Orion Reviews

[bengalsguy23]

51 minutes ago, SonofBaconator said:

It baffles me how some employees blatantly criticize the company they work for while on the job. Most companies will fire employees if they talk ill about their company or product.

The main speal I always hear for zephyr is “it’s faster,sleeker, and better than the wind seeker”like I get there trying to be funny but the self depredating jokes within the park made by the ride ops really gets old and looks bad   

[MrSourNinja]

Got my first 4 rides in tonight. Full review coming tomorrow. I will say I was very surprised in multiple ways. 

[SonofBaconator]

19 minutes ago, bengalsguy23 said:

The main speal I always hear for zephyr is “it’s faster,sleeker, and better than the wind seeker”like I get there trying to be funny but the self depredating jokes within the park made by the ride ops really gets old and looks bad   

That stuff I'm fine with. In 2018 CP built up a rivalry between Maverick and Steel Vengeance and it was fun to see the associates make playful jabs about the opposing ride 

When an associate is bashing the park's newest ride around guests however, it looks bad. The park didn't pay millions of dollars on a coaster to have it be negatively reviewed by it associates; especially around guests during work hours. If you have employees talking ill about the park around your guests, how do you think the guests will react?

[1176Frankie]

6 hours ago, DeltaFlyer said:

I listened to a ride op on WindSeeker drone on and on about how Orion is subpar and basically a hyper, only 287ft, etc. Getting a little old at this point. 

Thinks it's hilarious how nobody has ever considered Phantom's Revenge or Apollo's Chariot as anything other than a hyper coaster even though their height is less than 200 ft (drop over 200 ft. of course) and then Orion comes along and some morons try to argue that it's not a true giga...lol. Some have wanted to dislike/hate Orion from the get go and just can't face the fact that it may be better than some of the other Gigas although the stats may not look as impressive on paper...Hilarity indeed

[coaster sally]

11 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

Jeez, do you like anything at KI or do you just like to crap on everything about the park?

 

[tuxedoman52]

 

Nice try. Doesn't go both ways.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[dbackdreams]

1 hour ago, coaster sally said:

 

There is that Sally lady afian and she just complain dad said better to be happy than mad. Baconman you right my duuuuuude

[Joshua]

13 hours ago, DeltaFlyer said:

I listened to a ride op on WindSeeker drone on and on about how Orion is subpar and basically a hyper, only 287ft, etc. Getting a little old at this point. 

Was this just a conversation they were having or part of their intercom schtick? Sometimes the ride ops will roast other rides on the PA, sort of like a competitive nudge. I don't really find it funny, but it doesn't bother me much. 

[disco2000]

9 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

That stuff I'm fine with. In 2018 CP built up a rivalry between Maverick and Steel Vengeance and it was fun to see the associates make playful jabs about the opposing ride 

When an associate is bashing the park's newest ride around guests however, it looks bad. The park didn't pay millions of dollars on a coaster to have it be negatively reviewed by it associates; especially around guests during work hours. If you have employees talking ill about the park around your guests, how do you think the guests will react?

Do a search here, they were bashing Orion over ride PA systems after the announcement last year too...

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on what is being said), any announcements are just background noise to most people.  I have been in a line where someone is smoking, or someone is sitting on a handrail, and an associate will make an announcement in the queue speakers calling out the offender and it goes unnoticed by the offending person.  After the third attempt, when the employee starts addressing the person by what they are wearing too in an effort to get their attention, if I am close to the person I will tap them and be like "the ride op is talking to you over the speaker"...

How many times are you walking by someone smoking and just then the "no smoking" announcement comes across the park speakers and they continue with their day as they didn't hear the announcement...

 

[LovinMeSomeBanshee]

Why are ride ops allowed to disparage other rides like that?  I don’t get it.  It seems like disparaging a new coaster would be a huge no-no.  
 

I don’t know, I guess I find that stuff, along with saying things like “Enjoy your day at Cedar Point”, childish and annoying.  I understand having fun, but not at the expense of acting unprofessional.  It is a business, after all.

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

How long do you think they will do boarding passes for Orion? Just the first week? Rest of season? 

[coaster sally]

5 minutes ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

How long do you think they will do boarding passes for Orion? Just the first week? Rest of season? 

Probably be easier for you to find out since you work there?

