McSalsa

Oh, yeah...well, I did just think of a downside- might hurt Drop Tower a bit. What's the point of riding a ride that just drops 270-feet or so, when right next door is a coaster that does that too, and more? Then again, the Busch Gardens Parks have both Dive Machines, and one of them has a Drop Tower, and the other is rumored to be getting one, so perhaps it's not such a big problem... I really didn't think of track length for a record though, since a 3,200'+ coaster isn't really even considered very long these days...

Crud, I forgot that one in my big list o' everything KI could add! Come to think of it,a Dive Machine wouldn't be so bad at KI...different from everything else, so no "it competes with Diamondback/any other ride in the park" problem, and Cedar Point doesn't have one either...and they could design it to run numerous trains at once, for excellent capacity... And could it even be the tallest dive coaster in the world at 308 ft.? Who knows. That would be insane...insanely awesome, that is...and marketable! "The world's TALLEST and FASTEST dive machine, Project 308 (insert coaster's real name)!"

Crud, I forgot that one in my big list o' everything KI could add! Come to think of it,a Dive Machine wouldn't be so bad at KI...different from everything else, so no "it competes with Diamondback/any other ride in the park" problem, and Cedar Point doesn't have one either...and they could design it to run numerous trains at once, for excellent capacity...

Wait, you mean Kings Island is not only adding a B&M Giga, but an Intamin Plug N' Play wooden coaster, a Gravity Group Wooden Coaster, a GCI Wooden Coaster, a RMC Wooden Coaster with Inversions, a B&M Inverted, a B&M Floorless, a B&M Wing Coaster, a B&M Stand-Up, a Intamin Blitz Coaster (like Maverick @ CP), a Intamin Rocket Coaster like TTD/Kingda Ka, re-locating the Geuaga Lake Big Dipper here, New Antique Cars, New Flying Scooters, a Zipper, a Tilt-A-Whirl, a S&S Screamin' Swing, a HUSS Jump2, a new HUSS Suspended Top Spin (Crypt replacement HO!), an Intamin Aquatrax, a 2nd Log Flume, a second kids area, a massive waterpark expansion with over 20 new water slides and water coasters, a second lazy river, and a 3rd wave pool, bringing back Phantom Theatre, re-painting The Racer its old colors and also re-painting other rides, upgrading the appearance of the park everywhere, re-theming and re-naming the awful former Paramount rides like Drop Tower and Flight Deck, installing weaker trim brakes on Beast, upgrading the food to levels that make Knoebels look terrible in comparison, adding free drinks like Holiday World, AND adding a resort hotel complete with indoor waterpark and golf course (SUCK ON DAT GREAT WOLF LODGE!)...!?!? darn, that would be so awesome, but I'm thinking it would cost somewhere in the range of hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars...Matt Ouimet would be so fired the very next day for poor management of money! Granted, Kings Island would be named "Best Amusement Park in The World" instantly by everyone. And they can charge $500 for tickets and people would STILL come! Alas, it is impossible...in real life...yet, you can do said stuff I listed above in RCT or other games easily.

Sigh...I just had to do it...even though I suck at this sort of thing, I was wondering "If it is a giga, what will it look like as we drive up to the park?"...so I found a picture I took from Google Maps, used SOB's 218-foot lift hill as a rough estimate for how "big" the new ride should look, erased SOB, and added a poorly drawn giga...resulting in this: Also, forgive lack of WindSeeker...anyhow, this is my guestimate for how a giga will "appear" from Kings Island drive...enjoy. Also forgive my sloppy repairs to fix Sling Shot, which was "damaged" a bit as I removed SOB... Oh, worth noting- notice how, due to the Giga's placement in the "back" of the park, Diamondback looks bigger due to being much closer...if this really does happen, wonder if there will be park-goers who insist Diamondback is bigger...incorrectly, of course...

I was imagining something more along the lines of a 300' looping style Vekoma, which for whatever reason still had OTSRs...can you say "ow" at the bottom of that 300' drop when the train enters a curve at 90mph? Granted, I have heard Vekoma is apparently working on their track work...as in, they have a new style of track for the flying coasters and stuff very different that what Firehawk has, etc. (Checks Vekoma's web site) Yeah, the picture at the top for "Flying Dutchman" shows a different track style... It was also a bit of a joke, playing off Vekoma's rep among coaster enthsiasts (their coasters are not seen as smooth, which is a major problem if you are going to go 300' and 90+mph)...and of a coaster type Vekoma, at least for now, does not even make...

