aj74205

Steel Vengeance has themeing? Lol. I'd argue Maverick is still the better themed attraction given the queue, landscaping, rock formations and water features around the coaster. Or at least, those things make more of an impact than with Steel Vengeance regardless of the story they cooked up. Paramount showed you themeing in practice that you didn't have to watch a video online to decipher.

If there's one thing Paramount definitely had over CF, it's themeing. They had licenses to work with, of course, but the coasters definitely had better and more cohesive narratives than 'granny kicked up some moonshine and a bunch of convoluted nonsense has lead to the ride you're now experiencing, we paid twice as much for this as we did Maverick and it's half as good, here's a room with vaguely steampunk items - have fun!'

The layouts are the same, so really the ride experience is very similar. I liked going over the water with Vortex (haven't ridden since Yukon Striker) but The Bat feels faster because there are so many mature trees all around, there's near misses almost the whole time. Good to see track on site at Hershey, it's looked ready to ship out for a while.

This is not like the case of Mantis to Chang where a new corkscrew, helix and etc was added. The Bat's drop was only slightly modified to fit KI's terrain, the lengths of each coaster is within 10'. They're even almost at the same geographic orientation, I did not rotate either image and the top of both is due North. I think differences you're perceiving are almost exclusively due to differing support structure and camera perspective. Even BTR clones have heights and lengths that vary to within 10', and some are mirrored. Call me a contrarian if you like, but to consider The Bat anything else but a clone is a misnomer

The Bat and Vortex are not clones in the same sense that Bizarro and Scream are not clones. The Bat was 100% a clone of Vortex placed onto KI terrain. Top Gun (The Bat) was built in 1993, Vortex in 1991. Kings Island's sister park at the time (Paramount's Great America) also got a Top Gun coaster in 1993 which is low key one of the best B&M inverts ever built. It's interesting to ponder how things would have shaken out if KI got a custom B&M invert during that era. Also, let me echo the thanks to @Captain Nemo for some amazing pics! It's good to see the progress at CSF, it looks like they've gotten up to the drop now. I have mixed feelings about such a similar color scheme to Millennium Force, but it'll be slightly brighter and I'm sure look amazing on the skyline.

I love how tight the crest is on B&M gigas.

Hasn't it been independently confirmed Project X is gluten free? I'm not sure about vegan On the real, inverting coasters don't need giga height to do what they do and some of the best are smaller...you only need to look to Maverick and similar coasters for the evidence of that. The floorless effect is the closest thing to a gimmick that B&M have ever pulled, it does very little for ride experience. I do agree that a flying coaster could be amazing at 300'+ height, Tatsu has a total altitude variance of 263' and it makes for an awesome ride experience.

BSBMX! Thanks for the detailed explanation on grout pockets! I realized that the gap between the footing and plate was sealed with grout but wasn't so intimately familiar with the process, lol. That is a fantastic Fury construction album, I remember following along. Crazy it's been 5 years. Fury went vertical September 29th, and I'm also wondering at this point if KI's construction timeline is a bit earlier to get the bulk of vertical construction done before winter. And finally, looking at these pics, I wish both Carowinds and KI had been able to spare more trees! Canada's Wonderland preserved quite a few with Leviathan, but they also had the easiest site to work with by far.

I see. I was only aware of a zero height of 740', not heights for each footer.

Where does data about the height of the footers come from?

For all we know, the height at ground level below the apex of the lift is 5' below the zero height listed on the blueprints. In order to have a 301' lift AND drop, the ground at the base of the drop needs to be around 10' lower when considering footers/supports/height of track off ground. We can see that the grade changes at least this much in the land clearing pics. Lift height has always been conjecture. I maintain that come announcement time, stats are going to reflect a 300'/301' lift.

Even though there's no distinction on the product page, I think it's important to make note of the fact that B&M's design philosophy with a 300' coaster is notably different than with a 200' coaster. It's basically the difference between Magnum and Millennium Force, with the former emphasizing airtime moments and featuring relatively few/simple turns and the latter emphasizing speed, overbanks, and sometimes laterals. I'd have liked to see a bigger lift for Project X to make the difference more pronounced, but that's another conversation. Another thing that's always been true is that we don't know the exact height of the lift...we only know the zero height given on the blueprints and drop height. I think it's almost guaranteed that the official height of this coaster will be 300' or 301', and the exact lift height doesn't matter to ride experience anyway. I think this is a coaster that'll end up surprising people with its elements and pacing. I had to get over an initial wave of disappointment myself...but that doesn't mean the end product won't be amazing. I'm just stoked to see another solid giga going up, it doesn't happen every year.

