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Orion Reviews


IndyGuy4KI

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1 hour ago, ShedTreeBoi1 said:

While I don't disagree, Orion is a giga, it's still annoying that it's not 300 feet tall.

Only a Neo-Maxi-Zoom-Dweebie would whine about a lift hill on a roller coaster not being 13 feet taller. 

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I personally love Orion and enjoy it for what it is. The first drop and speed are amazing. I don't mind it may seem a bit shorter than Fury.  I am happy that KI finally got a 300' drop speed machine. I love Fury too for the same reasons! I love Diamondback too for it's great airtime and fun ride. And my love for The Beast knows no bounds, but Voyage, for me is one of my favorites too.

And thinking about it, just about any rollercoaster I have had the opportunity to ride through my life, I enjoy it for what it is and the park that it may be in. It's always a good day when I get to ride a good coaster. Each have their own great elements and that's why I travel to different parks to enjoy them. I just spent last Sunday at Strickers Grove riding Tornado (and the flyers). Not the biggest coaster ever, but so much fun to ride!

I am and always will be a coaster geek, but as I get older and wiser I have fully realized that KI has been so fortunate to get the coaster installs it has. We are lucky to call KI a home park.

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2 hours ago, DJSkyFoxx said:

My concern at this point is when are we going to get a solid new looping coaster? We are severely lacking in that department after both Firehawk and Vortex were scrapped. 

I'm hoping that will be addressed with the future coaster that'll go in The Vortex plot.

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On 10/18/2024 at 5:38 PM, MysticTimberwolf said:

I think it's more likely Kings Island goes for their Best Kid's Area crown again and turn that plot into a large family area. A family coaster with a bunch of new flats and shops would probably bring in more money than Vortex 2.0.

For KI the "best kid's area" ship has sailed. They do not have anyone willing to put in the ground work to get votes nor are they willing to go the extra mile to make sure they have the "best kid's area".

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I would actually argue the capital invested in KI recently has been way more focused on family friendly additions. Has the park done a good or even decent job at marketing these? I think that's a horse with not much left to beat. Family areas drive serious traffic and spending.... when people hear about it.

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On 10/18/2024 at 5:38 PM, MysticTimberwolf said:

I think it's more likely Kings Island goes for their Best Kid's Area crown again and turn that plot into a large family area. A family coaster with a bunch of new flats and shops would probably bring in more money than Vortex 2.0.

I’ve thought the same thing. Even if not a kids area, it would be cool to see how they could expand that space instead of another coaster. I’d honestly rather see something like that with the current state of things. 

To reference the original topic… Orion has left many people wanting more (I personally don’t give a Snoopy sh… er, poop about the stats). I wouldn’t want to see the same reaction to a Vortex replacement should it be hindered by the merger, budget cuts, etc. Of course, they could have had something in the works for a while, but who knows. 

Whatever they do, I’m hoping they stick the landing! We know they can. 

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Back to talking about Orion, good points brought up by both Ryan and Don on todays episode of Tower Topics:

I hate to say it, but I get similar vibes the park is going down the same path with next year’s addition, RiverRacers. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
9 hours ago, Driver8rws said:

 

Have you ridden Fury325?

Such a better drop and way more fun ride overall...

Orion's drop feels more powerful. The whole ride feels more powerful imo.

 

30 minutes ago, Orion-XL200 said:

I still prefer Orion to Fury 325...while Fury 325 is great, it feels like after the tunnel, they struggled to figure out how to get the train back to the station. I'm bored after that. 

Completely agree, I think if they made the helix tighter it would be better than Orion

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I personally do think the final helix and airtime hills on fury 325 are weak compared to the injector and the really forceful helix near the end of Orion. However, all things considered, Fury is the superior ride. Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland while still run is clearly the worst of the B&M trio of gigas. 

 

Having said that, I personally will take an Intamin giga over a B&M giga any day. Millennium Force and I-305 (now pantherian) are both in their own league. The sense of speed and the low to the ground elements are unmatched and the speed is really showcased. You could argue that Fury has the best collection of elements on a giga coaster and also has the highest top speed but the intensity of I-305 blows Fury away for me. Even millennium Force still has a crazy amount of straightaways and turns that highlight the pure speed of the coaster. You do have to treasure milli for not having a single trim the entire ride 

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My giga rankings are as follows- 

2. Fury 325

8. Millennium Force

10. Orion

15- Project 305

I was fortunate to ride Fury 325 on a particularly hot and humid day, which, I am of the belief that makes steel coasters run faster, so Fury 325 was absolutely hauling the day I rode it and blew me away.  I feel Fury's first drop is almost identical to Orion's, but everything after those drops is better on the Fury side for me.  Orion feels too much like a scaled up hyper to me (and I have a bunch of the hypers I've ridden ranked above Orion because they have more meat to them despite being around the same length), I want a little more layout creativity and low areas that help give you a sense of speed when you're going that fast, which is why I have MF as my 2nd favorite giga of the ones I've ridden.  Fury has those low seeping curves between the 2nd hill and the treble clef turn around as it screams above the entry.  MF has some nice drawn out parts close to the ground with a lot of trees around as a reference which lets you appreciate its speed (especially at night, MF is the best night ride of the gigas I've ridden).   The length of Fury and MF also put them on top for me with both being over 6K ft long. 

I will give Orion some credit as it has 2 giant hills in the neighborhood of 200 ft that get you up at a good altitude while also incorporating a good mix of laterals and airtime and the helix is decent.  

Project 305 is my least favorite.  It feels like a 2 trick pony to me.  A decent first drop as trick one, and a high speed course as trick 2.  It's the least re-rideable of the 4 I've been on for sure.  It does get pretty intense, but there isn't much else to it than that and with so much of the rest of the ride being so small and low to the ground, it felt it was over too quick.  The transitions are a bit too quick for my liking as well (not as bad as Mavrick's quick s-curves to me, but still not appealing to me, and yes, I think Maverick is good but overrated). 

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Personally

1. I 305 (I just can't bring myself to call it anything else)

2. Orion 

3. Fury

4. Millie

5. Leviathan 

 

I got my first rides on I 305 in the pitch black of night this past summer. That was something else. I think I ended up getting 15 rides in over 1 day and a night. At most 4 rides in a row before I felt I would pass out.

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18 hours ago, silver2005 said:

Project 305 is my least favorite.  It feels like a 2 trick pony to me.  A decent first drop as trick one, and a high speed course as trick 2

Interesting take! I can agree it's a two trick pony but man does it do those two things 10x better than any other coaster! 

30 minutes ago, ShedTreeBoi1 said:

. I 305 (I just can't bring myself to call it anything else

Same here. I'm trying to not spark a bunch of controversy with anyone who thinks we all need to get on the pumpkin wagon and call it by the new name but man it's going to be so hard to quit calling it I-305. Even when I say Top Thrill 2 I still say it in a very sarcastic tone of voice and if I'm being serious about the ride it's still "the Dragster" 

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