dwainw

steveinphoenix, Well that's a huge disappointment, and that's coming from someone who can't make it to the park for weeks. Hopefully you guys can still make a great trip out of in anyway. More prayers your way. If you are referring to your Kings Island season pass, I understand that they can be renewed online with no longer a need for processing at the park.

With temperatures forecast to be in the 30s on Thursday morning, it could be an interesting (or not) media day. B&M requires a 40 degree startup temp, right?

It looks like the shade covers are going up in the new AZ seating area.

It is interesting to note that the only landscaping we can see around the course are next to the queue and at the bottom of the first drop next to a nice concrete pad that is thought to be off-limits to the general public. Wonder why they would put some nice trees in a mulch bed sandwiched between a privacy fence and a high-speed part of the course.

Actually the Banshee sign will be just to the left of the arch on a raised, curved bed which is easier to see in the morning light. That part is looking a lot like the original renderings so far: KI's Banshee Rendering.

Actually if you look at the Banshee cam during the afternoon (best for sunlight in that area), you can see the completed arch already. It appears just to the right of the tallest support in the dive loop. As an aside, you'll notice that the arch wasn't part of the original renderings on the Banshee website. Edit: Here's a snippet from the Banshee cam:

Thanks, that's what I thought. While I hope to make it back to KI to ride Banshee this year, we live much closer to KD, Dorney and even Carowinds for that matter. So we're likely to hit at least one of those first. Now to renew those KI Platinum Passes...

If you are renewing a 2013 pass, there is no need to process, correct? I certainly hope you don't, as I bought Platinum Passes for the family last year at KI, but we live in Virginia.

The stone pillars support an arch over the entrance. I believe KI posted an image on Twitter of a mason laying up those pillars a few days ago. Not sure if the arch will have a sign on it, but it I would think it will.

I would think they did a bunch of low power tests before a launch at full power. They would all be rollbacks.

They could test this morning without killing the cams. http://www.davidwaderich.com/hotlink/KI/Angle1/index.php?image=Angle120140312081618.jpg Edit: For some reason I can't get the image to embed here. At least I can offer a foggy link.

The former KI scooters that are now at Carowinds are indeed awesome. However, the fact that Carowinds shuts down the ride at the first snap can mean very short ride cycles. Knoebels' scooters, on the other hand, are a little harder to snap but they usually allow riders to be more frisky. I've had plenty of snaps per cycle there without interference. I wonder how much older the Coney Island/Kings Island/Carowinds set is than the fun-but-snapless Kings Dominion set (1975).

You wouldn't be able to see any lightning over in that circle while riding the ride unless you looked to the side and twisted your neck or if your in the front and only for a split second. Textured lightning and all lights will be somewhere within the confines of the actual ride where they enhance the ride experience. I wasn't talking about the circle at all. I was referring to projecting textured lighting on the station. That is becoming a popular thing to do (see Disney's castle shows). It could be used to "bring the Banshee legend to life" and help in making an "ultimate night ride experience". Check this out for examples: http://themeparkuniversity.com/backstage-access/moment-factory-revitalizes-atlantic-city/

Could the textured lighting that is planned for Banshee be the reason the station is tiled with those surprisingly light colors? I don't think I've ever seen that kind of wall treatment used for the exterior of a building. It looks like it could be a good background for all sorts of projected lighting.

Everyone is wondering if the free standing wall has been erected. If you check the webcam late in the day, it sure looks to me like you can see the point on top of it. You can even see it in the capture above. ^^ I'm sure the wall must have a purpose. I'm guessing it is to block the view of the old SOB station for most people in the new Banshee station.

Skyrush had a pull-through just a couple years ago. But B&Ms don't seem to require them anymore.

Whoa. I didn't realize the grays and blues of the station would be quite that light. The renderings show both a light version and a dark version, but I assumed the light version was just drawn to highlight the stone sort of pattern.

Wow. I've read a lot concerning Banshee, and have closely watched construction. But I never realized until this moment that this will be the first inverted coaster with sideways facing trains. Cool! I guess they will have to mount seats back to back to utilize both rails...

Yes, Banshee Cam 1 has a pretty good view of CJ being disassembled at the moment.

I've heard that coasters from a different builder based in Liechtenstein occasionally have unused track left over...

^^Does this apply to webcam captures and construction progress renderings as well? On a different track, at the rate the construction crew moved yesterday, I can't imagine they won't complete the course today. They already have the first support up.

The support is up! It looks like the track work is all downhill from here.

Are we sure about that? The only time we've seen it covered is during a lift, correct?

The newest webcam (Construction Cam 1) is covered again for today's first track lift. It's odd that they didn't cover it yesterday as far as I heard or saw.

It certainly looks like they did frost-proof those footers for some reason. Could it be that they went ahead and grouted the top of those footers? Also, I'm thinking those are likely the lowest footers on the course. Edit: Well that didn't take long - the next support is up.