TombRaiderFTW

Did my research, and the official model name is the "Hyper GT-X Coaster" from Chance Rides. There's a video that I'm assuming is the "standard" model (and the video calls it a "HyperLite Roller Coaster"), but Lightning Run appears to be a custom version:

Is that a custom version of one of those Chance "hyper-lites" (or whatever they were calling them)? I literally was just thinking about those the other day as a possibility for Kentucky Kingdom, but then I was like, "Nah... It'll never happen." It's just been so long since Chance built a coaster that I didn't expect that model to catch on. (Shows what I know!) My initial reaction: considering how Chance doesn't have Intamin's reputation, it seems like they wanted the experience of a mega-lite without the gamble of an Intamin. But I'll reserve any further judgement until I ride it. Heck, I've never even been on a Chance/Morgan hyper before... Looks like I know where I'll start. EDIT: Gotta toss this on: I kinda like how the park's starting out with Thunder Run and Lightning Run. Could be a neat thing to play off of when Twisted Twins reopens. ("The Thunder and Lightning were just the calm before the storm...") Also, season pass information is up: Price: $59.95+tax Free park admission Free rides during the Kentucky State Fair Free sports bottle if you're one of the first 500 pass orders $1.00 unlimited 32oz. sodas all season long 20% discount on all park food and merchandise The park also boasts free tubes and sunscreen for the waterpark (sound familiar?) Terp will appreciate this: If you can upload your own photo, they'll mail your season pass to you. IF I buy one (not sure I want to try it yet), here's hoping they won't announce the closure of the park an hour later like Six Flags did.

Drove by the park tonight. The lift and first turn supports look like they may have been painted a nice charcoal gray color. (Visibility was a little iffy.)

Really not sure what you're talking about. There is no specialty in mechanical engineering for roller coaster design. Trust me, I've looked. I AM one of those mechanical engineer folk. Also, the calculus and trig you learn in high school is not irrelevant in engineering. In fact, they both play major parts in engineering. The calculus is where B&M would be getting their equations from. Everything else involving mechanical engineering they're doing, save for any dynamic analysis of structures, the lift, or the brakes, would be algebra. Even the stress analysis is algebra. Where do we start learning that, again? The posters here aren't incompetent, and I think you're over mystifying the whole thing.

^ Good point. I must have missed that post. Thanks for the reminder. The speculation continues...

I never realized how much of an Adventure Express purist/fanboy I am until I read this and was unnecessarily miffed. I guess this would explain the weird tree removal around the beginning of the queue (namely, between the queue and that service road.) Just don't get rid of that plaque mounted on the rock beside the entrance! (I love every inch of that ride. Seriously.) I continue to wonder if Slingshot's on its way out. The path by Adventure Express/Slingshot tends to crowd easily. I wouldn't complain if it were a bit wider at the expense of Slingshot; the views of Banshee would be improved.

You have been throwing around No and Maybe when it comes to this topic... I don't know what to think anymore.He hasn't been contradicting himself. Someone could ask if anyone has ever considered having me replace Ouimet as Cedar Fair CEO. If I met the right people, got the right work experience, and had the right attitude, then maybe it could happen. However, Cedar Fair is (presumably) not considering me for the position within the foreseeable future. It could happen, but no one who matters is banking on it happening soon enough that they need to start preparations for it. (Especially me!)One of the statements is opening the possibility that the event someday, somehow may happen at Kings Island. The other statement is telling you that that "someday" isn't going to be any day soon.

Three complete guesses concerning the wider loop: 1.) The trains themselves are wider than the old style of trains to accommodate the new restraints and new style of supporting the seats that Banshee will have. The clearance window would be widened accordingly, thus requiring a wider loop entry/exit. 2.) The new style of restraints offer enough arm movement that the clearance window must be widened for safety. 3.) There's a fish-eye effect in that photo, and the track spacing isn't as wide as it looks.

Those two turns into the "staircase" bit on Backlot Stunt Coaster. Also the "underground" portion. Beast's double helix. Firehawk's loop. The turn over the pre-lift portion of Adventure Express. The Bat's brake run, when seated in the front car. Flight of Fear's cobra roll, especially when seated in the last car. The more time that goes by, the more I kinda-sorta miss Son of Beast's pre-lift portion. It was nothing special, but it was always a little unnerving to new-to-roller-coasters me how that first drop/turn out of the station was WAY over banked. (Not that I think it was unintentional or something; you would just practically lay on your side going through that turn.) I don't know if I would feel similarly now that I've been on rides like Voyage or Ravine Flyer II; I just know I haven't experienced that kind of hang time on a wooden coaster since.

