McSalsa
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Posts posted by McSalsa
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On the topic of "How Big Will Orion Look", from the parking lot...I'd say it will look about the same size as Diamondback, maybe even a bit smaller though. My basis for this: I looked closely at a old-ish 2011 skyline pic (still has Son of Beast and stuff but also WindSeeker), and you can see Firehawk in this picture which was 115 feet tall. Orion, being 287 feet tall, is roughly 2.75x taller- which is also how much bigger Diamondback looked from this same image. (I would share the specific image but I am not 100% sure where I got it from or who the original owner of the picture is) Orion only being 287 feet tall isn't the only thing though, you could have built a 330-foot Giga in Orion's spot and it would only barely look taller than Diamondback, because DB is in a great spot to look as big as possible while Area 72 (formerly X-Base) is tucked in a back area of the park and thus any ride put there isn't going to seem as big as it really is from the main parking lot.
However, another thing I noticed- in that 2011 pic, from the Son of Beast area (now filled by Banshee on the skyline) to WindSeeker there was a huge "hole" where there were no tall rides surpassing the treeline from this view. Firehawk, Racer, FOF, etc. were all not tall enough. Orion is going to fill this hole quite easily. Pictures of Kings Island's Skyline in 2020 are going to be very cool looking.
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I do think some park will eventually build a 200-foot wooden coaster again, but not with the traditional hand-cut track rides like The Beast, Mystic Timbers, etc. use. Even had it been properly built, Son of Beast would have become rough very quickly anyway simply due to the fact traditional wooden track starts to wear out noticeably faster on rides beyond 125 feet, especially when you go over 200. The 159-foot tall Voyage at Holiday World needs extreme amounts of care and maintenance to keep running well, and most parks won't work as hard as Holiday World does just to maintain 1 ride like that.
However, in the years since Son of Beast's failure, new wooden track styles- laser cut prefab track and RMC's topper track- have emerged, and both of these seem like they could handle a 200+ foot tall coaster. It has been a while since Intamin has made a woodie though, so I would imagine if some park did decide to do a 200-foot woodie in the 2020s, it would likely be a RMC with topper track. Topper Track RMCs may not be "true" wood coasters, but they do market them as such, and I do think a 200+ foot version is possible.
But I am not 100% sure if Kings Island will be the park that builds one of these first. I expect Orion will be the newest coaster at Kings Island for a good while, since it is a $30 million dollar ride, and there are usually at least 5-year gaps between rides (possibly with a smaller cheaper ride in between) that expensive these days unless a park is really trying to build itself up like Carowinds. And Cedar Point is probably going to push Steel Vengeance well into the 2020's, and won't want to build something seen as "similar" at Kings Island until the hype for that fully wears of, so Kings Island might still get something different (like a B&M Dive if Valravn hype has worn off or Mack Multi-Launch, or even something from Gerstlauer or something) as its next big coaster.
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6 minutes ago, malem said:
^ SeaWorld San Antonio (which has yet to officially announce) is getting the GCI; SeaWorld San Diego is getting the Dive Coaster.
RCDB is good for keeping it all straight. https://rcdb.com/r.htm?ot=2&op=2020
Oops! Sorry, they are both Sea World San (Insert Rest of City Name Here), so my mind got the 2 parks mixed up for a second.
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59 minutes ago, Ben43065 said:
I’d disagree, you have Orion, Jersey Devil, Rmc gwazi, Pantheon, a dive coaster, a large GCI. Seems like a pretty good year.
23 minutes ago, flightoffear1996 said:I forgot about Pantheon and I was there for media day. Which park is getting the dive coaster?
Sea World San Diego. Ben43065 also forgot Candymonium, the B&M Hyper Coming to Hersheypark, and Sea World Orlando has also confirmed a coaster for 2020 but has not announced what it is yet (Sea World is going all out in 2020, it seems).
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So, the leaked blueprints were legit. And DustinTheNow's prediction was nearly spot on, save there isn't really a trim brake before the big floater hill and he had the evac stairs on the wrong side.
