McSalsa

I dunno- while it will probably have some family appeal, 48mph can be plenty fast for a wooden coaster if it designed correctly. Raven at Holiday World has the same top speed according to RCDB, and I do not hesitate to call that a thrill ride because it feels closer to 60mph. (It even scared the daylights out of my best friend's now wife when she rode it) It at points felt out of control and had lots of airtime. So if this new woodie does the same, it will catch people off guard who underestimate it because it is small.

^ That is true- but we have not seen a new prefab woodie in the United States since 2006, so El Toro remains the lone coaster in that class for now in North America. And I do consider it a wooden coaster. It's these new RMC's where most of the track is actually steel where it gets funky. To be honest, I wouldn't mind seeing a few more giant wooden monsters like El Toro get built in North America (they would "fit" in a lot of parks including KI), but I kind of understand why...(Intamin's current rep in the US and their apparently steep price tags).

It is good to see a new true (not prefab or RMC) wooden coaster being built in this day and age when most parks seem to want to demolish or RMC them. Also I am for the Invadr name of the 3 choices. It is also should give BGW yet another world-class ride of a type that they needed.

I got Banshee. Apparently I am a well-liked creature of the night.

Man, that video is sad- especially with that music choice. Seeing what for so long was once a beloved family amusement park (and briefly a corporate mega-park near the end) in this state...at least when you see some of the footers, you know a few of the rides like Dominator still exist elsewhere, but for others fate wasn't as kind... And Big Dipper, its fate still unknown, is still standing there. It may be intact but considering how rusty and beat up SOB looked after 3 years of SBNO, I don't even want to ask what shape Big Dipper is in after 9. At this point, the odds of it ever re-opening anywhere are super slim. Which is tragic considering it is Ohio's oldest standing roller coaster opening in 1925. If it is finally demolished, 1952's Little Dipper (ironic name) at Memphis Kiddie Park takes that title. And what's also sad is that the decaying corpse of the park is still there to remind us it once existed- nothing has replaced it yet. Even a shopping center or something there would be easier on the eyes than this.

Well, can't say I'm shocked by this at all given how many issues STR has had since its 2010 debut, and the fact Giraffica is also gone so soon. Also, if a GCI Wooden Coaster named White Lightning ends up replacing this, I will LOL at the irony because that was one of the things we thought the initial teasers were hinting at.

Well, I have actually thought about this for a while, so here are my picks for coaster types I feel KI could use: WOODIES (AND RMC HYBRIDS) Intamin Plug & Play These are known for their amazing ride experiences, and their huge size. I would love to see a monstrous woodie tower over Kings Island again, but this time it rides amazingly with few issues to boot. However due to Cedar Fair's strained relantionship with Intamin and the rumored high prices on these, I don't see it happening. (Would be amazing if it did though) GCI Wooden Twister MUCH more likely than the above, since Cedar Fair LOVES GCI when it comes to wooden coasters. It would also be a great fit as the GCI "Twister" ride style would not clash with Racer's out-and-back or Beast's terrain styles. It could also get pretty big, if Wodan Timber Coaster @ Europa Park or Viper in China are any indication. RMC Topper Track Coaster While not technically wooden, a brand-new RMC like Outlaw Run or Goliath would be very different from anything else in the park, and thus fit in nicely. I'd be excited if we got one of these. (Hopefully with a decent track length though- most RMC's so far seem pretty short) Gravity Group Wooden Coaster I'd welcome it, but like the Intamin, it's probably not happening due to these having high maintenance. KI might not be able to keep up and it could go rough fast. STEEL COASTERS B&M Giga Coaster Probably the MOST likely of all future coasters, due to how crazy successful Leviathan and Fury 325 were for Cedar Fair- the reviews from both the GP and Coaster Nuts were very positive. Fury 325 has even become one of the most talked about rides in recent years. Cedar Fair will probably want to continue that success at Kings Island, and I would be excited to try out what B&M can offer with a 300'+ monster coaster. Mack/Intamin "Blitz" Style Coaster Probably Mack due to the Intamin issues CF has had. Would likely go best in the current Dinosaurs Alive! area where it could use the terrain (this is coaster style I imagine would fit the terrain idea you guys had best) - plus, due to Blitz-type coasters usually not needing to go far past 100 feet tall or so, it could even be "hidden" in the woods and have a mysterious element to it like Beast does. (Though Cedar Fair really likes to showcase their rides and put them front & center so I have no idea if they would even tolerate this idea of "hiding" it) Mack Wild Mouse Probably would not be seen a major coaster, but it would add another intermediate-level ride to the park and those are usually welcome especially to younger and less brave guests. The "large park" model KBF got also slightly increases the capacity so that would probably be the one KI gets. B&M Floorless Coaster Only if Vortex is retired within a few years on this one, since right now KI has plenty of looping-focused coasters. However if/when Vortex does go, the park will need some kind of sit-down type looper, and a Floorless would fill that gap nicely. As I enjoy Vortex, this one can wait a bit longer IMO. And those are basically the types of coasters I would like to see come to KI in the future. Though there could be more, and I'll probably end up happy with whatever we end up getting...if it's good that is...

