Gordon Bombay

My son is an alcoholic because of this. He's in rehab now. Thanks, Ed Hart.

Agreed. I wonder how many trains this thing will have and even with two, can they dispatch quickly enough before the other train returns? It's a short, small, quick ride. Looks to be a nice addition.

Ah, thanks for the insight and info! So interesting that they were so confident in the wooden hyper coaster concept that they thought they'd build another. Jesus Christ, did they even look at RCCA's existing body of work at the time?

The reason for its current placement is because Kings Island needed at least 2,000 guests in the park and a park rating of at least 600 by October Year 3. They were pretty close, but just plopped some pre-fab design down in order to keep things moving as the deadline approached. All the guests let their balloons go when the ride opened.

How early was this conceived/planned out? RCCA fell out of favor really, really fast.

@Shaggy Wonderful, wonderful write up. Thank you for sharing! Such a great story. I can't speak to the level of validity here in the way that @Shaggy can, however, it should be noted that the ferris wheel with Paramount stars concept frequently appeared in concept art of proprosed overseas Paramount Parks. These concepts were interesting because these parks were clearly conceived to be on a Disney/Universal level rather than a seasonal, regional park level. None of them never got off the ground and it was a bit awkward to read about, because while they were proposed "Paramount Parks," they seemed nothing like the existing "Paramount Parks." I'd be very, very surprised by this. Take a lesson from the recent debate about which coaster was going to be removed. Everyone was certain that the clues pointed to Vortex. "Kentucky flyer" sounds convenient, but Firehawk was a ride that suffered a lot of downtime, was generally unreliable, and couldn't put a lot of guests through in an efficient time. Yes, KK is smaller and maybe the ride could work there. I just doubt that out of all potential additions to their park, they'd go with a 17 year old ride that had a reputation and existed nearby for some time. And as @Shaggy pointed out, it could've carried a Mission: Impossible theme. Shaggy, any idea why "Stealth" didn't get a theme?

That would be a terrible move on their part. 1) This ride already existed for over a decade at a geographic competitor. 2) The ride is maintenance nightmare that can't move guests through.

Any reason as to why No. 3 never ran at Carowinds? Was it just sitting in storage all those years?

Of the two coasters you mentioned, one of them is reliable and a capacity machine. The other is Firehawk.

Out of all of the park's coasters, there's one that breaks down all the time and has awful capacity/throughput. It's that one. It's Firehawk.

Uh... the media created this news? I wasn't aware that WCPO built a fake cemetery plot, erected a mock funeral scene, and was teasing all week that the park would lose a coaster? If anything, this thread proves that it's a popular topic and that the park's marketing gimmick worked. God forbid they cover what's on the minds of the local people.

Thanks! Always noticed the strange footings when I was around the ride, but wasn't sure if that was due to the site placement for relocation, or, the "original plan" (although, I also had heard a VFD was slated for the tiques spot). King Cobra site would've been interesting as it would've really needed to be crammed/wedged in there. KD could very likely have been a possibility as the Carowinds reasoning I had heard was from a different source. Interesting that they were going to go with "Stealth" as the branding and not try to tie in to a movie franchise (no matter how loose). Paramount seemed to go through a spell where they were like "Ah, screw the movie themes, let's do it Six Flags style" and out came "Son of Beast, XLR-8 I mean Hypersonic XLC, Stealth, etc." Hell, even Drop Zone, Face/Off, and Congo Falls were only very, very loose themes punctuated by posters of really bad movies placed within proximity of the ride. Ah, Paramount, I truly do miss them.

In the words of the internet: "BIG IF TRUE." If this is true, I'm both surprised and not surprised (is that a thing?). On one hand: this coaster hasn't been around all that long (not just in KI terms, but in its overall lifespan as well). It's a crowd pleaser, a relatively fun ride, and popular. On the other hand: it's a maintenance headache, complex to operate, has terrible capacity, etc. Wonder what the reasons could be and how that will affect the other Vekoma Flying Dutchmen at Carowinds and Six Flags America. Heard a rumor once that Paramount Parks was so amped on Stealth at PGA that they essentially told Vekoma: "get some more ready for other parks." Then, Stealth debuted as the maintenance nightmare that it was/is and they went back to the Dutch with: "not interested anymore" while Six Flags was more than happy to buy anything at a bulk discount thus grabbing the other two. Also heard that Firehawk was able to be erected at Ki easily because its current spot was always going to be "its" spot, or that it would've gone where Backlot/Antique cars resides/resided. Heard something similar for Nighthawk/Borg Assimilator - that it was able to be placed so easily because one was always "slated" to go there. Would love to hear if there's any truth to that. Someone here knows.

