McSalsa

That it does...part of me kinda wishes instead of "Coming to Kolmarden in 2016!" it was "Coming to Kings Island in 2016!"...though with Banshee making its debut in just 9 days, perhaps a RMC woodie like this would be a bit soon in 2016. Then again, SFGam got X-Flight in 2012 and Goliath this year... Of course, this being a "woodie" (due to RMC's building methods and such that is debateable) it would instantly draw comparisons to a ride Kings Island wants us to forget, plus it's also a very large "woodie" so it would get compared even more and even have some guests confused even if it were in a completely different location...the reason this would be an issue: In McSalsa's Imaginary World where this ride was coming to Kings Island in 2016: GP Guest 1: Hey! Let's go ride that big wooden coaster over there behind Racer. (In my imagination, 2014 is last year for Dinosaurs Alive! and this opens on that spot so it can use the woods and stuff) GP Guest 2: No, let's not. I heard it crashed and killed 27 people. GP Guest 1: Wasn't that Son of Beast? GP Guest 2: Yeah, they just changed the name. McSalsa (who has been standing nearby for last few mins): Uhh, this is a brand-new ride that has nothing to do with Son of Beast...and Son of Beast was over in Action Zone where Banshee is now. This ride's in Coney Mall, on the OPPOSITE end of the park. GP Guest 2: So they moved Son of Beast and re-named it? McSalsa: No, they DESTROYED Son of Beast and then built Banshee, then they built this over here. It's 100% new and from a far better company than what SOB was from. GP Guest 2: You're just making this up. McSalsa: (Facepalm) Fine, not dealing with you...I'm going to go ride the new wood coaster. I hear the line's only 40 minutes today. GP Guest 1: If you die, can I have your PS3? McSalsa: I doubt I'll die...wait...HOW DO YOU KNOW I HAVE A PS3!?!? I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU!!! GP Guests: Uhh... (GP dudes run away) McSalsa: Ugh...

If you buy a KK season pass at their normal rate ($100), and visit 3 times or so to get the "value" of the pass...you're looking at $24 worth of parking for 3 visits (And you have surpassed the price of KI's Gold Pass). Visit 10 times in 1 year (which will be what many locals may do) and it's $80 total for parking (and have surpassed Holiday World's pricing in doing so). It could still be a good value for locals, since that $80 could be gas saved for not driving far to further parks, but if you DON'T live nearby...a season pass doesn't look as appealing all of a sudden.

^ Kings Island's passes are $117 for gold, and gold includes parking. Holiday World wants around $150 normally, but right now they are on sale for $139.95, and they don't charge for parking period season pass or not. (They also give FREE drinks, hence the higher price) If that was a rhetorical question...then I screwed up.

Ehh...good point. I was just wondering if people would get upset over Diamondback NOT getting ERT in 2014 based on what happened in 2011 when it was supposed to be WindSeeker & Vortex instead of Diamondback & Beast as it was in 2009-2010...then again that was a flat ride (albeit a massive one) and a 20+ year old coaster which had waits often under 30mins anyway and Banshee is a brand-new coaster with a world record and good stats that will likely have 1+ hour lines on most days in 2014. Sorry If I have caused any trouble...

The track has been re-installed...it just hasn't been painted yet so it's still Silver & Black and a bit hard to see. Though I can't yet confrim/deny any testing as I have not seen any proof for or against it yet...

For anyone who can't click the link in the announcement video...here's the current "Official" POV... Hey wait a second...No Limits 2!?!? (They state a 2nd video will be coming soon in better quality though)

El Toro's reaction: "UH-OH." (This ride may very well be the one that kicks El Toro from atop the Mitch Hawker wood coaster poll, where El Toro has won the past 4 years in a row) This ride looks incredible. If they can keep the scenery around the ride like that, it will make the ride so much better, as I know firsthand from what Beast @ Kings Island does. And this thing looks like Outlaw Run on steroids...Outlaw Run was solid enough already, but now this? Wow... Wooden Coasters are so NOT dead anymore...in recent years, they have surged back into prominence.

Banshee will be the most demanded ride this year, and KI is delivering. The park will get complaints from some individuals no matter what they do. Yeah, I know. Heck, there would be people upset with ERT even if the park somehow managed to open EVERY ride early for them (I don't really know how as that would be awesome but I realize also brutually difficult for the park to do). And Banshee ERT easily makes the most sense for the park in 2014... I even remember back in 2011, when I saw these people complaining that ERT would be moved from Diamondback/Beast to Vortex/WindSeeker (though it never really happened that year)... "Would they still complain this much if the ERT was moved to another brand-new large roller coaster?" I dunno, but we're going to see...

Diamondback will not be part of the early rides lineup this year. Banshee & Beast?! Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk I would kind of doubt it- I'd put money on either The Bat or Invertigo (maybe even both?). Something in the Action Zone section- hence they wouldn't need to open up the whole park for ERT, something KI is hesitant to do (at least it seems that way).

