It never really occurred to me how close Orion's turnaround gets to The Beast until I noticed (if I am assuming correctly) The Beast's covered track right there.  Hopefully the small amount of trees between the two will be able to keep The Beast feeling secluded.

Also, it looks they have the next support assembled and ready to go up whether that be today or tomorrow.

What is going to happen to the fireworks launch area?  I would assume they would need to close the Orion as fireworks are being set up. Not sure it's good to have your star attraction close for 15 minutes every evening. 

5 minutes ago, flightoffear1996 said:

What is going to happen to the fireworks launch area?  I would assume they would need to close the Orion as fireworks are being set up. Not sure it's good to have your star attraction close for 15 minutes every evening. 

Fireworks site is staying where it is.  The ride will be able to remain in operation while the show is being loaded.  I do not know what the protocol will be for operation during the fireworks.  Just to warn you though, I imagine it'll be the same as The Beast.

17 minutes ago, flightoffear1996 said:

What is going to happen to the fireworks launch area?  I would assume they would need to close the Orion as fireworks are being set up. Not sure it's good to have your star attraction close for 15 minutes every evening. 

If The Beast is anything like Orion it’ll be 30+ mins. One day the park closed at 10 and we were in the station of The Beast. Didn’t ride till 11 and leave at 11:15. Great night lol!!!!

4 minutes ago, MrSourNinja said:

If The Beast is anything like Orion it’ll be 30+ mins. One day the park closed at 10 and we were in the station of The Beast. Didn’t ride till 11 and leave at 11:15. Great night lol!!!!

They're not doing that to be jerks.  Theoretically the ride should reopen 10 minutes after the last firework goes off.  There is a lot that can push that time back, though.

You can't walk the tracks on Orion like you can on Beast...

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22 minutes ago, BoddaH1994 said:

Fireworks site is staying where it is.  The ride will be able to remain in operation while the show is being loaded.  I do not know what the protocol will be for operation during the fireworks.  Just to warn you though, I imagine it'll be the same as The Beast.

It just seems the park should move away from the fireworks as the night time show. The fireworks are kind of lame and are interfering with now operations of two star rides. Why not move to a new laser light show?

1 minute ago, tuxedoman52 said:

You can't walk the tracks on Orion like you can on Beast...

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Orion is steel probably much less fire risk than The Beast but if a firework tipped over or shot of wrong last thing you would want to do is hit someone with a firework while riding 

1 minute ago, flightoffear1996 said:

It just seems the park should move away from the fireworks as the night time show. The fireworks are kind of lame and are interfering with now operations of two star rides. Why not move to a new laser light show?

Fireworks have been a part of Coney/Kings Island history for almost a century.  If they got rid of them people would be very upset.

Yeah I don't want them to stop doing the fireworks. I can see them from my bedroom window on summer nights. 

Sorry to interrupt the conversation, but another piece of track just headed back to the turnaround.

That second drop looks crazy, like the first! Can’t wait to ride this!


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21 minutes ago, BoddaH1994 said:

They're not doing that to be jerks.  Theoretically the ride should reopen 10 minutes after the last firework goes off.  There is a lot that can push that time back, though.

Obviously not lol. Safety is number one priority. 

13 minutes ago, flightoffear1996 said:

Orion is steel probably much less fire risk than The Beast but if a firework tipped over or shot of wrong last thing you would want to do is hit someone with a firework while riding 

The fireworks at KI for the normal nightly show are highly unlikely to tip, however low breaks, flower pots (going off in the tubes), and being carried by wind are all possibilities.  All situations are safe if you use the proper protocols.  

The reason some rides are shut down is because there is a fallout zone for fireworks.  In Ohio it is about 70' for every inch in diameter of the shells.  The largest shells for KI's nightly shows are 5", so the fallout would be 350'.  This is assuming everything is shot vertically, of course.  The Beast's midcourse slowdown and Racer N turnaround are both within 350' of the fireworks site.  I imagine Orion is too, but I haven't exactly measured it out.  The fire marshal has final call for all this stuff, so they could make an exception, but I doubt it.

