silver2005

I think it boils down to that some parks are better at maintaining wooden coasters than others.

^Yes, but there's a fine line between that classic rattle that give wooden coasters their character and being uncomfotable. I don't buy that argument for a second. Also, a lot of you need to realize people perceive the sense of touch differently. Our nervous systems are wired differently. Some people have higher tolerances for pain than others or are just more sensitive to certain touch sensations than others, hence why there are people out there who enjoyed Son of Beast while others wouldn't ride it after the first time.

It suffered from being rough over its life, which led to low ridership, and thus the park decided it wasn't worth keeping. For those who don't know Dorney very well, Hydra: The Revenge, a very unique B&M floorless coaster, replaced Hercules. The name was chosen as Hydra was a multi-headed beast Hercules fought in Greek mythology.

To be honest, most of the rides I'd like to see at Kings Island are overseas, thus don't exactly pertain to this thread. If you really want something out of me, I'd probably choose Storm Runner, Thunderhead, any Mack/Gerstlauer spinning coaster or wild mouse, any B&M floorless or stand up coaster which uses 3 trains, or Outlaw Run.

1. I don't understand why the V-seating vs the original 4 across seating would suddenly make a train require seat belts. The seat design is still the same between all the B&M hyper coasters. How does the seat configuration make them so different to get seat belts? 2. Why is it just the Cedar Fair B&M hypers? There are over a dozen other B&M hypers across the world; what makes them different to where they don't have seat belts (let alone Leviathan which is 308 ft and has an 80 degree first drop)? B&M hypers (or heck, any of their coasters) have a perfect record when it comes to ejections (0), thus it seems like a knee jerk reaction to the New Texas Giant and making people feel more comfortable. Yes, safety is paramount, but nothing has shown B&M hypers, in their configuration without the seat belts, to be dangerous. B&M designers are perfectionists, they've designed their rides to not necessitate seat belts.

Unless you make bridges or move a lot of dirt, it'll be tough getting midway paths down in those hills and valleys between Action Zone and X-Base.

Well, this got real weird real quick.

A dive coaster would be nice...except for the fact there's one right down the road at Busch Gardens. I've heard a B&M inverted coaster rumored as well, and unless B&M radically starts trying new design ideas or they make a 200 footer to pass Alpengeist's height, then that's probably out of the question, too. I feel they should get themselves something to differentiate themselves from Busch Gardens, if possible (they could still get one of those 2 anyways). A B&M flyer would be something that would stand out in the area. I really would rather see a family coaster at KD next since their last 2 coasters were thrill oriented (Dominator and I305). Despite having 4 bigger wooden coasters, a GCI would be a nice addition.

Or Mammoth Cave National Park for that matter.

The first drop is what stood out to me. Most other B&M inverted coasters I've ridden have it where their first drop is more gradual. Banshee's really grabs you into its intensity right off The Bat, its a REALLY steep drop with a quick twist as it starts to curve, it lets you know it's not messing around, and the rest of the course stays true to that intensity.

Except B&M hyper coasters have existed for 15 years and have had 0 ejections. It feels more like a knee-jerk reaction to the public's reaction over the New Texas Giant incident more than anything else.

I don't see anything wrong with this. This is akin to the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile showing up.

I gave it 8/10. Don't know if anyone else had this, but throughout the section between the batwing and that upwards curve into the inline roll there was a bit of a shimmy/rattle to it, almost like Diamondback's. I do rank coasters I've been on, separating wood from steel (its just how I enjoy being an enthusiast), and I currently have it 7th on my steel list (seen on my profile's About Me section).

I feel they should move the place where they launch the nightly fireworks to somewhere else. Where they have it now, they always have to close Beast 15 minutes prior and nearly 10-15 minutes after to keep the area clear for the show. There has to be some other clearing somewhere that won't interfere with Beast's operations at night.

Is that Montgomery Inn BBQ sauce I see for Chicken Shack?! Mind=blown.

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.