^^ True, at this point, all we can do is assume, since all we have there are footers. And, thinking about it, the 308' could be a distraction...kind of like "HUSS Giant Frisbee" back at Carowinds a while back...we all know what that really was...another WindSeeker. I'm guessing this is a steel coaster of some sort, comparing it to what we saw before Diamondback was built. Now, of what type, that is the real question, because there are so many different ones...even when track shows up, all that will do is reveal who is building said new coaster. B&M has a bunch of coaster styles, but the track for nearly all of them seems almost identical. Intamin's blitz coaster track is very similar looking to the giga coaster track. Among others. This new coaster could even be, dare I say it... Sometime in July... Don Helbig comes on stage Don Helbig: Hello everyone I would like to introduce, Project 308! The world's first Vekoma Giga Coaster! (Everyone screams in agony) Hey, it is quite possible...not that I really expect a Vekoma Giga Coaster, of course...until someone sneaks up and takes a picture of a piece of track with a label of some sort on it...

Seeing those footers kind of kills my hope for a wooden coaster ...woodies have TONS of footers, along what will eventually be the path of the track, and not at all spread out anywhere...take a look at, for example, this: (Useless bonus points if you can guess what ride this was under construction...) The supports coming up in the old Thunder Alley area do not look like this at all. They appear, instead, to be steel coaster supports. And then the 308' teaser hints at a Giga Coaster...but, if so...why the heck is Cedar Fair still so interested in making sure Millennium Force is the tallest non-launched steel coaster in the country when they build other gigas? It baffles me- oh well, bigger is not always better. I'm hoping that, if this is a giga, that is is very different from Diamondback- as in NOT an out-and-back, and while it can have some airtime hills and good airtime, I don't want another ride that is...drop, hill, hill, hill, turnaround, hill, helix, mcbr, hill, hill, helix, splashdown, brakes...or anything even close to that. B&M can make other, very different layouts for their mega coasters, with, say, speed as main a focus instead of airtime. Not to mention I'd love to see the Giga use that terrain to better effect that what Diamondback did...Kings Island kinda blew the whole "terrain" aspect of that ride, with 1 drop into a tiny ravine and that's it. Come to think of it, a 300' version (similar, not a carbon copy) of Raging Bull @ SFGam, minus the excessive trim brakes, or B&M's version of I305 (same thing, since B&M would NOT carbon-copy I305!) would be more than welcome...and if this is an Intamin (which I would like, because then the B&M Hyper vs. Intamin Giga debate could be settled by a trip to KI!), well, throw all that out because I'm pretty sure it would end up very different from Diamondback then. Alas, I still think the park proabably should have gone in a different direction if this is a giga, because it's not really what the park needs. We have our giant steel coaster already, I'd rather see a smooth looping floorless, a inverted coaster, or some type of modern wooden coaster (the 3 the park has are all old-fashioned woodies, which is fine, but I'd like to have seen something new join them). This could still be a very good ride...I'm just hoping it's different enough that its existance helps Diamondback, rather than "BIG NEW COSTAH IZ HERE! I DO ALL STUFF Diamondback DOES, BUT AM BIGGER!" Diamondback: "FUDGE."

Hmm...WindSeeker still down...I kind of expected that, since the KBF one has yet to re-open and is still testing...I'll bet you Cedar Point's will not be ready for their opening day in a few weeks, either. I don't see these rides re-opening until June or later for most of the parks they are at, since these rides seem to need extensive testing done and the one at Knott's has been testing for I think at least 2+ months. I don't even think WindSeeker has done the normal testing that other rides like Diamondback, Beast, or Drop Tower have yet. As for the crowds...not suprised. Nice weather on opening day=CROWDED, as we should have learned back in 2011. At least the rides seemed to no break a bajillion times this year...also, a tip for some: if The Vortex line is way out past its normal queue, don't panic, that's still a 25-30 minute wait at most (learned this during Halloween Haunt 2010, on a very crowded Saturday)...same deal for Adventure Express, but that one is only 15-20 minutes. These are good "fall back" rides on crowded days.

