McSalsa
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Posts posted by McSalsa
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This latest discussion has inspired me to share a 2nd Beast story. This happened to me last year, on a particularly hot day in June.
We were at Kings Island, it was about noon-1pm and my friends wanted to ride White Water Canyon. I didn't want to get wet- in spite of the 90 degree temperatures- so I went over to ride The Beast since it was close by. Found a super short station wait, which was awesome (park was crowded but everyone was in the waterpark most of the day so you saw stuff like this in the dry park). I went and got in line and rode in 6-2, the middle of the very last car. The coaster was running great- very fast and not too rough. I get off and decide that was so fun, and since there was next to no wait, I'd ride again. I go back, get in line for the same seat, and go around again no problems. Then I went back and met up with my friends who had ridden WWC only once. Hearing Beast had no wait, we went over and found it had a 10-minute wait now but we waited and then I rode in 2-3. Wheel seat this time, but I figured it would be OK as it was much closer to the front of the train. Nope. Ride was still very fast, but simply changing seats made it ROUGH. My shoulder kept being slammed into the headrest, in particular. I thought I was OK at first when getting off, but a few hours later I rode Banshee and suddenly felt the pain my shoulder start to creep up due to the vest restraints. Ouch. It lasted for 2 days after, too. I'd also had a fairly rough ride on a back wheel seat earlier in the year, but this was worse. I avoided back wheel seats (front wheel is OK but I prefer middle) since on the rest of my 2018 Beast rides.
So basically I am cool with riding in one of the back cars on Beast (in fact 6-2 is my favorite seat to ride in), but riding on a back wheel seat has given me some not-so-great memories.
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I'm gonna base my advice on my trips to Cedar Point I took in 2017 and 2018, though mostly 2018. The 2018 trips were on 3-day weekends. First up, I second doing Steel Vengeance first if you have ERT. While they began running 3 trains in late 2018 (after my last visit), and it shouldn't be as crazy in year 2, Steel Vengeance was by far the longest wait time of all CP coasters in 2018. Everything else in the park could be 15 minutes or less (aka park is dead in terms of crowds) and Steel Vengeance would still be 90 minutes or more. If you don't have ERT, then expect to wait quite a bit for Steel Vengeance. However, it's also my favorite so far of all the coasters I have ridden, so I'd wait it out if needed- if you have to do this, I'd say wait until night before the park closes, as SV is a epic night ride.
If you have ERT, after riding Steel Vengeance, I would do Maverick next as it is next door and it can also get quite the line even on not-so-busy days. You might also want to do Millennium Force if you can get the first 2 done during ERT, but there may not be time to walk down to it. Otherwise, I'd suggest getting in line for Top Thrill Dragster early because it is yet another ride that can get a wait, and it sucks to wait for it for 1 hour and then it breaks down (and it loves to break down). If you stay long enough to get ERT on 2 days, I would split them up and do Steel Vengeance and Maverick on the 1st ERT day and then do Valravn and Millennium Force on Day 2 ERT.
There is some good news if the park begins to get crowded- not everything usually gets monster lines. The "popular" coaster almost always do (Steel Vengeance, Maverick, Valravn, Top Thrill Dragster, Millennium Force, and Raptor) but the others almost always have noticeably shorter lines (I have seen days where the popular rides are 1 hour+, and the less popular ones were only 5 minutes or less), some of them barely having lines at all. Also it does help that most of Cedar Point's rides are very high capacity. There are also lots of flat rides (If you're looking for a quick thrill, Skyhawk and MaXair both typically had short waits compared to most of the big coasters) as well as the beach, a museum, a train ride, and a petting zoo which IMO are all worth checking out.
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Ahh, The Beast. What a epic and legendary coaster- and yes, a very important one to me as well. I'll have to explain some backstory on that first though.
In 1999, at the age of 9, I rode my first "big" coaster- Hoosier Hurricane at Indiana Beach, with my dad. I remember loving it. However, when we went to Paramount's Kings Island in 2000, I saw Son of Beast for the first time (which to me as a kid was immense- Hoosier Hurricane is only 77 feet tall, versus 218 for Son of Beast). I got scared just from seeing such a huge ride, and then when I got airtime for the first time on The Racer later that day (and didn't know what it was) I became even more scared. I didn't go on any other roller coasters or big rides for 9 years after that. Also I never really even saw much of The Beast on that trip, even though I did look for it- all I remember seeing was the 2nd lift, from Monster around sunset.
