Rumors 2017 onward

[SonofBaconator]

Am I the only one that thinks a dive coaster isn't too far off in the distant future? They're compact, can fit in tight spaces and are generally well received by the GP.

[goettablitz]

I would be surprised if KI got a dive coaster. We don't have a space problem and CP just built one 4 hrs away. I think a dive coaster could be in the cards for a Great America, Carowinds or Canada's Wonderland. But most likely Great America.

[westcoaster]

Under paramount I think they were thinking a Adams family ride. Wish I still could find all the survey for future rides.

[rhyano]

I would rather see something with a beyond 90 degree drop as our next major coaster, also they just built one four hours away as the "tallest, fastest and longest dive coaster". 

[goettablitz]

Under paramount I think they were thinking a Adams family ride. Wish I still could find all the survey for future rides.

I remember getting that survey.  It also had the concept for Italian Job Stunt Coaster on it.

[SonofBaconator]

I understand that Cedar Point is the flagship park but it kinda annoys me that they get all the new big toys and the other parks have to wait for a couple of years until they get their turn. Every time Cedar Point gets a new big coaster, that's just one that I know we won't be getting in the near future: ex, a wing, a rmc, or even a dive.

[Rivertown Rider]

^Well at least we have them beat on the quality of our wooden coasters.

[rhyano]

I understand that Cedar Point is the flagship park but it kinda annoys me that they get all the new big toys and the other parks have to wait for a couple of years until they get their turn. Every time Cedar Point gets a new big coaster, that's just one that I know we won't be getting in the near future: ex, a wing, a rmc, or even a dive.

I mean, Cedar Point is more known for coasters, and their 150th anniversary is coming up and if the rumors are true, they are going to want to do 20 coasters by 2020, to me it sounds like Valravn was just a filler, similar to Wicked Twister

[King Ding Dong]

That is not going to happen. With MS gone they are at what, 16 now? Even that is counting the Disc-O.

[Tr0y]

Am I the only one that thinks a dive coaster isn't too far off in the distant future? They're compact, can fit in tight spaces and are generally well received by the GP.

Anything but a Dive Coaster, I'd love to see Kings Island get a B&M Winged Coaster in a X-Base expansion.

[malem]

^^ With MS gone (for now), 17 including Pipe Scream.

 

Current management seems focused on things other than the number of credits on the Cedar Point peninsula.

[purdude86]

I'd say it's possible for tehm to have 20 by 2020 but I wouldn't expect quality coasters if they did. Whatever they are doing with Mean Streak's revival would make 18, so only 2 away over the course of 4 seasons. ('17, '18,'19, '20). They could easily throw in another small kiddie coaster somewhere and a boomerang style coaster as they don't have a standard boomerang like Stinger/Invertigo. That woudl get them to $20 and the last 2 would be fairl;y inexpensive additions.

 

They could even jsut have MS be #18 either next year or in '18, then do a small kiddie coaster or the boomerang for a cheap addition in '18 or '19 then another big addition for 2020 to celebrate the 150^th anniversary. 

 

So while it is not likely for them to truly have 20 by 2020 it's not impossible. We have seen them do multiple coaster additions/changes in a short time period before. Between '13 and '16 they essentially had a coaster related addition each season. '13 had Gatekeeper, '14 had Pipe Scream which they count as coaster, '15 had Rougarou (which owuld be similar to the MS update), and '16 had Valravn. So in the same time period they woudl need one fewer addition as they did then.

[westcoaster]

Let's hope for return of dark rides as well.

[purdude86]

Yea I'd honestly rather see a new dark ride installed than trying to meet a new record for number of coaster. I feelt hey have a pretty good lineup already and wahtever we get with MS's redo will really round them out with a good hybrid/RMC installation. Right now what they are really lacking is a dark ride more than any specific coaster.

[malem]

With apologies to homestar, they're still missing a wood tracked coaster with good laterals and/or airtime.

[BuckeyeBond]

I'd love to see some sort of a dark ride & for KI's 50th anniversary receive a world record breaking GIGA!!

