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With the very pleasant temps and reasonably low humidity, I took the opportunity yesterday to spend the day at the park. I rode Orion three times, using the first to simply get a feel for the ride and establish a baseline, and then I took a more analytical approach with my second and third rides in order to offer my thoughts and feelings concerning the ride. Before continuing, understand... or don't... that I Love roller coasters that leave me in a complete frenzy, and put as many different forces on my body as possible. Also, please understand that I fully comprehend marketing and ROI in amusement park installations, and I applaud Cedar Fair and B&M in their collaboration in designing, building, and installing a solid ride that most certainly offers and delivers on what the park and the vast majority of park goers want. My first ride was in row 8, seat 4 (right) at roughly 1230pm, my second ride was in row 8, seat 1 (left) at approximately 6pm, and my last ride was in row 1, seat 3, which was a back to back ride with my second row 8 ride. The drop on my 1230pm 8-4 ride, and my 6pm 8-1 ride were within 1 or 2 mph of each other, but the whip effect was better on the evening ride which was quite a pleasant surprise! The drop in 1-3 gave really nice views of the park on the lift, just enough hangtime to be fun, and a very good feeling of speed as well as a bonus of a nice ram-jet of cool air through the vents on my mask. My verdict on the drop is that, it's honestly better than Millies in regards to feel, and is tied for the most solid part of the entire ride experience. AN interesting observation I noted was, when riding DB after my first ride on Orion, you truly get a representation of the height difference when you realize how quickly in comparison you roll out of the drop on DB. The inaccurately named wave turn was a nice 90* banked curve that reminded me basically of one of Voyage's 90* turns and scrubbed off little to no speed that was picked right back up on the down which was good, but the turn provided very little on my internal positive G meter in either row 1 or 8. The right hand vertical banked turn was better in 8-1 than 8-4, but to be blunt both left me waiting for forces that were supposed to be there and were not, and the same went for my row 1 ride.... it literally felt like I was just being turned on my side through the corner, again like one of Voyage's 90* turns. The speed hill was fast and smooth, and provided smooth and gentle sustained floater in row 8, with similar in row 1 along with just the slightest thrust in row 1.... calling it flo-jector would be pushing it greatly but we can. The second "airtime" hill that leads into the helix is better in row 1 than row 8, because the trim takes any possible flo-jector that would exist and tosses it in the bin, but in row 1 it allows my body to rise out of the seat just a bit and hover nicely down and settle into the seat just as the train enters the helix. The helix is.... odd. Its smooth and carries nice speed, then slows down, and then speeds back up again right before passing under the head-chopper and on ride camera location, and that mid helix slowdown due to the increasing radius really just felt out of place and took away what COULD have been an amazing high G moment in that decreasing radius right before the head-chopper. There was no part of the entire helix that came remotely close to producing enough sustained G force to cause anything even approaching a grey out with me, and I am firmly in the "there are likely conditions such as heat, hunger, or dehydration causing those feelings" camp. The curving rise out of the helix produces a VERY cool few seconds of funky sideways flo-jector air in both row 1 and row 8 that absolutely tie the first drop as the stars of the ride, and would be absolutely mental with the elimination of the aforementioned trim on the pre-helix airtime hill, or with a more consistent radius in the helix. It reminds me of the sideways airtime moment coming out of the pre-shed corner on Mystic Timbers, and the multiple sideways airtime moments in the final series of S curves on Voyage, and Id like to see more installations with that type of element throughout and/or towards the end of the ride. All in all, Orion is a good, infinitely re-ridable ride that most definitely suits Kings Island, and will absolutely serve the park well in giving it a high capacity (once the restrictions are lifted hopefully next year) people pleaser. I don't think its a bad ride at all, and I don't hate the ride, but beyond the drop and that last gem of a sideways air element it genuinely leaves me wanting more. Of the three 300+ foot drop roller coasters I've ridden, I305 is my #1 by a mile, because it does exactly what I want a roller coaster to do. I will kindly chart Millie and Orion as #2a and #2b, due to Orion having a superior first drop and that sweet sideways airtime element. Beyond those two elements, 20 year old Millennium Force... AGAIN IN MY MIND... does it better, plain and simple.

As of July 4, the loaded pulled pork fries were listed on the menu board with the dining plan symbol, and I was able to order them. I'm not the biggest fan of cheese sauce, but they were good! The pulled pork is very similar to what's at Coney Barbecue, and RPW fries go along great.