[Outdoor Man]

When ride ops do that, it just comes off as poor training.  Maybe park supervisors encourage it.... I highly doubt it though; it's more of a blind eye and trying to be the "cool" supervisor.  If they want to make effective use of the PA system, then help theme up their ride- stop the idiotic telling people to enjoy your ride on The Beast- when they are on Diamondback.  Use the mic to reinforce the ride and theme.  

Haven't been yet this year but Orion looks to be about as well themed as anything they've installed in a while.  There's a story there- i hope the ride ops use creativity to "theme" it.

 

[jimlaheyscar]

47 minutes ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

How long do you think they will do boarding passes for Orion? Just the first week? Rest of season? 

I doubt it.  This weekend all reservations slots were taken.  It was probably as busy as it will be for awhile.  There are thousands of reservation slots remaining for every day that is on the reservation calendar.  Probably a day to day decision.

 

[DonHelbig]

12 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

It baffles me how some employees blatantly criticize the company they work for while on the job. Most companies will fire employees if they talk ill about their company or product.

When this happens please provide names so the park can look into it. 

[1176Frankie]

22 hours ago, Waltny said:

My son and I make an appearance in the Thrills United video around 13-14 mins. I dont think I quite articulated what I wanted to as we got put on the spot, so fire away at will.  We will be doing one of our own later today. 

Seems you articulated very well what you felt. Can tell you were quite impressed.  Looks like a sweet ride and it will feel even better with a full train especially that first wave turn. Can't wait till things turn to normal and we can ride this thing 7-8 times per visit with minimal lines. Such a gorgeous package all around and a perfect fit for the park.

[FUN&ONLY!]

It seems like everyone I see getting off really enjoyed it. The vast majority of people really love Orion, but there are some naysayers whose negativity outshines the many positive reviews. I really do feel like Orion is the perfect fit for Kings Island, and I really think B&M and Kings Island did a FANTASTIC job designing it!

[DeltaFlyer]

2 hours ago, Joshua said:

Was this just a conversation they were having or part of their intercom schtick? Sometimes the ride ops will roast other rides on the PA, sort of like a competitive nudge. I don't really find it funny, but it doesn't bother me much. 

This was a conversation that the separator was having with the people next in line to get a seat assignment. Not over the PA, but loud enough to where a large portion of the queue could hear it. 
 

@DonHelbig this same employee was also driving Blue Racer earlier in the day and was asking people in line over the PA “Raise your hand if Orion is overrated”. Sorry, I do not have a name.

[coaster sally]

2 minutes ago, DeltaFlyer said:

This was a conversation that the separator was having with the people next in line to get a seat assignment. Not over the PA, but loud enough to where a large portion of the queue could hear it. 
 

@DonHelbig this same employee was also driving Blue Racer earlier in the day and was asking people in line over the PA “Raise your hand if Orion is overrated”. Sorry, I do not have a name.

Must be an intamin fan boy

[dbackdreams]

I like when they do the I ride daimond you ride back daimond back daimond back let's have in the Daimonbdack I heard it one and it's on yiutube videos

[SonofBaconator]

Get em @DonHelbig

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

I've seen people nit picking other rides before for fun. Just to have a little fun. 

[FreedomPenguin]

We only got to ride once, the very last of the train cars. I feel it would of been far more enjoyable being on the front where we could see everything without someone infront of us. I always enjoyed backs of coasters like Mystic Timbers beast etc. but this coaster, I think is just like millennium force, it needs to be a front seat rider. I did experience a little blackout experience, but I experience this sometimes on the Backlot Stunt Coaster too in the rear.  its a really pretty coaster, id trade this for Firehawk&Vortex everyday. 

 

What I hope for next is a maverick type coaster in Vortex spot fingers crossed. I will be looking into a fast pass type ownership in future though, standing in lines are terrible and now that I am a little older 29, I am tired of lines. seeing people walk right on every ride made me jealous. Lol worth the cost of admission right there. my gf and I enjoyed it very much.

 

did upset me that a line jumper go his ticket before us and when I called him out, nothing happened. 

 

 

[jsus]

1 hour ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

It seems like everyone I see getting off really enjoyed it. The vast majority of people really love Orion, but there are some naysayers whose negativity outshines the many positive reviews. I really do feel like Orion is the perfect fit for Kings Island, and I really think B&M and Kings Island did a FANTASTIC job designing it!

It's not an all or nothing proposition.  For instance, I enjoy Millennium Force, and will not hesitate to ride it if the line is reasonable enough when at Cedar Point.  However, for a variety of reasons, I do tend to prefer Fury 325.