This is gonna be a great ride, my only complaint would be the short-ish length (only about the same as Leviathan in terms of ride time). The elements on this coaster look a lot better than Leviathan's though. Also I hope there are as many trees around this ride eventually as there were in the animation, if that ends up being the case night rides will be epic. This will probably be the best coaster in the park to me, at least at daytime (Beast after dark is hard to beat for almost ANY coaster). I will need to ride it though before I can truly make that call. Also, 1650 pph. This thing is going to eat lines as much as Banshee!
Also, I did a bit of math a few days ago- I would guess this new coaster is gonna be $30 million or so, based on what Leviathan cost in 2012. I then estimated how much it would cost to build the coaster to the length of Fury 325 or so...it would likely cost $37 million then, I can understand why they may have gone a bit short on length then: $7 million is a lot of extra money, and a longer coaster probably would not have attracted as many extra guests as it would need to make up for that. Plus, I did some research, and Cedar Fair has only spent more than $30 million for a new coaster twice: Millennium Force in 2000, adjusted for inflation, was $38 million and Top Thrill Dragster in 2003 was $33 million. Since then Fury 325 and Copperhead Strike- both at Carowinds- were at but did not go over $30m. (Fury 325 probably should have been like $38 million based on my calculations but apparently from what I have heard the Carolinas gave Cedar Fair a deal or something and helped pay for it a bit) I would assume Cedar Fair doesn't usually spend more than $30m on new roller coasters.
Edit: Also, for how this ride is gonna be 3 minutes, my guess: 1 minute lift hill. 1 minute ride. 1 minute on brake run.
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5 minutes ago, MDMC01 said:
Wasn’t there someone else in the background as well? And that’s dedication for John Mattereese (spelling?) to go all the way up to CP for the story.
I dunno, if I was a news reporter who loved to also ride roller coasters, I would have done the same as a excuse to go to Cedar Point.
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5 minutes ago, malem said:
The length of each side is similar to Thunder Rapids at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. Holiday World's has two sides, so it should get much better capacity.
Seeing as they already have the #1 and #2 longest in the world, breaking length records apparently wasn't a priority with this project. Even a "short" (by Holiday World standards) water coaster is very long for a water slide.
Yeah that's true. Splashin' Safari's 2 are the only water coasters I have ever been on, so it's possible I just think of them as average sized when in fact they are giants compared to their peers. I knew they were the 2 longest in the world, but if Cheetah Chase is what your average-sized and length water coaster looks like, then HOLY CRUD WILDEBEEST IS HUGE. And Mammoth is even huger.
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For anyone interested, the Holiday World website has the stats for this new slide:
https://www.holidayworld.com/rides/cheetah-chase/
To be honest I am a bit surprised- compared to Wildebeest and Mammoth, Cheetah Chase is kinda small. Both Cheetah Chase tracks combined are shorter than Wildebeest! Then again I have learned from rides like Raven, Maverick or Mystic Timbers, just because a ride is small does not mean it lacks intensity or fun. Cheetah Chase should be a fun water coaster, given it is from the same manufacturer that made Wildebeest and Mammoth anyway.
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Just now, BeeastFarmer said:
Is Kentucky Kingdom struggling? From what I have heard, it is doing very well.
I don't think so- oops. I know Indiana Beach hasn't been doing that great lately, but I accidentally added "too" in my post making it seem KK is in the same boat. No, from what I have heard Kentucky Kingdom is doing pretty good recently.
Sorry for the confusion. I edited my older post.
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38 minutes ago, Maverick44 said:
I don't see KK getting anything new for 2020.
Yeah, probably- they might get a flat ride or a new waterslide at most, but I really don't expect anything too large for Kentucky Kingdom in 2020. But even something small like that is still something. Same for Indiana Beach, not expecting anything huge as I have heard they are kinda struggling.
Not to mention Kings Island pretty much already made 2020 exciting for this region with the 99% confirmed Giga Coaster, Cheetah Chase just makes it even better.
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Wow- a 3rd water coaster, which will mean now there will be as many water coasters at Holiday World as there are woodies. I really like how this one is going to be about launches and dueling, it does look like it will be a great ride. It doesn't appear to have as many airtime hills as Wildebeest, or be as drenching as Mammoth is, but I imagine this was on purpose because Holiday World doesn't want to throw both of their existing water coasters under the bus: each one is going to do something different from the other two.