I don’t get it. The forum has topics and for the most part conversations stay on topic so if one doesn’t want to read about NASCAR or MLB or Food or Rona or anything else just don’t click on those topics. Are there people that just don’t have the ability to not read a topic they are not interested in? That seems really strange to me. I don’t really care about golf but it’s not like I want to cancel my TV service because they carry the Golf Channel. I don’t think I have ever clicked the NASCAR thread except by accident and it was really easy to bail, I mean seriously easy.

Sounds like he enjoyed Orion....and had it make a positive impact on his well-being! https://www.wcpo.com/news/crime/mason/how-i-lost-190-pounds-to-ride-kings-islands-orion

Statements like this are not only false but dangerous as it undermines those trying to save lives. I've talked to a nurse about this, and tests don't just sit around to be sent in blank. They have to be ordered from the lab for a specific patient by a doctor. This is just unsubstantiated rumor that I keep hearing without a shred of proof. Oh and the hospital she works at has a full Covid unit and people die regularly from the disease. Please take this seriously.

New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are now requiring Ohioans to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival. https://www.dispatch.com/news/20200714/new-york-2-other-states-say-visitors-from-ohio-must-quarantine-for-14-days There's a lot of misleading and false information going around, unfortunately. A localized, significant increase in the percentage of tests coming back positive (like we've seen in many states) isn't due to errors inherent in testing. This metric is important for understanding how and where the virus is spreading so that it can be controlled. Recent studies on T-cell COVID-19 immunity have indicated that immunity among the population might be higher than antibody tests indicate. This is almost certainly very good news. However, uncontrolled spread in the community is still dangerous even if immunity is further along than we thought. We don't yet know how many of those among the recent spike in cases will die or suffer long-term health consequences. We do know how to slow the spread: face coverings, social distancing, limiting large gatherings, and good hand hygiene.

There's no reason to if you think about it. The last major game-changer they had was Son of Beast but like you said, that was pre acquisition. That doesn't mean we haven't had good coasters since the acquisition: Diamondback, Banshee, Mystic, Orion, and even Firehawk was a decent move. I think game changing rides are a must if you're a destination park where you have to add pretty impressive additions to keep people coming: Busch Gardens and Cedar Point come to mind. KI as a regional park pulls in over 3 million people annually so unfortunately there's no true need to give the park anything game changing. There's no true competition either, as long as they keep Kentucky Kingdom and Holiday World in check. I'm personally happy with what we get. Would I want the park to get game changers and record breakers? Absolutely, who wouldn't? But for a regional park, we're treated very very well. We're constantly ranked high in park polls, some of our coasters are on top 10 lists across the community, and no one ever really has anything bad to say about the park. Also I feel like if we get a massive game changing coaster, people will just be disappointed when the park makes their next installment. The park is focusing more on quality vs quantity which, in my opinion, is a good thing.

You think practically every other country in the world shut down their economy for 2+ months, just to stop Trump from getting reelected? In a typical flu season there are 12,000 to 61,000 deaths. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html So, we have had twice as many deaths as a bad flu season, in a third of a year. Our deaths from Covid-19 are on a pace that is about 20x worse than a "good" flu season, and about 6x worse than a bad flu season. Any source for this?

Here’s the thing, we are a ki and theme park forum and to ignore something that has completely altered the landscape of the industry is wrong.

If Cedar Fair didn’t want to seem so cash-grabby about it, they’d offer lockers for free for however long the current ride wait time is, then charge after that time elapses. Steel Vengeance is an absolute joke in that Cedar Point makes you pay for park admission, then makes you pay for a locker to even get on the ride you already paid for. It’s slimy and shady.

I think that information gets shared like that because people just can't actually wrap their heads around the idea of something like this happening, because we've never seen anything like this in any of our lifetimes. The reporting of information has been nearly criminal in my opinion. So much misinformation is allowed to just stream out to everyone, and due to social media, it spreads like wildfire.

I posted this photo a few days ago Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Man, Kings Island's IT department sure has a lot of issues with software upgrades.

It’s hard to remain non-political when the reason we’re in this giant mess is strictly political. The ruling party has pushed out to their cult that masks are unnecessary and frowned upon, that the nation’s top infectious disease experts are not to be trusted and that we need to CUT testing in order to make the whole thing disappear. States are going BACK on lockdown for a second time because we have a complete void of leadership in the White House. Ban me or delete my post if you wish, but you cannot refute these facts.

