RingMaster

Because speculating over an unverifiable claim that Intamin track was seen barreling down I-71 was old and busted and this is the new hotness.

You make it sound as if Diamondback construction only took a few months; Diamondback started land clearing the last day of the 2007 season. Not to mention the Antique Cars closed mid-June of 2004 to begin preparations for Backlot Stunt Coaster (then Italian Job).

You're on an amusement park fansite that, within the past month, has accumulated close to two thousand posts in a single thread comprised of wild assumptions and baseless conclusions that, not only is a coaster of immeasurable size being built on the grave site of several previous rides, but it is somehow universally concluded to be a gigacoaster from B&M Intamin (insert company name here) destined to be the park's true flagship attraction; we should leave the pot to continue calling the kettle black on this one.

Because it worked so well for Thirteen...

Like Flight Commander's que perhaps? It's a small space, but then again, Club Blood is in a tiny warehouse and yet crams in so many twists and turns. I've enjoyed what the park does when it comes to their layouts for haunted houses in abnormal locations. Although some haunts don't use their locations to their full potential (Cove, CornStalkers, Tombstone, etc.), it's still awesome to see one erected in a place you would never expect one to go (the front of Stunt Crew Grill, the station of Sonny, the Peanuts theater, etc.). But I'm actually more glad that Wolf Pack/Sonny's station is staying put. It just looks creepy in and of itself just sitting there all alone. Maybe the station will tie in with Project-014=Codenamed: Banshee.

I agree with a few posts on here. The more and more I look at it, The more I think that SOB's station will be Utilized with this new Ride. Don May have said that is the Home for WolfPack, but he did not say thats ALL They are going to use it for. Its too nice a Building and Set up in a Very Unique way.. Not to Metion the Reuse of Vortex/The Bats Station, Granted that was quite a while back, but it shows it can be done.. Plus it would save a Little bit of Money. Granted not much, But every little bit helps.. I just don't see the station being used for the new attraction and then for haunt. That'd be silly, "oh hey it's time for Halloween Haunt, let's close the attraction down to put up a Haunt." Any Haunt maze can be taken down and put up in a different location; CarnEvil used to be inside Festhaus before finally going in the former Enchanted Theater, and Cut-Throat Cove originally sat on the lawn in a big white tent behind the Showplace Stage and then took residence in the former Rivertown Mining Company building. If they decide not to use the expanded Bier Garten space this season, you can almost guarantee Cut-Throat will be in another new location.

First things first, welcome to KIC, thomasws6! Another Vekoma coaster is the LAST thing the park needs. Invertigo and Flying Ace run a strict one-train operation, and Firehawk has the worst loading/unloading times in the entire park. A high-capacity people-eater like B&M would be a much better fit for Kings Island. Now on the subject of the new coaster, if it's B&M, I'm torn between an inverted coaster and a Giga (either that, or maybe the introduction of the B&M launcher to combat Intamin's Blitz coasters). If it isn't B&M...well, not many other options available. Intamin is definitely out of the picture considering every installation at a Cedar Fair park has had issues. Gerstlauer (Mystery Mine & The Smiler) is also out because, again, another high-capacity coaster is needed, and there aren't enough footers to determine if it could be a Zierer construction (the crew behind Verbolten and Thirteen). My only other guess would be something from Mack Rides. The track fabrication is similar in scope to that of Intamin, and a majority of their footings tend to be longer as they hold two supports on one block, which is what the holes being dug out here look like. Could potentially see something like a cross between Sea World San Diego's Manta and the infamous Blue Fire at Europa Park.

The lift hill would probably only dwarf Diamondback by 20 or so feet if that were the case. The former coaster's station sits maybe 50-60 feet off the ground but isn't in the valley; the lift hill started in the base of it. If the hill were moved back to where construction is now, we'd have looked at a first drop at almost 260-270 feet. Still, I'd expect a fairly steep lift hill/first drop for Project 14/"Banshee".

...how? Compared to the transfer track footings for Leviathan (here I go again looking to hard into footings), this looks almost nothing like a giga from them. Also, considering Mr. Ouimette's aversion to the installation of another Wing Rider at a different park for 2014, why then would he be up to the idea of installing a coaster that would be a near "replica" of another within the same park? Finally, I'm more inclined to believe this could be a more modest-sized "family" coaster than what some believe, possibly being a Zierer launcher with a "drop" element to rival Verbolten/Thirteen, thanks to the BLSC diversion a while back. Either that, or maybe a floorless Beemer.