Similarly, one can enjoy Orion, but still wish it had XYZ elements from another ride.  No shame in that.  No need for trash talking, though. 

[dbackdreams]

4 hours ago, coaster sally said:

Probably be easier for you to find out since you work there?

Um he not supposed to tell what he knows cause he like work at King's island why do you have to be mean and sin a cull??? Dad said to eat some good ice cream and chill lady Sally

[IceePirate]

3 hours ago, FreedomPenguin said:

did upset me that a line jumper go his ticket before us and when I called him out, nothing happened

If you and another group would approach one of us, we can have the jumper removed from the queue. Need a second witness if an associate didn't spot it.

[Kenban]

This is going to be a long post, I plan on giving my thoughts on all of the giga coasters I have ridden, not just Orion.  I was pretty confident Kings Island was going to install a giga coaster pretty early last year, and I already had a trip to Japan scheduled, so I made a plan which would take several trips to pull off.  My goal was to ride all of the traditional lift giga coasters in one year, including Orion there are six.  The idea being the 12 months would culminate in a ride on the newest and would be able to fairly rank all of them.  One last comment on this post, I have been to several of these parks before, these are my overall thoughts on the rides not just a single trip. I am ignoring Red Force due to the ride basically being a Top Thrill Dragster/Kingda Ka style ride just with a different launch system which required it being shorter.  I am also ignoring Superman Escape from Krypton, I have no idea how people consider it a strata coaster, the difference in height from the top of the track to the station is not 400+ ft. the tower was built over a downward slope to give it an extra 90 feet, on flat ground it would only be 328 ft tall.

My plan fell apart just as it started, at Nagashima Spa Land.  Steel Dragon 2000 was down the entire day, but I did get to ride the newest RMC, Hakugei.  Steel Dragon 2000 looks impressive, it has this massive support structure, and at over 8,000 feet long is also easily the longest coaster on the planet.  The length and its location work against it though.  Wind has a cumulative effect, the longer the ride the more that it effects the overall speed, combined with being right on the ocean, the park has wind issues, which cause the ride to valley.  What I experienced with Steel Dragon 2000 being down all day is actually pretty common.  Currently this is my only trip to the park, so nothing about the actual ride experience, I do not think its fair to use a POV, or others reviews.

Next I visited Cedar Point and took several trips on Millennium Force.  Its the first coaster of this style, and it set expectations for what would follow.  Its fast, and graceful.  The location is amazing, and its going to be tough for any ride to top the view.  If this coaster was in a barren field, I would likely have a radically different viewpoint.  But its a classic and I love how re-ridable it is, I am happy to ride it over and over again and have done so at Coaster Mania.

I followed this a few weeks later by a trip to both Kings Dominion and Canada's Wonderland.  I305 is every bit as intense as others have described it in the past.  That is both good and bad, its an incredible experience, but frankly its too powerful for the average rider.  No matter how much some coaster enthusiasts might like this coaster, it was a mistake.  The ride was a walk on, and yet the other big coasters in the park had hour plus waits, and its not simply due to capacity.  Producing powerful G-forces is fine, but the length of time this ride sustains them was a poor design choice.  The ride experience is short and it is the shortest of all the giga coasters but the intensity makes up for it, if it had been longer it could have easily been too long.

Leviathan was the first of the B&M giga coasters.  It feels like B&M was conservative in the rides design, and it is a return to the more graceful experience of Millennium Force.  The wider trains with 4 across riders block a lot of the wind from riders in the center of the train, combined with just how smooth the coaster is it can often feel like your going much slower then you really are.  The ride is short and it feels like it.  The first time I went on Leviathan I remember hitting the brakes and thinking it was a weird choice to put a mid-course brake run on a giga, then I realized the ride was actually over and this was just how the brakes were designed.  I was then incredibly disappointed in the ride.  The drop is incredible but the rest of the design feels like your not actually doing anything, I have ridden all over the train but even still prefer to just go ride Behemoth.

My plan for Fury 325 was not to finish off the year at Carowinds but it start 2020 there.  I wanted to ride it several times a week or two before Kings Island opened so it was fresh in my mind before riding Orion.  Sadly that was not possible this year.  I have been to the park several times and have ridden it a good number of times, but its also been around 3 years since my last visit.  When people ask me what my favorite coaster is, my answer has been Fury for several years.  The ride is a fantastic mix of intensity, and speed, and is very re-ridable.  I have had the pleasure of being at the park at the end of the night and have had employees let me sit in the seat and ride more then once in a row.