The Kings Island & Miami Valley Railroad. (I don't really do waterparks much. )

I think you're right. It must have been the color balance of the camera at the time.

I can't tell if it's glare off the track, white primer, or orange paint, but the bit of Bat that can be seen just above Banshee's loop in the webcam looks different from how it appeared yesterday. I'd take a screenshot, except I can't right now.

Michigan's Adventure actually already received its Flying Scooters this year. It's a great choice for that park!

EDIT: Nevermind.

^ I'm being really nitpicky, but The Crypt got a new ride cycle over a year after it received the retheme. It operated with an intense cycle from opening day 2008 through the Ride Warriors Weekend event in 2009. The cycle was oddly similar to Kings Dominion's Crypt cycle. From that weekend through its closure, it had the two-inversion cycle, which is what earned the ride its reputation on this board as a Ferris wheel. You may be thinking of a subtle theme change that occurred a few weeks after it opened as The Crypt. I never experienced it myself, but the ride supposedly initially opened with techno music during the ride cycle. After that, it had some wind/howling track played during the cycle. (I can't remember where, but I've since heard that track played in the park. I want to say on Adventure Express.)

Probably not till much closer to April. Supports and track are typically complete by the time the trains roll around. (I'm not even sorry. That pun was entirely intended.)

I guess I'd agree with the Backlot Stunt Coaster suggestion, though I don't know where I'd send it. Michigan's Adventure would be the right size park in my mind, but I don't know if the park has the income or infrastructure to support a launched coaster. If Six Flags over Georgia were smaller, I'd definitely say that (just so long as it got some sort of new theme, because the movie backlot theme really wouldn't fit in anywhere at that park.)

Sorry, I was talking about initial cost. I should have been clearer in my original post.

Yeah, Greg specifically said the $24 million was for Banshee at the announcement.

I'll ride Banshee as soon as possible. I'd really, really like it to be on media day, but that will depend on a lot of factors that can't realistically be considered until closer to April. If media day falls through, I'll hopefully be on it sometime on opening day. As with Diamondback, I'll likely see how things pan out before hopping in line. I don't want to wait in a multiple-hour line right away when I could enjoy myself on other rides (with reduced lines, if 2009 was any indication) and hit up the new ride when the line, y'know, isn't looping all the way around an entire area of the park.

Screamscape is now reporting that Delirium may be repainted, too (insert grain of salt here): If true (or, heck--even if not), is anyone else thinking that the park is spending an exceptionally large amount (for Cedar Fair) on rides/ride updates/park updates at Kings Island for 2014? 1. Banshee's set the record on how much the park has ever spent on a single ride. Heck, Banshee's got to be one of the more expensive rides Cedar Fair's ever installed in the past 10-20 years. The only ride that tops it that comes to mind at the moment is Leviathan. 2. On top of that, Flight Deck is being repainted, and its station--in some magnitude--is being changed, all to complete a new Bat theme. (It still feels really funny to think of Cedar Fair doing anything related to theming, even if it could only be in name. I truly thought that ride would be a blandly-colored Flight Deck for the rest of its life.) 3. Delirium may or may not be repainted. 4. Greg Scheid made a point at the Banshee announcement of mentioning that, under Cedar Fair, each area of the park has been updated when a ride has been added to it. Add in a mysteriously disappearing water tower, and I'd speculate Action Zone will receive some sort of change next year. This is just too much for me. I really don't know what to expect next year at this point, apart from Banshee and The Bat (which is more than enough for me as it is.) And I'm loving it.

...Yup, I think faeriewench had a few things to say about it.

I've got a hunch someone's going to ask, so I'll go ahead and say it: Vekoma named their inverted coasters "Suspended Looping Coasters". Enthusiasts typically abbreviate this model name as SLC. An example of a Vekoma SLC is T2 (soon to be T3) at Kentucky Kingdom. SLCs are not truly suspended coasters in the general sense described here. They are inverted coasters. And they are here to destroy your ears.

I'm not sure, but I think the first big support for the zero-G might be going up now. EDIT: Yep, it's up. There's a track piece or two beyond the loop that has been added as well. Looks like we may see a good part of the zero-G done this week.

Wow! I am absolutely ecstatic! This is fantastic! If you can comment on it yet, Don: are there plans to significantly change the look of the station in any way?