Orion Reviews

[NegativeGs]

26 minutes ago, ThrillKingsFitzy said:

I rode it about 5 days ago and the front is better than the back IMO. Great airtime down that first drop. Also great airtime on the speed hill, camelback, off axis hill, and transition into breaks. I greyed out on the helix. Overall, 10 out of 10. Fantastic ride, my number 2.

I agree, Orion is a front row ride. It's the premier row where all elements of Orion are at their best. For me, it's the first drop, the feel of the hurricane force wind in my face, and the speed hill. 

[MDMC01]

1 minute ago, NegativeGs said:

I agree, Orion is a front row ride. It's premier row where all elements of Orion are at their best. For me, it's the first drop, the feel of the hurricane force wind in my face, and the speed hill. 

Agreed! I rode front row for the first time during my last KI trip and it was crazy awesome! The wind in my face reminded me of speedboat rides I took as a kid (except on Orion, it's at 91 mph!).

[IBEW_Sparky]

Im going to run the Ride Forces program next time I decide to go, and see if it shows enough of a difference in front vs back to verify any difference between hard numbers and the perception caused by the view and wind in the front.

[JimParker85]

It is hauling with the full trains. We had 1p rides over the last two days, 7 in the back row. So good. The drop is still the star, but every element on it is so much fun. It has jumped Leviathan for me with these full train rides.

[coaster sally]

Going to update my review.  Got several rides at night during Coasterstock.  This ride is a night only ride for me.  The drop is really good then the ride does nothing until the speed hill which is really sustained floater.  Floater is good being pulled down the camelback(wish there was airtime at the apex).  The helix is still forceless to me but my favorite part of the ride is getting blinded by the on ride photo and hitting the off axis airtime hill before the brakes.  Don't have any complaints about the length.  Just wish the ride did something between the drop and the speed hill.  The hive dive on Fury has not been replicated by b&m so that makes me think they messed up on the forces on that and don't want to put it on another coaster.  The sideways hill after the drop is a filler element meant to burn off speed along with the forceless 202' turnaround IMO.

[coaster sally]

After saying Fury is overrated for years, after reriding it recently it is far superior to Orion in every way.  The camelbacks on fury is closer to ejector than the speed hill on Orion.  I will still ride Orion and appreciate we have it but it is far from a standout attraction IMO.

[IndyGuy4KI]

8 hours ago, coaster sally said:

After saying Fury is overrated for years, after reriding it recently it is far superior to Orion in every way.  The camelbacks on fury is closer to ejector than the speed hill on Orion.  I will still ride Orion and appreciate we have it but it is far from a standout attraction IMO.

Is there a standout steel coaster for you  it it is not a Intamin?

[coaster sally]

44 minutes ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

Is there a standout steel coaster for you  it it is not a Intamin?

Sure, Fury 325 at Carowinds, X2 at MM, Hades 360@ Mt olympus, Voyage at HW to name a few.  While KI has a great selection of rides nothing stands out like The Beast which was built over forty years ago.

[kirbias1]

11 hours ago, coaster sally said:

After saying Fury is overrated for years, after reriding it recently it is far superior to Orion in every way.  The camelbacks on fury is closer to ejector than the speed hill on Orion.  I will still ride Orion and appreciate we have it but it is far from a standout attraction IMO.

I still believe it's overrated. Although, while being very good the first half of the layout,  Fury becomes extremely anticlimactic once it reaches the very drawn out and slow helix. Orion, on the other hand, at least keeps good pacing until the break run. I've always thought Fury is top 10 worthy but not the best coaster on the planet like a lot of enthusiasts seem to think.

[silver2005]

^I think I was fortuitous in riding it on a really hot day (aka, steel coasters hauling a**) and the later part of Fury was still flying along for me. 