The 2020 season is already looking exciting for me, as 2 parks within day-trip distance (3 hour drive or less) are getting good-sized or larger new attractions next year. And there is still time for the other 2 (Indiana Beach and Kentucky Kingdom) to make new announcements as well.
Oh, also, I loved the announcement video with Wildebeests and a Mammoth walking around.
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7 minutes ago, Joshua said:
Unfortunately, I never rode it. Along with The Jaws Ride, that is one of my great regrets.
If you still wanna ride a King Cobra-like coaster, good news is, it was cloned so a similar ride (same trains and layout) still exists. Bad news: it is all the way over in Italy. (It used to be SkyRider at Canada's Wonderland but they sold it in 2014 and removed it)
You can also still ride a version of Jaws...in Japan. However, based on the fact the Japanese Jaws opened in 2001, it is probably a very different ride system versus the 1990 Jaws.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaws_(ride)
Oh, and on the topic of this thread: yes, I would have liked to at least tried King Cobra before it went kaput, but it closed after 2001 and I was scared of big roller coasters until 2009, so it just didn't make it nearly long enough. I do have memories of seeing it during my visit in 2000 though, the big loop right next to the pathway in Oktoberfest being a vivid memory.
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OK I am gonna test a pic in this post, 1 second... (Seems to work: I may have added too many images to the Trip Report- I shall just share some of my favorites then!)
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Hello and welcome to my latest trip report! I went to Kings Island yesterday- July 13th- and this what happened. I didn't ride any new rides or anything that I have not before so the ride rating system is kinda pointless. Also, I have my own phone now (finally) so I was able to take pictures! (Update: Pictures for some reason not working, so I am removing them and will probably share a few in a manner I know works if requested)
We left the house later than usual, since this was a midnight close, at 11am. We had 5 people with us, me, my sister, and our one friend who was overcoming his fear of coasters from our usual group plus one of my sister's longtime friends and another guy I don't know as well.
Upon entering the park, we headed for Diamondback as they were getting trains out very fast (as seen from the parking lot). We arrived to find a 30-minute wait, which was mostly due to a Fast Lane clog, it would probably have been 15 otherwise. Still considering this was a July Saturday I was expecting even longer, but it was also over 90 degrees outside so I imagine most were at the waterpark. The ride crew was also getting trains out very fast, so that also helped. My sister's friend didn't ride, as she is pretty large and doesn't fit on Diamondback, though she was nice enough to stand in line and wait with us (she is pretty nice). We ended up riding in the back car, with me and our main friend riding in the very back row. Going up the lift and looking around made me think even if KI's Giga is not the biggest, a 300 foot drop is still gonna be plenty intimidating. Got some great floater air, and a little wet from the splashdown but considering the temperatures it wasn't bad at all.
After Diamondback, we headed over to Mystic Timbers to find it with a 20 minute wait and much less Fast Lane clog. My sister's friend fit fine on Mystic, and it was a enjoyable ride- though not too much airtime, oddly. We got the rare tree ending, which is only my 2nd time getting it in nearly 20 rides on the coaster. After Mystic Timbers, my companions went to smoke so I decided to go check Beast, only to find it broken down at the moment. Splitting from my group, I instead went to...
...Vortex! It had a 25 minute wait, but with most other coasters having lines as well or being down (BLSC was 45!) I sucked it up and waited. And it was worth the wait- I rode in 7-1, and got some great ejector on the first drop, nice g's in the loops, hangtime in the corkscrews, and it all ended with a fun forceful helix. A little rough, but not too bad- there was a old man riding behind me and he also enjoyed his ride.
While climbing Vortex's 148 foot lift hill, I saw Beast doing test runs, so I checked it again on the way back. Turns out, it was back open! I messaged my friends and got in line, and waited 1 cycle for 6-2. Beast was running great on this day, sometimes it can feel a bit sluggish in the day but this time that was not the case as it had great speed to it, and it was pretty much the right amount of roughness from 6-2 (a bit bumpy to make it feel more out-of-control but nowhere near painful). However, when my train returned to the station, the line had swollen up to at least a 15-20 minute wait already! YIKES.