Press 'f' to doubt, lol. In the pics, the underside of the track is visibly blue, and probably just reflecting the sun. Also, the construction timeline for this coaster may be different, but Fury and Leviathan both started going vertical around late September/October.

I suppose it *could* be for Sea World San Diego's Mako dive coaster, but I doubt it. It was shown as having more of an aqua or seafoam green track color. There's also the possibility of an international project, but I don't think any track has been recently identified for such a project. Construction is in full swing on Project X and Hershey's hyper has been underway a while, so I would wager that this is KI track. Edit: I missed like a full page because the browser didn't refresh, excuse me being late to the party. I hope supports aren't orange, lol.

I never doubted! I guess this giga is going to be built Ferd tuff? Lol. It'll just be called F-150 Experience.

Nice! Any pics of track at Clermont and all angles of the construction site are obviously welcome. I'm also curious about the topography around Diamondback. I remember when it was built, people spoke of a natural ravine nearby that could have made for an awesome terrain coaster.

I'm glad we're finally asking the hard questions... It appears we've stumbled upon the record that counts, y'all: World's First Gluten Free Giga Coaster! And isn't that Surf Coaster filing somewhat old at this point?

I agree. I'm honestly very glad that B&M had the opportunity to deliver this trio of gigas after Cedar Fair's relationship with Intamin soured, and I'm cautiously optimistic for Project X to be some of B&M's best work. I hear you, and I was following along for all the mishaps you mentioned. I'm a B&M fan as much as I am an Intamin fan, and I recognize the strengths and weaknesses of both. You may well be right that Cedar Fair will never invest in another Intamin. I also think if they can demonstrate that they now have a reliable product that offers a superior ride experience to Mack at a much lower cost, Cedar Fair will take note.

Maverick is still my #1 too, even after Steel Vengeance. I am SO stoked for the new Jurassic coaster and the BGW coaster, it's exciting to see Intamin coming back to the states. I think it's safe to say Cedar Fair will be paying attention to how things shake out with those coasters.

I think Intamin isn't mentioned as much simply because they're not likely given the events of the last decade. I would LOVE to see Cedar Fair do business with Intamin again, especially considering the incredible expense and apparently somewhat underwhelming nature of Mack rides (specifically Copperhead Strike). I think a triple launch or some kind of blitz coaster would be a great fit for KI.

The brown track is for Hershey's 2020 hyper. Don't hesitate to snap pics here and there!

Things won't be too exciting until announcement and vertical construction. We'll get to see that big wonky base footer for the lift hill, that's about it. People definitely questioned Cedar Fair when they chose to build Leviathan in a park with a B&M hyper already, but those rides are pretty distinct from one another experience wise. Leviathan emphasizes speed and overbanks, Behemoth is a floater airtime machine. The staggered seating and difference in train length also makes for distinct experiences on each. Project X will not just be a slightly bigger Diamondback, but it won't be Intimidator 305 either. It will be very similar to Leviathan as far as scale and drop, but I think with better elements and pacing. Also, shady lift height issues aside, a 301' drop is *significantly* larger than a 215' drop.

Diamondback had track on site before announcement, could go either way. If the gray isn't primer it'd be a shame, I'm quite fond of @DustinTheNow 's color scheme.

Edit: Forgot to quote, but this was in response to homestar92: This is true, lol, maybe a nice junior hyper around the pond? I didn't even realize the history of Ohio's Coney Island originating Kings Island, moving to the Kings Mills area to avoid flooding on the Ohio river. That was a nice slice of history to read up on. Also, as far as Project X versus Leviathan, they're going to have a very similar length and duration. If Leviathan has an extra element then it's just a turn into the weaker of its two airtime hills after the turnaround. Leviathan's first half is great, the second half is weak. Fury starts strong and finishes strong, but from the treble clef to the helix it's a bit weak. The more I pore over its layout, the more optimistic I am that Project X will be consistent throughout - short but sweet with a finishing element that recalls Fury's treble clef.

You'd think they could afford another airtime hill or two with the money they saved on shipping!