Finally this leaves the point of this thread, Orion.  I think the ride might actually have the best drop of all the giga coasters, its slightly closer to vertical then all of the others and I constantly was out of my seat the whole way down.  The helix might also be the best of all the giga coasters.  The start and finish of the ride are some of the best from any ride I have been on.  The airtime is powerful and it generates strong positive g forces but does not try to hold them for unreasonable lengths of time.  I really do think the ride produces more positive and negative g forces then Millennium Force, it cannot touch I305 in that aspect but I am actually happy about that.  The ride is short, but most of whats there is fantastic, and at least I do not get the same feeling of where is the other half of the ride I get from Leviathan, but its still not as long as I would like.  That is my biggest disappoint with the ride, it has the start and end of one of the greatest coasters in the world, and it just needed more filling.  Another 1,000 - 1,500 ft of track with 2 or 3 more elements would have really elevated this.  I have no idea how the second element after the drop on what is effectively an out and back design is the turn around.  One thing I have been confused by is that the ride has a greater sense of speed in the middle of the train then the other B&M giga coasters.  I have been wondering if that is due to having half the seats empty so you have less wind blocks in front of you, so this might change next year.  Overall it is a good coaster, I do not think I consider it one of my top 10, but it is good.  Night rides, cooler weather, a full train, and maybe some trees, could easily change some of my views.  I was at the park on the 4th and I got to see it with the lighting and I will say its easily has the best theming of all the giga coasters.  I did have fastlane and could have ridden it as many times as I wanted, and frankly I went on it six times,  it could have been the heat, but I never felt a strong desire to hop back in line and ride it again.

For anyone wondering why the lift hill is mostly silent without the noise of an anti-rollback, look to the right of where the contentious saw toothed track is located on the lift, you will find a metal fin sticking up.  Whats happening is their is something like a magnetic eddy brake attached to the dog on the train.  With the speed of the lift it basically lifts up the dog preventing it from impacting every step on the ratchet.  Right at the top and the bottom of the lift the train is going slower and you can hear the familiar clacking sound.

My personal overall ranking

1. Fury 325

2. Millennium Force

3. Orion

4. I305

5. Leviathan

I am pretty sure Steel Dragon 2000 would be number 6 but not having ridden it yet its not fair to try to put it on my list.  I rank them based on if the coasters were next to each other and both had zero wait which would I go ride, I do consider re-ridability to an extent, which is mostly why I305 drops so low.  I think I might try to pull this off again in a few years, I do want to try out Steel Dragon 2000 sometime, and might as well hit the rest, it would be a fun way to spend a summer.

[coaster sally]

18 minutes ago, Kenban said:

This is going to be a long post, I plan on giving my thoughts on all of the giga coasters I have ridden, not just Orion.  I was pretty confident Kings Island was going to install a giga coaster pretty early last year, and I already had a trip to Japan scheduled, so I made a plan which would take several trips to pull off.  My goal was to ride all of the traditional lift giga coasters in one year, including Orion there are six.  The idea being the 12 months would culminate in a ride on the newest and would be able to fairly rank all of them.  One last comment on this post, I have been to several of these parks before, these are my overall thoughts on the rides not just a single trip. I am ignoring Red Force due to the ride basically being a Top Thrill Dragster/Kingda Ka style ride just with a different launch system which required it being shorter.  I am also ignoring Superman Escape from Krypton, I have no idea how people consider it a strata coaster, the difference in height from the top of the track to the station is not 400+ ft. the tower was built over a downward slope to give it an extra 90 feet, on flat ground it would only be 328 ft tall.

My plan fell apart just as it started, at Nagashima Spa Land.  Steel Dragon 2000 was down the entire day, but I did get to ride the newest RMC, Hakugei.  Steel Dragon 2000 looks impressive, it has this massive support structure, and at over 8,000 feet long is also easily the longest coaster on the planet.  The length and its location work against it though.  Wind has a cumulative effect, the longer the ride the more that it effects the overall speed, combined with being right on the ocean, the park has wind issues, which cause the ride to valley.  What I experienced with Steel Dragon 2000 being down all day is actually pretty common.  Currently this is my only trip to the park, so nothing about the actual ride experience, I do not think its fair to use a POV, or others reviews.