Well, this is interesting. Hopefully these modifications improve Legend while keeping everything the ride was before intact- aka I hope the laterals are still nice and strong in the modified areas. More speed and airtime in that second half sounds like a plus though- so one of my favorite coasters so far might be even better in the future. Also interesting is that GCI is helping Holiday World with this, so it really looks now like Gravity Group and Holiday World have truly fallen out with each other.

Well, here are my most memorable rides. I'll add a rule of thumb to add some variety though- ONE RIDE PER RIDE (though other memorables will likely still be mentioned). This is to keep some variety in the list, otherwise it'd probably be a list of a bunch of Beast night rides or something. 5. "First Time on 5-1" Vortex, 2010 My #5 best ride ever (limited to 1 per ride) goes to my first ride on 5-1 on Vortex in 2010. My first ride on Vortex was just OK because I foolishly rode in the back of a seat instead of the front and was smooshed. My 2nd ride was better, as I rode in front for once, but I really can't remember much about it specifically leading me to think it was likely a typical Vortex ride. However, as we waited for the park to get dark for a legendary Beast night ride, we needed to kill some time, so we rode Vortex again since it's pretty close to Beast. I ended up, on accident, choosing 5-1. I was blown away how much better the ride was from this seat- it was smoother, more intense, and the airtime on the first drop was insane considering this was mainly a looping coaster. I have ridden the coaster from 5-1 ever since, though none of those rides has been more memorable than the very first one. 4. "A Perfect Morning" Red Racer, 2012 Racer is one of the "moodiest" roller coasters I have come across so far. The amount of airtime and smoothness seems to vary from ride to ride and side to side, making it a bit of a guessing game to what kind of ride you'll get. In May of 2012, I think I hit jackpot. The park had just opened and we were going to hit Firehawk early, so we headed to Coney Mall. My sister noticed Racer had no line whatsoever at park opening and wanted to do it first. So we headed towards it and took front seat on Red Racer while our friends took the same on Blue. The trains dispatched, and while climbing the 88-foot lift hill, my sister dared me to keep my hands up the entire ride as I had yet to do so (and Racer really isn't the most crazy intense ride ever so I agreed). What followed was a barrage of at least good and usually great airtime on every hill, with the ride being about as smooth as a classic wooden coaster can get. I was EASILY able to keep my hands up BTW. It was an amazing way to start off what ended up being a very good day at Kings Island. 3. "First Airtime" Diamondback, 2009 The year was 2009. I was back at Kings Island for the first time in 9 years, with the big red B&M hypercoaster being a big reason for that. I had just conquered my fear of roller coasters and inversions (using rides like Beast, Vortex, and Crypt) and felt ready to take on the huge new roller coaster. So we did...I had been lurking on KICentral, and kept hearing you guys mentioning some "Air Time" thing and how it was awesome (Beast, Vortex, and Crypt really didn't have any that day- though if you read to this point you'd know Vortex would dish some out for me later on). I really had no idea what it was or felt like. After we waited 45 minutes and were about to board, it rained, so the wait was an hour. Then I boarded Diamondback. When the train returned to the station, I knew what you guys were talking about when you said "air time". It caught me off guard at first, but when I realized what it was, I began to enjoy it. I have had some more great rides on Diamondback since, especially the ones I took in 2014 (including my first night ride), but learning of airtime and riding the then big hot new roller coaster as a coaster rookie was quite memorable and thus gets my pick here. #2- "4 Hours Was Worth It!"- Banshee, 2014 5 years later, Kings Island was adding another huge new B&M roller coaster, and this time I was there Opening Day for the first time to boot. The crowds were insane- perfect weather and a huge new coaster added up. Even caused a issue for us when a guy hit our rented SUV- though I think he went to jail or got at least a ticket for a hit-and-run or something, was never made 100% clear to me. Then we waited 4 1/2 hours to ride my first B&M Inverted Coaster- Banshee. It was TORTURE. First hour was fine but once we got in the actual ques, fatigue was really kicking in (thank goodness my sister ran over and got Chicken Shack for us mid-line). As we got to the stairs, I was thinking "This had better be one heck of a good roller coaster". When we exited, my anger and frustrations from the huge line were no more. "HOLY COW THAT WAS ACTUALLY WORTH WAITING 4 HOURS FOR!!!" Banshee turned out to be an amazing roller coaster and a great addition to the park. The g-forces, the intensity, and the variety of inversions...all awesome. Then my stomach was growling- Chicken Shack had worn off and I was hungry again, so we headed to Hank's Burrito Shack where I ate a tasty burrito and watched that awesome roller coaster I just rode run from the outdoor dining area next to Adventure Express' entrance. All my later rides were also excellent, especially the night ride, but the first one still stands out the most to me... 1. "The Haunted Beast" The Beast, Halloween Haunt 2010 This one was tough, as it was a choice between this, the coaster ride that broke my fear of coasters in 2009, and a bunch of other memorable stellar rides (like on Opening Day 2014 at night with my sister) on this coaster. (Hence why it is my favorite roller coaster). But Halloween Haunt 2010's night ride- with a bunch of my friends with added special effects in cold weather- remains my favorite ride on any roller coaster anywhere. Everything I have come to expect from a great Beast night ride was here- amazingly fast speeds, pitch black darkness, fairly smooth but still a bit bumpy for excitement's sake smoothness...and then there were also some fog machines and a hidden werewolf along the track. My friends screamed in excitement so much, everyone but me had sore throat the next day (I don't scream really on roller coasters) when we visited a local race track for a race. It was amazing, and ride I don't think I'll ever forget. Unless someone slams me in the head with a pipe and I get amnesia and forget it or something. Then I'll read about it here if I remember KICentral and be furious they made me forget all this.