I still remember way back when they advertised the first Nickelodeon expansion (Nick Central) and to promote Runaway Reptar they showed footage of Invertigo, making everyone think Reptar had a loop in it. Anyway, more marketing for the 'Point confirmed. The most recent "Thrills Connect" ads predominately feature all Cedar Point attractions and maybe a sliver of Diamondback footage. I wonder if Six Flags suffers the same identity crisis when making ads for their parks; say, mostly using Magic Mountain attractions and maybe a sliver of an exclusive attraction.

Interesting that it's all one long block instead of (mostly) singular footings. Given the similarities between Behemoth and Diamondback on their transfer tracks, shouldn't the same be said for Leviathan and 'Banshee' if it's assumed to be a Beemer giga? Also, I can't believe I'm looking this hard into a set of footings...o_0

While we only have a few amount of footings to go by and I'm certain more will be set/placed at time goes on, one thing has potentially irked me about the "transfer track" set: If it were to be a Beemer coaster, shouldn't the transfer track/storage building be much longer than a mere three rows of footings? Diamondback's is at least 7-8 rows deep. We might be talking about a coaster that only seats, at the maximum, 16 people per train, rather than the standard Beemer 32. And the way it currently (as of 5/5) looks, it reminds me more of what Verbolten at Busch Gardens' storage building/transfer track looks like:

No way on God's green earth they will build a wooden coaster on that particular plot of land. They're trying to make us forget Son of Beast, and if they built a woodie there, the GP would confuse it for Son of Beast, declare that it killed people, got stuck in the loop and is sinking, and therefore refuse to ride it. Yet Six Flags Magic Mountain put Apocalypse on Psyclone's spot just as one example. Psyclone didn't have an incident where 26 people sustained injuries leading to its first closure, followed several years later by another involving a woman suffering a head injury leading to its second, permanent closure. There won't be a wooden coaster in that spot for next year, no matter WHO builds it.

From the offices of one Lance Hart: Wild indeed, but for all you Wing Riding hopefuls, the last line could mean KI might get a Wing Rider before Carowinds does. Also, according to one of the photos Lance received (I won't link it because it was taken while riding Drop Tower), the footings closest to the path have concrete already poured in.

Did you happen to miss the Evil Dead log ride and the Carrie finale for Virus Z last year?

If it were for a year-round Haunt, they'd be much better off turning last year's Cavern of Terror into a full-on year-round Haunt. Nonetheless, a haunt maze themed and placed next to the big attraction would be a very unique marketing campaign that hasn't been done all too often (the last one I remember is the SAW maze tie-in with the SAW coaster at Thorpe Park). I could see them at least make a path going from the former Thunder Alley location to the area next to Adventure Express's entrance area, going behind Sling Shot. It would finally alleviate a majority of the bottle-necking issues found at the mouth of Action Zone.

The new Bier Garten patio looks incredible. Now I wonder if they'll utilize the new and extra space to extend the Cut-Throat Cove Haunt maze and make it bigger (curse my constant Halloween frame of mind).

You mean taking pics from atop the Eiffel Tower isn't an option?

Universal suffers the same problems that Disney does when it comes to deteriorating attractions. Prior to Harry Potter's debut, many of the "islands" at IOA had faded paint schemes, malfunctioning and/or non-working effects, etc. Also, the last rides that were added to the park prior to Harry Potter were Flying Unicorn (now Hippogriff) and Storm Force Accelatron in 2000. As for the debate on budget cuts between D-Land and D-World, remember that D-World only put budget cuts on single attractions or themed lands...they never had budget cuts on an entire PARK. California Adventure is the grandaddy of all Disney budget cuts - the massive refurbishment (Cars Land, Buena Vista Street, Paradise Pier remodel, etc.) was something that should have been done from the get-go - but during the 90s, three entire theme parks were sketched up and almost made a reality. The first was to be an almost entire cloned version of EPCOT for the West Coast: WestCOT would have been the first Disney park to feature a hotel within the theme park itself. The second was PortDisney, a multifaceted project containing a theme park, DisneySeas, a hotel, and a marina, and would have been built in Long Beach, California. Both projects were shelved after financial problems arose with Disneyland Paris; the former, WestCOT, was reported to be close to $3 billion to create (by comparison, California Adventure was built for only $650 million). However, the concept of DisneySeas was later given to the Oriental Land Company who owns Tokyo Disneyland and reworked as Tokyo DisneySea, arguably the most heavily-themed park ever created, and the hotel-within-a-park concept from WestCOT was later implemented as the Hotel MiraCosta at TDS (Disneyland Hotel in Paris would be the first to feature the concept, however). The third park was Disney's America, set to be in Haymarket, Virginia: Themed as a mixture of American history and culture, the park was drawn up in 1993, but Haymarket's citizens weren't swayed by the prospect of the Disney Corporation building a park in their town, so the project was scrapped around the same time as WestCOT and Port Disney. Several rides and areas of the park were later added to California Adventure, such as the California Screamin' coaster, Grizzly River Run, Condor Flats, and Bountiful Family Farm. Fun fact: DA was at one point reworked to be a conversion of Knott's Berry Farm when it went up for bid. The Knott family, however, didn't like the idea of the Disney Corporation coming in and changing almost everything up, so they politely declined and instead went with Cedar Fair...who went ahead and changed almost everything up.