However, there was still some interest- I recall reading magazine articles about roller coasters (I remember the 2003 Top Thrill Dragster magazine ad), and watching TV shows and documentaries about them. As I got older and bigger, I began to think "I'm older and bigger now- maybe soon I should give roller coasters a 2nd chance". Around 2007'ish, I began to wonder what Kings Island was up to- so I did some Google searching. Found out Cedar Fair bought the park, which made me think "oh cool now Kings Island is gonna get crazy good roller coasters" (I knew about Cedar Point at this point) and eventually found this site, where I became a lurker (I also found you could watch POVs of rides on Youtube at this point). My sister then went to Kings Island in 2008, and she returned having ridden most of the roller coasters. She also brought a 2008 park map (which I still have!) and spoke of the construction fence in Rivertown that would eventually lead to Diamondback. When Diamondback was announced (I learned of it via KIC) my sister decided to go back to Kings Island, and I decided it was time to return as well. I figured we could ride Beast first, because based on the POV's I had seen, I noticed it only had a few big drops and stuck low to the ground. About a week before going to KI, we went to a local carnival and rode a few rides there as warm-ups.
On May 16th, 2009 we arrived at the park. We went up the Eiffel Tower first, as it was raining a bit and to get our bearings as to where everything was, as well as too see all the new stuff that had been added since 2000. Then we went on The Crypt, which I didn't know went upside down (my sister tricked me) but I ended up disappointed it was so short. Then, since we were in Rivertown anyway, we got in line for The Beast. I smacked my sister on accident with one of the que line bars, and then we waited about 15-20 minutes to get on. I remember the lap bar was tighter that I expected, and I forgot my seat belt (oops). Then we got the all clear, and I took my first ride on a large roller coaster in 10 years. The train left the station, and went around the turn. Bump, Bump, Thunk, Thunk. At this point I got a bit worried- was this gonna be painfully rough? Because those thunks at low speed seemed like they'd be much worse once the ride got to full speed. I looked over to my Mom as we climbed the lift (she was riding with me) and I joked "Look mah, we are higher than da treez" to relieve tension. Then we reached the top of the first lift, and I saw that legendary visual. "Oh THAT is where this picture came from...wait...uh-oh!" The train dropped into the tiny tunnel and roared through it, into the hard left turn. Up, over the hill and into the ravine (no airtime though). Right turn, into the brake shed. At this point I realized "I AM STILL ALIVE SOMEHOW!" and we turned into the right turn that leads into the LOOOOOOONG tunnel. A girl's scream echoed through the tunnel. I realized though, I wasn't afraid of this, I was enjoying it! A few turns later after exiting the tunnel, and we are on the 2nd lift. I looked at my mom and sister, and told them I loved the ride. My sister looked back at me and said something that briefly brought the fear back: worst part was yet to come! We reached the top of the 2nd lift, and I saw the 2nd epic view of the entire park, and I wondered why that view wasn't more famous like the one of the 1st drop. But then the train suddenly turned, and I was staring a tiny hole in the face. Faster, faster, faster, faster, faster...ROAR!!! We were into the helix. It was so loud and chaotic, I wasn't even able to think, much less be scared. Then it happened again! After that though, we left the helix, dropped one last time, and came back up into the brake run. I was a little shook up from the helix, but I thought "that was a bit scary, but very fun, would ride it again". As we exited the ride, I looked up at Vortex, and thought "OK- I can handle roller coasters, and going upside down (Thanks to Crypt)...I guess it is time to try combing them..." I rode Vortex, Diamondback, Flight Deck (now The Bat), The Racer (made up for the scary ride in 2000), and Flight of Fear the same day to truly conquer my fear of roller coasters. Since Son of Beast broke down (I tried to ride it) we decided to ride The Beast again after dark- my friend just assumed it was good at night because of the wooded setting, we didn't know anything about how legendary the night rides were. But we found out, as that night ride on The Beast was my favorite ride of the day. As good as the daytime rides is, the night rides are just something else. Another memorable ride came during Halloween Haunt 2010- it was running very good that night, and it was kinda cool outside, so my friends all lost their voices from screaming the next day. LOL.
I have not gotten to too many parks since: in the "Beast Era (2009-Today)" I have only gone to Kings Island, Holiday World, and Cedar Point and have ridden 33 roller coasters at those parks. But I have made many memories at amusement parks, and made lots of friends and rode many other huge roller coasters, and have come to love most of them. I would say I truly got over my coaster fears once and for all in October 2017, when I finally rode Top Thrill Dragster. If I never rode The Beast on May 16th 2009, all of this may not have happened.