After Beast, I found my group, and together we headed of to ride another woodie at KI, Blue Racer. It was also running great- rougher than Beast, but it actually had very good airtime, more-so than Mystic Timbers did earlier! Also looked over at the 2020 Giga Construction, it seems coming along nicely, and footers are clearly visible. It is gonna be kinda cool to see a massive near-300 foot lift hill from this ride next year.
After Blue Racer, we headed into Action Zone. As my friends smoked, I checked the lines- all looked to be around a half hour, so I didn't ride anything and came back. We were hungry, so we went to Chicken Shack and got some food. It was served fast, and we ate. I just got some chicken tenders, which filled me up pretty well. The chicken was nice and moist, with good breading, it could have used a bit more flavor but dipping sauces easily fixed that problem. My sister also got some BBQ Wings and Fries, and gave me half her bread and a wing. The wings were good too, and the bread was great. I have eaten at Chicken Shack a few times now, and it has been a good choice every time. I still miss the Chicken Wraps though.
After we ate, the next show for Gravity was about to begin, so we went and saw it. They added some extra jokes to this show that I did not see last time, and there were less goof-ups as well (though there was one, one of the guys on a bike fell over on their 2nd scene with them, they made a joke of it and continued though). Afterwards, as we didn't see the last show for once, we did the meet and greet, and I got to let the actors know how awesome I thought this show was. Gravity is leaving KI forever on August 18th this year, and will be replaced by a new show for 2020- if you have not seen it yet, do not wait much longer.
After Gravity, we headed down International Street (saw the awesome and expensive Beast model on the way) and then went up the Eiffel Tower for the views...I took a barrage of pics. (Sadly for some reason I cannot link them from the site I am hosting them on)
Afterwards, my group wanted to smoke again, so I went off to ride Banshee. Only had to wait 10 minutes- the line moved very fast! I hope the 2020 Giga line moves this fast as well! The ride was pretty forceful and intense, with great speed and strong g-forces in the inversions. After Banshee, I headed down to The Bat to find it a 1-cycle wait. It was also running pretty good, fast and smooth.
After I got off Bat I found my friends wanted to meet back up, so I headed their way hearing they were now riding Banshee. But the one friend who I still don't know to well lost his phone to her (he wasn't using zipper pockets and was putting it in a loose one) but didn't quite realize it at first so we went and looked all over for it. After a wild goose chase and the eventual realization of what happened, we ended up riding Adventure Express.
The wait was only 10 minutes or so, but I got a wheel seat, and ouch- this was one of the most painful rides I have ever gotten on Adventure Express. I was thrown around in the turns pretty violently, and left the ride with a minor headache. Our friends 1 row ahead though were 100% fine and thought it was smooth! Seat selection matters. However, there was good news for me from this ride- most of the theming was working, and the 3rd tunnel had its "lava glow" effect working!
After AE, we went over to check Beast to see a big line, about 45 minutes worth- we were gonna do a night ride later so we skipped it for now (and I had rode earlier). My sister got some dippin' dots on the way, and I got a soda refill (Red Cream- no matter the stand though, for some reason, KI's Red Cream Sodas were ALL tasting kinda flat!). My friends then decided to ride White Water Canyon, which I figured would have a big wait since it was hot, and wanting to stay dry I went and rode Mystic Timbers since Diamondback appeared to be having issues. It should have been a 35 minute wait, but there was a "phone idiot" 1 train before mine and they briefly had to stop the ride and that added 10 minutes. I boarded Mystic Timbers, and got the very back row. The ride was fast and gave much better airtime this time, but there was a little roughness. Also my riding companion (a random I was paired with as a single rider) kept screaming at the top of his lungs and bumping me- he was clearly forced to ride and not a fan of big roller coasters. I got off missing my usual riding companions as they don't do that stuff. Mystic Timbers itself was running good IMO though.
