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There was a tour of Orion today, all these pictures are from r/rollercoasters on reddit

Look at the size of the people in this picture compared to Orion...

https://twitter.com/KingsIslandPR/status/1236367972568096769?s=20 they are using a darker blue colored train in testing now! I wonder what the third color is?

Man nothing makes me miss trees quite like a new B&M coaster at a Cedar Fair park XD

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the old DA path might be used for a temporary overflow que for Orion

Not sure what you’re trying to say—everything you have written was already said in the blueprints. Also, you have the Orion entrance building marked as the food stand. The food stand is a new build where the hillside was.

^Those are some lovely curves on that turn around there. I'm hoping for some decent positive g's as it crests like Nitro pulls off.

Have we seen anything on the queue theming yet?

Before anyone says anything, this is the exact video Kings Island linked to the KI Blog below: https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2020/march/aerial-view-of-kings-islands-new-giga-coaster-opening-in-april If you guys watch the video closely, you can see The Vortex plot and that it appears that not much of the shrubbery was saved during its removal.

Is that breaking the 11th Commandment?

Not every wooden coaster needs RMC treatment and you really can't re-vamp a steel coaster in the way that RMC revamps wood coasters. It'd be cheaper and way more practical to build a new coaster than re-vamp a steel coaster in that way. If KI goes for an RMC, it should be a ground-up coaster. I'd prefer a Topper Track coaster, but anything would suffice.

Yes. That’s the biggest improvement needed in the park. Look at past photos and see how many trees have been lost. The park is barren and miserable in the heat. Kings Dominion is the opposite and a much more beautiful park.

I am curious about B&M giga coaster chain lifts. My limited coaster understanding In the 90s was that coaster chain lifts above 200’ were heavy and reaching the practical limit. This appeared to be confirmed in 2000 when Steel Dragon utilized dual chains, and Millennium Force introduced a cable lift. Flash forward to 2012, and Leviathan breaks 300’ with what appears to be a traditional chain lift. Not only that, it’s quite fast, and there’s no return trough hanging below... it’s enclosed in the beefy track. This has obviously been successful with Fury and now Orion. So my question is, what’s special about B&M giga chain lifts? How did they seemingly so simply solve this problem that other engineers did not?

Love the rock and roll music they picked.

Due to low ridership.When they see that the ride no longer draws a reasonable amount of riders then they will add that to the equation with maintenance and operating cost. With Adventure Express being an Arrow coaster I would imagine maintenance and operating cost are higher compared to newer rides as well. Arrow parts are harder to come by with them being out of business and most certainly played a role into The Vortex demise.

On the other hand, how often is that thing down? I have never seen it. If it isn't a maintenance headache and they don't need the space for something else why would they chop it?

Was looking on Twitter and here are some answers from the park on our frequently asked questions

This might not be the best quality, but I caught Orion testing from great wolf lodge today.

I would definitely like a return of the German restaurant at Hank's and more German themeing in the Bier Garden.

I would say they would make the exception become the norm. This year Orion is the big spender, last year it was Carnivale, a few years ago it was a restaurant. They would make incremental upgrades to everything every year. Eventually people would expect a new restaurant, new ride, new celebration, etc every year.

RMC should DEFINITELY NOT touch any of the existing coasters at Kings Island. Period.

My pick would be a brand new topper track RMC. Something like Outlaw Run or Goliath at SFGAm would be great. I want them to stay away from a launch like Lightning Rod because that ride has always had notorious downtime, said as someone who is at Dollywood 8 or so times a year.

If you want a family hybrid go ride Adventure Express.

RMC doesn't need a touch any existing coasters at Kings Island. We've had GCI work on Racer and I'm sure they would work on The Beast to if given the opportunity.

Just remove Vortex and build a ground up in its place

Best answer and most logical thinking. RMC is good for a problem child coaster. The only problem child Woddie we had was removed. Yes I would like to see an RMC at KI, but ground up. Why do they have to transform an existing coaster?

Kings Island is the "Wooden Coaster Capital of the World"

I think we have all heard the question, "if you had an infinite amount of money, but lost it if someone found out, how would you use it?", and I was wondering what KI would do in a similar scenario. I think they would probably raise the wages of their workers to improve the already amazing service, and invest in places like restaurants and shops. They could use this as an excuse for any money that seems unrealistic when buying the first 500ft tall coaster.

I don't disagree entirely, but here are my thoughts: 1. I have been to the park plenty of times and there is almost always a wait time of 8 minutes or more on Adventure Express. Even with all trains running. 2. I do agree Adventure Express is on the chopping block. Considering it is an Arrow ride, and Arrow rides are starting to disappear, I would imagine that it would be removed within the next 10 season.