^ Kinda, but I doubt it..."Bone-Chilling Screams" can come from roller coasters and other thrill rides, too. And that yellow-and-black warning tape, for one reason or another, makes me think of Son of Beast's original theme...wait a second, I knew it! They are building...GHOST O' Son of Beast!!! (DA-DA-DUM!!!) It will be taller, faster, and have more inversions than any other wooden coaster in the entire world! (Basically, a much bigger, longer, faster Outlaw Run that goes upside down even more often!) (Disclaimer: I do not actually think Kings Island is building another "Beast" ride...a RMC Woodie, perhaps...but it could also just be a B&M, Intamin, or something else...I do, however, think this may have something to do with the new attraction's theme, whatever it may be, ala the Diamondback teasers from 2008...Son of Beast teasers from 1999...etc etc...honestly, hoping it is something on that "level" of attraction "star power"...) Oh, BTW, the "Ghost of Beast" name was taken from THIS...I'd LOL if this is really what they are building...though it would be awesome...this is a No Limits track, so you'll need NL, it's a coaster made by a guy named SkyArrow: http://www.ridehost.com/browse/ghost-of-beast/

^^ You can't wait 11 hours?

Hmm...of the options given, I chose Flight of Fear. The indoor setting works wonders, and the music played during the actual ride heightens the "oh s!&! we in f!&!!&%! space!" feeling I get on it. Adventure Express isn't too far behind, however. BLSC, while it does have some decent theming, still requires more "imagination" on the part of the rider than the other two. But, are these 3 really the only themed coasters at Kings Island? Hmm...let's have a deeper look... We can get rid of instantly: Vortex, Invertigo, Racer, Firehawk, Woodstock Express, Flying Ace Aerial Chase. Any theme on these rides is very generic, for the most part these are standard-issue non-themed rides. (Flying Ace does have some "small" props around it, but they are minor and don't affect the actual ride whatsoever) Not themed, but: Diamondback- The trains deserve some mention, as they look awesome and fit the theme of the coaster perfectly. The gift shop also matches somewhat well. Great Pumpkin Coaster- The painting on the old Enchanted Voyage/Phantom Theatre building behind this tiny coaster really fits with the "Great Pumpkin" theme, but other than that, it's a generic kiddie coaster. Surf Dog (not really a coaster, but...)- Kind of looks like a surfboard. Needs a giant snoopy statue on it to fully convince me, though. Corpse of a Theme: Flight Deck- Ouch. This is what happens when theming dies, but no one cleans it up. You can clearly tell that this was supposed to be a fighter-jet themed coaster, and the "aircraft carrier" theme of the station is still somewhat noticeable if you look. There were even model fighter planes in the q-line during my last visit in May 2012. But, it's mostly in horrible shape- there was a good amount of noticeable rust visible on the lower deck of the station, and the supports for many old props still remain without the props themselves anywhere to be found. Quite sad, really, that you walk back all the way to this ride and while a solid coaster itself awaits, the line for it reeks of "sell of its former self"...I would have loved to have seen the q-line for this back when it was TOP GUN in the Early 1990s. (Yes, I have seen pictures of it, I meant in person). Uh-Oh. My arguments are debunking me thus far, as the closest I hath come to finding a 4th themed coaster at Kings Island after FOF, AE, and BLSC is a corpse of a fighter jet theme! Alas, I still have one ride left to argue for... The Beast Is "The Beast", themed, or just a generic wooden coaster? Well, first up, the station is themed to be an old mill, and it does this beautifully. The fact it is now 30+ years old makes it look the part even better, as it actually is old now! The "beware of The Beast" signs add to the cheesy charm. There is also a bit more theming near the turnaround leading for the lift hill. As for the trains, they are standard PTC 6-bench cars, but if we DQ'ed rides for being un-themed because the trains don't match, then AE gets DQ'ed too because it too has standard-issue Mine Train...trains. Now, for the actual ride itself...uh-oh, there are no special props anymore! Does that mean the ride itself is un-themed? Well, what's the point of a themed ride anyway- to tell a story. FOF does it, AE does it, and BLSC even does it. But, does Beast? Well, the ride does have a backstory, which I have managed to pair with the ride experience: STORY O' BEAST (according to McSalsa) You agree to join a group of miners to journey into the woods to find and capture a legendary creature, known simply as Beast. He was caught once before, but he escaped, and he still has his chains around his front paws. You board the search party's ride vehicles, and head into the woods. It doesn't take long before you find Beast, as it turns out he was not too far from the Old Mill. His sheer size amazes you. However, Beast notices you and attacks, dragging you down into the abyss! After a quick struggle, somehow, you manage to break free and escape over a covered bridge, but you know Beast is chasing you, and you are no match for him! Desperate to escape, you dash for a nearby tunnel, and run through it into the woods, hoping to lose Beast. After a few twists and turns, you lose sight of Beast, and there is no sign of him. You head back for the Old Mill. While heading there, you spot Kings Island again...ahh, familiar territory. It's good to be headi... Beast catches you off guard! There is no escape this time. Beast drags you down into the abyss once again, and at full power this time. He spins you around, and around, around...you're trapped, gasping for air, and all hope seems lost. Suddenly, Beast hurls you out of the Abyss, seemingly for no reason! Why the heck did he let you go!?!? Was the "fearsome" Beast simply toying with you the entire time? Nonetheless, you use this opportunity to flee back to the Old Mill, returning to Kings Island at last. You spot the next train, with the next search party, heading out to look for Beast...if only they knew what they were getting into... END Well, that was interesting...and a good roller coaster story. Thanks to clever terrain use, the ride itself fits the bill- and doesn't even seem to need theming props, only a few tunnels. So, bottom line, is Beast themed...I would say yes, and it's theme is that there is a huge monster out in the woods, and when you attempt to catch it, all H@** breaks loose... WOW...that was a long post! I'm sorry...but describing Beast's "theme" was a bit complex and needed the "story". But, it got me thinking, and typing...and this is what happened next. Oh well...at least it's probably a decent read...