Speaking of them, I headed over to the White Water Canyon exit to wait for them- the waits for both WWC and Mystic Timbers ended up being about the same, with WWC being just a bit longer so I beat them off. My group met back up after WWC, and we headed towards WindSeeker- I didn't realize it until later, but they wanted to try to get a "Fireworks" WindSeeker ride. Also, we decided to ride Vortex, minus our one friend who cannot do loops and the mere sight of Vortex's twisted track still scares him. It was only a 10 minute wait. Me and my sister's friend rode in 7-1 again, while my sister and the newer guy rode in 6-2. We all got great airtime on the 1st drop again, but while our ride in 7-1 was decently smooth, I did see my friends in 6-2 get thrown around a bit in the 2nd half, especially my sister who is short, and especially in the final helix. She got a minor headache, but it went away a few minutes later. We then all grabbed some drinks, and our friend who didn't ride Vortex got cheese fries from Juke Box Diner and shared them with everyone. They were actually pretty good too!
After eating, we got in line for WindSeeker. We missed the Fireworks cycle by 1 cycle, which was annoying. But we did get a night ride on WindSeeker, which had some very pretty views of the park (though WindSeeker is one of those rides that still makes me nervous- I still have fun on it though). After WindSeeker, my friends wanted to smoke again, so I went and re-rode Vortex for a 3rd time and for my 1st night ride on it in a while. It was now only a 5 minute wait, yet for some reason now they were assigning seats? As such, I got 2-2 instead of 7-1 again, and remember how I said when I rode AE earlier seat selection matters? Yep- riding in a cramped seat in the front of Vortex was not very enjoyable, while riding in 7-1 is great. The first drop has no airtime from the front cars, and it throws you around a lot more for some reason. Ouch. I didn't really get head-banged because I am tall enough my head is over the OTSR's, but I did get shoulder-banged. One bright spot, there was a little kid who also rode Vortex 3 times this same day, and he rode in the car behind me and LOVED it. I think I am just gonna keep riding from 5-1, 6-1, and 7-1 from now on because those are much better seats than 2-2 (unless I am somehow forced to ride in a different seat). Even the dark "night ride boost" can't help overcome that.
After 1 bad ride on Vortex (thankfully also got 2 great rides same day) we met back up and headed to Action Zone, as Rivertown was packed and we wanted that to clear out a bit before we tried to ride Beast at Night. Action Zone was much better, but Banshee did have a 20-minute wait, and our friend who cannot do many inversions can't ride that, so we did The Bat at Night...which was a walk-on for nearly every seat! My friends rode in the very back, but I decided to ride in 1-2 instead. It was a very fun ride, and swinging around in the cool summer air at 50mph in darkness was awesome. My friends say the back was very crazy. We then headed back to Rivertown to find The Beast at a 45 minute wait, but Backlot Stunt Coaster was down to 10, so we rode that instead. BLSC was running great- smooth, had some airtime in a few spots, with the great forceful helix and dark tunnel both in full effect. After riding Backlot, we got in line for Beast as the ques had cleared up and now it was only a 20 minute wait! We waited for it, and got a epic night ride. Beast was HAULING through the woods, and in spite of a nearly-full moon it was very dark- the long tunnel mid ride was pitch black. We got off the ride at 11:55pm, and realized we probably didn't have time to get on anything else, so we got back in line for The Beast and ended up getting the last ride of the night! While we waited for the final train, I noticed a nearly-empty Vortex train with 1 person on it who appeared to be having fun go by- I think that may have been VortexBFForever, LOL. We boarded the final train, and then...ride ops joined us! It was cool to see that you get that perk when you work at Kings Island. Only 2-3 of them stayed off, just to run the coaster 1 more time, plus a mechanic showed up, probably to prepare to put trains up. We headed out into the woods of Ohio 1 more time, and got one more Beast night ride- it was about the same as the 1st one, but that is not a bad thing! Afterwards, we headed over to the front gate, where most of us waited for one of our friends and the newcomer to go try and see if anything could be done with the phone issue. The Royal Fountains were still on for some reason, but looked gorgeous at night with the new lighting package.
Also, I want to make a shout-out to the Kings Island ride crews: you guys were doing an AMAZING job on this day! Almost every ride in the park was getting great dispatches and running at 100% capacity, which really helped with the huge crowds, rarely did we see a line of 60 minutes or longer in spite of a nearly full parking lot.