The way Backlot Stunt Coaster (previously Italian Job Stunt Track) is set up, I was under the assumption that that might've been themed to SpongeBob. Replace the helicopter with a giant robot monster thingy manned by Plankton, have the dark portion resemble that of what's inside Boo Boo's Blasters, and boom. Anyway, most people here remember the ride surveys Paramount sent out towards the end of their reign for a multitude of concepts, few of which actually made it to fruition. Including: Mission Impossible Stunt Spectacular - Originally pitched to conincide with the release of MI:3, but was reduced to a generic traveling stunt show that only made it to Canada's Wonderland for a single season. Some believed it to be a potential replacement of Timberwolf Amphitheater. Tomb Raider: Firefall - The outdoor version of Kings Island's flat ride that eventually made it to Kings Dominion. Tomb Raider: Chamber of Fire - P itched as a brand new preshow/walkthrough experience. Mrs. Puff's Crash Course Boating School - Highly-themed Wild Mouse-styled coaster that was believed to be a part of the Nick Universe expansion for Kings Island. Rumored to have been dropped during the Viacom split by CBS. Nickelodeon Car Wash - Outdoor track ride believed to be a part of the Nick Universe expansion for Kings Island. Rumored to have used updated versions of the original Antique Cars that were removed to make way for IJ:ST. Also rumored to have been dropped during the Viacom split by CBS. Addams Family Coaster - Dark ride/coaster combo themed to the Addams Family movies. Concept was thrown out by Paramount, but later picked up by Dollywood and retooled as Mystery Mine. MTV Soundwave - Potential retheme for the Flight of Fear attractions at Kings Island and Kings Dominion. TV Land Lounge - Restaurant themed to CBS station TV Land. Believed to be downsized and rethemed as Happy Days Diner for several of the Paramount Parks. Titanic Simulator - Dark ride themed to the finale of Titanic, most likely simulating a large room being overtaken by water. Similar in scope to both Twister and Universal Orlando and Lights! Camera! Action! at Universal Studios Singapore Snow Day - Playland area based off the Nickelodeon film of the same name. Top Gun Afterburn - Vekoma coaster that would use prototype Tilt/Seesaw technology for the lift hill. Concept later built as Gravity Max at Discovery World in Taiwan.

While I can't find the specific photos to back me up, something to note of Sonny's Valley: The former loop stood at 118 feet tall at "ground level" (the bottom of the valley). On the midway right by the bathrooms and Thunder Alley, you could just barely see the top of the loop through the lift hill structure. Also, the station (where the Haunt attraction, Wolf Pack, resides now) rests a good 60-70 feet off the ground from the Valley, even though it sits at just above eye level from the Action Zone midway. Lastly, Adventure Express's lowest point - the dip before the turn into the final tunnel, I believe - is still maybe 10-20 feet higher than what Sonny's lowest point was at the bottom of the 214-foot drop. Most of this conjecture is speculative; I'm only basing this from memory riding Sonny and Adventure Express numerous times and just looking at the surroundings.

Anyone else notice the water tower in the renderings besides me? Or am I going crazy?

Technically, there is a point, but I don't cedar need to bring it up. Me, catching the next flight out of this joint.

$20 million was spent on four prototype attractions in a single year (KBF, CW, KI, CP). Two missed their original launch window of Spring 2011; one was relocated to another section of the park at the last minute (KBF); the second on claims it was the problematic weather conditions that caused its delay (KI). One began test runs with guests and saw that the seats swayed too close together (CW); therefore, hydraulic dampeners were installed aftermarket on all four, even the ones that hadn't even opened yet. Another $13 million was spent the following season on two more of the same prototype attractions (KD, C). One saw its cables caught in the gondola after high winds pushed them out of their sockets and caused structural damage to the gondola (CP). Several have had incidents stranding riders high up in the air for more than 20 minutes (KBF, CW, CP, KD, C); one had its riders stuck for over several hours (KBF). I think equal blame should go to the company that decided it would be a good idea to spend $33 million on six cloned attractions in two years without stopping to think that it would be better to start off with one or two clones and see how they work out.

Wait, when was it said the tower was removed? Or have I not been paying that much attention in here?