Looking forward to The Beast's 40th Anniversary season, which will also be my 10th anniversary of said 1st ride ironically. I am excited to see the new retro paint scheme they have on the trains this year, and hopefully 2019 will have many epic day and night rides on this legendary coaster for me. We are planning on trying to come up for passholder preview, and I am aiming to ride The Beast as my first coaster of 2019 because of the anniversaries (40 years of Beast, and 10 years of coasting for me).
And to end this post, here is the POV of Beast I saw in 2008'ish that made me wanna give it a shot in the first place. Video is by Discovery Channel, posted to Youtube by 2448Trolley:
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My Votes (and my reasons for each):
Most Anticipated 2019 Feature: International Street Renovations
The Antique Cars are a great addition for families, but based on rides I have done at other parks similar to them, they are probably not for me (though they probably will make the back of Coney Mall look and feel much nicer). So I am looking forward to the I-Street updates, particularly how the Royal Fountains are going to look and function in 2019.
Favorite Non-Coaster: Delirium
I love this huge flat ride. Swinging 137 feet in the air, spinning slowly, and dropping at 75+mph while getting airtime is just so fun to me, and is actually a bit relaxing at the same time.
Favorite Coaster: The Beast
Largely for the epic night rides- by day, I do find Diamondback, Mystic Timbers, and Banshee more enjoyable but after dark even though those 3 all get better, The Beast becomes something else and crushes them all. Being buried deep in the woods behind KI, racing through dark tunnels, the awesome views from both lifts, and the double helix finale at the end are all big reasons I find this ride to be awesome.
Least Favorite Non-Coaster: Boo Blasters on Boo Hill
This attraction just feels kinda cheap and gimmicky to me. The guns often being tricky to use doesn't help much at all. From what I have seen, I probably would have liked Phantom Theatre a LOT more than this. IMO, Kings Island needs a better dark ride.
Least Favorite Coaster: Invertigo
I didn't vote for any "kiddie" coasters because I think including them in a poll like this is a bit odd, since they are clearly aimed at younger riders. But of the "adult" coasters, I find Invertigo the worst- it is still a good enough ride, but something has to be the worst in the park (I don't think KI has any truly horrible coasters ATM). Invertigo is a short ride, and while it has great forcefulness, but when Invertigo gives a rough ride (I feel you have a 50% or so chance of getting either a smooth or rough ride here) I get headbanged no matter what I try, which sucks. And is enough for Invertigo to get my vote here.
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Ooh, these are neat looking. I will be sure to look for them on Preview Night and Opening Day. I'd like to get The Beast 40th Anniversary and Son of Beast ones, myself. Aka the "Father-Son" combo.
I love The Beast, hence why I want its pin, and while the Son no longer exists and I never got to ride it (so no real opinion on how good/bad it was), it would be nice to get a pin with that awesome classic logo. And SOB is one of the most interesting defunct coasters ever IMO.
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Having seen the "official" pictures of the new I-Street on Facebook, as well as some posted by @Shaggy there via the Sit-On-It page, I would say I am liking how International Street is looking. It does kinda suck a bit that the old pedestals and trees are gone, but the concrete pavers look awesome and I love how close you get to the fountains now. The new paint on the buildings also looks great. Plus, I am sure the new fountain system they installed is gonna be able to do stuff the old pedestals never could, like go in patterns, possibly in sync with music (if color changing lights were also installed, I imagine the 2019 fireworks shows will be epic from I-Street. I also imagine blood red colored water at night for Haunt).
Though I still wanna see the updated fountains in person before I make my final opinion on them.
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FYI: The smoking section near Flight of Fear was there during Winterfest 2018. I know because my friends+sister I go to KI with usually smoked there while I rode Flight of Fear 4 times in a row (thank you single rider line!).
Looks like it's staying there for the 2019 season at least, though.
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IMO, my rankings of what I want vs. what I think we'll get of the B&M models looks like this- not counting what I think are super longshot models:
WHAT I WOULD WANT-
#1- Giga
#2- Floorless
#3- Wing
#4- Dive
WHAT I EXPECT CF TO ADD-
#1- Giga (Most likely, as it has been the most demanded by many, and KI's GM was noted asking for one a while back)
#2- Dive (I think it's one of the more possible options for 2 reasons: The GP adore them, making them good additions in that sense, and they are much cheaper versus all the other B&Ms here.)