Uh-Oh. While I understand and respect the park's ERT choices (Banshee makes a lot of sense, so therefore does a 2nd ride in that area- no real need to open the entire park for ERT), I am pretty sure DonKIPR's post right above mine will get much hate, simply based on what happened when ERT briefly became WindSeeker and Vortex in 2011... Be ready Mr. Helbig...there will be complainers...though I am sure you have dealt with this sort of thing more than once before.

Weather will probably be a HUGE factor...based on what I have seen in my years as a KI fan (since 2009) from trip reports and videos, as well as my sister's opening day 2009 visit. In 2011, it was very nice and sunny and the park got huge crowds (in spite of the fact WindSeeker, the major new-for-2011 ride, was not yet ready). In 2012, it was chilly and rainy and many rides had under 30 minute waits. Though there are 2 "X" factors... #1-Banshee, of course. A big new ride like this will likely draw in a huge crowd, even though it will mostly "soak up" most of these guests early in the day... #2-Opening day is on a Friday, not a Saturday, so kids may still be in school...until around 3PM or so. Honestly, I kinda expect a surge in the park around that time... However, I'm 99% sure Banshee itself will, under nearly any conditions, have a monster line at least early on in the day on opening day as it is a brand-new ride. It's the other rides I'm not so sure about.

Hmm...a quick search turned up Wikipedia, which gives a height of 150 feet for the Giant Wheel...and their web site says the same. Yep, that's a pretty big Ferris Wheel... (For comparison, I looked up Cedar Point's version...which is 136 feet. So KK has a larger Ferris Wheel than big ol' Cedar Point does!)

...oh. Ok. Well there it is again for everyone else...

I agree opening day in 2012 was rainy and cold. Although it was quite annoying I did not complain. Most of the lines were under 30 minutes! During the last hour most of the rides were walk ons! That opening day has been my favorite so far. Well then, you will like this video (from the always-awesome Coasterbob62)...

Personally, I would not mind somewhat chilly temperatures and perhaps a light drizzle somewhere in the day as it would help keep the crowds away that day- though Banshee would still have a long line regardless as it is brand-new. If it is warm and sunny all day, it's going to be VERY crowded...as past opening days have been under good conditions. Then again, it is a Friday, not a Saturday...so I really cannot be sure on crowds.

El Toro is an Intamin Pre-fab woodie like Colossos at Heide Park I was thinking it was a Intamin as well, and not RMC. I have never ridden it, but hear it is a great one. Unreal had me doubting my knowledge of this coaster. Plus, I doubt RMC wants to be associated with an Intamin coaster. Sure enough, Intamin Prefab... http://rcdb.com/3183.htm RMC did work with the actual construction of El Toro, however, from what I have heard at least. (Quickly checks their web site) Yeah, why would a picture of El Toro show up on their page if they had NOTHING to do with it... Here is their wikipedia page which has a full list of everything RMC has done so far: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountain_Construction

Nice photo...and is that Lightning Run's full height? Wow, the Ferris Wheel a good distance behind it makes it look so small...though small coasters can be kick-butt, awesome rides in their own right and no one was expecting Lightning Run to be a huge monster anyway...the drop does look awesome though. (I'm assuming since Lightning Run's drop is 100 feet that is just one HUGE Ferris Wheel making everything else look very small) Also, if that is Mile High Falls clearly visible all the way in the background...that is one BIG splash boat ride. I mean, it's no Giraffica, but still...

Oh...well OK.

If you are/were talking to me...ehh...a bit. I've learned the only real reason to really look at polls like this would be out of curiosity, to see where you agree/disagree with the majority, and to perhaps see what coasters & parks to try next (as I have only been to 3 parks so far- Indiana Beach in 1999, Kings Island, and Holiday World I still have LOTS of coasters to ride even the USA alone) though there are other factors (how a ride looks like it runs, how the park is run, distance & location of said ride, etc etc).

Banshee has a shot at the GTA Awards, but there is some stuff that needs to be pointed out... -RMC (builders of Goliath) have, so far, kicked butt and taken names with every ride they have built. New Texas Giant, Iron Rattler, and Outlaw Run have all opened to rave reviews and done very well in both the GTA's and Mitch Hawker coaster polls. They will beat tough to beat. -And the GTA's tend to perfer wood versus steel for their "best new ride" voting. Prowler at Worlds of Fun, for example, crushed the much-hyped Diamondback in 2009 and Diamondback was getting rave reviews. -The Gringott's Bank Coaster, if well themed (which it should be), will also be hard to beat simply since Universal Studios is such a strong park in the GTA's for Harry Potter stuff. They beat Intimidator 305 & Intimidator for best new ride in 2010, if you guys recall, and those are huge giga & hyper coasters. -Inverted coasters tend to not do THAT great in the GTA's...the Top 10 steel coasters usually consist of big, smooth hyper and giga coasters with few sharp transitions, and nothing in the Top 10 recently has had inversions. Texas Giant (steel/wood hybrid), Magnum XL200 (old and a bit jerky), and TTD (rocket coaster) seem to be the exceptions and they don't have inversions either. -The coasters mentioned in Europe, however, have little shot- European coasters rarely get many votes in the GTA's because it's an American-based and biased poll. So Helix and the like are kinda ALREADY screwed. And I could care less if Banshee wins a GTA ticket or not- I'd honestly rather see how it fares in the less-biased and more enthusiast based Mitch Hawker poll, TBH, where Inverts if done right can do awesome- Katun, a Invert in Europe, ranked 9th and Montu is as high as 17th out of 365 coasters. A top 30 showing for Banshee, which is very possible, if kind of what I expect so far. And even then I don't care too much because I already know there are some cases where I disagree with "the masses" and even the results of that poll...

