malem Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 Flight Deck's line was all the way to the entrance today. I think it is doing just fine. All the way to the entrance, near the restrooms? That would be an extremely long wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 A. People are much less active and far more sedentary nowadays. Imagine Demon nowadays, with the many, many steps. Or a giant slide... B. The park boasted that Racer was the tallest fastest coaster, but, it was hype. There were taller coasters even then. Racer is 88 feet. Both the then Crystal Beach Comet (now Great Escape) and Giant Coaster at Paragon Park (now Wild One at Six Flags America) were and are both taller and faster, then and now. And that's just off the top of my head. Tallest, fastest racing coaster(s)? Maybe. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dare-to-fly Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 But at Kings Island it was the tallest and fastest. Therein was my point...though I totally see why it got lost. I didn't exactly specify. (I can think of several coasters built before The Racer that had taller lifts/longer drops, etc.) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 Oh, make no mistake. The park DID promote it as the tallest, biggest, fastest roller coaster in the world, which it wasn't. Times were different back then. Glimmers still survive: http://retro.cincinnati.com/Topics/Article/444/Kings-Island-thrill-ride-history Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McSalsa Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 Umm...on Racer being the tallest in the world...I'd like you all to meet... http://rcdb.com/354.htm Opened in 1964. Height- 110 feet! (equal to Kings Island's Beast!) And it's a Mobious Coaster, which has 1 very long track that goes around twice...so if they really wanted to, they could make it longer than Beast (it would be 8,000+ feet long!)... There are even quality POVs of it, and a guy named Trackwalker did a great No Limits recreation. Also, Racer is not the only KI coaster to falsely claim a record... Beast (1979): Claimed to be world's tallest wooden coaster, was 110'. Colossos, which opened in 1978 at Six Flags Magic Mountain, is 125'. However, Beast did claim the other records (Height of Biggest Drop, Max Speed, and Track Length) and as far as I can tell these were true records, and at the time beat all other coasters, wood or steel. Good luck building a wooden coaster with a Drop bigger than Kingda Ka's (418ft), faster than Formula Rossa (149.1mph), and longer than Steel Dragon 2000 (8,133ft) these days, especially considering what happened even at 218' and 78mph... The Bat (1981): Claimed to be the world's first suspended coaster, which was also not true- a very similar ride ran for a brief time in germany, eventually succumbing to the same problems that would later kill The Bat as well. And even before that, in 1902... http://rcdb.com/2427.htm?p=6735 It's suspended and it swings, nuff said. Vortex (1987): Not sure if the park ever claimed this, but some have claimed Vortex was the tallest complete circuit roller coaster in the world when it debuted in 1987. Not true, because that ignores the 183' Dragon Mountain (Vortex is "only" 148') that opened at Marineland in 1983. http://rcdb.com/185.htm However, Vortex was probably 2nd only to DM, and its more famous record, being the first to go upside down 6 times, was indeed true...Dragon Mountain only goes upside-down 4 times. As a bonus, here is a link to Trackwalker's Montana Rusa recreation...it is also sometimes called the Mexico City Racer.... http://www.coastercrazy.com/track_exchange/detail/19214 Enjoy. Also, I am NOT Trackwalker...my NL coasters are not even half as good as his. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBEASTunchained Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 Tallest, Fastest, and Only looping wooden roller coaster. I considered that record to be true 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McSalsa Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 ^It was. From 2000-2006. Then the looping part went. But it was still the tallest and fastest. Until 2009, when it became SBNO, and SBNO coasters do not count for world records, so Colossos @ Heide Park became the tallest (196.8') and El Toro @ SFGadv took the records for largest drop (176') and maximum speed (70mph). And now Son of Beast is 100% dead...wow, comparing those numbers to SOB (218' for height, 214' for drop, and 78.4mph for speed) there sure was a huge drop-off once SOB closed...there's a 38-foot gap between SOB and El Toro's drops (you could actually stuff the hill of Woodstock Express, KI's family wooden coaster, on top of El Toro and the drop would still be 3 feet bigger!) On paper, Son of Beast had all the stats to be a superstar...but it ended up being a bust in a year filled with world-class and innovative coasters. Also from 2000... Millennium Force @ Cedar Point, first 300' giga coasterSteel Dragon 2000 @ Nagashima Spa Land, second 300' giga coaster, currently longest roller coaster in the world Stealth @ California's Great America (later relocated to Carowinds), world's first flying coaster Superman Ride of Steel @ SF New England (now Bizarro), one of the world's best steel coasters Superman Ride of Steel @ SF America, a good Intamin hypercoaster overlooked by its NE cousin Boulder Dash @ Lake Compounce, a world-class wooden roller coaster Legend @ Holiday World, the 2nd of that park's elite wooden trio Goliath @ SF Magic Mountain, SFMM's popular steel giant Kraken @ Seaworld Orlando, a huge & popular B&M Floorless coaster Katun @ Mirabilandia, one of B&M's best inverted coasters (see Mitch Hawker poll) Lightning Racer @ Hersheypark, the coaster that put GCI on the map THREE new coasters @ SF Worlds of Adeventure, aka Geauga Lake...2 of which now have new homes...the other is dead... ...and that's not even the whole class! http://rcdb.com/r.htm?nm=na&op=2000&ot=2 What a class that was...oh noez...me imagination...NOO!!! (Fades into crazy imaginationland) A guy in a suit is standing at a podium, behind him is a roller coaster logo... Guy: