Big Coasters In Future?

[The Interpreter]

So with Carowinds getting Fury 325, you have to wonder if KI will get a Giga soon? Figure CW, CP, KD have one, and Carowinds is getting one next year. You would thing the crown of the old Paramount Parks would get a Giga. Take out Timerwolf, you have plenty of area from behind Banshee, over the old SOB station, through Timberwolf, out the the wooded area around Timberwolf and into the part of the parking lot that is never used. ???? IDK, just wishful thinking.

A part of the parking lot that's never used?

Where dat?

And Timberwolf? Where go Spirit Song?

And the flagship Paramount Park is getting a giga. 2015. New, dramatically improved General Manager, too.

[stashua123]

So with Carowinds getting Fury 325, you have to wonder if KI will get a Giga soon? Figure CW, CP, KD have one, and Carowinds is getting one next year. You would thing the crown of the old Paramount Parks would get a Giga. Take out Timerwolf, you have plenty of area from behind Banshee, over the old SOB station, through Timberwolf, out the the wooded area around Timberwolf and into the part of the parking lot that is never used. ???? IDK, just wishful thinking.

A part of the parking lot that's never used?

Where dat?

And Timberwolf? Where go Spirit Song?

And the flagship Paramount Park is getting a giga. 2015. New, dramatically improved General Manager, too.

Wait I always thought Kings Island was the flagship park of Paramount Parks.

[bkroz]

Nope.

Paramount Parks was headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Kings Island was the first (and arguably flagship) of KECO's parks. But Paramount's Carowinds was, following the definition of a "flagship," the vessel overseen by the commander of a fleet. But you're right - under Paramount, Kings Island CERTAINLY seemed to have a boost of investment over the smaller parks. Maybe because two of the major driving forces behind investment are:

1. Parks that make a lot get to spend a lot. To whom much is given, much is expected. With great power comes great responsibility. Etc. etc. This is why Cedar Point gets more costly additions than Michigan's Adventure. It's not equality. It's equity. Each gets what it needs and deserves based on its contribution to the whole. Kings Island today is, what, the third most visited seasonal park on Earth? Cedar Fair's goal is to get Carowinds up there, too, I think. But during the Paramount years, that wasn't the case nor the plan. Of Paramount Parks' lot, Kings Island was worthy of investment.
2. Parks reflect the ecosystem they operate within... competitors and the like. Remember that Kings Island, at the time, faced off against a Six Flags park, Cedar Fair's flagship, Holiday World, and (a little farther) a SeaWorld and another Six Flags. The massive $40 million addition and expansion of Paramount Action Zone from 1999 - 2000 was not because Paramount Parks thought Kings Island was special and deserved a gift. It was a preemptive strike against Six Flags' plans for Louisville.

Six Flags recently moved its headquarters to Grand Prairie, Texas.

Edited August 23, 2014 by goodyellowkorn182

[shark6495]

I also thought KI was the flag ship for the first few years before they moved it to Carowinds...

[The Interpreter]

It was. Not everybody moved to Charlotte, either. Some left the company instead.

[homestar92]

Cedar Fair also operates to some extent out of Charlotte since the purchase. When I was job searching, I looked at full-time careers with Cedar Fair and many of the openings were located in Charlotte.

[purdude86]

So with Carowinds getting Fury 325, you have to wonder if KI will get a Giga soon? Figure CW, CP, KD have one, and Carowinds is getting one next year. You would thing the crown of the old Paramount Parks would get a Giga. Take out Timerwolf, you have plenty of area from behind Banshee, over the old SOB station, through Timberwolf, out the the wooded area around Timberwolf and into the part of the parking lot that is never used. ???? IDK, just wishful thinking.

There's plenty of room back behind Banshee in general you don't need to take anything out. They could reuse SOB's station even or just put a new one there and have it run out back behind Banshee and Bat.

[bkroz]

Kings Island has TONS of room. Nothing needs to be removed for anything else, despite us losing a few classics with that as the cited reason. If Cedar Point isn't landlocked, then Kings Island DEFINITELY isn't.

[KIFan1]

KI needs a Maverick, Top Thrill Dragster, Fury 325, I305, CGI woodie, Gravity Group woodie,RMC woodie and all need to be the tallest, fastest, and longest, with heavy theming, and first of its kind inversions and the most inversions if possible.