Ahh, Arrow Dynamics coasters...such good capacity. In the case of Vortex & Adventure Express, you thus get a solid ride on a good coaster for 20 minutes or less unless it is uber-crowded or something goes wrong. Which makes them good rides to choose on a crowded day. Oh no- a funny memory I have of Vortex just returned. It was around noon-ish, in 2012 I think. Our group was heading to Vortex and the line was spilling out of the midway near Jukebox Diner. A kid walked by and said "IT'S A 2 HOUR LINE!", scaring some people off. We got in line anyway. 25 minutes later, I was getting "looped".

Please don't mention this....I have successfully suppressed those painful memories. On second thought, yeah...maybe not. Especially if I'd be doing Son of Beast (notoriously rough), King Cobra (also known for roughness), Vortex (can be quite rough), and Beast (also sometimes rough if you sit in the wrong seat) on the same day...oh dear, can you saw OUCH!?!?

I think I did a topic like this once, but it's super old now so, ehh, I guess it can be left dead and discussion can go on in this one. So, which coasters that no longer exist would I want to go back and ride the most if I had a time machine? Well... Aeroplane Coaster @ Rye Playland One of the most interesting and fun looking classic wooden coasters ever built. I would love to go back and ride this one...if I could choose a particular year, I'd go back to when it was still very young and Rye Playland was at its finest. Son of Beast @ Kings Island This one's an interesting ingima, to say the least. Many considered this one of the greatest coaster failures of all time, citing the ride as insanely rough and painful. However, there were some who actually did enjoy it, making me want to ride it to see for myself if it really did suck or if it was actually good. Sadly I never got the chance...but in this scenario I would. As for what version, I'd go all the way back to the ride's debut season of 2000...for nostalgia purposes since I did visit the park as a young kid that year, and to see what the park was like from an adult's POV back then. Oh, and I'd do more than just Son of Beast: the park also had King Cobra, Phantom Theatre, Flying Eagles, Kenton's Cove Keelboat Canal, Backwards Racer (recaR), and probably a few more rides that no longer exist. There was also Beast w/skid brakes and Flight of Fear w/OTSR's. All of which I would try to do on my trip. The Bat @ Kings Island Same park as the ride above...very different year and era. I would love to try the park's original suspended coaster, with it's crazy swinging, as well as experience classic Kings Island at its finest. I'd also hit up the too-many-to-list-here defunct rides that existed in 1981, as well as Beast & Racer in their prime. Though since Kings Island seemed much more crowded in the '80s, I'd have to wait more than likely...and Fast Lane didn't exist yet. Also may need to re-try this one a few times to get a day The Bat was open since it broke down a lot. Big Bad Wolf & Drachen Fire @ Busch Gardens Williamsburg Yeah, TWO coasters here, since I'd aim for a date when both were still running in their original forms (did BBW even change much though?), which would probably be the early 90's. BBW was a legendary coaster...Drachen Fire was a legendary flop. Though I would still like to try both. Texas Giant @ Six Flags Over Texas Original, not "New" version, of course. This would be a trip back to the early to mid 90's, before "The Giant" became a rough trimmed-to-death ride and a shell of its former self and was still one of the best wooden coasters in the world. Hercules @ Dorney Park Another woodie I would want to ride in its early years, since from what I have heard things went south fairly quickly with Hercules. The layout looks awesome though, and Terpy liked it. Cyclone @ Crystal Beach One of the most savage, brutal coasters ever made- I'd want to try it at least once just for that reason. Hope I don't die. Thunderbolt & Tornado @ Coney Island NYC Another two-pack: the wooden coasters at Coney Island NY that no longer exist. Tornado looks the more interesting of the two, but Thunderbolt still looks like it was fun. And I'd hit up Cyclone as well since I haven't even been to this park in real life (ditto most other parks here though). Shooting Star @ Coney Island Ohio This one is also twofold- one reason is because I want to ride the fun, uber-smooth classic wooden coaster and the other is I would also enjoy visiting Kings Island's parent park in its heyday. I'd probably go sometime in the 1950's so I could ride the Wildcat as well. Other Classic Woodies @ Various Parks There are too many to list. Way too many.

YES! It is always awesome to hear when a great roller coaster that has been SBNO for a few years or more, instead of getting destroyed, is instead repaired and re-opened. Rampage will need a lot of work, but it can be done, and once opened it will give them a solid wooden coaster once again- something the Koch family clearly values based on what I've seen from them at Holiday World. So far, I am liking what Dan Koch and co. have brought to this park. PS: Also based on what Holiday World used to do, I would expect Alabama Adventure to get some new waterslides in the near future as well, since in addition to wood coasters they love their waterpark attractions.