[coaster sally]

2 hours ago, kirbias1 said:

I still believe it's overrated. Although, while being very good the first half of the layout,  Fury becomes extremely anticlimactic once it reaches the very drawn out and slow helix. Orion, on the other hand, at least keeps good pacing until the break run. I've always thought Fury is top 10 worthy but not the best coaster on the planet like a lot of enthusiasts seem to think.

I mean, a ride 1/3 shorter should hit the brake run quicker.  Our rides last two days we were getting borderline ejector on the last two hills.  Agreed the helix is a filler element just like orion's sideways hill, turn around, and helix.

[RayFields]

15 hours ago, coaster sally said:

Sure, Fury 325 at Carowinds, X2 at MM, Hades 360@ Mt olympus, Voyage at HW to name a few.  While KI has a great selection of rides nothing stands out like The Beast which was built over forty years ago.

I think Kings Island has five standout coasters: Orion, Banshee, Diamondback, Mystic Timbers, and The Beast. If you were to put any one of these coasters at ValleyFair, Michigans’ Adventure or probably over 90% of the amusement parks on the planet, it would be their best coaster and would surely standout.

Leviathan is a standout coaster for Canada’s Wonderland and most that feel Orion is slightly superior to Leviathan. But Orion doesn’t stand out at Kings Island the way Leviathan does at Canada’s Wonderland due to the fact that Canada’s Wonderland doesn’t have near the supporting cast that Kings Island does. In fact, Leviathan is the standout attraction in all of Canada and Orion is still a tad better.

The fact that Kings Island has five coasters that are very close to each other in terms of quality doesn’t allow for any single coaster to standout on it own. I actually like that Orion doesn’t completely overshadow all other rides like some rides do at their respective parks. The other coasters get to keep their appeal. There’s now just more variety. Orion was a very good fit for the park

I would even venture to say that the majority of park goers would rather have an Orion over a Veloicoaster, SteVe, Maverick, X2 or The Voyage. The size, the speed, the looks, the drop. It’s just more attractive to more people.

Nothing you put at Kings Island is going to standout with the lineup they have anyway, not SteVe, not Veloicicoaster, not The Voyage. It’s just people’s preference for what they prefer. Not everyone prefers the most intense ride. Intensity does not maketh the most superior experience.

[IndyGuy4KI]

3 hours ago, RayFields said:

I think Kings Island has five standout coasters: Orion, Banshee, Diamondback, Mystic Timbers, and The Beast. If you were to put any one of these coasters at ValleyFair, Michigans’ Adventure or probably over 90% of the amusement parks on the planet, it would be their best coaster and would surely standout.

I totally agree with this. I also agree to intense is not always better. Look at I305. It should be the king at KD. It is not with the GP. 

[DoomPlague]

Forgive my intrusion but honestly if a "standout" means a ride in the top 5 or top 10 of all coasters, like your Voyages and SteVes, then not only is that too high of an expectation but it absolutely excludes The Beast. I love The Beast and defend it all the time but both the GP and enthusiasts have moved on. That's not to say it has low ridership, it definitely does not but  I've never heard anyone younger than 40 say its their favorite in the park (I'm in my 40s. I'm just acknowledging that younger people have a less biased perspective)

As for Orion, it's big and fun and would be a standout almost anywhere. I might like it more than Millie. However its still a lot like Diamondback which I think is a better ride and there are certainly things I would rather they have spent the money on. But I'll gladly ride it when I can and the GP seems to like it.

[flightoffear1996]

My first ride with Orion I wasn't overly impressed. Now that I have a few more rides on it the ride is very impressive. I would rank it within my top 5 coasters I have been on. Do I wish it had a little more track length. Of course. Do I think it was a missed opportunity for Cedar Fair. Absolutely, still a great ride even though it was t what we were Expecting. 

[IndyGuy4KI]

During ERT this morning I got a front row ride, then a back seat ride right after that. I really prefer the back of the train. 

[FUN&ONLY!]

2 hours ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

During ERT this morning I got a front row ride, then a back seat ride right after that. I really prefer the back of the train. 

