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Mike Koontz shared at Coasterstock 2018 that he had submitted a capital expenditure plan for a Gigacoaster. That lines up with the later 2018 decision to use the former Firehawk site, likely after board approval for a 2020 opening. I would suspect that all the GMs submit plans to the Cedar Fair board regarding spending plans, etc. The board would then ultimately decide how much will be spent, and "who gets what".

Banshee's media day was not like other media days though. The enthusiasts were given one lanyard type, while the real media were given another. It is more typical that everyone is pretty much treated the same when there is not so large of a crowd.

I have posted in the past in other threads asking why ACE has seemed to get preferential treatment at Kings Island. The answer is as others have said, Kings Island has had a more personal relationship with ACE than other clubs. I joined ACE this past year and have yet to be disappointed. Before ACE, I was a member of Coasterbuzz for around 15 years. I have nothing bad to say about Coasterbuzz (or Coaster Crew or GOCC), but ACE definitely feels bigger and more national in terms of events, news, etc. I did see on Twitter there was some discussion/rumor of whether Kings Island would need to "cap" the number of ACE members who could attend media day (potentially using some sort of first come, first serve registration). To me this seems a bit crazy considering how many were invited to Banshee's media day from multiple clubs, as well as the prerequisite of being an ACE member before the invite was announced.

Seems like Media Day/Charity Auction day for Orion will be on Thursday April 9th.

It does seem convenient that the article failed to mention things like this where the park has clearly made effort. I believe it was Adam House of GCI who said they reached out to local residents regarding Mystic Timbers design.

Do you consider vending machines interesting?

Hey at least they make an effort to make the trains race when both are running. Back in the Paramount days, I feel like that was not always the case. On the other hand, I would love any change which would prevent the train from having to stop in the safety brake tunnel behind the station. That is by far my least favorite part about Racer. I wish it were not fully enclosed and so claustrophobic.

This is just absolutely crazy to me that an incident at a different park by a different construction company could have this much impact. Did Kings Island hire a construction company with an unsafe work history? Has there been any record of this happening on other projects? Did this incident have significant impact to the success of Yukon Striker and/or Canada's Wonderland? (Clearly, no.) Construction work has an inherent risk associated with it, maybe more so on this project than many others due to the size and scale. But to turn off the webcams out of fear that something bad might happen, when there is a very low probability that it will is crazy. If this is the case, they should probably just remove the webcams completely. Someone might eventually spot an ambulance in the park some day, and who knows what they might think, eh?

Here's the time lapse from Banshee's construction. Clearly it was not too "risky" to live stream as some have speculated.

We can certainly hope so. It wasn't until this year that any B&M coaster anywhere has been dismantled/removed. Next year will be the 30th anniversary for B&M's first coaster I believe.

While this is true for some Cedar Point rides. It is not the case for all of them. Wildcat was removed just weeks before the park opened in 2012. Space Spiral was announced to be open through Labor Day 2012, but closed mid-August and never re-opened (that one hurt a lot of lifelong park goers). Shoot the Rapids was removed prior to the 2016 season with no formal announcement. I think ideally, parks would have a good idea of the time to remove a ride due to "end of life" and plan for new additions accordingly, but as is the case with rides like Volcano and Vortex, things don't always happen that way. Closing a major ride with no direct replacement is not a positive thing for a park. I don't think anyone in park management loves the idea. We will have to wait a few months, but I will bet that more information about Vortex will be shared at Coasterstock next year.

This is certainly true, but what year is it again? 1999? Is this Internet thing new? Are webcams cutting edge technology? (It's a good thing they contract Accesso to handle online ticket sales.)

From 2011, I loved the new view of Vortex's lift hill that the WindSeeker area allowed you to see. Someone probably has a much better, unobstructed shot like this...

It has never been stated publicly, and probably never will be. If it were, there would be no benefit for Kings Island. It would make them look like they ignored the manufacturer's advice and potentially operated a ride unsafely.

I'm glad to read a lot of well thought out posts in this thread. I agree with those that believe the reason to be structural. It doesn't make business sense to spend millions replacing most/all of Vortex's track and supports when it could be invested in a new coaster in the future instead. That doesn't mean it isn't a sad day though. Vortex is arguably the best Arrow looper ever built. The loopers built after it that were taller were all generally terrible rides. (I sometimes wonder if Magic Mountain continues to run Viper simply because they are stubborn.) Unlike so many of the other multi-loopers, Vortex had a great first drop, as well as a helix at the end. These made it a much more "complete" coaster. I'm no expert, but I support the theory that every coaster ages differently. I thought Iron Dragon and The Bat's days were numbered after Big Bad Wolf was removed at Busch Gardens, but here we are 10 years later and they both are still going. When BBW was removed, the same "end of service life" reason was given.

So you're saying they decided to 'drop' having any celebration this time.

Was 1981 a really good year? Apparently?

Has the shoe policy changed on Banshee again? On Sunday, there was basically a mess of shoes under where the trains park in the station. People just kick off their loose shoes and leave them there until their train returns. If one was interested in a new pair of shoes, it would be an easy place to get one, provided you can find the right size...

Count me in on this. I think a lot depends on how well Copperhead Strike did this year in terms of maintenance, etc., but I think it is significant that they went with Mack for a new coaster. Copperhead Strike seems like it could fit in the Backlot Stunt Coaster footprint. I've also heard nothing but good things about the Mack spinning coaster Time Traveler at Silver Dollar City. I would take either of those over something from B&M as the next coaster.

Anyone who takes the time to complain about the ride is still going to ride it anyway. I have yet to meet many "enthusiasts" who behave otherwise. For those in the population that the park actually does care about, the most important description of the ride is probably "taller and faster than Diamondback".

Overall today wasn't too bad in the end. There was a lot of activity in the morning with people coming into the park, but by mid-afternoon we waited only about 30 minutes for Diamondback and 20 or less for Beast. In early afternoon, Banshee had a queue with about a 25 minute wait. They were stacking the trains a lot for some reason.

Yeah I don't see any chance of it being louder than necessary. Rougarou at Cedar Point is super loud...and it only hits 60 mph. 91 mph would likely be ridiculously loud, and there are houses half a mile away.

Expectations are always high for a park like Kings Island, where the majority of new attractions are completely custom. I just don't think it is realistic to expect that every time a new coaster or ride is built that it will be the "greatest every created" in its category. The comparison should probably not be against other similar B&M coasters, but instead against the Vekoma flying coaster that stood in the same place just 2 years earlier. That is what the public will see, and is anything but "underwhelming".

I had not heard about the new lift system. That seems like a great idea for Racer at KI. I can't imagine that they would ever overhaul the layout of Racer, even though as you pointed out, there are some possible improvements that could be made to improve the racing aspect of the ride, or the air time. Racer is considered an important historical coaster. My hope for the future is that someday they will do something to improve the restraints in the trains so they are not so uncomfortable. If they did choose to change the trains, they could pursue having one side go backwards again. There are plenty of coasters out there that go forwards and backwards these days, so it is just a matter of getting the manufacturer to sign off on that usage legally. I know that topic is brought up and shot down frequently by park management, but Kings Island continues to have such deep love for nostalgia that I could see it happening some day.