silver2005

After seeing that there's a ERT ride night on May 9th, that'll be my next visit in all likelihood.

Actually, they now have giant bratwursts (and possibly mets) on the LaRosa's side.

That ERT night on May 9th looks enticing. I'm looking to go back on one of the Fridays in May. Maybe I could do Beast and Banshee both at night to see how they really compare...

Yeah, my legs are punishing me today, they have had moments they've been throbbing with pain.

Some schools around the area might be going a few extra days in June due to snowmaggedon earlier this year. Weekdays in early June might look pretty nice for some good ride sessions.

3 hours 20 minutes also accounting for about an hour of downtime.

Why does marching band change the keys? Shouldn't instruments be able to play any key? And you sound like you have perfect pitch if it bothers you passed the initial few notes. Like, I can usually notice if it's off, but it doesn't bother me once it's in the middle of the song and everything matches. The thing with marching bands, especially at the college/high school level is not everyone can play in every key. There are 4-5 keys which are in the comfort zone for most musicians of that level of experience. Now don't get me wrong, there are musicians in college and high school who do take it up a notch, take lessons, etc to get better. College bands are more varied in total performance level. For instance, UC's band takes pretty much anyone who can play an instrument out of high school. OSU's band on the other hand requires much more precision and finesse, they require an audition, and they're the better band because of it (a few other Big 10 school bands and ND's band follow that same mantra). Also, I don't have perfect pitch, but I've been playing music long enough to notice things like the different keys music is played in, key changes, and the like. I do realize my initial criticisms were a bit picky as the music they used for the show still came off like its supposed to by they way they performed it and such. I still liked the show overall.

^Trust me, marching band arrangements are worse. We (the UC band) did One Direction's What Makes You Beautiful last year and I wanted to gouge my ear drums and burn all the music we had. That's just the tip of the ice burg, but alas, a rant for another time.

This is coming from a musician, so I may be picky on this, but the keys they had to help the singers be a bit more comfortable hurt some of the songs. I know they don't have the range as the musicians they're trying to emulate and other factors, but that kind of stuck out to me. Some of the N'sync and Backstreet Boys songs felt all wrong by the slight key changes compared to the originals. I liked the high energy aspect of it and the crowd participation was also nice to see. Overall, I rather liked it.

Here's my opening day trip report. I got up early to meet up with the breakfast crew at Frisch's. Got there around 8, waited with the group to see how many would show up, and had an order of strawberry pancakes. After that, it was sitting in traffic on Kings Island Drive for about 40 minutes. For some reason, they didn't have the north gate open, at least when I was lined up to go in. Some of the cars attempted to let their kids out early, but Mason PD was all over them in an instant, though one kid got pretty far; past the marquee sign. At the very least, it made the wait in traffic entertaining. Got to the gate at about 10:15 and met with the KIC group. I do apologize if I didn't introduce myself to any one I hadn't met yet. This was only my third meet up and I'm still learning who everyone is. Its nice to find some people that can talk coasters and parks, most of my friends at school/band, etc aren't so into that. So the first order of business was Banshee. Obviously, there was a mob rush of gold/platinum pass holders for Banshee 'ERT'. I put ERT in quotes as there was no way that crowd was getting in before noon, regardless of how Banshee behaved, which it broke down for a total of more than an hour. I waited with ohiocolts and his friend for a grand total of 3 hours and 20 minutes before we boarded. Banshee is wonderful. I think I put my thoughts down in the Banshee experience thread. A great machine from B&M, great combination of forces, excellent pacing, just an extraordinary ride when all said and done. By that time, I was kind of done with Banshee. That is a LONG time to wait. I'll probably go back in mid-May or so to get a good ride session on it. Also go the first rider t-shirt. One thing I hope KI would do but know they won't is to make the 'overflow' queue the main queue, the views of Banshee down there were amazing. So after re-meeting up with the group at Adventure Express, we went to Racer and then across the park to Boo Blasters, both of those being 30-40 minute waits. I have to admit, I'm not big on criss-crossing the park. I like how it can be a more spontaneous way to go about doing things, but its killer on my legs. I'm built real tight and have to stretch all the time. But eh, that's the way it worked out. After all that, food was in order (I was starving after Banshee). To keep in line with Good Friday, I had some cheese pizza and some strawberries with whipped creme for a late lunch. Got to see the show inside Festhaus called The Boyz are Back, which was pretty good. Some of the keys they had the songs in made them sound a bit weird, but I enjoyed it. It had a lot of energy to it that made it stand out though. I wanted to make my way back as I wanted my Beast fix at the very least. A small group of us headed back to check on lines. Beast and Diamondback had pretty large waits, even for opening day, so we sufficed in choosing Vortex. That broke down as well, looked to be a blocking/ghost train issue, one train got stuck on the MCBR and the other at the top of the lift. Eventually they got it back and we rode it, then made our way back to Adventure Express. I wanted to wait out either Beast or Diamondback, so I split off on my own. It was going on 8:15 and both lines looked to be sufficiently above an hour, so I went with Beast. Beast's crew REALLY showed that it was their first opening day gig as a few looked a tad overwhelmed. The line moved decently-ish, but they had all the overflow queues opened up, even the ones in the station. I was right up at the loading gates when they shut it down for a little bit through the fireworks. Didn't get on until about 10:20. Beast was really nice that night, a nice lurch to the side on the first curve out of the tunnel and the helix was relentless as always. The entire ride felt a bit...rambunctious...if I could use a word to describe it, in a very good way. On my way out, I noticed that the park was really dark. The path between Diamondback and Backlot was not nearly lit up enough. The area by the floral clock was near pitch black if it weren't for the Eiffel Tower and the lights coming from Coney Mall. Not even Grand Carousel was lit up. Seemed kind of weird to me.

