silver2005

Something with a horse comes to mind...

The other thing about SOB that makes it worse for me is that it practically had modifications done to it every year (including multiple modifications in single seasons) of its existence and still had the incidents and dwindling ridership, and on top of that, no company worth a crap (GCI, CCI, etc) would touch it and it all had to be done in house, including the loop removal work in 2007. Werner Stengel even designed SOB and I've heard he distances himself from it when it's brought up.

As bad as the TTD incident was, Son of Beast had way more of them (not just limited to the 2006 and 2009 incidents), so its SOB being worst by a mile. TTD had a far better safety record. RCCA were complete frauds in my book. I actually respect Intamin and Zamperla. They've done good work aside from TT2. All of RCCA's coasters are/were garbage. I should also correct something- the loop on SOB wasn't the problem. The 2006 incident happened in the first helix and part of it was lighter trains that made the track flex less, but the lighter Gerstlauer trains that replaced the heavier Premier trains weren't approved to do loops and probably couldn't due to the lack of weight.

^I like Kings Island more, too, but I have the opposite problem- if there was an opposite side of Ohio from Sandusky, I'm pretty close to that point. I live 5 minutes from the Ohio River and about 40 minutes from the Indiana boarder. It's a good 4-5 hours to Sandusky for me depending on how driving through Dayton and Toledo go (I go north up I-75 and east on OH Route 2).

I posted a picture of the repaint in the KD wing coaster thread, and its going to get orange track and black supports which leads me to believe it may be a tiger theme.

So the last year for me has been rough. I got diagnosed with a major digestive condition which required a lot of various treatments and patience to get better, and I had to leave my job thinking I may not be able to do Skyline again, but then got better and returned to another one after much struggle (finding a job was SUPER stressful), but I got through it and finally found grounds for some stability again. Got a gold pass that'll eventually have all the odds and ends (still waiting to get dining and a big maybe is all season FL as I plan to do CP next season but KI and CP are looking to be my only 'normal' CF parks next year). Anyways, I knew I was doing at least 1 trip to KI this October and I already had it in mind to do Fast Lane regardless of crowds. I have a really fun October lined up this year on top of that with a few band/concert gigs, probably doing Blink in a few weeks, and possibly other shenanigans. Last night was kind of the way to get the ball rolling. So I got there at about 6:05 as traffic on I-71 was sus, and I came straight from work at the Skyline in Ft Wright (just south of Covington). Got my pass processed, got the FL bracelet, and made a bee-line for Banshee as I wanted to knock it out given the 1 train situation. Well, I lucked out there as at the time, the FL line was absent and I got up the stairs right as they were about to load the next station full and nabbed a front seat ride. Made my way to Racer and Orion, meeting up with @pianoman for a few hours and eventually got to the Rivertown trio. It was quite crowded as well, very packed midways and fairly long lines. The one I knew of for sure was a fellow rider at Beast clocked it at 90 minutes for the main line with the 3 switchback sections opened. Some rides felt they were taking a bit long to load and unload as I did pick up on a lot of trainees through the visit. The FL lines weren't bad except for the fact all those users gravitated towards Beast. The FL line fluctuated to being as short as just down the station stairs, to as long as the curve the exit takes around the first set of switchbacks. The next longest FL line I saw was MT, DB and Orion being just down their respective stairs. Even FOF's FL line was really short. Drop Tower was the only non-coaster I did. I felt the coasters were running rather interestingly. This could be the fact that it can take me a few rides to get used to the forces again combined with me taking my first rides while the rides are a few months warmed up, but a lot of coasters felt they were running pretty hard and fast last night (in a good way). I got some good ejector air on Diamondback near the front and even a little bit further back. I also felt the trims were taken down a notch as the section after the 2 trims was really forceful as well that night. I'm bummed Banshee was in its state as it was running really good for the 1 ride I got, and MT was really wild. I got my usual Beast 1-1 ride out of the 3 rides I got on it and it was pure nostalgic bliss for me. I also felt the fog machines affected the weather a bit as the air felt more humid at the tops of the coaster lifts and felt cooler closer to the ground, especially for Drop Tower, Orion and Diamondback. Mystic Timbers felt more wild given, again, this was my first time riding it in nearly a year, it was running fairly fast, and the fog machines + night made it near impossible for me to anticipate things, in a good way though. Didn't do any mazes as it's not my thing, but the fog machines were set to 11, pretty thick in places. The scare-actors were fairly nice for what they are and I kinda liked the more chaotic choice in music, especially in Coney Mall. It also warms this amusement park history buff's heart to see people genuinely enjoying Racer again. I know we harp on the park for various things, especially this year, but I have to give kudos to the maintenance department for always doing stellar work making the woodies run so well year after year. I know its particularly hard with wooden coasters, but the re-track on Racer and Beast are holding up great and even though MT is entering its aging phase for GCI's, its one of the better GCI's I've ridden given its additional age factor from a ride quality standpoint. Also nice the shed stuff still works. Overall great night, something I needed given what I've been through lately, and hopefully a sign for a great October for me.

