Kings Island Removing an Attraction?

[Kenban]

Anyone who thinks Firehawk is moving needs to understand just how expensive moving a coaster is.  The standard rule of thumb is it costs about 50% of buying and building a new coaster.  For rides that are mechanically reliable and in good shape it still makes sense because it is still a considerable savings over new.

In this case we are dealing with a model of which only 3 coasters were ever built, so there are a LOT of custom components which are expensive.  It is still very possible, but I am expecting Firehawk to be scrapped, and the trains and other salvageable components to be shipped to Carowinds to keep Nighthawk operating.

Why spend $10 to $15 million moving and installing Firehawk when you can get something reliable instead?

[sixohdieselrage]

1 hour ago, Magenta Lizard said:

From previous discussions, I think it matters what zoom level you are looking at, whether SoB or Banshee appears. 

I think it's more of Google Maps versus Google Earth. 

[FoolCrzy]

1 minute ago, Kenban said:

Anyone who thinks Firehawk is moving needs to understand just how expensive moving a coaster is.  The standard rule of thumb is it costs about 50% of buying and building a new coaster.  For rides that are mechanically reliable and in good shape it still makes sense because it is still a considerable savings over new.

In this case we are dealing with a model of which only 3 coasters were ever built, so there are a LOT of custom components which are expensive.  It is still very possible, but I am expecting Firehawk to be scrapped, and the trains and other salvageable components to be shipped to Carowinds to keep Nighthawk operating.

Why spend $10 to $15 million moving and installing Firehawk when you can get something reliable instead?

Totally agree. Just a Wild guess. Kind of like the drawings over in the Giga Speculation thread.

[Rivertown Rider]

Assuming it is Firehawk, I feel like the decision to remove it has more to do with the constant downtime and the location in the park than a few bad quarters at Cedar Fair corporate.

The location of Firehawk would be well served as the entrance to a giga as that area of the park has a lot of space behind and beside it on the former SOB and DA areas.

[Benjamin22]

6 minutes ago, Kenban said:

Anyone who thinks Firehawk is moving needs to understand just how expensive moving a coaster is.  The standard rule of thumb is it costs about 50% of buying and building a new coaster.  For rides that are mechanically reliable and in good shape it still makes sense because it is still a considerable savings over new.

In this case we are dealing with a model of which only 3 coasters were ever built, so there are a LOT of custom components which are expensive.  It is still very possible, but I am expecting Firehawk to be scrapped, and the trains and other salvageable components to be shipped to Carowinds to keep Nighthawk operating.

Why spend $10 to $15 million moving and installing Firehawk when you can get something reliable instead?

Also considering the fact Kentucky Kingdom is a small park it’d make absolutely no sense for them to even touch this ride. 

[homestar92]

Are we really assuming that good business decisions are a part of Kentucky Kingdom's M.O.?

[Winston Legthigh]

1 hour ago, FoolCrzy said:

Selling the ride to Kentucky Kingdom could offset the removal costs.

I just can't see KI selling a ride to a direct competitor right down the road. If Firehawk is the coaster being removed, I can't see it popping up anywhere other than Carowinds in the form of parts for Nighthawk. 

I'm just really hoping it isn't Vortex or The Bat. 

[BeeastFarmer]

You mean spending money wisely, underpromising and over delivering? Or reopening a park that was abandoned for several years and had a bad reputation?

Are we really assuming that good business decisions are a part of Kentucky Kingdom's M.O.?

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[fyrfyter]

Is an iPad Air 2 not considered a modern device?  I did not roll back anything.

 

 

For some unknown reason, Google Earth in iOS isn’t displaying the latest aerial imagery. It’s defaulting to early 2000s. Same with desktop, although it has imagery from 2017.

 

iOS 12 is likely the last update Air 2 will get, due to age.

[teenageninja]

Can we merge these two threads?

[chibul]

1 minute ago, teenageninja said:

Can we merge these two threads?

Agreed. I have no idea why a second thread was even made.

[King Ding Dong]

4 minutes ago, chibul said:

Agreed. I have no idea why a second thread was even made.

Because yesterday at 12:04 some genius decided to make a new thread and this seems to be how he likes it.   So that is the way it is going to be.  

[JubJester]

31 minutes ago, teenageninja said:

Can we merge these two threads?

No. Most of us, don't have the power.

[fyrfyter]

This thread was already merged once with a similar thread. I wonder if they can even do it again?

It’s that or just close the other one.

[chad_1138]

The more I think about this, the more I am afraid it will be The Bat.  With the location of the SOB station, which I could see being reused, that portion of the park could be part of the land utilized for a new.....????

Between Firehawk and Bat, I would much rather see Firehawk go.

[Bansheeback]

The more I think about this, the more I am afraid it will be The Bat.  With the location of the SOB station, which I could see being reused, that portion of the park could be part of the land utilized for a new.....????

Between Firehawk and Bat, I would much rather see Firehawk go.

I can see where you’re coming from, but The Bat has great capacity and reliability. It’s also got great ridership for this year, whereas Firehawk has terrible reliability and capacity.

 

 

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[Gordon Bombay]

33 minutes ago, chad_1138 said:

The more I think about this, the more I am afraid it will be The Bat.  With the location of the SOB station, which I could see being reused, that portion of the park could be part of the land utilized for a new.....????

Between Firehawk and Bat, I would much rather see Firehawk go.