[goettablitz]

After riding Gatekeeper and Valravn (neither of which made a strong impression on me) I'm not really anxious for KI to get a version of either. Thunderbird is far superior to Gatekeeper and Shiekra is far superior to Valravn in my opinion. I want some more uniqueness at KI that isn't up the road at CP. Mystic Timbers is a perfect example of this.  Each park needs to have its own identity.  CF upper management has said this.

 

I was at Six Flags St. Louis for the opening of Justice League and while waiting to ride American Thunder overheard a group of young girls who's home park was Six Flags Chicago and they were identifying the rides that were the same between the two parks either based off of the design of the ride or simply the reuse of names.  I thought that was just the worst situation that Six Flags had put themselves into with clones galore.  Even the GP understands this.

[rhyano]

After riding Gatekeeper and Valravn (neither of which made a strong impression on me) I'm not really anxious for KI to get a version of either. Thunderbird is far superior to Gatekeeper and Shiekra is far superior to Valravn in my opinion. I want some more uniqueness at KI that isn't up the road at CP. Mystic Timbers is a perfect example of this.  Each park needs to have its own identity.  CF upper management has said this.

 

I was at Six Flags St. Louis for the opening of Justice League and while waiting to ride American Thunder overheard a group of young girls who's home park was Six Flags Chicago and they were identifying the rides that were the same between the two parks either based off of the design of the ride or simply the reuse of names.  I thought that was just the worst situation that Six Flags had put themselves into with clones galore.  Even the GP understands this.

there are some benefits for cloning something like this, they already know its going to be a safe and successful investment in Chicago since people loved the 2015 versions and wanted more, I don't think this would work in Ohio since its practically known for Kings Island and Cedar Point to have insane coasters and unique attractions. 

[flightoffear1996]

 

Am I the only one that thinks a dive coaster isn't too far off in the distant future? They're compact, can fit in tight spaces and are generally well received by the GP.

Anything but a Dive Coaster, I'd love to see Kings Island get a B&M Winged Coaster in a X-Base expansion.

 

I say anything other than a Winged coaster.  I have been on three of them and found them all tame.  

[Rivertown Rider]

The thing I have noticed at Dollywood is that Wild Eagle never has a line.  Part of that is ops but it is strange that the ride never even on busy days has more than a 15-20 minute wait.  I think many people ride it once and don't have to ride it again.  I don't know how popular Gatekeeper and Thunderbird are at their respective parks but I don't think a wing coaster would really move the needle at KI.  If you are going to spend that much on a coaster you need it to move the turnstiles.

[rcwizard13]

^Banshee rarely has a wait longer than 15-20 minutes. By your logic, should Kings Island have spent so much on it?

[MantisMan]

Gatekeeper ridership number for 2016 : 1,923,420, nearly 2 million, tops at the point.

 

Apparently a few people enjoy wing coasters, including me.

 

 

https://www.cedarpoint.com/blog-article/online-fun/By-The-Numbers-12-9-16-16

[Rivertown Rider]

Thanks MantisMan for the stats.  To rcwizard13, I think Banshee was a great addition to the park.  I think that Banshee has the best ops in the park which is part of the reason for low wait times as well.  I think it certainly is a popular ride.  As for Wild Eagle for a park that only has 7 coasters, I would expect longer wait times than they have.  Their ops do a good job with dispatches so perhaps it is a much more popular ride than it appears.  I would certainly be fine with having a wing rider in the park as they are nice rides and I think the Xbase area would be a good place for one.

[goettablitz]

Dollywood is also kind of a different park I think, with a handful of coasters and then most of their other rides concentrated in the Country Fair section (I think it is called).  It seems to be just as much about the shows, crafts and food as anything else.  I was just there a few months ago to check out Lighting Rod and noticed a few interesting things.  1.  Wild Eagle never didn't open until the evening hours due to bees on the lift hill.  2.  It was the opposite of Disney in that Disney has so many strollers running around the park that you are constantly dodging them, while Dollywood had so many wheel chairs and ecvs for elderly guests I had a similar problem.