I totally agree with this. I feel like most people prefer the front on Orion which is understandable, but the back row is my personal favorite. The drop is insane in the back row, and that final dive before the brake run is also really good in the back. I understand that you feel a greater sense of speed in the front, but I just can’t get enough of the back.

[kirbias1]

23 hours ago, coaster sally said:

I mean, a ride 1/3 shorter should hit the brake run quicker.  Our rides last two days we were getting borderline ejector on the last two hills.  Agreed the helix is a filler element just like orion's sideways hill, turn around, and helix.

MF is better than Fury and Orion.

[tuxedoman52]

After riding MF and Orion in the same week, I feel I can safely rank my gigas: 1. I305, 2. Orion, 3. Millennium Force

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[IndyGuy4KI]

17 hours ago, tuxedoman52 said:

After riding MF and Orion in the same week, I feel I can safely rank my gigas: 1. I305, 2. Orion, 3. Millennium Force

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 

For me, I305 would be first if I didn't grey out like crazy. Orion and MF are tied. I like the additional elements that Orion offers, but the pure speed and length of MF makes it really hard to lower it much.

[silver2005]

My giga list (from my steel rankings)- 2. Fury  325, 7. Millennium Force, 8. Orion (out of 95).  

[Vortex]

Saw on scream scape today that Orion was meant for California Great America. 

[SonofBaconator]

1 minute ago, Vortex said:

Saw on scream scape today that Orion was meant for California Great America. 

You should buy @KIghostguy 's book!

[JimParker85]

Orion made a good first impression on me last year with the 10 rides we were able to get on it, but this year on our trip I enjoyed it even more with the full trains. We were fortunate to get 14 more rides, 8 of them coming in row 8. It's moved past Millennium now into my 2nd spot among the 5 Cedar Fair GIGAs, behind only Fury (in 1st by a wide margin). It was really enjoyable from start to finish, and that first drop is spectacular in rows 7 or 8. 

[McSalsa]

Well, outta nowhere (2nd time now) I ended up going to Kings Island for the first time since July 2019 (stupid COVID!) and finally got to ride Orion, twice. Row 6 during the day and a Row 1 Night Ride.

Orion has given Kings Island a ride that is just as good as Millennium Force in terms of ride experience. I consider the ride experience on the two coasters to be tied: Millennium is longer and has a nicer setting along the beach, but Orion has the superior forces in terms of both positives and airtime. I actually enjoyed every element on Orion- they were not all slam dunks, but the way some people were talking I was expecting nothing from the wave turn, turnaround, and helix and they were actually OK- I got a little bit of air on the wave turn, the turnaround had some nice positives and the drop is massive from it (POVs did it no justice) and the helix actually had some decent positives (a huge improvement if compared to Diamondback's helixes).

However, I do agree the more praised elements were indeed standouts. The 300' drop? Oh lord, I loved this drop. It is my new #1 drop on every coaster I have ridden so far, sorry Millennium Force (also a 300' drop but not as much airtime). Wonderful strong floater air, and it feels like a Drop Tower with how long it feels like you are dropping. The speed hill was everything I had hoped for and more, great sustained flojector for several seconds. And the final 2 airtime moments- the sideways hill and bunny hop into the brakes- caught me off guard with how strong they were.

The length also did not bother me as much as I was expecting, though I still do think it is a weakness and wish the ride had a few more elements. But I didn't feel ripped off by the length post-ride.

I also really enjoyed all the theming elements, and I won't spoil it but if you pay attention, they actually show the connection Area 72's other coaster, Flight of Fear, has with Orion with a plot point of how they ended up creating the Orion vehicles in the storyline. I barely had time to see the whole video though due to one of Orion's other pluses- the capacity. Good lord, most other rides this would have been a 45+ minute wait yet Orion had me on in 15! B&M hit a home run in this regard, Millennium Force's capacity isn't bad but it does not compete with Orion.

