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Orion Coming to Kings Island in 2020


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Despite the negative comments, Orion287 will be a popular ride and I suspect its ridership will exceed that of Fury325.  Look at the disappointment in so many from Mystic Timbers at KI and Maverick at CP at their respective announcements and off-season until the ride could be rode.  Many people consider these the best ride in their respective park.  I don't know if this one will take that unofficial title, but it will come close.

Am I going to ride and love the addition to the park - ABSOLUTELY!!!  Would I have made some modifications if I were in charge - absolutely...

Personally, I would have liked to have seen them shave some height off of the 202 foot and/or 174 foot hill (does it really need two hills above 200 feet?) and added 13 feet to the first hill to make it at least 300 feet - probably could have even saved money then.  Give us some ejector air and remove the whole "is this a giga" debate altogether!

Taking this whole height/drop thing further, based on the whole meteor impacting video, and given they are dropping more than the height, I would have rather seen the ride be named/based off a meteor and imagine the theming dropping into a crater (that would not have been that expensive in theming on the ground), maybe have it go underground a bit right there and then be a terrain coaster so that from most of the park all you really see is the first hill and then light up the drop to look like a meteor/shooting star - so the light package would be on the drop and not the lift!  and with a camera at the end of the first drop it would look like an impact flash at night!  The speed of that, along with the perceived speed increase being low to the ground flying past trees would be incredible.

Now the reason I believe this wasn't a terrain coaster and why my suggestion wouldn't work with ejector air lies in the restraint system of the current B&M train.  Not many people realize this unless they have rode it or talked to people or looked at off-ride video, but Intimidator305 (I305), which many call one of the most intense coasters out there, and certainly the most intense giga, has over the shoulder restraints.  Think about that for a second - a roller coaster with no inversions or loops has over the shoulder restraints.  There are probably more looping roller coasters without over the shoulder restraints than there are non-looping coasters with over the shoulder restraints.  If our coaster was a terrain coaster, the restraints would have needed redesign.  I believe B&M will save that redesign of their trains for a world record beater when and if that ever happens...

At the end of the day, after months of people complaining during the off-season (which there are just a certain percentage of complainers regardless), come April those thoughts will mainly turn into cheer and joys for the fun and excitement of this coaster.  It will be a re-ride machine.

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2 hours ago, Imperial79 said:

I keep seeing some people saying that MF's drop is really 299 ft..  I've never heard that before, has anyone else?

If you Google "Millennium Force Drop" that's what comes up. Not sure where they're pulling that figure from, though, as Wikipedia and RCDB both list it as being 300.

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42 minutes ago, homestar92 said:

If you Google "Millennium Force Drop" that's what comes up. Not sure where they're pulling that figure from, though, as Wikipedia and RCDB both list it as being 300.

I remember seeing an article about 15 years ago that started Millennium Force had an actual drop measurement of like 299' 10 3/4" or something like that. Not sure where I saw it. May not have even been legit. But I'm not gonna argue with less than 2 inches if that is the case.

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^^Its the same case for I305 as well for whatever reason. Google claims 299, but RCDB, WIki, and even the press releases for both rides (1,2) say 300, which is what I'm willing to trust over the 299' figure.

5 hours ago, presto123 said:

Fury goes through the woods?

On this note. The location is one advantage that this will certainly have over both Fury and Leviathan. Won't be going past parking lots, will be going deep into the woods! 

6 hours ago, Jt2455 said:

 I showed the video to most of my family while camping and got mixed emotions from them. Most were like, "So it's basically another Diamondback"

I think many thinking it to look like "just a bigger Diamondback" were inevitable, no matter how it was designed. And in way, I can't say I blame them. Most of them don't know or care for who B&M is, so what they wonder is why the track style, trains, and restraints are so similar. They also can't seem to immediately tell the nuance between the two layouts, giving them the impression that its just the a bigger version of the non-looping sit-down already big coaster in DB.

The other day I came across this comment on Youtube

fury.PNG

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Oml of course Ok track update, there was just Hershey track on two trucks I thought and I took pictures and thought that was it, so then I look again as we are driving away when I see more transfer track for Kings Island ready to be shipped, truck is on and everything, my bad I didn’t get pictures of it

8AF9F98F-C6E8-46D5-9D03-4B0F399199E4.jpeg

8D8EE7D6-B2F1-4EA9-AC00-DBC2C7A0FFC2.jpeg

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2 hours ago, collin.klopfstein said:

Oml of course Ok track update, there was just Hershey track on two trucks I thought and I took pictures and thought that was it, so then I look again as we are driving away when I see more transfer track for Kings Island ready to be shipped, truck is on and everything, my bad I didn’t get pictures of it

8AF9F98F-C6E8-46D5-9D03-4B0F399199E4.jpeg

8D8EE7D6-B2F1-4EA9-AC00-DBC2C7A0FFC2.jpeg

I go to college at UC Clermont and i watch those trucks a lot. If the truck is attached it probably left CSF within an Hour or two after loading. Depending what else was going on the truck. Probably delivering today. Can anyone check that website that shows the shipping receipt? If anyone wants video of how I know this I have some clips of Yukon getting loaded up and leaving I can post after work. Thanks again Collin!

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2 hours ago, Kodistict said:

Kings Island said the will get a webcam up once erection has started, which they said will be around early September.

Depending on placement, it may or may not show most of the ride construction. It would be ideal to have one on FoF and one on the building for Urgent Scare (name is escaping me right now).

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3 hours ago, Kodistict said:

Kings Island said the will get a webcam up once erection has started, which they said will be around early September.

Enjoy the moment for now, though.  Now as opposed to daily updates with very little change we get to look forward to a week's worth of progress, which will start to get exciting very soon.  

 

5 hours ago, collin.klopfstein said:

Oml of course Ok track update, there was just Hershey track on two trucks I thought and I took pictures and thought that was it, so then I look again as we are driving away when I see more transfer track for Kings Island ready to be shipped, truck is on and everything, my bad I didn’t get pictures of it

8AF9F98F-C6E8-46D5-9D03-4B0F399199E4.jpeg

8D8EE7D6-B2F1-4EA9-AC00-DBC2C7A0FFC2.jpeg

Gosh I love that blue color!!!

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3 minutes ago, collin.klopfstein said:

Track update; 2nd transfer track that was at CSF this morning is gone, should be at Kings Island, but we can’t check until Saturday :( :(

But look on the bright side, when we check on Saturday there has to have been a lot of track moved to Kings Island by then.

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