BringBackOurEagles

Banshee was built relatively recently and was not themed to "Action Zone" at all, so I always thought they were thinking long-term about retheming that entire area. The Bat and Banshee right next to each other have led people on previous threads to talk about it being a fully haunted area, which would be strange, but unique and at least cohesive? And I love the prospect of a relocated Phantom Theater. It's such a hodge-podge of themes now that I'm not really sure what the plan is. I used to joke that the theme of that area is "concrete" because it's just one big hot concrete slab. Such a shame adventure village was abandoned because that would be such an easy theme to expand upon. Kiddie land needs some love, but as someone with two kids, I can safely say that Snoopy is not cutting it haha! Didn't realize how good we had it with Hanna Barberra and then Nickelodeon! I wish CF owned some better IP, but since they don't, what if they developed their own narratives and characters? They're kind of dabbling with that idea in the grownup areas like with MT and Area72. Phantom Theater was a great example of all-original characters that became extremely recognizable and, if it had been kept, could have had the sort of icon-status that haunted mansion now has. I think there's a big opportunity there, though it would take a lot of dedicated creative vision. Unique storylines with recognizable characters would differentiate this park from every other regional park that just slaps some recognizable IP on the entrance of a ride and calls it a day. I'm sure it would require different ownership, but CF has let KI play around a little bit, so maybe there's a chance!

CF jumping on board with this one seems like the death of my hopes of KI building their own dedicated, wooded campsite down by the Little Miami River. I remember the Yogi Bear Campground so vividly from my childhood and always hoped they'd use some of their expanse of land for something really unique considering no other parks have that kind of property. This parking lot behind a McDonalds next to the highway is the very last kind of place I would want to go, but hopefully it brings in some money for them.

Oh sorry @KIGhostguy and I were having a side conversation about how Adventure Express was technically considered a part of Adventure Village / AZ for a while but was never accessible from inside AV/ AZ. You're correct that King Cobra's entrance was always on the AZ side, although I think this picture may have actually been the entrance for the go-cart track. The KC entrance would have been a little farther to the right of this frame, leading up to that ramp where you can see people lined up in front of the station.

You've never been able to access it from within Adventure village/Action Zone though, right? For as long as I can remember the entrance was over in oktoberfest

Great blog Kyle. My second looping coaster after Vortex of course. Also reminds me how much I liked the Adventure Village them back there before Paramount. This is off-topic and I'm sure we've discussed it before, but it's so strange that they built Adventure Express, which is perfectly themed to Adventure Village and has Adventure in the title.... in Oktoberfest.

I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens with this third-party campsite when it opens next season, but I have a hard time imagining the demand for campgrounds is so massive that this 330-site campground across the street from the park wouldn't suffice. Who knows, maybe it'll be sold out every night and KI will go out on a limb and try to compete. But the CF-era seems to be mostly about low-risk, inside-the-box investments.

Did some digging and you're right somebody beat them to it. It's shame. I had really hoped KI would bring that element back and having a park-owned campsite back it in the woods along the little miami could have been an extremely cool and unique element for this park.

Imagine if they really went for it with dark rides. I think they have an opportunity to set them apart from the other regional parks in ways that their coaster collection doesn't. And they have a perfect market for it. I know they're expensive to maintain, but they bring so much uniqueness and character and if around long enough, nostalgia for older guests. Coasters are great, and fun, and flashy, they don't age gracefully, in general (the almighty Beast notwithstanding). If they had one or two rides even half as elaborate as this Piraten rebuild at Europapark, I think they could eventually start to edge into more of a destination park, especially for families. They would just have to really commit to it, which will never happen under Cedar Fair. But I think whichever regional park starts down this path could really benefit.

Does anyone know why B&M profiles the tops of their drops like this? With the pinched apex instead of a fuller, rounder shape like MF has? I feel like the shape is part of the reason it doesn't look as steep as it is, and I haven't ridden this yet, but I've always thought Fury's drop would be more fun if you came over a bigger, more rounded crest. I'm sure there's an engineering advantage to this shape, just curious if anyone knows what that is?

YES I said something similar a few pages back. Fill ‘er in! Screamin swing over the water back where Vortex’s station used to be. And eventually they could develop a ride that interacts with the water from the rivertown side if they wanted to.

Diamondback was sorely needed but it was such a shame it had to come at the cost of this. I used to work in Rivertown back in those days and it really felt like you were somewhere else altogether.

Great video. I don't think anyone's upset about how long the break run is. It seems like everyone gets the value of an additional block so they can cycle more trains without needing a midcourse. It's just how high they are that suggests how much momentum the trains have left, that they could have burned off with additional track length. But again, totally understandable that Cedar Fair wouldn't want to give KI the extra money for track length when the normal park-goer doesn't know or care and they'd likely get the same return with or without the longer ride (in a normal, non-covid year, that is). Easy to see it as a missed opportunity to make something truly spectacular, but business is business.