[McSalsa]

^
Ahem...that's a bit excessive. IMO, a Maverick-Type coaster (Mack?), Giga Coaster, and a modern wooden coaster (GCI/GG/Intamin/etc.) by themselves would be pretty much enough overkill to easily make Kings Island a top-tier coaster park. And adding all 3 at around the same time would actually have negative effects on the park- see Six Flags around the early 2000's, and it's heavily implied the over-addition of new rides is what doomed Geauga Lake.

The park also needs more flat rides (both of the family and thrilling varities) and the waterpark hasn't added any new slides since 2004. Those things could be done in-between large coasters, keeping guests happy between big thrill rides and adding more variety to the ride lineup. And you have to consider new coaster styles will eventually be created during that time period, so there will be more coaster options as well that could fit the park. And then you also need to have good food & show offerings and good employees, etc etc.

Adding a dozen roller coasters at once really doesn't make for a great park- spread it out, and add other stuff in between. And also records and # of inversions do not matter- it's the ride experience guests get that does.

[purdude86]

Yea they need to be spread out, one for cost purposes, but also after a couple years they won't be new anymore and people will start clamoring for a new big ride/coaster even though you just added 3 or more within the last couple years. Think something like Fury 325 and Maverick would make great additions. But I think we also need to see some more additions to the flat ride line up and Soak City as well to really round everything else out.

[KIFan1]

KI also needs a Screamin' Swing, some more water rides and major additions to the water park plus with the coasters I suggested.

[Nick_Plummer]

GCI with one inversion. GCI did say that they can make inversions but no one has ordered one.

[Nick_Plummer]

I made an X-Base extension

[thekidd33]

^ You know very well that restrooms are not allowed in X-Base!

[coasterfanatic83]

And that blue circle with the questions marks comes awfully close to breaking the 11th Commandment.

[KIFan1]

So with Carowinds getting Fury 325, you have to wonder if KI will get a Giga soon? Figure CW, CP, KD have one, and Carowinds is getting one next year. You would thing the crown of the old Paramount Parks would get a Giga. Take out Timerwolf, you have plenty of area from behind Banshee, over the old SOB station, through Timberwolf, out the the wooded area around Timberwolf and into the part of the parking lot that is never used. ???? IDK, just wishful thinking.

A part of the parking lot that's never used?

Where dat?

And Timberwolf? Where go Spirit Song?

And the flagship Paramount Park is getting a giga. 2015. New, dramatically improved General Manager, too.

Kings Island was the flagship of the Paramount Parks.

[jcgoble3]

So with Carowinds getting Fury 325, you have to wonder if KI will get a Giga soon? Figure CW, CP, KD have one, and Carowinds is getting one next year. You would thing the crown of the old Paramount Parks would get a Giga. Take out Timerwolf, you have plenty of area from behind Banshee, over the old SOB station, through Timberwolf, out the the wooded area around Timberwolf and into the part of the parking lot that is never used. ???? IDK, just wishful thinking.

A part of the parking lot that's never used?

Where dat?

And Timberwolf? Where go Spirit Song?

And the flagship Paramount Park is getting a giga. 2015. New, dramatically improved General Manager, too.

Kings Island was the flagship of the Paramount Parks.

No, it wasn't. Read the posts immediately below the one you quoted.

[KIFan1]

The Falcon's Fury ride is a PROTOTYPE so it won't be perfect the first time but future installments will be better. KI needs several new coasters, I'd put in a B&M Floorless, Standup, Wing, Giga, Flying, and Dive. From Intamin, we need a Wing Coaster, Wing Rider,(two separate rides, just look it up, a Giga coaster like I305, a Strata Coaster, and a Maverick like coaster. All would be the tallest, fastest, longest in the world, and have some theming. The B&M Flying, Stand up, Dive, Floorless and Wing coaster would all have a cobra roll, zero g roll, loop wrapping the lift, and other massive inversions.

The Intamin rides would also be the tallest, fastest and longest in the world with inversions if at all possible. The Intamin Wing Rider would have key holes over the main gate(similar to Gatekeeper) then use a cobra roll the dive under a small pass( similar to Fury 325) and the train would themed as a dragon protecting the main gate. This would help Kings Island and also add some water rides, thrill rides and family rides.

