fast lane it is basically just allows the rich people to cut in the line which is not fair.

 

Im not rich but at this stage in my life I won't go to a park unless I have the money for fast lane. Stop whining that things aren't fair.

 

I agree some parks like Canada's Wonderland are so crowded it is not fun but for the ultimate thrill seeker a fast lane is a must.

Now that I think of it I do not mind Fast lane so much it's more like Fast lane plus, Paying 10 more dollars for two or three more rides is silly.