Hello, I am Mr.Coasterdude , and I welcome to you to the 2000 Roller Coaster Draft! (Crowd cheers)Guy: Cedar Point is now on the clock. (Aren't the early picks supposed to go to "bad" parks? ) A few minutes later... Cedar Point GM: With the 1st overall pick of the 2000 coaster draft, we select Millennium Force, from Intamin. (Crowd cheers) Cedar Point GM and Millennium Force pose for photo with CP Logo, then head off stage Mr. Coasterdude: Paramount's Kings Island is now on the clock. A few minutes later... PKI GM: With the 2nd overall pick of the 2000 coaster draft, we select Son of Beast, from RCCA. (Crowd cheers, not realizing how bad this pick will turn out) Random Analyist Dude: I don't like this pick. Son of Beast did not perform well at the coaster combine, and coasters coming out of RCCA have done nothing in this leauge noteworthy. It's not even that great a pick, PKI needed a quality steel coaster, and they already have a solid wooden coaster in the original Beast...I would have taken Superman: Ride of Steel (the SFNE one) here...I feel they took this pick just because of the stats, and Beast convincing the park to draft his son... Nonetheless, Beast, SOB, and PKI GM are seen standing next to a huge PKI logo posing for their picture together... Mr. Coasterdude: Nagashima Spa Land is now on the clock. (I think Steel Dragon 2000 would have gone #3, Stealth @ #4, Goliath @ #5...beyond that I'm not sure...note I am basing this off before riders ever got to ride any of these! So coasters like Boulder Dash and the like would have been the "hidden gems"...) (Fade to Black) Umm...was I the first one to ever imagine anything like the above? I hope not... 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohiocolts Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 That was awesome McSalsa! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McSalsa Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 ^Thanks, and...Well, at least Kings Island made a much better pick with the #1 overall selection in 2009, when they took Diamondback... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 A pick that Paramount could have and should have made many years before. To be fair to RCCA, (actually Roller Coaster Company of Ohio), it was Paramount that insisted on the loop, on its size, and that took over as general contractor and built the thing after it was unhappy with costs. Many design elements were changed post announcement, from the amount of SunCor engineered wood to be used to the type of wheels to the trains. All appear to have contributed to the coaster's ultimate fate. All that being said, Rattler didn't last long in its original configuration, either. http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200911/1529/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark6495 Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 but my question to all of this, what could have been? SOB should have been good. But it felt like all of the bad that could have happened did happen. If the company would have kept the construction, if the lift hill didnt collapse during building, etc etc etc,,.,. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McSalsa Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 Oh No...Imagination doing re-run...but this time... FLASHBACK TO "COASTERDRAFT 2000" Mr.Coasterdude in a suit is standing at a podium, behind him is a roller coaster logo... Mr. CD: Hello, I am Mr.Coasterdude , and I welcome to you to the 2000 Roller Coaster Draft!(Crowd cheers)Guy: Cedar Point is now on the clock. (Minutes later...)Cedar Point GM: And with the #1 overall section of the draft, we choose...Son of Beast! Analyst: WHAT DA!?!? I was totally expecting Millennium Force with this pick! And WTF, they already have Mean Streak! Mr. CD: Paramount's Kings Island is no... PKI GM: MILLENNIUM FORCE!!! MILLENNIUM FORCE!!! (End Flashback) ...can you imagine how different roller coaster history would be if this had happened (both rides end up doing as well as they did in real life in this scenario, as in Millennium Force is a huge win and SOB is an epic fail)...I think Cedar Point would probably have taken a massive blow, and Paramount would have not been afraid to build large, innovative rides (SOB was a huge reason they stopped doing that)... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 It could have been VERY different. KI's Plan B was reconstructing the Rye Aeroplane aka Airplane. The park even bought the plans. Had they done so and executed well, KI would be a very different park today. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTD-120-420 Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 So from 1994-1999, the walk to Flight Deck was still the same as it is today, essentially (minus themeing/trees/bushes/etc.) but the distance is the same. So what's the difference between then and now? I know that Flight Deck isn't the biggest thrill in the park, but it's still a good coaster. So the fact that the coaster isn't worth the walk back there anymore kind of makes me curious...is it the ride...or is it the walk? The internet became available for everyone which supplied an easy outlet to complain about things... Flight Deck's line was all the way to the entrance today. I think it is doing just fine. All the way to the entrance, near the restrooms? That would be an extremely long wait. Yes, it was just short of coming to the sign for the ride. And all of the switchbacks were open. Crazy day. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster.Rider.Kings Island Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 I agree that the ride seems the same. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thunderbeast1968 Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 Upon entering the final brake run, the coaster train does sway quite a bit. Then if you notice the entire section of track shakes (vibrates) pretty hard. I always thought the train comes to a stop very quickly, and the train still has a bit of "energy" remaining, thus the train swaying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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