It will be. But not at Cedar Fair parks. Even in 2035

I'm not sure which particular animals the building in question housed, but as far as I know - there were still two animal keeps still standing (along with a few other random structures) as of a few years ago. The building in these photographs was mainly used as storage and accessible via a very eroded and overgrown pathway. For years after the first Winterfest revival was cancelled, it was used to store a ton of WF decorations that never made it into that crappy haunt thing with mean Santa. It also had several of those classic HB benches that were installed circa 2001 and removed for Nickelodeon Universe. The heaters for the animals were still hanging from the rafters the last time I was in there. A second pen, known as "The Bolt Barn," was just up the hill from Son of Beast and had most of the surrounding brush and trees removed. It was also somewhat renovated. Inside were aisles upon aisles of tools and parts specifically used to maintain Son of Beast. The pond itself is very random to see in person, but still cool, and behind Adventure Express on the hillside there were (was, maybe with Banshee now there) some other structures. I think they may have been some sort of stations with phones. The former monorail maintenance shed (which could house one train indoors on special track and allow maintenance staff to work underneath) eventually became part of the facilities for Steel Coaster Maintenance. In the yard out front, that once was the switch track for the monorail, several things were stored there such as FoF's original OTSR trains (at least one of them). Underneath all the random stuff you could still find a monorail footing or two. Hope that helps @Bansheeback, I've got photographs somewhere.

Yeah they don't need to worry about this. This isn't happening.

Son of Beast always seemed like it was just so short of being great. The park planned it... ...and the only manufacturer they could get was RCCA. The park wanted a loop... ...and the only interested train manufacturer was Premier Rides. The thing opened... ...and frankly, it was awful. In 2006, they removed a car on each train and rumors swirled that it was going to get better. I remember someone here claiming that it was going to be "a wooden B&M." ...and frankly, it was still awful. After the incident, they removed the loop and announced "new trains." They turned out to be used, repurposed, "crappy even if they were new." Gerstauler trains. ...and frankly, it was still awful. Then all of these RMC wooden coaster revamps debuted with things like Topper Track and steel conversions. ...and SOB was already gone.

There were? To my recollection, that idea hasn't been proposed for The Banks development. However, a quick Google search is only bringing up the most recent news of the temporary one, so who knows. As highlighted in this thread, Newport's been trying to build one for the last few years. In my opinion, Newport's a better location due to the views, an existing year round tourist attraction in the Aquarium, and a regular schedule of special events and festivals. The Banks is more of a mixed-use development not wholly geared on tourism.

Expanding into new areas not only requires new rides/attractions, but expanding infrastructure and operation as well. They won't even put bathrooms in X-Base.

...I thought Kings Island already was considered one of the chain's flagship parks? The scuttlebutt I always heard was that CF wanted KI, but had to pick up four other (relatively good, but not as good as KI) parks to do that. • Wonderland ended up being a blessing in disguise who's potential was never truly realized by Paramount. • They ended up making significant investment in Carowinds and Kings Dominion to try and unlock a bit more potential. • Great America they were than happy to sell to the 49ers, but when they didn't: "eh, I guess it works."

Won't be as good as the awesome Johnny Rockets restaurant that was down there. Outstanding.

Wow, thank you, @KingsMills79. So Franklin was the manufacturer, not Arrow Dynamics?

Thank you! I think I was getting confused because the park had held on to one or tow for awhile. They'd wheel them out for the 2005 Winterfest parade and then a few other special events (plus I'm sure to be thrown into the potpourri that is recycled crap/haunt decorations). The ones they always brought around, though, had the roof removed. Thank you! Stirring up a ton of memories for me. I remember riding both, but being very confused as a young kid when the Rivertown side was closed. One last question: Do you know if it was a permanent shut down or more of a staffing/capacity situation? I.E. Did they just keep one side closed unless it was really, really busy or was it always mothballed?

Any idea which one was Rivertown and which was Coney Mall? Also, didn't one close a few years before the other? Edit: followup question, did the OG ride have different style cars on each track?

Wow, thanks to OP for the photographs and to @Hawaiian Coasters 325 for bumping this topic. Total nostalgia trip. I grew up with HB/Nick Central, but Nick Universe rolled around when I first joined this site/was much more active and was still an area when I was a manager. I remember having to try and remember all those weird names when working in the area. "Can you meet me at Backyardigans?" "Sure. What the hell is that?"