Orion did go down once I saw during the day- but it wasn't down for long, as I grabbed a quick ride on Racer which was a walk-on (I will do a full TR later and thus talk about ReTrak LOL) and then it was pretty much up all day. Millennium Force is also usually OK on reliability but I have seen it have big issues, I was able to get my first ride on Orion MUCH easier than my first ride on Millennium Force was (go back on my old trip reports and read about it on my first Cedar Point one from September 2017). I have actually put Orion ahead of Millennium Force in my rankings for the reasons of capacity and reliability- in terms of ride experience, as I said, it's a tie. I am very happy Kings Island finally has a Giga coaster, and while it may not have the world-beating stats some were hoping for, I for sure am not gonna shun a ride that is as good as Millennium Force at what I consider my home park. I would also say it's the best ride in the park...when the sun is up. Night Beast is still the best ride experience you can get at Kings Island (Night Orion is also epic though, I say do both if you somehow can).

I also really, really wanna ride Leviathan and Fury 325 now.

 

 

[MillenniumforceMike]

I would like to put my two cents into Orion. Let me first say I am not an Orion fanboy and will not be talking about just the ride experience, I will be talking the entirety of Area 72.

My first ride came on July 2nd, 2020 at the First Riders Auction. When I first walked into the area that was Area 72, I was awe struck and amazed at what Kings Island did to revitalize the area. Watching drone footage from out of park had my expectations around average and boy were they blown away. The queue theming (there was some besides the small hangar before the stairs) was awesome. I was on the Third train out on row 1 with Orion being my 150th credit. I'll admit I was a little underwhelemed on first ride as it hadn't warmed up yet. I got 10 rides that day with two in the front and the rest in row 7 or 8. After that first day, Orion became my number 3. I wouldn't return to Orion until either late july or early august where I got 30 rides in one day. Let me repeat that, 30 rides and it kept that bronze spot of my 154 coasters at the time. I then returned in october for one last time and got 4 rides. I then returned for coaster stock and got up to around 54-57 rides (I lost count). 

A few pros and cons

Pros:
The drop is phenomenal despite only being 301 feet

The airtime it gives is just bonkers

I love Orion's belt and how intense that was.

The turn after orions belt right before the climb into the final brake run was insane

Cons (these are just nit picks):

Could it be longer or taller? Yes but it's perfect for the park

Overall, Orion is a thumbs up and went up to #2 in my rankings after my 3 days at Kings Island.

[cdubbs727]

On 5/16/2021 at 4:25 PM, SnakePlissken said:

I too think its running faster and with maybe more airtime than last year due to full trains but I may be crazy.

I don't think you're crazy! I came here to say the same thing. 

We get to Kings Island once a year. Rode Orion in 2020 and I liked it, but didn't love it, and the reason why was because I didn't experience much airtime. 

Went last week and rode it twice. I don't want to say it felt like a different coaster, but it felt like it was achieving its full potential. The speed felt more pronounced and there were several airtime moments that I don't remember experiencing last year. I was wondering if the full trains made a difference as well.  I think it's jumped past Diamondback for me. 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

The aerodynamics are very different.  Millie holds her speed much better than Orion.  Millie is like riding on a bullet while Orion is like riding on a kite.

Edited August 22, 2021 by Babe the Blue Ox

[IndyGuy4KI]

8 hours ago, Babe the Blue Ox said:

The aerodynamics are very different.  Millie holds her speed much better than Orion.  Millie is like riding on a bullet while Orion is like riding on a kite.

After riding Millie sever times again the past few days, I like your analogy. Orion had several different elements with speed. Whereas Millie is just a speed machine the whole way through. 

That is where I305 at KD should shine. Speed machine with awesome elements mixed in. Which it does as long as you don't mind the gray out. 

[Old_Bearcat]

A night ride on Orion cannot be beat.....esp. front seat.