[The Interpreter]

Over what period of time?

Terp, who likes to ask questions in this world of adventure.

[silver2005]

You know what? I'm in the mood for a little dissecting of this post, because this is making my head hurt.

The Falcon's Fury ride is a PROTOTYPE so it won't be perfect the first time but future installments will be better. KI needs several new coasters, I'd put in a B&M Floorless, Standup, Wing, Giga, Flying, and Dive. From Intamin, we need a Wing Coaster, Wing Rider,(two separate rides, just look it up, a Giga coaster like I305, a Strata Coaster, and a Maverick like coaster. All would be the tallest, fastest, longest in the world, and have some theming. The B&M Flying, Stand up, Dive, Floorless and Wing coaster would all have a cobra roll, zero g roll, loop wrapping the lift, and other massive inversions.

The Intamin rides would also be the tallest, fastest and longest in the world with inversions if at all possible. The Intamin Wing Rider would have key holes over the main gate(similar to Gatekeeper) then use a cobra roll the dive under a small pass( similar to Fury 325) and the train would themed as a dragon protecting the main gate. This would help Kings Island and also add some water rides, thrill rides and family rides.

1. First, let's just throw out the notion of a stand up coaster being built at Kings Island since they're pretty much done with. A new one has been built since the late 90's and the current ones are just waiting to serve out their service life.

2. Intamin? Really? Have you not seen their track record lately? Cedar Fair especially is fed up with them after the numerous modifications they've had to make after rides have already opened (Wicked Twister, Maverick, Shoot the Rapids, I305 to name a few).

3. How much are you willing to sacrifice of Kings Island's atmosphere towards families? I for one don't want Kings Island to become some utopia for die hard coaster enthusiasts. I feel Kings Island should focus on the intermediate group, rides not as intense as the bigger coasters, but more so than Planet Snoopy's rides. Sure, B&M's are nice. I certainly won't complain about Diamondback or Banshee, but you also gotta attend to the park's biggest spenders- families. I can list numerous other better improvements the park could use.

4. Why do you want wing and giga coasters from both Initamin and B&M? Redundant much? Let's not fool ourselves that being from different designers mean's they're different rides, a B&M wing coaster (like Gatekeeper) and an Intamin wing rider (like PortAventura's Furius Baco) accomplish pretty similar things, and the Intamin 'wing' coaster that is Skyrush at Hershey wouldn't be that much different than Diamondback, assuming Intamin has fixed the lap bar issues. I for one like variety. This also goes back to my #2 point.

5. You want all of them to have length, height and speed records? I know Kings Island has a lot of room, but most of that is steep hills, and a river at the bottom they can't build too close to. Where are you going to place them and give guests easy access? What do you plan on removing to accomplish all this?

6. I really, really hope you don't mean all of these back to back to back each year. FUN will go bankrupt if that's the case, plus you do know there are 10 other parks in the chain, right? Just see what got SIX into financial trouble in the 2000's when they tried to build coasters at the rate you're describing.

Kings Island is much more than roller coasters and thrill rides my friend.

[The Interpreter]

Not to mention that if Kings Island got that overbuilt, it'd likely suffer the same fate as Geauga Lake/Six Flags Ohio/Six Flags Worlds of Adventure/Geauga Lake/Geauga Lake's Wildwater Kingdom/Wildwater Kingdom.

[KIFan1]

You know what? I'm in the mood for a little dissecting of this post, because this is making my head hurt.

The Falcon's Fury ride is a PROTOTYPE so it won't be perfect the first time but future installments will be better. KI needs several new coasters, I'd put in a B&M Floorless, Standup, Wing, Giga, Flying, and Dive. From Intamin, we need a Wing Coaster, Wing Rider,(two separate rides, just look it up, a Giga coaster like I305, a Strata Coaster, and a Maverick like coaster. All would be the tallest, fastest, longest in the world, and have some theming. The B&M Flying, Stand up, Dive, Floorless and Wing coaster would all have a cobra roll, zero g roll, loop wrapping the lift, and other massive inversions.

The Intamin rides would also be the tallest, fastest and longest in the world with inversions if at all possible. The Intamin Wing Rider would have key holes over the main gate(similar to Gatekeeper) then use a cobra roll the dive under a small pass( similar to Fury 325) and the train would themed as a dragon protecting the main gate. This would help Kings Island and also add some water rides, thrill rides and family rides.