^ Yup- they did. NASCAR video games since NASCAR 09 have been by companies besides EA. Gran Turismo 5 & 6 (Sony) both had a few NASCAR cars & tracks, and then the 2011 NASCAR Game was by Activision and developed by Eutechnyx, as well as its sequel, NASCAR The Game: Inside Line in 2012. Sadly Eutechnyx isn't known for being a very good game developer and thus the games were flawed and buggy and thus nowhere near the levels of the mid-2000's games. There was also an Arcade Racer called NASCAR Unleashed in 2011. Due to the flaws though, they didn't sell very well, so there was no NASCAR '13 game (on consoles anyway- on PC, a expansion for Inside Line was released for that year) and Activision gave up the license as well, so Deep Silver picked up the license but stupidly kept Eutechnyx instead of building a brand new engine, thus NASCAR '14 was more of the same. Deep Silver then also gave up the license, and now a new company called DMI games has it. Their first release was simply to take the NASCAR '14 game and update it, but they did fix a lot of the bugs too (and were kind enough to not charge $60 for it- NASCAR '15 launched at a price of only $20, kinda like NFL 2k5 did ), and now their first serious release will be on PS4/Xbox One and is being made in-house by DMI, not Eutechnyx. What has me hopeful is DMI is made up of a bunch of old EA (NASCAR Thunder), Papyrus (Nascar Racing Series), and Monster Games (Dirt to Daytona) developers who worked on the great NASCAR games for the mid-2000's. NASCAR '16 has the potential to be the best NASCAR game in almost a decade, by far.