The reason the rides stay closed for a little after the fireworks is because there is a mandatory 10 minute cooldown before the site can even be approached.  Sometimes an unexploded ordinance will go off a few minutes after the end of the show because fire hopped over and lit it.  I saw it happen one time and it really started me. If that were to happen it starts over the 10 minute counter.  Also, occasionally a shell won't go off.  By occasionally I mean there's typically between 0-3 per show for one the size of KI's nightly show. Shells are pulled out and reused that don't go off.  Occasionally a shell gets stuck in the tube and it has to be rewired and fired since that's the safest option.  That, too, will set the timer back to 10 minutes.  So if every once in a while you see a firework go off as you're leaving the park, that's likely why.       

When did they move the location of the firework site?  Disney-like fairytale story but the first time I ever rode The Beast was a night ride in '94.  Fireworks started as we went up the First Hill.  It seemed like the launch-site then was further back by The Beasts midcourse.  Almost where Orion's turnaround will now be.

 

They moved to the current location of the Fireworks when they put in Firehawk, I believe.

From that picture, looks like you may be getting a good view of Field of Screams from Orion.

... Or you could be so high up and so fast that it's a blur...

On second thought, FoS may be up a bit; it's hard to judge distance and depth...

-MDMC, who has passed by Forbidden Frontier at blistering speeds of 93 mph...

20 hours ago, KIghostguy said:

The area behind the counter and the counter itself is gutted. I would say there will be something interesting in there, especially since it will be used as the entrance.

Do you consider vending machines interesting? 

 

For the most part, I would say that the park has been removing vending machines, rather than adding them.  The Beast, and Diamondback are the only two major rides at KI that I can think of off the top of my head that have vending machines.  There used to be some down by the Vortex exit on the midway, but they removed those a couple of years ago.  Not sure if there are still some between Invertigo and Congo Falls.

6 minutes ago, CoastersRZ said:

For the most part, I would say that the park has been removing vending machines, rather than adding them.  The Beast, and Diamondback are the only two major rides at KI that I can think of off the top of my head that have vending machines.  There used to be some down by The Vortex exit on the midway, but they removed those a couple of years ago.  Not sure if there are still some between Invertigo and Congo Falls.

They are there.

I also remember having them near the entrance to Blackout as well as under the bridge to Top Gun. I imagine they are lower margin than other avenues of selling you drinks.

That's probably why we don't see Vending machines in queue lines anymore on new coasters at KI. I know Diamondback still has them. I think they removed the ones in Drop Tower's queue, but I might be wrong on that. Banshee and Mystic don't have vending machines in the queue like DB and Orion most likely won't either.

Has anybody noticed we have a new crane on site? I don't remember two yellow cranes back there.

Just now, Kodistict said:

Has anybody noticed we have a new crane on site? I don't remember two yellow cranes back there.

Yeah I just noticed it a few minutes ago and don't remember seeing it this morning.

I believe that's the crane we called T-bone for a while.

23 hours ago, flightoffear1996 said:

It just seems the park should move away from the fireworks as the night time show. The fireworks are kind of lame and are interfering with now operations of two star rides. Why not move to a new laser light show?

Woah woah woah. take a trip to darien lake. Watch the laser light show. You wont still want that over fireworks. The firework show is Iconic at Kings Island. Iconic. I dont care how boring or routine but its a major part.

Re: Vending machines... as of last Saturday, there are still ones across from Banshee.

-MDMC, who sometimes wishes to buy a drink from the vending machine (because there aren't many around in the park), but then looks at the price and also thinks about that drink plan he has. (where he gets Vanilla Coke on tap for FREE*)...

*Yes, I know there was cost in buying the drink plan, but you get the idea

3 hours ago, JonahWilliamson said:

Woah woah woah. take a trip to darien lake. Watch the laser light show. You wont still want that over fireworks. The firework show is Iconic at Kings Island. Iconic. I dont care how boring or routine but its a major part.

Agreed. I saw Cedar Point’s laser show once. Granted, it was probably 1998 and things have changed since then, but I wasn’t impressed. If you aren’t a fan of the song “everybody dance now,” you probably wouldn’t have liked it much either.

Careful what you wish for. Remember how well “Footprints” worked? Or even “The Greatest Show” on some nights?

10 hours ago, AdventureExpress35 said:

Agreed. I saw Cedar Point’s laser show once. Granted, it was probably 1998 and things have changed since then, but I wasn’t impressed. If you aren’t a fan of the song “everybody dance now,” you probably wouldn’t have liked it much either.

So, I found a video of said show:

 

The laser art looked super cool, but I wonder if there should be more than one screen?

I remember the Cedar Point laser show and I never liked it. Fireworks are much better.