Of the two coasters you mentioned, one of them is reliable and a capacity machine.

The other is Firehawk. 

[Xdog42]

Its funny, I like Firehawk but since 2015 I've only ridden it once. I would have ridden it more, but like others have stated, the line is just way too long even on a normal day. I wish I would have been able to ride it this year.  If it is Firehawk, Then the that would mean that the last time I would have ridden it will be like July of 2017. Sucks that the announcement really came out of nowhere.

[Benjamin22]

11 minutes ago, Gordon Bombay said:

Of the two coasters you mentioned, one of them is reliable and a capacity machine.

The other is Firehawk. 

Further more it’d be pretty stupid of them to have repainted The Bat if they had intentions to remove the ride. Firehawk in the other hand is just sitting there with chipped paint.

[homestar92]

3 minutes ago, Ben43065 said:

Further more it’d be pretty stupid of them to have repainted The Bat if they had intentions to remove the ride. Firehawk in the other hand is just sitting there with chipped paint.

I agree with you in that The Bat is almost certainly not being removed. However, don't read too much into the paint. They painted King Cobra just one year before it was removed.

[lifetimecoaster]

12 minutes ago, Ben43065 said:

Further more it’d be pretty stupid of them to have repainted The Bat if they had intentions to remove the ride. Firehawk in the other hand is just sitting there with chipped paint.

 That is another good point there. The paint on Firehawk is getting terrible, and I would think that with how bad it is getting, it would get some form of priority. 

[Benjamin22]

14 minutes ago, homestar92 said:

I agree with you in that The Bat is almost certainly not being removed. However, don't read too much into the paint. They painted King Cobra just one year before it was removed.

Yeah but was paramount known for making good decisions....

[vermillionlove]

lots of people on instagram comments went right to Vortex. could that be it? with the whole "the air is eerily calm" comment :s

between Vortex and Firehawk I'd rather see Firehawk go since I don't get to ride it often since it requires a locker. but I don't want anything to leave ;'(

[homestar92]

The comment about the air being eerily calm is pretty much the only thing pointing toward Vortex (however, one could argue that the air would become more calm if a hawk ceased to fly around in it).

Firehawk just makes the most sense for removal and the Firehawk removal rumors predate the announcement that something is being removed. Plus, given Vortex's significant place in Kings Island's history, I imagine we'd get more than 12 operating days' worth of notice that it's being removed. Plus Firehawk's poor reliability and comparatively low ridership when compared to most other coasters in the park make it the prime candidate for removal.
 

People think Vortex is unpopular because they don't like it, but Vortex is one of the most ridden rides in the entire park, and it's got a 48 inch height requirement. Removing a 48 inch ride would upset many children who are not yet at 52 inches. As far as I know, Firehawk has the strictest height requirement among all rides in the park. That, combined with its downtime and poor hourly capacity probably contribute to its lower ridership.

[Magenta Lizard]

People like to complain that Vortex is rough and should be removed nearly as much as they like to campaign to bring back Son of Beast. It's weird, but that's how it is...

[WailsLikeABanshee]

People like to complain that Vortex is rough and should be removed nearly as much as they like to campaign to bring back Son of Beast. It's weird, but that's how it is...

The "Son of Beast was so rough!!! It was a dangerous rattle trap that killed people!!!" are same people who are now calling Vortex rough and saying they should bring back Song of Beast. How conflicting.

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[Bennett]

All Vortex needs is to put in a modern restraint system, something along the lines of the way they redid Maverick at CP.  Fun ride, but it was made a non-rider for me due to the uncomfortable old restraints.  The way Vortex is, and being 6'6", it just beats me to death.  I haven't ridden it in years, and won't until they modernize the cars.

[KIfan73]

If you watch this original Bat commercial (which is just plain amazing by the way), one could think the clues could be pointing to the current Bat being removed (which would be a real shame).

 

[homestar92]

Just now, Bennett said:

All Vortex needs is to put in a modern restraint system, something along the lines of the way they redid Maverick at CP.  Fun ride, but it was made a non-rider for me due to the uncomfortable old restraints.  The way Vortex is, and being 6'6", it just beats me to death.  I haven't ridden it in years, and won't until they modernize the cars.

If you ever get down to Atlanta, I recommend you give Blue Hawk a ride. It's a Vekoma looper, which are generally agreed upon as being more painful than Arrows, and the new trains made it a downright pleasant ride.

Granted, Vortex is my favorite ride. So my "pleasant" is not the same as the general public's "pleasant". However, I think that such a retrofit could really do Vortex good and make it even more loved than it already is.

[fryoj]

Those who think this is The Bat and they are going to put a coaster up there, the plans that you can look up on the county or city website list B&M as a supplier on the 2018-2020 Coney Mall Project. The ride is going into Coney Mall, and is almost certainly a 2020 project. Now that in and of itself doesn't rule out The Bat being removed, but it does rule out the new coaster going up there. Whatever the ride being removed is, it is most likely related to the new coaster. Thats a pattern at CF parks.

 

I do like the idea someone had about removing Firehawk and looping X-Base around to the DA entrance. It would allow the giga to be built, a bathroom, maybe food or merch, or even a flat down the road. It would also help with crowd flow with the new coaster and help explain why they have the antique cars go out partially blocking the midway. It does cause a problem with all of those maintenance buildings being cut off from backstage though. They would probably have to be relocated, so that does hurt the likelihood of it happening.