@pianoman and I spotted smoke coming from outside the front of the park in the direction of Congo Falls and Timberwolf. Has anyone else here seen it or know what it was?

I got to KI at 6:05 ish and lucked out on my timing for Banshee as there was no FL line yet and I walked up the stairs right as they were loading the next train and got front seat.

So it's a wee bit crowded tonight, Beast FL queue 2/3 of the way down the exit.

Diamondback is running nice and fast tonight, getting good ejector air this evening.

Along with the wing coaster, Project 305 seems to have a repaint underway- orange track and black supports. Perhaps a tiger theme? Pics courtesy of Carowinds Fans Only via Facebook. (go figure).

Hopefully, SIX gets Vekoma to build this faster than Flash at NJFTP.

Might want to let them know SOB's loop is taller than Mystic Timbers.

Why another red coaster? There are other colors you know, Cedar Point.

Just out of curiosity, does acquiring Six Flags give the new Six Flags access to any non-DC and non-Looney Tunes IPs from WB?

So Rapterra already has track work complete and trains on site. Kings Dominion - It's an exciting day as #Rapterra's trains are... | Facebook Facebook

^Or the flying coaster that has an underwater tunnel in Lake Erie.

As we saw with the rest of SOB that they only demolished when it was time to build Banshee, I think they'll get to it if/when they have a plan for it. I don't think its anywhere near old enough to demolish due to structure fatigue quite yet.

I prefer The Vortex plot stay Coney Mall. The way the path is set up, something big at the end feels kind of highlighted by the rest of the area kind of leading up to it.

You really expect this PR staff to be that thorough through a supposed 5 year teaser for a theoretical RMC when they can't even get a kid's area properly advertised? Clearly, someone is too used to Don being at the helm.

I worked food back in 2004 (RT Potato Works), and I was trained on food prep before anything with register (I know this was under Paramount, but it seems logical to expect similar training as I had that at Skyline as well). Register takes a little time to pick up due to knowing how all the buttons work, but it's something that you'll get down with practice. I think the more challenging aspect of register is guest interaction over the actual machine.

To clarify, the upper body restraints on B&M flyers aren't bad, it's the leg restraints that ruin it for me with them. I'm also kind of reserving judgement on B&M flyers until I ride the bigger ones like Manta or Tatsu.

I like the flying coaster concept and I think Vekoma pulled off the 'seats' better than B&M, though B&M's load faster (at least only going by Firehawk, Nighthawk and Superman at NJFTP). It was a unique ride at Kings Island and I think I liked it more than most. However, talking to a few maintenance workers I've come across, it was a bit of a maintenance nightmare, particularly when it came to its computer system.

^The hill it's on is pretty steep, so you get the verticality along with the proximity to Great Bear.

This might be the best placement for a S&S Screaming Swing ever.