Well, I read the Late 2012 version of the Ed Hart proposal (PDF format) to the state last night...I am no longer thinking this will be an Intamin Impulse, because on one of the "new ride location" diagrams, there was a map drawing of GL's old location and one of those "red lines that show layout" for the new ride...it didn't take much room, but it appeared to at the very least be a full-circuit coaster of some sort, apparently with a helix. So, unless plans have changed, this appears to not be some shuttle coaster of any kind...though I could be wrong.
Also, there were pictures of Ed Hart's proposed waterpark expansion's slides that will be going in Chang's old spot along with the Action River- I did a quick search and was able to find a picture of them on google:
I have to say, based on the slides I have been on at Holiday World...these look awesome, save the fact I may be forced to haul an inner tube up 75+ feet of stairs. As for Kings Island's new-for-2014 coaster being superior to KK's...I'd say there's a 90% chance it will be, since the Kings Island ride is probably going to be massive and cost over $20,000,000+ and this will either be some small/used attraction...unless Ed Hart has somehow gotten this coaster used for $7 million...
In which case, I will already be buying one of those $60 Kentucky Kingdom season passes when the park opens . But even though this ride could fit in KK, I don't see it selling for under $10 million at the cheapest...so I doubt it. Ed Hart has also said this ride would be "new", and since he didn't call GL new when it was added in 2003, I don't think this is a re-location, but some form of relatively cheap new coaster.
And, as Terpy did just bring up (I was taking forever making this post BTW and this topic got fairly active)...yeah, there is still a chance KK won't be able to re-open at all, or will fail horribly and only last a few seasons at most. Then you have the whole Holiday World fiasco, will Lori Koch be willing to build onto and add to a park she might not even own depending the outcome of the court battle (possibly hurting the park)? Meanwhile, Kings Island is about to add a new monster roller coaster, and for now is under stable management...so many possible outcomes from this scenario...head hurts now...