Kenban

I can confirm it is operating.

B&M has maintenance guidelines, they detail how often to inspect the track and what to do if something is found. Often the first step is to contact B&M. Having said that I have read several B&M service bulletins. The typical response to a crack is to grind it out, weld a replacement piece of steel, NDT to verify the repair, and repaint. The only times I remember seeing to replace the item is for parts on the trains if the material is too thin. Replacing a piece of track is not typically done, even for a crack. Just to add we have no idea what is going on, and we have gotten pretty far off into wild speculation.

The park still has some pretty good sized pieces of track. You can see them when riding WindSeeker at the edge of the clearing. People have been speculating about using them as decorations, but at these prices and demand it makes sense to make more collectibles. My guess is there is at least enough track to make 200 more.

At least as of right now nothing has changed at any of the major Florida parks. Disney, Universal, and SeaWorld have all kept the previous restrictions in place, and it appears they have no intentions of removing them. This order was done a few days ago and I have heard that it’s been causing issues with some guests not wanting to follow the parks restrictions.

I was at the park Saturday and I have to say even though I like Haunt. I really preferred this fall festival at least for the feel of the park during the day. The park feels better when they are not blocking off pathways and putting out random obstacles which are there all day for the scare zones. Plus I preferred having the trick or treating in the main park, it was nice seeing the kids run around in the main park instead of the water park. I want Haunt to return when it’s safe. But I kinda think they should stick primarily to houses and roaming scare actors. Not sure I want the traditional scare zones to return. I just prefer when they do not ruin the look and feel of the park during the day. If they want scare zones figure out a better way to hide items during the day. For instance at Universal they close the park for about an hour and use forklifts, cars, and on smaller items they just wheel the items out from hiding places. If needed they will leave them out but typically they do a great job fitting in with the season. I think Kings Island could do something similar by just closing the paths temporarily as they bring out the props and designing scare zones that blend into the park better. So the tricks and treats menu, the food looks good. But I have a meal plan, and it feels like there should be a way to pickup one of the cards at a discount by expending my meals. Going to the park by myself and buying one of the six item cards and using it solo seems hard to do in a single day. Maybe next trip I will actually try one of the items. I did get the chefs plate and it was fantastic, hope to see it continue next year.

The launch itself is the same, the difference is the location of the train. Launches and magnetic brakes need more precision in the location of the train then wood has typically been able to provide. A slight misalignment can cause serious damage to the launch or for the launch to not push the train properly. There have been cases where a bent launch fin has done a million or more dollars of damage to a launch system. Wood has a lot more flex to it, and trains deform the wood, it also changes size due to the weather. Steel just does not have these issues. Basically this is why before topper track no one was willing to even try a launch, just too much that could go wrong on a wood coaster. Take a look at the brakes on Racer or The Beast and you will see an angled section at both ends to make sure the fin aligns with the brake. Magnetic fin brakes do not have these angled sections they just have to align correctly every time. My understanding is the components are just too fragile to have any alignment assistance. Although you will see a piece of angled rubber before the brakes on Mystic Timbers. During coasterstock the designer of Mystic Timbers explained why the brake run is not level and instead leans to one side. This forces the train onto one rail due to gravity. Then since the train has to be against the rail and they know the offset of where the brake fin is located on the train. Which allows them to correctly position the brakes.

I did not say that RMC was not comfortable using it. It’s still safe and my understanding is they are willing to use it if if the track can do the job and the park is determined to use it. But frankly there is nothing topper track can do which IBox cannot, and they would prefer to just use IBox. The only reason I can think of using topper track is marketing.

Lightning Rod has actually been down for around a month now. Rumors at the time pointed to damage that prompted the park to contact RMC who told them to shut down the ride. Over the years the ride has had issues with potholes in high stress areas and there were a lot of people complaining earlier this year about a new one. I know people keep placing blame on the launch but I suspect it’s a track issue. Reports out of RMC a year or two ago were they wanted to stop using topper track and were pushing customers to use IBox and they were going to charge extra if someone really wanted topper track. Currently I have seen a lot of speculation that at least some of the track on Lightning Rod is going to be replaced by IBox and I suspect they are right. We might be looking at the first RMC conversion of an RMC coaster. I have no idea how much of the topper track is going to survive but I really do not think the entire coaster is going to be topper track next year.

I suspect Intamin will have the same problem RMC has had with producing T-Rex track. The problem is it takes pretty specialized equipment to bend that large and thick of metal into the right shapes before welding. RMC has stated they would need some very large equipment orders to be able to actually produce a T-Rex coaster, simply put it’s not coming anytime soon. Also is there anything a wider single rail can do which standard track cannot? What makes Raptor track so special is the riders are straddling the rail, but extending the track width removes this advantage because riders are basically in the same position as on regular track. I am not convinced for a company like Intamin who has a long history of producing standard track using round rails there is much of a point in investing in a wider single rail. Before anyone mentions that new boat ride from Intamin which uses a single rail, it does but the rail only bends in one axis, no complex curves.

