JCoaster25

There is less banking in the turn, and the transition out of the bank is about 10 to 15ish feet shorter than it was before. ^And yeah I noticed the screech was much louder than usual, too. All I know is that Voyage's trains received a standard refurb at the PTC shop this off-season. Perhaps maintenance just didn't grease the wheels as much? I'm not sure.

Just throwing this out there. Was at the park today and had a GREAT time. Voyage was running SO WELL! The park has modified the midcourse block this season, so it is NO LONGER stopping completely and was hauling through the second half! Also, this visit was one of the first in a LONG time where I enjoyed every ride I had on Voyage, and never got a headache once because of the track work done this year. So clearly, the park DOES care. Look, I don't see how Holiday World would flat out get rid of or drastically neuter their 3 wood coasters. They are fully aware of how well-acclaimed they are, and as far as I know, seem to have every intention of keeping them in great shape/making them better, which is why they just put $2 million into Legend, which BTW, looks REALLY good in person with its new double down and redesigned first drop and 4 corners. I'm super excited to try it out! Also I found out there's a specific reason for flattening out the last turn into the brakes. It's so the brake run could be extended so that the train would have more room to stop safely. Those who are familiar with (old) Legend may remember how it would hit the brakes HARD, so hard that a train coupler would occasionally buckle, and it was really jarring to riders, so in my opinion, having a less-whiplash inducing brake run is a big plus for both riders and the ride itself. Personally I don't consider these modifications as "neutering" since the speed will be exactly the same as it was before, and Legend books it through those 4 corners, so it'll still be plenty intense, just with more fluid/less jarring transitions.

I stand by my word that a giga would go over by Firehawk and Flight of Fear if we got one. I just don't see a giga being built RIGHT next to Diamondback. I still think it'll be a wood coaster or new flume. A wood structure would fit really well in Rivertown with its naturally organic/rustic look. Even more perfect would be a large flume by Mack that could almost pay tribute to KCKC by being built up high with a drop twice as big as RFYLCB.

First official guesses from the poster: either a lumberjack themed wood coaster or log flume.

Personally I like the new LED lighting packages. They keep the classic tradition of having kinetic lights on rides, but with the modern advantage of being reliable and able to shine in any color, including incandescent yellow. They're much more versatile and go a super long time before burning out, because they're incredibly energy efficient.

This was such a nostalgia trip for me to read. I grew up going to Kings Island every summer toward the end of the Paramount era, starting in 1998 I think. I was 10 when Tomb Raider opened, and I was lucky enough to be able to ride it a handful of times in its original form, including its opening year in 2002. Let me tell you guys. This ride, to this day, was one of THE best highly-themed immersive dark rides I have ever ridden. It was a perfect representation of Paramount Parks at their peak in creativity and attraction development. It would fit right at home if built at a Universal park it was that good. My only complaint for it was that the ride as a whole was a tad short. I can even remember someone yelling "That was it!?" on one of my rides on it, but it was really a minor complaint in hindsight. It was such a shame that the ride was a maintenance nightmare. I distinctly remember it being closed a LOT, and whenever it was open, the line was always at LEAST 45 mins, and my young impatient self never wanted to wait in that line. I don't think I rode it more than maybe 10 times in its life. Before Diamondback came along, the ride's presence in Rivertown was very well executed with its lush bamboo growth and themed archaic temple-stone concrete plaza. The cave entrance was placed very well and lured people in every time. The whole area especially looked good when it was raining haha. It just made it feel that much more tropical. Then 2009 rolled around, and all of a sudden, the swan lake is gone along with all the trees around it AND Tomb Raider, and the ride's cave entrance had been recessed WAY back away from the newly-rebuilt path. It was clear that Diamondback was the new kid in town, and the (newly re-branded) Crypt very quickly lost its presence AND popularity. No one wanted to ride it anymore, especially those that rode it in its original form. When I rode it with its latest cycle (the super lame 2-flip one) I knew that Kings Island was going to remove it sooner rather than later, and I was right. Now that building sticks out like a sore thumb, both physically and as a sad reminder of what once was. Tomb Raider's demise was the victim of many circumstances outside of Kings Island's control. Had Kinzel decided to buy the rights to the Paramount IP, MAYBE it would still be around today. We won't know, and I'm ok with that. Rides come and go. Nothing we can do about it. I personally would rather see the building just go away completely, and that lot be used for something else. No one wants to see a huge, disused, beige box just sitting there, but if Kings Island decides to put a new attraction in there, I'd be ok with that, too.

Long time lurker, first time poster. Even though the area behind the train station isn't the flattest of locations, I could see a return of the Antique Cars there for the 45th. That was a very treasured attraction back in the day (despite the fact that Paramount left one of the original tracks to rot). They could just build one track similar in size to Cadillac Cars at Cedar Point back there. It would be nicely shaded and fairly secluded, away from the heat and crowds, and it would bring back a great family attraction that's been missing from KI for years. That's just one option. My guess is as good as anyone else's this early in speculation.