#3- Wing
#4- Floorless
#5- Flying (Super Longshot, IMO possible but less than 1% chance)
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Well, I have some kinda crummy news. Turns out a concert my sister (aka the main person I get to go to KI with) is going to for a friend's birthday happens the day before Coasterstock, and because we were unable to plan for it early on (a bunch of bad big family things came up in early February) it looks like I won't be able to make it to Coasterstock this year after all. Can't make it that day.
Still, even if I can't be there in person, I do expect to see a lot of videos and pictures from the event. So I will still in some form be able to enjoy it. I do hope everyone else has fun at the event. We did also set aside money for the hotel before we learned we couldn't make Coasterstock, so we will probably do a 2-day trip to KI (have never done this before, ironically) at some point instead. We are thinking Passholder Preview+Opening Day at the moment.
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28 minutes ago, Ben43065 said:
A giga would certainly be able to get the park to 3.5, I’d say 3.6 million wouldn’t be an unreasonable estimate considering giga coasters are huge draws. Kings Island is still growing and I don’t believe the market is saturated. A 13% increase over a decade is a healthy growth rate in my opinion. You can’t expect a park that already draws a large number of people to grow by 3-4%
I just did a bit of math, and TBH, I agree with a possible 3.6 million in 2020. I took 1% off the 2017 attendance (2018 was a drop, but due to a increase in Haunt/Winterfest attendance it I don't imagine it was a huge drop-off) so 2018 was still probably over 3.4 million. If the Antique Autos can pull a extra 2-3% in (and they may well do it, given how well family rides did in the last decade when they were added) that will get KI very close to or over the 3.5 million mark. At that point, the Giga just needs to bring in another 2-3% increase to hit 3.6 million, which should be possible because the GP adore Giga Coasters due to their huge stats (and they are very easy to market).
Though it could still not happen if something fairly unpredictable, like terrible weather or another economic crisis (Diamondback likely would have gotten KI a big boost in 2009 had the economy not crashed) happens.
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We actually do have some data for Kings Island attendance- thanks to the TEA Reports. 2018 isn't posted yet from them, and some do question how accurate these reports are (Stuff like KI beating out parks like Magic Mountain or Great Adventure- which are in 2 MASSIVE markets- was suspicious to some), but I decided to check them out since they are really the only source I could think of. The reports for KI go back to 2007. I got the numbers from this page on Wikipedia, but TEA was used as the OG source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_amusement_park_rankings#North_America
Here is how Kings Island did year-by-year, I also list what big new attractions were added, if any:
2007- Firehawk: 3,050,000 (2006 Data Unknown)
2008- Cedar Fair Re-Themes and Forwards Racer (No New Rides): 3,126,000 (+76,000) (+2.49%)
2009- Diamondback: 3,000,000 (-126,000: Recession Seen As Part of Drop) (-4%)
2010- Planet Snoopy & Boo Blasters: 3,112,000 (+112,000) (+3.7%)
2011- WindSeeker/Dinos: 3,143,000 (+31,000) (+0.9%)
2012- Soak City Retheme/Expansion: 3,206,000 (+63,000) (+2%)
2013- Reds HOF Grille (No New Rides): 3,206,000 (+0) (+0%)
2014- Banshee: 3,238,000 (+32,000) (+0.9%)
2015- Woodstock Gliders & Snoopy Space Buggies: 3,335,000 (+97,000) (+2.99%)
2016- Tropical Plunge: 3,384,000 (+49,000) (+1.4%)
2017- Mystic Timbers/Winterfest: 3,469,000 (+85,000) (+2.5%)Decade (2007 vs. 2017): +419,000 (+13.7%)
If attendance did drop in 2018 (which it may have for KI- Cedar Fair themselves seem to hint at this- but the TEA report hasn't come out for 2018 yet), it will have been the first since 2009 (which was the only "down" year until 2018 under Cedar Fair). Of the coasters, not counting Firehawk because 2006 data isn't available so we can't see what kind of effect it had, Mystic Timbers saw the biggest jump with a 2.5% increase. Though that also came paired with the much hyped return of Winterfest- and a extension of the operating season. Banshee saw only a 0.9% increase, but that same year Kentucky Kingdom re-opened and that park got about 500,000 guests, and I have to figure at least a few of those were Louisville area locals who went to KK instead of KI (possibly even up to 50,000?). Diamondback ironically saw a BIG 4% drop, in spite of it being one of the most popular rides in the park in the past decade. Though the fact it opened in a bad year for the economy probably didn't help at all.