I think Hank’s is meh. Like if Chipotle were a 10, Hank’s would be a 4-6. I haven’t had the specific issues that you named, but it just seems like the sum of all parts is kind of boring. Sometimes I feel it and eat it - I did today. It’s not gross or anything, it’s just nothing to write home about. That place is a good candidate for rejuvenation in the future.

This is why I really wish everyone would just get on board with wearing masks in public. The director of the CDC has said that if everyone in the U.S. wore a mask, the epidemic could be brought under control in about 4 to 6 weeks. thathttps://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-cdc-idUSKCN24F2PG

I already wear my mask in all public places and have been doing so since late March, so this really doesn't affect us. My white neck gaiter also has the benefit of keeping my neck cool and keeping the sun off of it. Less risk for a sunburn is always a plus!

First year with the meal plan as the last year that I didn't work there was 2011. So far fantastic experiences. I've only done Panda twice and Potato Works twice, and Brew house once. The buffalo chicken fries at Potato Works may be the best dish I've ever had at the park, (Of course not including some fantastic cuisine at the Cornerstone Cafe). Panda is fine. I also had the Pub Burger at Brew house which was a decent burger. Also not on the meal plan, but the Giga-Dog (footlong) was great at meteor canteen.

I’d like to see an increase in the outdoor scare experience. My 10-year old loved the experience last fall. She even got the courage to joke with the scare actors. If Haunt proceeds this fall, I doubt with COVID-19 that many No Boo necklaces will be sold.

Just looking at the crowds this year it seems now would be the perfect time to re-pave the parking lot. Just a thought.

Agree 100%. My wife is a nurse (35+ years) and also worked as the manager of the office of research for a little while. Testing kits are kept locked up and handed out just like medication. Counts are done and all kits must be accounted for. As far as results from "unused tests". You do know they can see the difference between a swab that has been used and one that has not, right? Not saying the test is infallible, but I would hope that with the state of things the way they are now and amount of time it takes to get a result from the current levels of testing that anyone who sent through an unused test would be reprimanded for using up resources that could be better used for the common good. Not to mention it would violate the Hippocratic oath all medical professionals take.

Today me and @ThrillKingsOryan visited Kentucky Kingdom for the first time ever. First words are in my opinion, this is the best park. It is run by some of the best employees. Every ride is great (besides T3, but we don’t talk about that) and every single ride (besides T3) is underrated. Here is mine and Ryan’s review for the coasters. Storm Chaser - #1 in the park and in the world for both of us. Most aggressive coaster ever with some of the most insane airtime you can find on a coaster. First drop gives awesome hang time and is super whippy in the back. Rode it three times. Last time we rode it, we had a fist size room for airtime. Lightning Run - Second favorite for both me and Ryan. Insane ejector airtime, best in the back. We rode it 4 times. Last time we got stapled pretty hard and left sore because of the ejector airtime we got while stapled. Kentucky Flyer - Great family coaster, has great ejector in the back, especially on the drop. It is a very short ride but is really easy to marathon. Thunder Run - Pretty underrated wooden coaster. Good airtime on every hill. But do not ride in the back. You will get stapled and jackhammered hard. Front is where it’s at. Roller Skater - Good ride for the kids, but is very boring. It’s actually pretty rough, and it the back you get beat up. Flat Rides: Cyclos - Best flat there. Has insane hangtime. That’s all I need to say. FearFall - Drop Tower that was disappointing for us. Good stomach drop but Drop Tower at KI is way better. Scream Extreme - New generation Zamperla enterprise. It’s an ok flat. You can feel the G’s on the ride a lot. Not the best flat, though. Mile High Falls - If you don’t like to get wet, don’t ride this. We didn’t really enjoy it that much lol We got 13 or 14 rides in total in a matter of 7 and a half hours. If you like exhilarating ejector machines, than this is the park for you. Also, it’s a great family park. There aren’t many family rides but almost all of the rides are a height requirement of 48 ft. Kentucky Flyer is the perfect coaster for people to start riding coasters, so if you have a kid, take them to Kentucky Flyer first. We did not ride T3 because we didn’t want to be even more sore than we already were from the extreme airtime we experienced on the coasters we rode. I definitely recommend this park and will revisit in the future. If you guys are wondering, Hurricane Harbor is included in a regular one-day pass. You will have to pass through it to get to some of the rides.