Vortex and Beast have FunTV as well. This may be an opening day hiccup, but a lot of the area on the path between Backlot and Diamondback was unlit. It was almost pitch black at some points. Hope that is a temporary thing.

My overview of the ride- 1. Absolutely love the theming. Way above what I was expecting out of Cedar Fair. Action Zone in general looked sharp. 2. The first drop- amazing. I love the snappy lateral twist as it starts out and the steep angle of descent really makes the ground look like its rushing up at you. Its probably one of the more dramatic drops I've experienced on a coaster. 3. GREAT positive g's throughout, particularly going from the first loop to the 0g roll and the valley of the batwing. 4. I really underestimated how the in-line roll would play out. Its taken a lot faster than I thought, has a nice combination of hang time and lateral forces. 5. 0g rolls are amazing inversions, Banshee's delivers in spades 6. Overall incredible what Banshee brings to the park, both in the ride line up as well as the improvements it inspired in Action Zone

I just realized this thread will be coming to an end soon. Oh, the shenanigans.

I certainly hope Diamondback does have its restraints.

At least I have a band rehearsal to tie me over Thursday evening to get me through Wait-For-Banshee-itis. I'm hoping the forecast stays true for Friday as well, looks to be a gorgeous day!

You know guys...you'll have all season and more to get a chance to ride the front seat. Just sayin'.

I vote for Helix. Its incredible to see the kind of direction Mack is taking themselves. Helix looks to have nice length, a nice collection and variety of elements and inversions, and it looks like it makes use of the terrain well. There's even a decent drop straight out of the station. I also love the colors and the trains used on it. I really hope more parks start going to Mack in the near future.

^I remember quickly getting out of my last class before my lunch break each day at Cincinnati State during Fall semester to watch the first drop and dive loop go up. It's been like watching a sculpture slowly come to life. We'll see it full of that life next Friday.

I don't get why most of you are so fixated on B&M and Intamin. There are more than those 2 companies capable of delivering nice rides that would fit in well at Kings Island. Also, I've said it elsewhere, but I'd be willing to sacrifice a bit of capacity on certain rides if it means something more unique.

The coaster in the video is a Maurer Sohne X Car coaster known as Formule X at Drievliet Family Park in the Netherlands. http://rcdb.com/3602.htm

For all you guys saying Banshee for Golden Ticket, you're seriously underestimating what RMC can do.

Making such a quick decision to tear it down seems a bit concerning. Could it speak of something greater going on? It seems like the things needed to fix it would be simple.

I like how that photo shows off the height differentiation from the entering the 0g roll to when you exit it. I'm glad they set up the queue to where you can watch the ride fly all around you.

If you really want something equal to what Intamin delivers, Mack looks like they're picking up where Intamin left off minus the problems. They have a lot of things Intamin has. They haven't done anything like a hyper or a giga yet, but by the looks of it, they aren't too far off.

Oh right, I also want to do park TR's in this thread. I've probably said I would be at opening day before a few times, but that was before I found out it was the weekend of Easter. I will be with family that weekend for the most part. It probably won't be until one of those Fridays in May until I go to attempt to get some lighter crowds. Scratch that, I'm going to opening day!