What I find really shocking though is what years did the best in terms of attendance increase. A few may have claimed that Snoopy replacing Nickelodeon was a bad move in 2010, but apparently no one cared too much because a whopping 3.7% increase in attendance happened that year. Pretty impressive, especially if you consider there were no new rides, as Planet Snoopy was just a re-theme (even Boo Blasters was really just a de-themed Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle at its core). The economy was also better in 2010 versus 2009 though, so I guess a lot of people suddenly had some money for once and wanted to go back to KI as well. Probably also to check out Diamondback, as I bet a lot of people missed it in 2009, and coasters typically remain draws for many years if they are good. Heck- The Beast probably still has decent "drawing power", and it is turning 40!
2015 was also a huge year. Add a $24 million B&M Invert KI fans have been asking for the past few years- get a 0.9% attendance increase. One year later, add some kids rides (granted one was also a "return" of a KI Classic, the Flying Eagles) for probably about $1 million tops and...AN ALMOST 3% INCREASE!?!? Yeah, totally not a drop as may have been expected. Stuff like this is probably why Cedar Fair is probably gonna start doing more smaller additions to its big, developed parks more often and not do huge coasters as much. Also, based on this, I am expecting a decent attendance boost from the Antique Cars in 2019. Family rides seem to be big draws for KI in the past decade. I expect more of them in the near future, after the rumored but likely 2020 B&M.
Also worth noting though- Kings Island has been around the 3 million attendance mark for a while now. When Vortex was added in 1987, Kings Island saw its first 3,000,000 guest season and while 2017 may be the current record-holder, I recall reading somewhere that prior to 2017, 2004 was one of the best years for attendance as it had around 3.4 million guests as well, and have also heard there were some years in the 90's like 1999 doing almost this much as well. At best, I think a Giga might get KI past 3.5 million (since MT and Winterfest got the park close at 3.469m as long as the 2018 drop isn't too huge), but not by much as Kings Island does seem to attract about as many guests as it can already. But a Giga could also very likely be marketed for at least 3+ years, probably even 5+ the way Diamondback was during the years leading up to Banshee, allowing the park to focus on smaller, cheaper things like improvements, flat rides, and waterpark additions while Cedar Fair spends its big money on its other parks that actually do still show they have room to grow, like Carowinds.
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This article really hits the nail on the head- sometimes, you can take things a bit too seriously to the point it becomes toxic. Especially if you focus on negatives, which some people seem to really do. For example, don't like a ride? Fine- no one is forcing you to ride it (or at least they should not be- I have seen parents trying to force little kids on monster thrill rides before, which I disagree heavily with). You don't need to jump into a thread/forum/post and repeat it over, and over, and over (or mention it in EVERY thread) every time said ride or something similar is mentioned. I have seen it get so bad, I wonder if the person is actually just trolling.
And I can also vouch for it: this isn't limited to coaster and theme park communities, I have seen tons of others. Like video game fanbases, movie fanbases, etc.
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On the topic of "How would a Giga Coaster look on the KI Skyline", I made a not-100%-accurate version of Kings Island in RCT3 using "Custom Track" coasters from the park. For those who don't know, Custom Tracks in RCT3 are basically rides imported from No Limits or 3D models to RCT3. Not every ride from Kings Island has been made but enough of the "big visible from the parking lot" ones were, so I went outside the park using the free cam and noticed the skyline looked pretty close to what KI's actual skyline looks like. Which gave me the idea to put in the Custom Track of Leviathan (there isn't a Fury 325 CT I know of yet nor a custom B&M Giga) where Firehawk used to sit just to see what a 306-foot tall Giga would look like. Also do note the Eiffel Tower and International Street buildings aren't mine, I saved them from a recreation of KI I downloaded a while back for use in my other RCT3 parks because I liked how they looked. I forget who originally made them, I do recall them being someone here on KIC though. (I think it's from Kitchenslayer on RCTgo's recreations)
Edit: Crud, it did not upload the way I wanted it to. You will have to click the link and download the image apparently.
Edit 2: Nevermind, I found a image hosting site that is free and works. Here is the RCT3 screenshot I made.
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Oh fudge. I never got to ride it (have not made it to Kings Dominion yet), but Volcano: The Blast Coaster was a very interesting looking ride and one I really wanted to ride, even more so after I rode Wicked Twister at Cedar Point since Volcano was basically a full-circuit version of that ride. However, I kinda understand why it is being removed. It had a lot of maintenance and reliability issues, even for a Intamin coaster, as it was one of their first launched inverts. The fact it was built into the "Volcano" probably made it even harder to repair, too.