Sigh...reading the HW post, it seems GG failed to deliver the new trains in time for proper testing yet again...or is that the truth? Could there be more problems with the Timberliners than previously seen...GG has not used Timberliners yet on any large-scale wooden coasters, although this will change when Hades 360 opens. And I'm not 100% sure on how well that ride will even hold up once a few years pss, given Mt. Olympus' track record in recent years. And imagine the backlash against Gravity Group if, for whatever reason, Hades 360 can't even open. What really upsets me a bit here is The Voyage is an awesome coaster, but due to its sheer size and raw intensity, it's slowly ripping itself apart (After a painful ride in 2011, I thought of Original Texas Giant, a massive-yet-awesome woodie that had trouble with the test of time before being reborn into New Texas Giant). It needed a major overhaul just 5 years after its debut season...the ride needs help if it wants to survive long-term. The Timberliners were supposed to be that help, and they are MIA...Holiday World, if this does not work AGAIN after testing again in the fall, you may want to consider other options. Wood coaster puruists may scoff at the idea, but Rocky Mountain's topper track might be enough for The Voyage to become smoother, keep it together, and have it keep its wooden coaster "edge". Or, if it is really bad, the Voyage might even need Iron Horse track, which would make it a steel coaster. I'd perfer if it stayed wooden myself (thus why I am really pulling for the Timberliners), but I'd still rather have Iron Voyage than pile-o-scrap-that-was-once-The-Voyage... Just my two cents, and a little venting frustration here...

Hmm...wonder what they are going to do if/when a big new roller coaster (possibly as part of an AZ expansion) on the map, because Flight Deck sure does hog a lot of that space on the current map...I'm thinking they would move Flight Deck down to its original location... They may have also moved Flight Deck to its current location to hide the fact it is far from the rest of, well, anything not named Son of Beast! (2012 Map if it talked: "Oh yeah, it's not that far a walk..." People begin walking to FD... Map: "Suckas!" )

ME CAN HELP!!! http://www.ebay.com/itm/Beast-Kings-Island-Chain-Link-Rare-Mechanical-Piece-/261201082214?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cd0cc3766

Wow, awesome pictures...seeing a big empty field of dirt where SOB and Thunder Alley were is going to be weird...

Grr...lucky test dummies, gettin' to ride everything before everyone else, and on every single ride...and they never tell us how good/bad a ride is either, just giving me blank stares and being speechless for no reason...RAGH!!!