Wait, what? You just made this entirely political, and you say that was unintentional..? Kinda blows holes right through the rest of your "rant". Couple things, though. "Recovered" doesn't mean "good as new, like it never happened". There will be many people who not only have lasting symptoms synonymous with COVID-19, but also those who have lung, etc., damage from both the disease and treatment. Ventilators aren't exactly gentle on the body, for instance. Looking solely at death counts does not give you nearly the whole picture on this pandemic. There is always going to be fraud and bad data any time humans are involved. If you were telling me that the majority of labs, the majority of tests were faulty or fraudulent, then I'd be concerned. Saying that some bad actors fall through the cracks in the mad rush to acquire enough resources to test for the virus, and to treat those who fall ill, does not suddenly invalidate those who are truly suffering and even dying from this virus. But hey, you're not going to make it political, at least not until your third sentence. That was a quick 180º.

I just wish Coney BBQ or Hanks or somewhere in Kings Island they would offer a BBQ sauce with a kick. I do like Coney BBQ but I wish they had a spicy sauce. Hanks on the other hand is more or less a bland Chipotle when they are not offering a mac and cheese bar. Now if those fries had the Skyline chili and their shredded habanero cheese on them it would be wonderful.

I had them on Wednesday. For Cedar Fair food, they aren't bad. I wasn't able to identify what was in the seasoning, although I'm speculating it's something similar to (though less flavorful than) seasoning salt and/or old bay seasoning.

One less person in line if they every bring it back

I moved the conversation about Steel Vengeance loose articles to the relevant thread, so this topic can stay focused on Orion. https://kicentral.com/forums/index.php?/topic/33751-steel-vengeance-no-longer-allows-cell-phones-on-the-ride-or-in-line-with-you

Okay, its time for my review of Orion as I have somewhere between a dozen and a dozen and a half rides on her. I would rate Orion a 3.6, not great but also not terrible. It is an okay ride at best and to me that is a bit disappointing. If I had to choose Orion or one of the other B&M's in the park, Orion would be my third choice of B&M's in the park. This was a huge investment from the park, and I am incredibly thankful for the investment, but this is not a ride that people will travel for. Millennium Force is known as a ride to travel for, which brings new money to the park, I just don't see Orion having the same effect. Will I ride it again, of course yes! But I wouldn't wait more then a half hour to 45 minutes for it, I would rather spend that time waiting in line for something else at the park. Should you ride it? Again that is a yes, it has some fun elements, speed hill and turn into the brakes, even if others leave more to be desired, looking at you wave turn and turn around, but everyone should ride it and form their own thoughts on her.

Militant in the sense that taking your mask off will not be tolerated and will be grounds for immediate ejection from the park. Similar to if you stand up on a roller coaster. This is how serious this should be taken. Since the theme parks opened in Ohio, there has not been a single day with a sub-800 case count. It's not exactly the twilight zone, or maybe it is, when you consider that for the first time ever in history, Canada is basically demanding to have the border closed against the US. Heck, a good chunk of policy in Canada's history was keeping that border flowing as efficient as possible. Honestly, the border should remain closed until the US can reach daily new cases of around 2,000 a day, which I sadly don't see happening anytime soon.

If this country doesn’t substantially change its policies very very soon and take this seriously the parks are going to look substantially similar next season as well. This is a slow moving ship and changes need to happen now, not 7 months from now.

We don't ban people for having a political opinion. We do understand this topic is hard to discuss without politics. Respectfully, we do ask to try and keep politics out of it, because nothing good ever comes out of that. Lastly, people come to KIC to get away from it, not read more about it.

I rode 15 rides in 7 hours, not pushing. All major roller coasters ridden other than Backlot, rode Mystic Timbers twice, Banshee twice... and could have marathoned it from 2pm on as it was a one train wait..., FoF twice, and Orion 3 times. Ride times ranged from one flat cycle or one train wait, up to a 40 to 45 minute long (40 once for FoF, 45 once for Mystic Timbers).

You don’t need to make a reservation. You can just show up and have your ID scanned!