Speaking of the "Volcano" itself, I wonder if that is coming down, or just the roller coaster within it. The Mack Bobsled coaster Avalanche- another unique ride as it is the only one in the USA- shares that element with Volcano. Also Kings Dominion is probably gonna need a new big coaster to fill this sudden gap that emerged in their lineup.
And now Banshee becomes the world's fastest full circuit inverted coaster, at 68mph. This new regime at Cedar Fair really doesn't seem to like unreliable/high cost rides, unless they are super popular like Top Thrill Dragster. Firehawk, Witches Wheel (and possibly another HUSS Enterprise at Canada's Wonderland), and now Volcano have all bitten the dust in the span of just 1 year.
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I have only been on a total of 35 coasters (by my count- racing coasters as 1, Surf Dog type rides don't count, etc.) and I can luckily say I probably have avoided the really awful stuff so far, but something has to be the worst.
Not counting kiddie coasters, I'd have to go with...Cedar Creek Mine Ride. It has a nice scenic location and some decent laterals in spots, but most of the ride is it basically going slow and doing nothing. It also has that classic Arrow jerkiness to it, it's not super rough but considering it's not incredibly thrilling either it doesn't help much. I would still ride it again, but it is pretty meh so unless there is a super short wait and I have already ridden everything else, I'm probably not riding this one a lot on future Cedar Point trips.
Corkscrew is a little better, but not by too much. Unlike CCMR, Corkscrew actually has some nice parts to it: the airtime hill gives very good air, and the inversions are fun. I even found it pretty smooth for a old Arrow looper (only the Corkscrews even felt slightly rough). However, it has very few elements in total, and is a pretty short ride. It does not help that I had already ridden Kings Island's Vortex, which is literally twice the ride Corkscrew is in almost every regard when it comes to size and number of elements. (FTR- Vortex doesn't come close to sniffing this list, I enjoy that ride a lot compared to these!)
At Kings Island, Invertigo is probably the worst of the big coasters. On a good day, when it is running smooth, it is a good ride- but when the wheels are a bit worn out, it becomes a very headbangy ride. It's the only ride to date to give me a headache. I can only say it's better than the first 2 rides because when it is smooth you can enjoy the powerful G-forces and inversions, and the face-to-face element is awesome. If only it could run that way 100% of the time...
Racer can also make this list, when certain conditions are met at least. Normally, Racer is a good ride, and usually stays far from this list. But sometimes, especially if you choose a rear wheel seat, Racer will decide not only to not give you any of its airtime, but it will be very rough and jackhammer a lot. Thus, when this happens, Racer ends up being a very bad ride. However, the opposite can also happen, where the ride gives LOTS of air and is super smooth (I got TWO of these last year). As such, I do try to ride Racer whenever I am at Kings Island, but I always hope for the great rides to happen, not the horribly bad ones. (Thus why I would love to see Racer get a full restoration by GCI or something down the line, so those bad rides would never happen again and the good ones would be much more common)
If we do allow kids coasters, though, then I have a clear least-favorite. Howler at Holiday World. Super boring, and shockingly rough for a kids coaster. I was shocked we let kids ride that! I would rather do CCMR over and over, than ever ride that again.
And yes Maverick44, Viper at SF Great Adventure is no more, it got replaced by...El Toro. From everything I have heard, that has to be one of the biggest "upgrades" ever. Going from one of the worst rides ever built, to one of the best! (Note: Based on reviews I have seen, have not been to SFGadv)
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I have only seen a Skunk at Kings Island during nighttime: we were in line for The Beast, and were on the long covered "bridge" part of the que that leads into the main station. One of my friends saw the skunk, and we began to get nervous it was gonna spray everyone on the bridge. But then it just passed under us, and we saw it had a slice of Pizza (likely LaRosa's). Not even a half-eaten slice, but a FULL slice. LOL, s/he had dinner, probably stolen from some unsuspecting person. The Skunk headed towards The Crypt building and we went on and moved towards the station and got our Beast night ride afterwards. TBH, I thought this encounter was cute.
I have had an encounter where I SMELLED a skunk at KI, though. Noticed it very early in the day- it was near the Reds HOF Grille and Mystic Timbers entrance. Man, did it stink, AND IT STUNK ALL DAY (we smelled it heading to Mystic Timbers for ERT and every time we went past later on as well). Eww. And this was probably after-the-fact, I feel horrible for whomever it was who got sprayed. Unlike the other skunk "encounter", not cute. Stinky!