And so, our friends came back having talked to KI Employees, and we left the park. And that does it for yet another McSalsa trip report! Now, Pros/Cons:
PROS
+Rides were running amazingly well (unless you got a bad seat on certain ones)+Ride crews, as said a minute ago, were doing a epic job
+Gravity is still awesome, sadly it leaves soon
+The Park looked beautiful, especially after dark
CONS
-Vortex and Adventure Express both hurt a decent bit if ridden in "bad" seats (Vortex was very enjoyable from good seats though, didn't ride AE in a non-wheel seat...)
-Huge Crowds, Especially After Waterpark Closed, Not Park's Fault Though
-Very Hot
And that does it for this trip report! MCSALSA AWAY!!! (As usual questions and comments welcome)
Edit: Could not get pictures to work for now, will link them in a 2nd post here if I can find a way.
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I also rode The Bat yesterday- twice, once at night- and am also here to tell the tale. The ride is safe.
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Just now, FUN&ONLY! said:
I think the park wanted to build a giga, and they thought why spend the extra $10 million on the ride when you would get the same outcome while saving that $10 million. The park probably looks at buying a new rollercoaster through a cost to outcome ratio, in which a higher attendance is the better outcome.
I was just about to say this, but you made it WAY more compact. LOL. A 296 foot coaster with a 301 foot drop (which will probably have its height listed as 301 feet- Leviathan's height appears shorter than its drop too but they claim 306 feet for it) is gonna draw in just as many of the local GP as a monster Giga with a 330 foot height, bigger drop of 320-340 feet, and 1000+ foot more track that costs 5-10+ million more (with cost of steel, probably closer to 10m). All the bigger coaster would really do is draw in more enthusiasts from far away and since Kings Island lacks its own Hotel, they can't make too much money of that the way Cedar Point can since CP has Hotel Breakers, Express Hotel, the Log Cabins, and more (Cedar Point and KI have almost the same attendance, yet CP makes tons more money, and I think the Hotels are the big reason why that is). Carowinds also already had cabins, and is now getting its own Hotel this fall. However Kings Island also can't really get its own Hotel because now Great Wolf Lodge exists. They- and the other local hotels- would be the ones getting most of the extra money from distant travellers if KI did go all-out and build a monster Giga. Had KI never let that land go, Cedar Fair could have built KI its own Hotel, and suddenly record-breaking coasters to attract more guests from farther away than KI's main cities would make more sense as now the park could make more money off them.
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Low power so must keep this short. Today was amazing! Full trip report tomorrow possibly.
Also: got last ride of night on...BEAST!!! Was epic.
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Having a great day even though it is very busy. Phone is at 50% so updates from here on will be scarce. But have a pic of Banshee!
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Kinda but mostly waterpark apparently. Mystic was 20 minutes. Now about 2 ride...BEAST!
Update: No! Beast is down!!!
Update 2: Beast back!
Update 3: But now DB is down. Beast was already 20-30 minutes when I got off...I waited 1 cycle.
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Just rode Diamondback. 30 minute wait.
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I am here!
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On my way to the park atm. Should arrive around 1pm. Will post updates and pictures occasionally. (Ps: Have a smartphone now) Welcome to McSalsa's Coaster Adventures...LIVE!
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Oof. Blood Drums was awesome, I am gonna miss it. It was one of my favorite things about Haunt the last few years. Last year I still vividly remember riding Diamondback and they had a huge pyro effect go off just as our train came out of the splash zone into the final brakes, then while we got "stacked" on the brake run for a few minutes I watched (could not really see the show but could see the colors and hear it) and listened to the show so it wasn't a problem.
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Valravn has reopened today, but is only running 2 trains. Thus it has a huge wait, from what I heard.
Source: CP Rundown on Facebook
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Orion Construction Photos
in Kings Island
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Yep, that's the picture. Also that is what I imagine Orion is gonna look like, maybe a smidge smaller but this isn't far off. Also I do believe the big 200' overbanked hill will be clearly visible from this location (I imagine it'd be coming up just behind the Eiffel Tower) and possibly even the turnaround.