Early Signs of 2014 Expansion?

[Vortex]

From both pictures it looks like a Mack Wild mouse coaster. If you saw the updates from Knott's at Westcoaster.net you would under stand.

[McSalsa]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned of a B&M dive coaster at Kings Island? Maybe that is the diversion. Sorry Terp.

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)!"

[THE_BEASTmaster]

^ Don't forget the longest too. The longest is 3,188 (Sheikra), I think.

[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...

[CoastersRZ]

The experiences on the Drop Towers is vastly different from that on tall coasters, so I think we are safe in that regard. Is amazing how many people are estimating what type of ride we will be getting just based on the early work of a handful of unfinished footings! It is really too early to tell what type of ride this is going to be.

What is clear, is it appears the park does in fact know what they are going to be replacing Son of Beast with. And based on the footings, and the troubled history that Son of Beast had, I doubt that they are going to install another wooden roller coaster in that spot.

[IBEW_Sparky]

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.

I seem to recall a Mr. Gary Story pulling the old "Hey, lets build three major coasters in one year and one small coaster" trick. It didnt work out too well in the end as I recall

[The Interpreter]

It certainly is too early to tell...

Terp, being good.

[Shawn Meyer]

I like the one persons idea of building a Dive Machine roller coaster. The only places that I know of that have them are the Busch Garden Parks. I'm sure there are more, but cannot think of them on the top of my head. I think that would work well for Kings Island because they could be the only park in the Cedar Fair chain to have a dive machine roller coaster.

[jcgoble3]

Oh, please no. Anything but a Dive Machine. ShieKra was one of the most boring coasters I have ever ridden. Period.

[mullimann]

Looks like all we have so far is concrete pilings for a footer. It is odd to see the footer almost at grade, leaving more forming above grade.

If there is to be a coaster structure then in the next few weeks bolt alignment rings will be attached to those rebar, and formed to accept the supports. Honestly with the close alignment and proximity to the "midway" this could be a station structure.

Also with the 3 different groupings it could be different rides.

Or maybe they are making a cool cart track with multiple levels and twisty turns.. New upcharge!

[Jayblazer]

Interesting you would say that. the go carts are still at KI and can be seen from the tower..

[benred23]

I can imagine Don is reading this forum and laughing his butt off! Lol.. But seriously, this is very exciting. It'll be awesome to see what this summer holds as far as what we see pop up.

[06jds377]

A dive...rsion?

[Dvo]

I see what you did there.

Oh, please no. Anything but a Dive Machine. ShieKra was one of the most boring coasters I have ever ridden. Period.

Really? I thought it was fantastic. The first drop from the holding brake is fantastic. Granted it's a redundant/short layout, but still a thrilling two minutes.

[cholderfield]

I see what you did there.

Oh, please no. Anything but a Dive Machine. ShieKra was one of the most boring coasters I have ever ridden. Period.

Really? I thought it was fantastic. The first drop from the holding brake is fantastic. Granted it's a redundant/short layout, but still a thrilling two minutes.

I enjoyed it as well...not my favorite ride by any means, but definitely fun!

[UnrealNightmare]

While I agree the footers (footings) don't line up like they should for a wooden coaster, I still think this is wood. There are too many of them (20) in such a small area. Also, compare the size of them to steel footers (footings), they look too small to be steel (Diamondback's are huge, and I305 all appear to be squares.)

The footings we see in these pictures could be for the station or the train maintainence shed, if it is a coaster. Look at Diamondback's station during the early construction stage in this picture from rcdb.com:

http://rcdb.com/4253.htm?p=22250

Notice how small the footings are in the station and maintainence shed areas compared to the tracks' footings?

Actually the placement of these footings looks nothing like the pic you have posted.

[ohiocolts]

Interesting you would say that. the go carts are still at KI and can be seen from the tower..

The go karts are gone. Just saying.

[UnrealNightmare]

Maybe he meant the karts themselves and not the actual track or ride per say. Idk if they actually are I'm just adding perspective. Or maybe he's just a troll.

[zombiejane]

My b/f started comparing these footers to those of other coasters and he thinks they look a lot like the footers for Skyrush.

Whatever it is, he thinks it'll be an Intamin.

[TTD-120-420]

He did mean the actual karts themselves. Obviously the track is gone.

[dr_humor]

Not that this is as fun as simply daydreaming about dive machines and 4-d monsters, but one way to decode what KI is getting is to ask a simple question:

What does it need?

In other words, are there any "holes" i the lineup that need filled? Diamondback finally plugged the "hyper" hole.

I seem to notice KI has always been lacking a certain type of coaster that is both wildly popular and reliable, and a staple at almost every major coaster-centered park I have ever been to.

[UnrealNightmare]

Not that this is as fun as simply daydreaming about dive machines and 4-d monsters, but one way to decode what KI is getting is to ask a simple question:

What does it need?

In other words, are there any "holes" i the lineup that need filled? Diamondback finally plugged the "hyper" hole.

I seem to notice KI has always been lacking a certain type of coaster that is both wildly popular and reliable, and a staple at almost every major coaster-centered park I have ever been to.

B&M Invert?

[jdawg1998]

Shouldn't this topic be closed so we can keep discussing it on this one? It seems silly to have two topics discussing the same thing ...

[Jayblazer]

Of course I meant the actual carts are still there. You can see them from the tower. I did not get a pic of them but they are all sitting together. My 9 year old son pointed them out to me..

[dare-to-fly]

Oh, no...here we go again...

[Ciompdomp]

I really don't care what they add as long as it's not a faster, taller version of Diamondback. I've had enough of those cookie cutter B&Ms. I'd rather have a thrilling smaller coaster than a coaster that's large just for the heck of it.

[ohiocolts]

Of course I meant the actual carts are still there. You can see them from the tower. I did not get a pic of them but they are all sitting together. My 9 year old son pointed them out to me..

Oh ok. I thought you meant the attraction itself. Carry on.

[UnrealNightmare]

I'd love to have rides like Blue Fire Megacoaster or Fahrenheit at KI. I can not attest for how Blue is but Fahrenheit has remained in my top ten since 09'.

[dare-to-fly]

A Gravity Group would be the best choice, but I don't see them getting that.

[Jayblazer]

I think it's going to be another B&M Gate Keepers track and support were built not to far from here so that helps keep manufacturing down. Also Cedar Fair seems to really like the B&M with good reason. Reliable and smooth ride.