SonofBaconator

I sense a troll in our midst..

The point is they could have gotten a giga by now but haven't. Sure at the end of the day company makes the final decision, but individual parks can make their own decisions. Michigan's Adventure for example opted out of having a haunt event because they wanted to stay family friendly.

Parks have more freedom do decide what attractions they want based off budget than others. Kings Island hasn't necessarily lost its attendance by not installing a giga. Banshee and Mystic Timbers gave over a million rides during their opening seasons and both are under 200ft. See the Trend Setting Theory.

As far as clones go, the Batman clones made by B&M are my favorite.

That would show consistency in both the story and the theme

But that also came along with an renovated midway area.

That's actually beneficial if you think about it. Being landlocked basically means that Cedar Point has to deliver every time. If they don't install a world class ride or attraction almost everytime, it'll be a complete waste of land. You wouldn't see a S&S Freespin or any other small coasters coming to the peninsula. I'm actually suprised the park got through the 2008-2012 drought. That's part of the reason why Cedar Point is considered to be one of the best- they're super selective and desicive about how they want to improve their park.

CP picked up in the 90s because it added more coasters. Magnum XL 200 paved the way for more thrilling rides to follow. Raptor and Mantis were introduced in 90s and if I recall, those were B&Ms... Sure the Intamins of the 2000s cemented that destination status but its other things as well. Its location for example cannot be beat. Being right along the water gives them an advantage over other parks. They also have the best resorts and hotels of any park in the chain. As an intern for one for their resorts I can say that without a good resort atmosphere, Cedar Point can't really be a good destination park.

It was in the 70s and 80s when it was considered a resort. The park boasted a golf course a campground and at the time a nice hotel. This was a time when KI was actually doing better than Cedar Point IMO. Cedar Point really picked up in the 90s which was coincidentally the same time Paramount purchased KI. Sure Son of Beast brought people from all over the country but it's staple as a destination park has long been forgotten.

Cedar Fair wouldn't go to Intamin for another big project like a giga, especially with the problems their rides have been having over the years. It honestly wouldn't matter what manufacturer it comes from anyway, it comes down to marketing and advertising. You didn't see nation wide news teams come to KI when Banshee or Mystic Timbers was built like you saw them covering rides like Fury 325 and Valravn.

Each park also has a say in what coaster they want and what coaster would fit best.

If lights were a factor, this is what I would do.

^Interesting data but how is that relevant to CP getting shafted by KI?

While both parks compliment each other, I want KI to have an edge over CP when it comes to wood. Plus Carowinds needs a good wooden coaster more than Cedar Point does at the moment.

I'm not complaining, but I wonder if the park ever planned on having the headlights on the trains work. It would have been cool to see them come on at certain parts of the ride and go off at others.

No, not at all. RMC is fairly new to Cedar Fair and quite frankly, KI doesn't need a RMC like some other parks do. I'm happy with our current coaster lineup.

2020. Three years after Mystic Timbers. It takes about 3 years to plan a coaster according to Greg Schied. So in theory KI would have started planning for Mystic Timbers in 2014.

Pre drops bug me. The only one I can tolerate is the one on Vortex

The Trend Setting Theory by Sonofbaconator Often amusement parks want the biggest, meanest, scream machine to attract more visitors. It seems that when one coaster is a success, everyone else has to have one. As a result, you start to see trends in certain coaster types: Wing Coasters and RMCS in the early 2010, and Inverts in the late 90s and early 2000s. However, while this is the basic trend for amusement parks, it doesn’t necessarily have to be the case; some amusement parks actually benefit from staying behind the trend. Kings Island is one of those parks that often holds back on getting new coasters and as a result reinvents the trend and raises the bar for future coasters to be made. Back in the early 2010s, gigas started to make a comeback in the amusement park industry. Rides like Intimidator 305, Leviathan, and Fury 325 have proven to be fun and exciting rides for their respective parks and rank high in numerous coaster polls still to this day. During that time, a lot of people wanted Kings Island to follow the trend and get a giga, however they got an invert instead. While a lot of people were surprised they didn’t go for a giga, they were just as happy to get a world class ride. Nearly four years later, the invert is still ranked as one of Kings Island’s best coasters and one of the best inverted coasters in the industry. Fast forward to 2017 where the park received a GCI. Though there were some that were disappointed when the ride was announced, when it opened it was well received and even won a Golden Ticket award for the 2017 season. These two rides not only showed that the park didn’t need a giga just yet, but they demonstrated that a great ride can come in any form. I talked about how Banshee and Mystic Timbers were well received during their respective years, now I’m going to talk about where that reception came from. Banshee is a next generation B&M invert that is nothing like its predecessors. Unlike other B&M inverts, Banshee doesn’t have a drop down station floor, a predrop, or standard over-the-shoulder restraints. All of these differences have been small but basic improvements over the older models of inverts. In addition, the theming is supherb and the layout is hard to beat. Its theming and use of the terrain also sets it apart as one of the superior inverts to be made. Since the B&M Invert trend died in the early to mid 2000s, Kings Island was able to create something original that was incomparable to other coasters of the same category. Like Banshee, Mystic Timbers also raised the bar for wooden coasters in amusement parks. It’s out and back layout is unique to the ride since many of the other GCI coasters are compact. The part of this ride that takes the cake is its theme as very few wooden roller coasters have received the amount of theming that Mystic Timbers has. The ride is essentially themed to a story created by the park. The trains, and the theme are strictly unique to the ride and Kings Island. The shed also gives the ride an original feature that no other wooden coaster has. If Kings Island went with a wooden coaster in the earlier years, say around the early 2010s, it would be compared to rides like Prowler and Gold Striker. Since Mystic Timbers came so late in the game, the ride can stand on its own. Why is this all relevant to a giga? We’ll if you’ve been noticing, Kings Island has been reinventing the trends of roller coasters for years. Where most parks install thrilling rides, Kings Island goes a little bit higher. The innovations on Banshee, the theming on Mystic Timbers, and even the splashdown on Diamondback set the park apart from others and a giga would be no exception. The recent gigas in the industry have been nearly duplicated, making minor altercations here and there to give them individuality. I have no doubt that if Kings Island installed a giga in 2014 or 2017, it would be extremely similar to Leviathan or Fury 325. Since Kings Island is the only major Cedar Fair park to not receive a giga yet, they have the opportunity to make a serious impact on the industry- should they install one. Fury 325 was a vast improvement over Leviathan, so much so that most consider it better than Millennium Force. Waiting to install a giga gives Kings Island the opportunity to learn how they can perfect the coaster design and make it a stand out attraction that’s not like the rest. Maybe they'll not go with the traditional "L" shaped layout, they might add a new train style, design the ride to go along terrian, give it a great theme to make it standout, or maybe all of the above- only time will tell. I’ll end this little passage with an quote that pretty much sums up my theory.

KI already had an employee that was on marijuanna...

I ride The Bat at night and its a pretty fun experience. The only problem is you're not completely in the dark, like you are on say The Beast or even Diamondback. You can still see the lights from Banshee and the rest of Action Zone while you're riding it.

Kinda off topic but, if not VR what else can be added to The Bat? I always wanted a light package similar to Banshee's and some Bat audio like flapping and screaching throughout the que.