Based on the length of the project 10,300 feet it appears to be going all the way from King rd, to Western Row Rd. So this is not just something for the park we have to consider the entire distance from one side of the park to beyond the park. Which is the problem that it feels like people are ignoring. The problem is one half of the park grew past Columbia road years ago. One of the wave pools is located above where the road was located, the water park entrance plaza is directly on that path as well. So is a quarter mile of the handicapped parking, and employee parking, and there is no easy way around this area. Open up a satellite view of the park, trace out the road and you rapidly realize there is a lot of things to work around and in many places it’s going to require ripping up a lot of path ways and parking. Now go trace Kings Island Dr, the park has a big enough set back along most of the road, that the worst areas are the entrances and exits to the parking lot, the exit from the toll booths, and finally the lighting for the drop off lot. Compared to what it’s going to take trying to thread a new pipeline between the park and the parking lot this makes a lot more sense.

Based on the information we have the water line project is still in the design phase, they might have realized it’s a mistake placing a new water line next to a defunct road that passes through an amusement park. It’s very possible we are looking at the early stages of the county deciding if the water line should be moved, or they already reached that decision, etc. Its a bad idea to jump to too many conclusions based on what we have seen so far. Redoing the drop off lot is the very kind of project which a park would be delaying or cancelling due to the pandemic.

I was at Nagashima Spa Land last year and I am pretty confident they do not have one. So I started doing some searches, and I found a map from 2007 on Theme Park Review. I cannot find it on the map and according to that previous post from 2007 it should have been installed and operating.

How tall would Orion be if it was built on flat ground? Around 305 feet tall. How tall would it be if instead of a slight rise in ground level under the lift there was instead around a 25 foot drop in ground level? 330+ feet tall, making it the “tallest” giga. Would it actually deserve that title, no. Either way it’s the same ride, just more steel would have been used. If either of those were true no one would even question if it was a giga. Frankly it’s time for this stupid pointless debate to end and to move on. Height is a terrible measurement on its own because fantastic rides like Lightning Rod get screwed, since it’s a terrain coaster it has a 165 ft drop, but It is only around 50 feet tall. At the other end parks cheat, Superman Escape from Krypton flat out does not deserve the title of strata coaster in my opinion. Putting the station on top of a hill and building out over the slope so the tower is taller is cheating. The same ride located in Australia when it still existed was 377 feet tall instead of 415 feet. Also why count the height of the track on a shuttle coaster, if the train never reaches that point does it matter if the ride is that height, or should the measurement be the highest point reached during the ride?

I just wonder how are they using the train? Is it going to be stripped for parts, put into a rotation with the other trains?

It’s not just that the website and author refuse to say they are wrong, it’s almost like they refuse to read and understand the very documents the website is posting. Immediately after that paragraph posted above, is a single page from a bigger document which you can find here. It lists 2022 not as the project start date, like they claim, but as the design completion date. Construction complete is listed as 2026. There is no construction start date, but considering it’s not going to take 6 years to do the work it’s not likely to start anytime soon. Simply put the county is obviously not in a hurry, and the markings appear to be for helping with design. Also one final quick question, what leak? That paragraph above states “leaked purposely”, this project is listed in the 2018 annual report, it’s not new, it’s just none of us keep track of water and sewer improvements around the county obviously. This entire discussion was a creation of enthusiasts.

With that we conclude this weeks episode of crazy coaster theories and return you to your regularly scheduled program of minor change equals new coaster.

Cedar Fair tries to not build the really big new attractions near each other. The idea is you want to cycle around a park basically rejuvenating areas as you go which also helps spread out the crowds. Fixating in one area causes issues. With how much work has gone into Coney Mall, and Area 72 it’s time to move onto other areas of the park, Action Zone feels like the logical next step. Leaving the space empty for a few years is better for the long term health of the park then shoving something in quickly. There is nothing that special about its location which makes it important to build something now. It’s a central location but also at the back of the park.