I have a condition that uses an app on my phone to measure my health status. I have never considered the condition a disability, so I have never used the green sheet. I have zippered pockets and have never had a problem with restraints on any coaster and even made it on to El Toro with the phone. Steel Vengeance was a moot point because I have not visited since the locker policy came into play nor the pockets on the ride vehicle. I did call Cedar Point after this went into effect and was told that I would need to use the green sheet and one of two things would happen: 1. I would leave my phone with the ride attendant who would take it to the drive box. Or 2. I would keep my phone in my pocket while I rode. Unfortunately, my trip to CP had to be canceled so I never got to see what happened. I did not want to use the green sheet, but if I had to, I had to for that ride. I have never had any issue whatsoever with Storm Chaser or Twisted Collusus with the phone in my zippered pocket.

My issue with the locker policy on Steel Vengeance is that Cedar Point considers closed, zippered pockets on your pants with no way in and out as unsecured. They’d rather charge money on lockers than trust that you know how to work a zipper on your own pants.

I purposely did not include healthcare. Are you kidding me? The party in power is in court trying to strip healthcare from 30 million people with no backup plan. It would also kill protections for people with cancer and such where they can get locked out of even being able to PURCHASE insurance. All this happening during a 100 year pandemic. SMH

Or why doesn’t anyone question why the USA makes up only 4.25% of the world’s population; yet we are 26% of the total known Coronavirus cases and 23% of the total world deaths due to Coronavirus…we are leading all countries by a long shot…Strive to be Number One in every category I guess...

Twisted Colossus at Magic Mountain also has mandatory pouches. Any major RMC will empty your pockets.

I don’t think that has anything to do with rmc. Rather Cedar Fair.

Let's be honest - RMC's reliability is on par with Intamin, and the capacity is even worse.

I got to ride FRONT row today, and it is a VERY different experience! SO MUCH BETTER!! Trust me, I am ALWAYS a "back row" person for coasters! I love getting PULLED over the drop and through elements so much more than getting pushed and hanging and waiting for the drop in the front row. But today in the front Orion felt SO much FASTER, the drop was insanely better, the speed hill AND helix were also so much better! I still say the "sideways" (2nd) hill and the turnaround are just "ehhhh..." and nothing special. But my son and I BOTH couldn't believe how much more we enjoyed Orion in the front rather than the back. Much more intense! It's moved up above Levithan for both of us. Something I'd like to compare sometime is how long (time or distance) the STRAIGHT part of all the giga drops are. Sure Orion has an 85deg drop but it seems like it's a VERY short part of the drop that is actually straight 85deg. It seems like the curve at the bottom starts REALLY high up on Orion. Is the straight part of the drop a lot longer on other gigas? I feel like it is from my ride experiences and just looking at images of the drops...

You and everyone else lol. Either that or an intamin blitz

I got 2 rides on it over the weekend. So far, I like it. I'll need a few more rides before I can make a good judgment on it. It's a solid addition to the park. As of now, Fury 325 remains my favorite giga coaster.

Idk, I personally liked his response. When Orion got revealed I had a hard time explaining my disappointments with the ride. Of course, everybody expects and likes different things, but honestly, I thought we would get a low to the ground, terrain Giga. I really don't think anybody had a serious issue with the rides height, because like Taylor said, the drop is 300 ft and feels like any other Giga drop. If anything else, it was the length that had people bummed, but I guess most people understand that for Cedar Fair, from a business point of view, there aren't many perks for making the coaster longer. I can't lie, the entire off-season I was frustrated about Orion and the coaster it could have been. But as Taylor said in the video, you got to appreciate it for what it does right and from the video, it looks like it does a lot of things right. During the offseason, I was trying my hardest to be excited about Orion, but I really was never looking forward to the ride opening. But I recently asked myself the questions, "Is The Giga perfect?" Far from. "But does it do a lot of things right?", Yes! After watching the video, it seems I was sleeping on some of the coaster's elements that I thought would probably be "underwhelming". But in reality, there might be some hidden gems on this ride. Honestly, after watching the video, I cant wait until I'm able to ride Orion so I can make a definitive opinion for myself.

I've not 'greyed' out on Orion's helix. The upward helix on the Backlot Stunt Coaster feels more extreme to me.

New trains would not fix the horrendous transitions.

Perhaps, FoF could be next to go and a new dark ride replace it in the same building? Theming would follow the newly renamed Area 72. Other than the awesome exhilaration of the LIM launch, this ride is uncomfortable, compared to modern coasters. Recent aesthetic updates to FoF have been limited to the loading station at little cost.