Add intense and over the top theming to all rides an cue lines.

Carowinds with out a doubt, that park has changed so much. 3 great steel coasters, a new waterpark, new front gate & several area renovations.

I don’t see why the two areas should be merged, Oktoberfest is fine in my opinion, it just could use another small flat.

Have you ridden an S&S 4d Free Spin coaster? I've ridden 3 of them - and they are terrible. (I only rode the last two for the "count.") If... and that's a big if... Kings Dominion is getting one... then shame shame shame. Not of CF quality. Shaggy

A couple of years ago we saw the addition of Chef James Major to the Ki staff. Since this time, Chef Major and his team have opened some restaurants in the park that are arguably some of the best in the business. We saw the addition of Coney BBQ in 2018 and Miami River brew house in 2019, both of which have great amusement park food to offer. I’m curious to see what the enthusiast community thinks the best food venue in the park is. I’ve listed to the best of my knowledge, every single food Venue in the Park minus The Sweet Spot on International Street. Please note that food venues that are of restaurants that are run outside of KI will be put in their own group. Ex: Larosa’s. Criticism is welcome, it’s my first poll so there is bound to be a mistake or two.

Thanks!

^^ Thank you, Malem. Those prices actually aren't hateful if the quality is as high as it looks.

Is anybody able to share a Brewhouse menu with prices?

Newbie here, I haven't been to the park since the 90s and took my little kid for the first time today. We loved it! I added the meal plan to my pass as we were standing in line for Chick-Fil-A when I saw how expensive the prices are. It will be worth it for how often we plan to go. Maybe a dumb question - I saw on the website that meals are every four hours, but I also read somewhere it's just a lunch and dinner. Does that mean max two meals per day, or we can get something at 11, 4, and 8pm, for example, on the meal pass? We also got LaRosa's and it was great!

New Blog post about the Brewhouse. https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2019/april/miami-river-brewhouse-opens-to-rave-reviews

Great review @Magenta LizardI want to add the service was awesome. They visited our table often to check on us, fixed an order that was wrong, and revistited to take any trash/trays away.

Had the Pub Burger today. It was pretty good. Much better than any burger they’d had in the past. Tots were good too. Crisp and salty. I sprung for the Pull Apart Bread. It’s not on the meal plan. It was seriously some of the best stuff I’d had in a long time. Buttery, cheesy, and great dipping sauces! Well worth the price. Service was fast too. The line went to the entrance door and we were rung out in about 10 minutes. Took a little while for the food to get delivered, but they were really busy. Here’s to a turnaround in the foods area!

Got to experience carowinds yesterday. Wow, their food was top notch... And it was day 3 of normal operation. Service was a little slow... But I didn't encounter a single person at a register that truly had no clue what they were doing. Harmony house is a dining plan parents dream... You mean every member of my family can get exactly what they want and I only have to wait in one line? And options of really good salads... Like one with rice, beans, quinoa, cheese, and greens with my choice of smoked meat. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's hard to find a good corndog these days, even at sporting events.

I always thought it was funny that Hank's Burrito Shack is so close to the Chicken Shack. I wonder if that area of the park is themed to a 4th world country...

Before it was Hanks Mexican Grill, that building used to serve sea food including cod and shrimp (like actual shrimp, not popcorn shrimp). I remember it being pretty good. I ate there a lot. This was during the last few years of the Paramount Era.

I’ve never seen beans as an option at the park, just onions. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@silver2005 add t-rex track to Vortex

Did RMC ever come out and say they'd be willing to re-tool steel coasters? Off the top of my head, I can't think of anything they currently design that would. Also, with the price to do so, you might as well tear down Vortex and build a new ground-up steel coaster (preferably a Mack multi-looper to keep the lower height restriction). In regards to Racer, I think it just needs a new set of 3 bench PTC's like Thunderhawk got or Millennium Flyers like GhostRider got, both with extensive re-tracking and, hopefully, removal of the trims on the turn arounds (if Blue Steak and Phoenix can tear through their respective turns with some decent lateral G's, so can Racer). Its running the best it has in years this season and its still a pretty popular ride.

"RMCing" makes sense as a solution for not-so-popular old wooden coasters that have not aged well. Kings Island does not have a ride that fits that description in my opinion. I'm sure RMC would be happy to build Kings Island a brand new ride of their choosing (Topper, I-Box, T-Rex, whatever).

Change The Beast and you are asking for an uprising. I like the thought of a Vortex refresh or even The Racer. Those are standard out and back designs, so I’d be ok with that. The Vortex has always seemed to be that certain parts are too flat or not banked at all. I think changing some of the elements while keeping 6 inversions would make for a remarkable improvement!