And even they were not the first. I have an old video game cheats magazine from 2002 and one of the arcticles included in addition to the cheats is them comparing the games Madden NFL 2003, NFL 2K3, NFL Gameday 2003, and NFL Fever 2003. So in 2002, you had 3 different football games to choose from (depending on whether you had a PS2 or Xbox, as Gameday was PS2 only and NFL Fever was only on Xbox- on Gamecube there was only 2K and Madden). However the article makes it pretty clear that Madden & NFL 2K3 were the best games of the bunch by far. Thus, by 2004 when Madden NFL 2005 and ESPN NFL 2K5 came out, GameDay and NFL Fever were dead due to the fact they simply were not up to snuff. In their eagerness to overtake Madden, 2K Games not only put a huge amount of content and features into their latest game, but found a way to sell the game through one of their budget title subsidiaries, thus all 2004 (2K5) ESPN video games were able to be sold for $19.99 brand new at launch, including NFL 2K5. This gave them a huge price advantage over Madden NFL 2005, and sales of NFL 2K5 skyrocketed over what past games had sold, thus actually challenging Madden's supremacy. Instead of competing fairly, EA ruined their pants in fear and went to the NFL to secure an exclusive licensing deal instead, and the NFL agreed, as it felt 2K Games selling ESPN NFL 2K5 for $20 was undervaluing the NFL image (Basically, the NFL thought what 2K was doing made the NFL look "cheap"...the NFL wanted their games to be $50 at launch just like other titles). And so, Madden became the only NFL game in town. Then came the launch of the horrible Madden NFL 06 on the then next-gen Xbox 360, and you can kind of still say that series has never been the same since, as no other Maddens have apparently even come close to Madden NFL 2004 & 2005's sales and reception. Wasn't the first time EA did this as well, as in 2003, they signed a deal to make their NASCAR video game series the only one in town as well, killing off the excellent NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona and PC-only NASCAR Racing (insert year here) franchises. That deal ended in 2009, with EA releasing a NASCAR themed Kart racer on the Wii as their final title before they let the deal expire. Since then the NASCAR license has bounced around a bit, but is now in the hands of a young upstart company called DMi games who are now making NASCAR 2016 for PS4 & Xbox One as their first title (they also published a NASCAR '15 game for PS3 & 360, but it is basically NASCAR '14 which was by Deep Silver & Eutechnyx with roster and rule change updates and some bug fixes). And that's some backstory on what happened between NFL 2K and Madden basically...(sees thread title)...oh wow, this is off-topic. Oh well.

Just a thought that popped into my head- if Voyage is getting an inversion as a new element, and thus possibly new trains, could that mean the PTCI-360 trains PTC debuted at IAAPA this year on Voyage? I don't see how if the Timberliners didn't work, those would. While it would allow for the addition of an inversion, if the Timberliners didn't cut the maintenance costs enough or make the ride any more comfortable, I don't see these doing it either. So the inversion would be the only thing gained by this- and if for some reason the new trains didn't work by opening day, Voyage would be forced to be SBNO until it was fixed, as PTC would probably not allow the old trains after this kind of modification. Which would be very bad for Holiday World.

For those wondering, I think the most interesting comments and the ones Terpy was mentioning are on Page 5. And wow- was my initial prediction of a wooden coaster wrong. Also ironic- Giga Coasters and Dive Machines were mentioned, and Cedar Fair has actually built or is building those- at Carowinds (Fury 325 this year, 2015) and Cedar Point (Valravn for 2016) though, not Kings Island. After this, when more mystery construction is spotted, I am gonna pay more attention to what Terpy says- even though I am fully aware he could also throw us off too.

^^ Hmm...GCI made that video? Wow...apparently one of the designers must have had some free time and used the company's No Limits 2 for fun or something (on second thought- read below...). I can also see how their modern creations do appear to take some inspiration from the legendary Aeroplane with their twists and turns and all, as they claim in the video description. Wait, that park...Six Flags Fiesta Texas!?!? Kind of a random park to place the Aeroplane Coaster in...wait. It was going to be built at Kings Island, but they decided to build Son of Beast instead. They had the Aeroplane Blueprints. Jeff Siebert was the PR Director of PKI at that time. He is now at Six Flags Fiesta Texas...did he somehow obtain the blueprints, or could he have possibly had the idea of building the Aeroplane Coaster at SFFT, so GCI made this concept video...I don't know for sure. Just a crazy theory that popped into my head. With no real wooden coasters there (Iron Rattler has become steel), this would fit the park- but Six Flags building a new wooden coaster seems unlikely since they have been demolishing/converting a bunch of their old ones. Perhaps then this was a scrapped concept... BTW I think the coaster looks awesome based on that video. Looks like it has lots of good lateral forces, which based on Holiday World's Legend, I like.

^^ In a weird twist- something I noticed- one of the rides showed in the PTCI360 video was Hades 360 using these trains, making me wonder if that was just a test because the Timberliners have failed there as well, thus Mt. Olympus may be changing the trains on that ride AGAIN. Reviews of Hades 360 haven't exactly been glowing. Though I don't think these new trains will do any different really from the Timberliners, as the problems Hades has had seem to be something new trains may very well not fix.