I also have seen deer at Kings Island, but only on the Kings Island & Miami Valley Railroad (never on Beast or any other ride). They were located near the section where the fake building props were, and on the 2nd time we saw them, there was a baby. Awe.
Also all of this was last year, if anyone was wondering.
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16 hours ago, fryoj said:
Assuming a similar construction schedule as previous installations, it should be then. The first track showed up at KI for Banshee right after the August 8th-ish announcement date. So probably a couple months before then. I tried to search on here to see if there were pics at csf from that time period, but the search function on this site doesn't want you to search for things.
Actually, if I remember correctly, track for Banshee (and some supports) were seen before the ride was announced at Clermont Steel. Someone was able to get close enough to them to zoom in with their camera and even take a picture of the label, which indicated it was a B&M Inverted Coaster. Then around that same period, someone posted a Youtube video leaking the Blueprints and Layout. These killed the notion the coaster was going to be a Intamin, which some were still suggesting (mostly trolls at this point- some footers had been placed and they were obviously B&M).
Then Kings Island tried to throw of us off for a bit with The Bat Wing Coaster "leak" on their web site.
(Probably because the year prior, GateKeeper was accidentally leaked before it was supposed to be announced)
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1 hour ago, chugh43 said:
Yes the family membership counts as Platinum.
Thanks! Now I have all the info I needed. Looks like I might be attending Coasterstock 2019! Really excited for all the behind-the-scenes stuff, ERT (including Night Vortex @VortexBFForever), included food (I was about to call it free but you are paying $40+ per ticket) and guest speakers.
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Just now, IndyGuy4KI said:
Thanks. We will try to get our tickets ASAP as they go on sale, just depends when we get money. But we for sure will try not to hold out TOO long, of course.
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I have some questions regarding Coasterstock 2019, since my sister and the 2 friends we went to all the parks with in 2018 are interested and were looking stuff up:
#1- Does Coaster Crew's (the club we were looking at) "Family" bundles count as Platinum? Because on the 2018 Coasterstock page on KI's web site, it lists Coaster Crew Platinum as eligible clubs.
#2- Is it possible for the event to sell out, and if so, how fast does it happen? I ask this because depending when tickets go on sale, we may not have the money for them ASAP.
Other than that, that is all. I am very hopeful to finally get to go to my first coaster event, should this all fall into place. And I love that it is going to be Beast-Heavy, because 10 years ago on The Beast was when I broke my fear of roller coasters so this would be a great way to celebrate my first decade of coaster enthusiasm.
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Even though I have never been to Universal Orlando (my sister has- she RAVES about the place) this proposed Jurassic World coaster still excites me. I love the Jurassic Park/World IP, and a multi-launch Intamin Blitz coaster that goes 75mph and over water (which is what this is heavily rumored to be) should be a epic coaster. I do find it a little odd that they are doing back-to-back Intamin launch coasters, but it is understandable once you realize Harry Potter is going to be more of a family coaster and Jurassic World is going to be a bonkers Maverick-style ride.
Hopefully the reliability on this and a few other of the upcoming Intamin rides is good- because if so, Cedar Fair might start buying them again. I would love to see Kings Island at some point get a Maverick-type ride, but built in the woods of the park. (Though that could also end up being a Mack: we'll need to see how Copperhead Strike does as well)
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Out of sheer boredom earlier, I went and used RCDB and Google to see how many cloned coasters Cedar Fair has made. So, I did some research, and found according to Wikipedia Cedar Fair was formed in 1983, so I used that as my starting point, and then began seeing what coasters were added to all their parks after they were acquired. I did not count re-locations (so no Geauga Lake rides were counted, since Cedar Fair didn't build any coasters there anyway). I also didn't count rides already at the parks prior to Cedar Fair taking over, or prior to 1983 for Cedar Point and Valleyfair. I found that Cedar Fair, since 1983 at all their parks, has made 51-52 coasters (there was 1 am unsure they made, I'll describe below) and of those, 10-11 were clones and 41 were unique. I did count the 2 new-for-2019 coasters, Copperhead Strike and Yukon Striker, though obviously they are not clones.
