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Your Banshee Experience


Gplez90

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I visited for the first time this season on Sunday. I think the entire Action Zone looks awesome this year. The ride was thrilling, and it really just looks awesome. I was very impressed with the dispatch times for the most part. I think that the crew is still attempting to find their way with the ride, which is totally acceptable and understandable. I feel like without having a mid-course brake, knowing when to send a ride could be more challenging. I was wondering, if anyone knew, can they dispatch a ride to the hill with a train still running the course? And can the hill slow itself until it knows the track is clear? Just a question- I feel like it could, because waiting for the train to clear the course before dispatching causes stacking.

One thing that I found myself really annoyed with was the handling of the fast pass lane. The employees were directing the fast pass lane to the back two rows every single time. I'm sure I am not the only one who would say you should experience the ride in different rows. I rode the ride ten times, and all but one I was forced to sit in the back row. That being said, I did really enjoy the ride- it was a wonderful addition.

There was an incident on Sunday where apparently someone took their seat belt off, or something along those lines. The ride was stopped on the lift for about twenty minutes, and after some down time the ride cycled empty for several runs. It reopened shortly after, but having to tell the GP that your new roller coaster is down isn't too ideal. I noticed that after the park closed, even into about 8:45, they continued to cycle the ride empty. I'm sure it was nothing, but interesting to see nonetheless. I can't wait to go back.

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They were passing out water on opening day to guests in line for Banshee, ride-ops not being permitted water is absolutely ridiculous, their not running a sweat shop for crying out loud!

A lot of false propaganda has been posted on this site this year. As previously stated, the ride crews are permitted water.

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Now I wouldn't call it propoganda..We're not trying to cause a riot against some cause or Cedar Fair position. One person posted heresay or whatever and that was that. That's what enthusiast communities do, See Decoding 2014 thread.

Propoganda is a bit harsh..we're not at war or trying to change the social psychology here.

I think we debunked it basically as soon as it hit. Not having water in sight on plat, that's fine, like I said we never kept ours next to us, keep it in a cool dark area within reach.

But no way was this propoganda.

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I visited for the first time this season on Sunday. I think the entire Action Zone looks awesome this year. The ride was thrilling, and it really just looks awesome. I was very impressed with the dispatch times for the most part. I think that the crew is still attempting to find their way with the ride, which is totally acceptable and understandable. I feel like without having a mid-course brake, knowing when to send a ride could be more challenging. I was wondering, if anyone knew, can they dispatch a ride to the hill with a train still running the course? And can the hill slow itself until it knows the track is clear? .

There was an incident on Sunday where apparently someone took their seat belt off, or something along those lines. The ride was stopped on the lift for about twenty minutes, and after some down time the ride cycled empty for several runs. It reopened shortly after, but having to tell the GP that your new roller coaster is down isn't too ideal. I noticed that after the park closed, even into about 8:45, they continued to cycle the ride empty. I'm sure it was nothing, but interesting to see nonetheless. I can't wait to go back.

I believe I heard that the train in the station can NOT be dispatched until the train before it passes the sensor for the trim. The computer simply will not dispatch the train. Way to go B&M! Thinking ahead!

The lift hill slows down to allow blocking to occur.

The seat belt thing is bound to happen. I've actually been riding Montu a few times when someone has unbuckled their belt, and got stopped on the lift hill.

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The train can be dispatched in the zero g roll, it will just jog up the lift however and will not hit ride speed until the safety & trim brake are clear and closed after a train passes through.

Preventing dispatch prior to tripping a prox or a certain amount of time from a set start point is nothing new. I can name coasters from the 70's on that have safety systems like that, it's just simple good engineering and safety systems.

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Agreed for the most part, there are occasional bad days there. Having two platforms greatly improves throughput for a ride though as riders get off, train cleared, people move up and get on, simple as that.

Surprised I haven't seen a normal B&M like a Hyper have a dedicated load & unload, with their capacity already I think it could actually improve a bit more with that.

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They were passing out water on opening day to guests in line for Banshee, ride-ops not being permitted water is absolutely ridiculous, their not running a sweat shop for crying out loud!

I can see how my post could be read not the way I intended, what I meant was anyone who thinks the ride-ops don't have access to water is STUPID!

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Agreed for the most part, there are occasional bad days there. Having two platforms greatly improves throughput for a ride though as riders get off, train cleared, people move up and get on, simple as that.

Surprised I haven't seen a normal B&M like a Hyper have a dedicated load & unload, with their capacity already I think it could actually improve a bit more with that.

Ever heard of Dragon Challenge?

I believe they are the only B&M's with a load and unload station.

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Never been down to there and honestly I haven't paid attention to the HP world, not a huge fan like my other half, it's cool, but eh, not for me. Just looked it up, that's awesome. How good does it run having dedicated load/unload. Should it be repeated basically is what I'm asking if it's worth what it's meant to do

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Both rides are unique and can run 3 trains each without a MCBR. However, sometimes they do block on top of the lift hill.

Definitely worth a re-ride. But you must exit the train and rejoin the line. Both load and unload have the retractable floor that operate independently of each other, so safety reasons, you must exit the trains each time.

I rode them a couple years ago, and they are still just as smooth as when they first open. Definitely get down there.

I am not a fan of the movies either, but I was completely 100% impressed with Forbidden Journey. It replaced Spider-man as my number 1 dark ride. Had absolutely no idea what was going on, but I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. You have to ride Forbidden Journey.

I love Banshee, it has taken my number 1 inverted spot from Montu. Banshee is one of those coasters that just gets better with each ride.