I'm so glad to see all the theming on this thing. It seems like the ride is basically exactly what people expected. But the theming REALLY sets it apart. The entire plaza looks great. The music is fantastic. The overall vibe, especially at night, is going to make the build-up to the ride so much more exciting. I think they can cool it with the rapid-fire lighting color changes on the supports. It looks so cool when it slowly transitions between just a couple colors. The rapid candy colors makes it look cheap (same note for I-street, actually!), but I'm glad they spent the money on the lighting package. It really looks impressive. And I know most of the queue and the station is bare bones, but they didn't need to spend the money they spent on the theming hut and the score and all the other details! I'm so glad they did. It's great to see that it's a priority. Really well-done.

Ride time, Don.

What if they filled in the whole Vortex plot with water. Make up for all the water that rivertown has lost over the years. And it would be pretty from the Coney Island side too. Put a flat where Vortex’s station was (s&S power swing over the water’s edge). And the water would butt up against The Beast lift hill turn-around and bring back some of the vibe from it’s original over-water construction. Eventually use the rivertown arcade or a new rivertown building next to the Larosas as the station house for a big RMC topper track woodie around the perimeter and over the water with a finale batwing where Vortex’s old batwing was, diving under the water.

I picked Mystic because, while I think the big B&Ms were necessary, and great signs that CF was willing to invest in KI, they all seem to me to strip a little personality away from the park. Diamondback is a fun ride, and KI was long overdue for something with that kind of throughput and that scale, but it came at the price of the woods around Rivertown, the pond, several area-themed buildings, and it towers over Rivertown, pulling guests out of any sort of "old mining town" illusion there might have been. Though I do love that splashdown! Banshee was also a long-overdue addition, and is fun, but since it was a replacement for a much larger ride, it's in a big open field, and aside from the vaguely church-like station and a few gravestones, offers nothing particularly unique theming-wise. Sweet loop around the lifthill though! Orion has dug in with the theme a little more which I love to see, and looks like it will probably be a blast, though it's maybe not the ride I would have chosen to build, but anyway it's not open yet so I'm not really weighing that one. MT felt like a return to an older KI investment in theme and ride experience. It's shrouded in mystery. It's beautiful to look at and fits in with the theme of its surrounding area. The ride is a blast, and feels unique to Kings Island with its terrain-based layout, dense trees, dives over the water, and WWC fly-bys. The shed is a punchline, but I almost think it's kind of charming in a weird way. And it has good family appeal, while still being a pretty thrilling ride.

I guess by that logic, what's left of Oktoberfest should maybe just get absorbed by international street then, and AZ should be themed to something with no geographical reference, since I Street already encompasses Germany. Banshee and Viking fury are already themed to European legends that are not German that's the only reason I ran away with it.

Love it! Bring some water back to rivertown!

Seriously what is with Cedar Fair's war on trees! I kind of wish they would revive adventure village, because I think that would open up a ton of jungle/safari theming potential, but Banshee really puts a wrench in that idea. Also, Adventure Express being in Octoberfest makes that feel even less-likely. I've never understood why they did that. Maybe AZ could have a more inclusive "European" theme. Octoberfest is so half-hatched as it is, so it could just be a nice cincinnati-specific transition into the land. Viking fury is Nordic. Banshee is Celtic. The Bat could loosely rep Transylvania/Romania/Eastern Europe, drop zone could be set amidst ancient roman ruins, Invertigo/congo falls could be ripped out and the dive that replaces it could be themed to the swiss alps, there could be a picadilly circus/london themed plaza in the middle, and a Phantom theater-style dark ride themed to a French opera house. Maybe get a spanish-themed water ride in the mix. I am aware they will never do any of this but it's fun to think about.

Sorry to bother but is there a thread on here? I'm looking for details but can't seem to find any.

There was a proposed woodie where DB is now? I haven't heard about that one.

Look how much water used to be in Rivertown!! It looks like there was a little covered bridge over the lake that they drained to make Diamondback's splashdown. I never knew about that. Very cool.

It was a little general store/kettlekorn stand and I believe that was also where they had the old-fashioned photos, and then a wrap-around porch that overlooked the old country/western outdoor show stage which was where the Diamondback station now stands. And then where the Diamondback overflow switchbacks are, there was a place where you could pan for gold. It felt like an old Rivertown Main Street.

Those wheel lights would have been sweet but I actually think having a cool light package just on the lift is the way to go. Leave the rest of the ride dark. The lift hovers over coney mall, not back by The Beast, so I think it will look eerie and foreboding lit up back there.

Beastie is what the kiddie woodie was called before Paramount changed it to Fairly Odd Coaster