Anyhow...I stumbled upon this. It is a Timelapse of Lightning Rod's construction so far... Also on Facebook, RMC has a decent photo gallery of the ride's construction so far. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.915220698515051.1073741835.154373424599786&type=3 From the looks of things, this is going to be one awesome new roller coaster.

^ Good point...I forgot about the coasters that have been retro-fitted with topper track, like Georgia Cyclone, and how those haven't exactly held up that well. Hmm...suddenly I wonder how well this, Outlaw Run, Goliath, etc. are going to hold up 10 years from now as those rides also boast huge drops and insane speeds by wooden coaster standards, but were also designed with this new track in mind (versus said Georgia Cyclone & other rides where it was added much later). Edit: And once again edited...sorry Terp.

^ True, but on the other hand, if it were a real wooden coaster it would probably rip itself apart due to the 70mph+ speeds and be a maintenance nightmare (nearly every traditional woodie that has tried to come close to these heights and speeds have ripped themselves apart or had major issues). The steel topper track may technically disqualify the ride from being a "real" wooden coaster, but the money saved on maintenance probably makes up for that. The only other solution I could see would have been Intamin's Prefab Wooden Track, and while that would have made it a true woodie, it would probably cost a lot more that way- and many US parks seem to not be liking Intamin much ATM. It'll probably be an amazing steel coaster though- and it does still have the classic wooden mannerisms such as how the drops are shaped, etc. EDIT: Ehh, see next post. I edited this one a bit in hindsight.

For those who may be wondering what the Hulk is like now, my sister who is at Universal Studios has sent me these pictures... Wow- from this angle there really doesn't appear to be much left of Hulk. The entire iconic cobra roll is gone. IMO, this is enough for me to think of the original Hulk from 1999 as defunct, as it's just basically going to be rebuilt since there is so much track missing. Crazy... For comparison, here's a quick Google Search image I found...not a 100% match-up view wise but close enough... Yeah- pretty crazy considering this was still the view just a few months ago...

Wow, those are some awesome-looking new trains. Hopefully this works out for Ghost Rider better than it did for Gwazi, where that ride got new trains and it improved a lot...for like a year then it went rough again. Recent history seems to have shown just slapping new trains on a coaster and expecting it to have all its issues cleared up doesn't exactly work. Though if the modifications go beyond that- and they may well do that- then it could be a happier story, which is the outcome I want for GhostRider since I don't want to see a another once-beloved woodie kick the bucket early.

According to the Kings Island Facebook page, Backlot Stunt Coaster just had a record year in 2015. It gave over 824,568 rides. For a 10-year old ride with supposed low capacity, that's a huge number. Then again, I did notice this year whenever I viewed the webcams the BLSC crew was getting trains out like clockwork this year. IMO, BLSC deserves the 824,000+ rides it got as it is a fun little coaster. I have to wonder if/when the park will release the rest of the numbers for the other rides though...

You are not alone- same here for me. I'm really hopeful 2016 goes better...

I am assuming since most of these posts were from the summer of 2008, that the footings/markers reported were from what was actually Holiday World's 2009 attraction, Pilgrims Plunge... ...which, a mere 5 years later, was gone. In hindsight, perhaps Holiday World should have bought Laser instead...it would probably still be around today had they done so, since it is currently running in Europe. Alas, hindsight is 20-20 and at the time a 135-foot tall boat ride must have seemed like a great idea, and it was a fun ride when it did work...but obviously, it was down way too often for the park's liking in the end. (Though it was at some point open and I did ride it on all 3 of my Holiday World trips when it was still there- guess I got lucky with the Plunge...)

Wow- having only ridden Beast for the first time in 2009, I thought the seatbelts were added in the 90's or something, not the 2000's. Also worth noting looking through this thread... -Vortex also has seat belts now as a backup to the OTSR, so Italianchef got his wish. This had to have been between 2005-2008 because when I rode in 2009, it had them. -Diamondback was built in 2009, ran w/o seat belts until 2013, and then got them in 2014...ironically a decade after Beast... -BLSC and The Bat have both LOST their seat belts in recent years I think I remember The Racer having seatbelts in 2000 when I rode it, but am not 100% sure on that.

You can leave any field blank Thanks- my submission should be in now.