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I am not a fan of the movies either, but I was completely 100% impressed with Forbidden Journey. It replaced Spider-man as my number 1 dark ride. Had absolutely no idea what was going on, but I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. You have to ride Forbidden Journey.

I completely agree with you. I'm not really into Harry Potter, but I did sit through the first three movies before we went in 2011 so I would have some idea what was going on. Forbidden Journey replaced Spider-Man as my favorite dark ride too, the effects in there are amazing.

I haven't ridden Dragon Challenge since it was still Dueling Dragons, and that was a month after the park first opened in 1999. They were a walk-on then, but in 2011 the wait was 2 hours thanks to them being rethemed to HP and the crowd that draws, so I wasn't waiting for that.

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Forbidden Journey was an excellent dark ride, even for someone who has never seen any of the HP movies or read any of the books. :)

And Dragon Challenge is good, though it does suffer from a unique form of blocking where when both sides are ready for dispatch at once, only one can be dispatched while the other has to sit and wait for the first one to reach a certain point. This happens because they make special efforts to prevent them from encountering each other on the course. Having never seen it when it was dueling, or ridden it when it was not a walk-on, I cannot comment as to how that affects capacity.

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I rode that thing before all of the stupid HP changes and before some idiot decided to throw stuff at the other train. The highlight was definitely coming at each other just to pull up at the last second. Fun ride. Was walk on but I haven't been since the changes nor do I have any desire.

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I have to say a huge kudos to Kings Island and Cedar Fair for the wonderous job they did with the creation and execution of Banshee. This ride should be considered a triumph for the park, and is a wonderful inclusion into an already robust array of rides already there. I have made the travel to Cedar Point the past few years to get my roller coaster fix. I finally took the plunge and visited Kings Island on Pride Night last year after having not gone to the park in over a decade...am I glad I did! Kings Island has done so much to modernize the look and feel of the park. Yes, there are changes to the fascades and rides have come and gone, but I feel the essensce is still there.

I was slightly apprehensive about Banshee, especially after how amazing Gatekeeper at Cedar Point turned out to be. I never thought a ride could be as fluid and exciting as Gatekeper...was I ever wrong! Banshee is exceptionally paced and the near stop during the roll maneuver is a brilliant touch. I have to give the park credit for the wonderful theming they did with the entire area. Thank you Kings Island for this wonderful addition to your park lineup, and making my desire to travel the extra distance to Cedar Point wane more and more with every trip I make.

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So, I took my first night ride tonight. I'd like to go into some length about it.

First off, I was completely blown away by the little details they've added for the night experience. The colored lights, the specific colors of the lights, and how they angle them off the buildings and sign just set up the experience perfectly. I was gawking at the lighting package so much that the semi-lengthy wait for the night ERT passed rather quickly, or so it seemed.

There's one thing I've grown to like about Banshee's presence in the Kings Island skyline, which would be a commanding presence. Its right up front, bearing its teeth at you saying 'come and get me'. Its clearly visible throughout the entire park, and with how it coils through its inversions, its a fun ride to watch from about any angle in the park, even from across the park at Diamondback's queue. That said, that aspect seemed magnified at night. It just dominates over Action Zone. I can't wait to see how they deck it out for the Haunt. But alas, we have 5 months before we see that glory.

Now to the ride experience itself to me. Having ridden Vortex at night, doing the loop based inversions seemed pretty standard to me, at least in having a familiar presence to it. Doing the 0g roll and barrel roll at night was quite the unique experience. There's just something unnerving about seeing the train do that at night. More than anything else though was the sound. Banshee has a bit more of a roar to it than Diamondback, and couple that with Banshee's intense layout, the night time atmosphere, and the brilliant lighting package, and it just completes the ride.

One thing I've found today is that I prefer the middle seats to the outer seats. The reason why is because its closer to the center of the train that B&M uses in making heartline maneuvers. I feel the outer seats tend to have a bit of a rattle to them. Its absent in the middle 2 seats. This could just be me, but I foresee myself riding in the middle 2 seats, contrary to what most people view B&M's as being better on the outer seats (I will agree with that notion on Diamondback though).

Having said all that, I still can't convince myself to put it above Beast as the better night ride. Its probably a lot of bias on my part, but overall, I still think Beast pulls of the night excursion better. There's just something wilder about a wood coaster like that, and with how long it is plus the fact it has a nice layout sprawled out along a densely wooded Ohio countryside. But that's taking nothing away from Banshee. If I could show the margin of error between the two, it'd be quite slim. Its still really, really good at night.

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I really think the crew for Banshee does a great job. Not only are they fast, they are incredibly nice. The young man seating us at the end tried very hard to even recall how many people we had in our party which changed slightly a few times. This makes an already wonderful coaster better.

Not that other crews are horrible, but I wish the training that has gone into the crew at Banshee would be passed on to the other crews as well. Doing so would make the whole Kings Island experience even better.

42 rides on Banshee so far, best seats IMO are still 12, 13 and 84. (Three front row seats on Friday was awesome.) thanks to someone nicer than my daughter who allowed me 84 when she was not around and even let me try 81.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I have 36 rides on Eve now and everyone is unique. Sat in every seat and my son finally got the courage last night to sit on an end seat and he loved it. He said it's a totally a different ride experience sitting on the end.

Sent from my iPhone using Taptalk

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Way to throw your daughter under the bus. Thats funny.

I've only had two more rides outside of Media Day.

I was hoping she'd read my comment. Hahahaha I got even later. It's always fun to be able to aggravate each other. I even told her that she should give up that seat because Mother's Day was Sunday. She would not budge. lol it's all fun and games until someone gets 84 on Banshee

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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