1. First, let's just throw out the notion of a stand up coaster being built at Kings Island since they're pretty much done with. A new one has been built since the late 90's and the current ones are just waiting to serve out their service life.

2. Intamin? Really? Have you not seen their track record lately? Cedar Fair especially is fed up with them after the numerous modifications they've had to make after rides have already opened (Wicked Twister, Maverick, Shoot the Rapids, I305 to name a few).

3. How much are you willing to sacrifice of Kings Island's atmosphere towards families? I for one don't want Kings Island to become some utopia for die hard coaster enthusiasts. I feel Kings Island should focus on the intermediate group, rides not as intense as the bigger coasters, but more so than Planet Snoopy's rides. Sure, B&M's are nice. I certainly won't complain about Diamondback or Banshee, but you also gotta attend to the park's biggest spenders- families. I can list numerous other better improvements the park could use.

4. Why do you want wing and giga coasters from both Initamin and B&M? Redundant much? Let's not fool ourselves that being from different designers mean's their different rides, a B&M wing coaster (like Gatekeeper) and an Intamin wing rider (like PortAventura's Furius Baco) accomplish pretty similar things, and the Intamin 'wing' coaster that is Skyrush at Hershey wouldn't be that much different than Diamondback, assuming Intamin has fixed the lap bar issues. I for one like variety. This also goes back to my #2 point.

5. You want all of them to have length, height and speed records? I know Kings Island has a lot of room, but most of that is steep hills, and a river at the bottom they can't build too close to. Where are you going to place them and give guests easy access? What do you plan on removing to accomplish all this?

6. I really, really hope you don't mean all of these back to back to back each year. FUN will go bankrupt if that's the case, plus you do know there are 10 other parks in the chain, right? Just see what got SIX into financial trouble in the 2000's when they tried to build coasters at the rate you're describing.

Kings Island is much more than roller coasters and thrill rides my friend. I know but these are all good rides to have. Plus, the ONLY reason why Cedar Fair owns KI is just because Dick Kinzel wanted to own KI.

[calakapepe]

I don't understand how Kings Island having as seemingly strong standing as it does, could go bankrupt just because it added too many thrill rides at once.


In any case, Kings Island doesn't need any coasters any time soon.. for real. I would attest that some high quality flats be added, or some classic flats *cough* "returned"... Heck, I severely do not like the water park environment at amusement parks, but I'd vouch new additions be made at Soak City even.


I've understood that someone in an interview, won't even make a guess which official it was(could've been), saying they'd prefer not to make the park too big also.


-- In regards to B&M's potential run with 300' coasters.. I dearly hope they stay far away from Kings Island.. in my opinion.

- Random point. Anyone else hating that new building that was built, blocking the amazing view of Kings Island as you approach 71 north bound??

[bkroz]

I just keep telling myself it might be a surprise Ohio edition of Forbidden Journey.

[BeastForever]

-- In regards to B&M's potential run with 300' coasters.. I dearly hope they stay far away from Kings Island.. in my opinion.

I sure hope they don't! If they're not going to be the ones to give us a 300' coaster, I can't imagine who is.

[calakapepe]

Hopefully no one, for now.

[MadMaverick]

Hopefully someone in the next few years. If you don't want to ride it then don't.

[KI Guy]

Not to mention that if Kings Island got that overbuilt, it'd likely suffer the same fate as Geauga Lake/Six Flags Ohio/Six Flags Worlds of Adventure/Geauga Lake/Geauga Lake's Wildwater Kingdom/Wildwater Kingdom.

So it would reopen as Kings Island's Soak City and then be renamed simply Soak City and then possibly close after that? What is it you say, running for the door?

[BoddaH1994]

Not to mention that if Kings Island got that overbuilt, it'd likely suffer the same fate as Geauga Lake/Six Flags Ohio/Six Flags Worlds of Adventure/Geauga Lake/Geauga Lake's Wildwater Kingdom/Wildwater Kingdom.

So it would reopen as Kings Island's Soak City and then be renamed simply Soak City and then possibly close after that? What is it you say, running for the door?

No, completely different situation. If Kings Island were to experience a colossal failure, the land would be way too valuable to keep as a water park. It would be a multi million dollar Mason housing development.