 

Now having ridden 3 of the 4 wing coasters in the US I have to say that Thunder Bird stands far and above as the best followed by Gate Keeper and then Wild Eagle in my opinion.  Still waiting to get an opportunity to ride X-Flight.

[Creed Bratton]

The thing I have noticed at Dollywood is that Wild Eagle never has a line.  Part of that is ops but it is strange that the ride never even on busy days has more than a 15-20 minute wait.  I think many people ride it once and don't have to ride it again.  I don't know how popular Gatekeeper and Thunderbird are at their respective parks but I don't think a wing coaster would really move the needle at KI.  If you are going to spend that much on a coaster you need it to move the turnstiles.

 

 

Dollywood is also kind of a different park I think, with a handful of coasters and then most of their other rides concentrated in the Country Fair section (I think it is called).  It seems to be just as much about the shows, crafts and food as anything else.  I was just there a few months ago to check out Lighting Rod and noticed a few interesting things.  1.  Wild Eagle never didn't open until the evening hours due to bees on the lift hill.  2.  It was the opposite of Disney in that Disney has so many strollers running around the park that you are constantly dodging them, while Dollywood had so many wheel chairs and ecvs for elderly guests I had a similar problem.

 

Now having ridden 3 of the 4 wing coasters in the US I have to say that Thunder Bird stands far and above as the best followed by Gate Keeper and then Wild Eagle in my opinion.  Still waiting to get an opportunity to ride X-Flight.

A majority of Dollywood's guests/Season Passholders are older folks who go for the shows and food. They park isn't a 100% thrill park. That's why you don't necessarily see lines for their coasters. On top of that they do have pretty efficient operations. 

As far as the wing coasters on North American Soil, I find Wild Eagle to be the most fun, with a tie between Gatekeeper and X-Flight for number 2 and then Thunderbird is just eh to me. The launch is awesome, but the layout isn't spectacular and is too short IMO.

[MDMC01]

 Now having ridden 3 of the 4 wing coasters in the US I have to say that Thunder Bird stands far and above as the best followed by Gate Keeper and then Wild Eagle in my opinion.  Still waiting to get an opportunity to ride X-Flight.

I second this opinion! T-Bird is fun and beautiful, Gatekeeper is a nice mix of chill and thrill and Wild Eagle... it was unique as it was my first wing coaster. I'd also like to ride X-Flight someday.

[Reon]

On 12/26/2016 at 2:21 PM, MDMC01 said:

I second this opinion! T-Bird is fun and beautiful, Gatekeeper is a nice mix of chill and thrill and Wild Eagle... it was unique as it was my first wing coaster. I'd also like to ride X-Flight someday.

I'll third that then. Having ridden all 4, I'll say T-Bird is just an overall fun and reridable ride, just like Gatekeeper.  I think Bird just gets the edge though for its placement and the launch being pretty refreshing, but Gatekeeper is one of those rides I can just reride for a while when entering or leaving CP. As for the other 2, Wild Eagle looks nice but those restraints were so uncomfortable I literally left the Banshee announcement as soon as I saw they would be featured on our invert...so glad they fixed those, but with Eagle could get the upgrade. Sameish for X-Flight, but it was an okay ride I guess...wasn't blown away or overly impressed, but it was enjoyable.

[SonofBaconator]

This is more of a thought than a rumor. Relocating Congo Falls to Rivertown and renaming it Kenton's Cove Keelboat Canal.

[Kenban]

I expect to just see Congo Falls be scrapped.  It is almost 30 years old and I just cannot see the park justifying the cost of moving the attraction.  A similar ride at Carowinds is being removed right now.

This would open up enough space in Action Zone to build a new coaster which would run towards Great Wolf Lodge and could turn and run behind The Bat.

 But long term I also expect to see Timber Wolf removed.  There is enough space for several attractions and allows for a more direct entrance to The Bat.  I suspect the eXtreme Skyflyer will also be moved at some point.  Basiclly rebuild the entire corner of the park over several years.

[calakapepe]

Spirit song might motivate against that effort