Here is a list of all "11" rides I found that were installed by Cedar Fair, that were clones:
#1- Dragon Coaster @ Dorney Park (Zamperla, 1992)
This is the one I am unsure about: it was added to Dorney Park in 1992, the same year Cedar Fair acquired Dorney. I could not find at what part of the year the acquisition took place OR when this ride opened, so I am not sure if it was added by Cedar Fair or Dorney's Previous Owners. In 2010 this ride was re-located to Valleyfair, where it operates to this day as Cosmic Coaster. It is also a powered coaster.#2- Woodstock Express @ Cedar Point (Vekoma, 1999)
Wow, first for-sure clone at a Cedar Fair Park added by Cedar Fair wasn't added until 1999. This is your typical Vekoma family coaster.#3- Mad Mouse @ Valleyfair (Arrow, 1999)
One of the last Arrows ever made, as they went under in 2001.#4- Wild Mouse @ Dorney Park (Maurer GmbH, 2000)
Another Wild Mouse, this time by Maurer.#5- Woodstock's Express @ Dorney Park (Zamperla, 2000)
A typical kiddie coaster. Similar to Howler at Holiday World, for those who have been there.#6- Boomerang @ Worlds of Fun (Vekoma, 2000)
OMG Cedar Fair BUILT A VEKOMA BOOMERANG. I thought for sure this was re-located or added prior to Cedar Fair, but nope...#7- Steel Venom @ Valleyfair (Intamin, 2003)
A Intamin Launched Inverted Impulse Coaster. This is the 185-foot version with one twist and one spike.#8- Spinning Dragons @ Worlds of Fun (Gerstlauer, 2004)
A Gerstlauer spinning coaster. While it is a clone, there are only 2 of this model, so it is still a bit rare.#9- Pony Express @ Knott's Berry Farm (Zamperla, 2008)
A Zamperla Motocoaster, it launches from 0-38mph.#10- Coast Rider @ Knott's Berry Farm (Mack, 2013)
A 3rd Wild Mouse, and by a 3rd Manufacturer. Cedar Fair did have a few of these beforehand, as parks like Kings Dominion had this model. I assume they liked it.#11- Railblazer @ California's Great America (RMC, 2018)
While only 2 of these RMC Raptor single-rail coasters exist, this one has to get the clone title, as Wonder Woman opened first.There were also 2 "Nearly Clones":
Raptor @ Cedar Point (B&M, 1994)
Sierra Sidewinder @ Knott's Berry Farm (Mack, 2007)These rides were unique when new, but some foreign parks have built clones of them. However they were unique when built, so I don't consider them clones.
In conclusion: Looking at this, Cedar Fair tends not to do clones, and it has been this way for a while. Consider that there are 41 unique non-cloned rides they have added to their parks since 1983, versus 11 clones, and of those clones most are family rides or Wild Mice (save for Boomerang, Steel Venom, and Railblazer).
BONUS
# of Coasters by Make built under Cedar Fair since '83
Arrow: 4
ART Gmbh: 1
B&M: 15 (Counting Yukon Striker)
CCI: 1
Dinn: 1
GCI: 4
Gerstlauer: 2
Intamin: 8
Mack: 3 (Counting Copperhead Strike)
Maurer: 1
Morgan: 3
RMC: 3
Vekoma: 2
Zamperla: 3That's a lotta B&M.
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13 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:
So everything changing in 2019
- Return of the Antique Cars
- Improvements on The Racer
- Removal of Firehawk/ Mystery B&M project
- Huge International Street renovations
2019 seems like an awesome year to me
And what I think is scary (in a good way): this is just what we know is coming. They still have not given us the 2019 Show Line-Up, or announced any special events like the Peanuts Celebration last year. And I fully expect special events in 2019, as Cedar Fair management did state they were popular and they wanted to do more to boost summer attendance.
Cedar Fair has given Kings Island a lot of love the last few years. The park overall has a much, much nicer feel now than it did even a few years ago- the replacing of asphalt with pavers in several sections, a new and much better parking toll booth, Banshee and Mystic Timbers refreshing and making their sections of the park look nicer in addition to being awesome roller coasters, and now the International Street overhaul and Antique Autos will make those sections (I-Street and the Back of Coney Mall) even nicer to look at.
I can't wait to check out all the new stuff (and overhauled old stuff) come passholder preview day in April!
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Yikes. I did not attend it myself (My first visit to Kings Island was in 2000, when Viacom/Paramount owned the park, and I did not return and start coming to the park "regularly" until 2009) but this CBS year sounds truly awful. I'm guessing it was 2006, right? If so, that was the same year Cedar Fair bought Kings Island and the Paramount chain, which makes me wonder if some of this awfulness was reversed immediately, or if it wasn't removed until 2007, when Cedar Fair fully took over.
The Beast 40th Anniversary
in Kings Island
Posted
(Sees what day it is...)
Oh...HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY BEAST!!!