Ignoring the fact that Cedar Fair executives have stated in interviews that they do not intend to build an entrance coaster at Kings Island because they like the entrance and feel a coaster could ruin the look and feel. Some of those individuals have moved on, its possible plans have changed. Also my guess is if they do build an entrance coaster it would stay off to the side and not pass over or under the entrance. Your not wrong building to the entrance would come from that direction, but here’s the thing, it would also likely be closer to the park and not directly over that road where the markers are located. Starting near the SOB station also does not make sense if your going to the entrance, it would literally take a coaster as long or longer than Orion to make it between those two points by going around Timberwolf unless you build directly over Action Zone. We typically receive a coaster every 3 years that means next coaster is likely 2023 or maybe a little later. This also makes sense because it is the year after the anniversary. Anniversary years are terrible times to open big new rides, people will visit just because of the anniversary there is no need to build something new to draw in guests. But at this point I expect 2023 and later projects are on hold, 2022 projects which can be delayed likely have been as well. Modern coaster design calls for a big open entrance plaza, and that rides are not placed on dead ends. Building a station anywhere back towards The Bat would likely be a mistake. This means opening up space in Action Zone. Likely either EXtreme Skyflyer, Timberwolf, Congo Falls, or more than one of these. Here’s the thing, I have been expecting a remodeling of Action Zone, which would include removing Congo Falls and Timberwolf, and possibly moving the Skyflyer somewhere else. Painting the tower, retheming the ride and building a new queue for the Drop Tower. Move the maintenance road, and build a new “shorter” path to The Bat. Build a few new flats, rename the area, and leave a nice spot for a queue, entrance plaza, station, etc for a coaster, which would run where the trees are located between the parking lot and the park, likely heading towards Great Wolf Lodge, before heading back towards the entrance. This would likely be a huge multi year project. The flat rides, and new area could be ready for the anniversary, and the coaster to come later. I just cannot see a coaster just getting shoved into Action Zone without some big changes, maybe not as extensive as I am thinking, but at the same time it would not surprise me. It also feels too early to be on coaster watch for one which is likely years away.

Something people need to keep in mind is the 50th anniversary is coming and frankly corporate is going to want the park looking as good as possible. Tearing down an aging station which is only used for a haunt just to clean up the park could easily be justified, also being 20 years old it might need inspections or maintenance that they do not wish to perform. The 50th is going to happen once, and they will want to take advantage of it. The park is going to have modifications which have likely been planned for a little while now between now and 2022, and anything after that might be totally changing but between now and then, I would not be surprised to see many projects continue. The other issue is that no matter what is going on in the world right now, a lot of work likely has contracts which were signed months ago, do not forget the filling with the county which listed companies the park had contracts with listed 2021 and that filling was from last year. I remember a consultant coming out earlier this year saying amusement park contract writing will likely change after this is all over, too many parks are committed to projects they may no longer want or might not be able to afford. I cannot help think about the fact that all of the work seems centered around either a road, or a maintenance road. The only paved path from the parking lot to the maintenance buildings passes under the pathways to the SOB station. Is all of this work linked? Maybe, and it could easily be linked in a way we are not aware of. I think we are too fixated on a coaster being the link. For instance a complete retheming of Action Zone, with the removal of Timberwolf could easily force the park to move maintenance roads and repave Columbia Rd.

If you look at the correct location there is zero work that has been done as far as I can tell. There are longitude and latitude coordinates on the previous page of this thread. That location is where the drag strip ride was located, and it appears to be completely untouched.

Neither, Mystic Timbers is better then either one.

The trains the park currently owns have a hard time with even a small grade. I cannot remember which direction it occurs but there is enough of a raise in ground level that the trains have literally rolled backwards while under power, and have had to stop, back up, and try again. Kings Island has very little flat ground, and making the train circle the park while not impossible would require several trestle bridges and likely would require new engines. Doable, but not reasonable, although I would love to see it.

I am not sold on the park running shuttles, it’s possible but is the dorm big enough to justify the expense? I measured it on goggle maps and it’s just over a half mile, that’s about the same as walking from Banshee to Soak City, or the same as walking from Great Wolf Lodge. My guess is still lighting, new light poles, which might have call boxes to connect to park security, maybe even security cameras. They are definitely going to want to improve the path to the dorms and the logical path is Columbia Rd. But I expect people will be walking. People keep talking about removing Timberwolf, but no one is talking about the fact that the only paved road back to the maintenance buildings outside of the park is right behind Timberwolf. Moving the path to The Bat requires going under this road because there is only one place to head back there and that’s the current path. Unless they also remove this section of the road and reroute the traffic which would have to travel down Columbia road a little ways, and require paving a small section to link up under The Bat to around Banshee. Also the park just built a new storage building behind Timberwolf when they restarted Winterfest.

One word, MONEY, someone has to actually pay to build it, and the people behind the project were never able to get enough financing. The original plan was according to their own numbers was going to cost $500 million, the scaled back plans were still going to be $250 million. Before anyone argues price tag, those are the official estimates from the developers of the project. They own the land, got I believe all of the permissions to build the tower, Universal Orlando did try to stop it but it was approved anyways. But I cannot imagine a bank willing to finance this, and getting private investors have obviously proven difficult. I cannot imagine it would be possible with the mess going on right now to find anyone willing to invest in a giant tourist project. Also this coaster is going to have to be expensive to ride, they have to make their money back somehow, and frankly if it’s $25-30 to ride, I will do it once.

S&S purchased the assets of Arrow and still manufactures replacement parts. They own all of the designs and my understanding is that effectively there is nothing that is not easily purchasable, they will happily manufacture anything needed and carry a lot of the common parts so they can rapidly ship them out. Arrow coasters are known to be easy and cheap to maintain.