May 5th, 2012...and that was my ONE trip to Kings Island last year...we can't afford to get there too often, as my all-time record for KI visits in a single season is...2 (this happened in 2010). Need...rollercoasters...soon...WINTER...MUST...DIE...RAGH!!!

Well, I found an error on The Vortex page. It's done twice, on both the "thrill rides" page and Vortex's own page. "Adventure seekers roar through two vertical loops, one corkscrew, one boomerang turn, and a 360-degree helix." Now, can you spot the problem with the above sentence...read below if you can't: Vortex has TWO corkscrews, not one...unless something hath changed...but they still list the ride as having 6 inversions, so I geuss no...hope Don reads this and it gets fixed.

Some odd stuff I noticed... X-Flight @ SFGam whooped Wild Eagle @ Dollywood, as X-Flight ranked tied for 58th (with an 82.58% win ratio) versus Wild Eagle's 87th place rank with "only" a 75.36% win ratio. Huh, I was told Wild Eagle was better...(have never been on either yet)...wonder where Gatekeeper will fall when it debuts come 2013... At Carowinds, Afterburn has pulled a shocking upset and beat Intimidator (even though they finished right next to each other, at 41st and 42nd)...so, Intimidator is no longer the #1 coaster at Carowinds...(have never been there either though to judge for myself) Diamondback @ KI and Behemoth @ Canada's Wonderland are both tied for 26th. Both are massive B&M Hypercoasters...both have the stadium-style seats. I smell a good rivalry. But at least Diamondback is the #1 steel coaster at its park, as Behemoth shares a park with #18 Leviathan...(NOTE: I had Diamondback as my #1 steel coaster...but have not ridden Behemoth...need to visit more parks not named Kings Island or Holiday World! )... Just some odd stuff I noticed...and felt like commenting on...

I joined after visiting the park for the first time in years back in May 2009...although I had checked this site out quite a bit before then, as it was buzzing with news about the then-new Diamondback roller coaster. Wow, it hath already been 4 years...

Wow, just...wow...didn't see this coming...the Koch family did a good job, until very recently, of hiding the fact there was a war going on between them over control of the park...suddenly, we all know now... The park, it seems, will stay in the hands of "A" Koch...but will it be Will's Wife, Lori, or Dan and his group? I feel really bad for Pat Koch right now, having to be in the middle of all this...hopefully, the family can mend this wound, and the new CEO does a good job running the park and keeps it going in the direction Will Koch had it (and Dan did appear to be in-line with that direction during his 2-year run)...it could end up sucking though, if whomever does get control decides to pull a cash grab and sells the park to a major chain or outside company. Like what happened to Indiana Beach...ugh. On another note: Huh, Rhinoblaster is no more? Say hello to Hyena Falls...well, it was actually 100% unrelated to the family fued, but apparently a company that makes sand-blasting equipment used the Rhinoblaster name, and HW doesn't wanted to get sued by an outside company...ESPECIALLY right now...still, I feel a Rhino would whoop a Hyena's butt any day of the week. (^Me trying to give topic a little "brightness", to ease the mood, via joke... )

^ Well, that is the "cheap-o" option...

Well, there is a 100% cure, but...you're probably going to need a LOTTA money for this...buy plane tickets/lots of gas for car, and fly/drive to Flordia, California, etc. to one of the parks that still runs in winter, like Busch Gardens Tampa, Universal Orlando, Disney, Knott's Berry Farm, Six Flags Magic Mountain, etc etc...from what I've heard, they usually aren't crowded around this time of year. Right now, it's the only way to ride coasters in real-life for people living in the Indiana-Ohio-etc etc. region...or you could buy a uber-expensive motion chair and sync it up with No Limits or something...but that would cost even more, probably...but would be so cool... ' McSalsa, stating the obvious... Oh, as for myself, as I cannot afford this whatsoever...RCT and No Limits...

^ Of course, then there was probably the suprise of coming to the park the next year to find a huge ride gone...which apparently did happen to some KIC'ers who did visit the park during the 1980s. But, on the flip side...imagine coming to Kings Island in 2009 if the internet did not exist, not knowing about Diamondback (you missed all the commercials somehow), and then as you come around that last corner before the park comes into view...WHAM!