Next I visited Cedar Point and took several trips on Millennium Force.  Its the first coaster of this style, and it set expectations for what would follow.  Its fast, and graceful.  The location is amazing, and its going to be tough for any ride to top the view.  If this coaster was in a barren field, I would likely have a radically different viewpoint.  But its a classic and I love how re-ridable it is, I am happy to ride it over and over again and have done so at Coaster Mania.

I followed this a few weeks later by a trip to both Kings Dominion and Canada's Wonderland.  I305 is every bit as intense as others have described it in the past.  That is both good and bad, its an incredible experience, but frankly its too powerful for the average rider.  No matter how much some coaster enthusiasts might like this coaster, it was a mistake.  The ride was a walk on, and yet the other big coasters in the park had hour plus waits, and its not simply due to capacity.  Producing powerful G-forces is fine, but the length of time this ride sustains them was a poor design choice.  The ride experience is short and it is the shortest of all the giga coasters but the intensity makes up for it, if it had been longer it could have easily been too long.

Leviathan was the first of the B&M giga coasters.  It feels like B&M was conservative in the rides design, and it is a return to the more graceful experience of Millennium Force.  The wider trains with 4 across riders block a lot of the wind from riders in the center of the train, combined with just how smooth the coaster is it can often feel like your going much slower then you really are.  The ride is short and it feels like it.  The first time I went on Leviathan I remember hitting the brakes and thinking it was a weird choice to put a mid-course brake run on a giga, then I realized the ride was actually over and this was just how the brakes were designed.  I was then incredibly disappointed in the ride.  The drop is incredible but the rest of the design feels like your not actually doing anything, I have ridden all over the train but even still prefer to just go ride Behemoth.

My plan for Fury 325 was not to finish off the year at Carowinds but it start 2020 there.  I wanted to ride it several times a week or two before Kings Island opened so it was fresh in my mind before riding Orion.  Sadly that was not possible this year.  I have been to the park several times and have ridden it a good number of times, but its also been around 3 years since my last visit.  When people ask me what my favorite coaster is, my answer has been Fury for several years.  The ride is a fantastic mix of intensity, and speed, and is very re-ridable.  I have had the pleasure of being at the park at the end of the night and have had employees let me sit in the seat and ride more then once in a row.

Finally this leaves the point of this thread, Orion.  I think the ride might actually have the best drop of all the giga coasters, its slightly closer to vertical then all of the others and I constantly was out of my seat the whole way down.  The helix might also be the best of all the giga coasters.  The start and finish of the ride are some of the best from any ride I have been on.  The airtime is powerful and it generates strong positive g forces but does not try to hold them for unreasonable lengths of time.  I really do think the ride produces more positive and negative g forces then Millennium Force, it cannot touch I305 in that aspect but I am actually happy about that.  The ride is short, but most of whats there is fantastic, and at least I do not get the same feeling of where is the other half of the ride I get from Leviathan, but its still not as long as I would like.  That is my biggest disappoint with the ride, it has the start and end of one of the greatest coasters in the world, and it just needed more filling.  Another 1,000 - 1,500 ft of track with 2 or 3 more elements would have really elevated this.  I have no idea how the second element after the drop on what is effectively an out and back design is the turn around.  One thing I have been confused by is that the ride has a greater sense of speed in the middle of the train then the other B&M giga coasters.  I have been wondering if that is due to having half the seats empty so you have less wind blocks in front of you, so this might change next year.  Overall it is a good coaster, I do not think I consider it one of my top 10, but it is good.  Night rides, cooler weather, a full train, and maybe some trees, could easily change some of my views.  I was at the park on the 4th and I got to see it with the lighting and I will say its easily has the best theming of all the giga coasters.  I did have fastlane and could have ridden it as many times as I wanted, and frankly I went on it six times,  it could have been the heat, but I never felt a strong desire to hop back in line and ride it again.

For anyone wondering why the lift hill is mostly silent without the noise of an anti-rollback, look to the right of where the contentious saw toothed track is located on the lift, you will find a metal fin sticking up.  Whats happening is their is something like a magnetic eddy brake attached to the dog on the train.  With the speed of the lift it basically lifts up the dog preventing it from impacting every step on the ratchet.  Right at the top and the bottom of the lift the train is going slower and you can hear the familiar clacking sound.

My personal overall ranking

1. Fury 325

2. Millennium Force

3. Orion

4. I305

5. Leviathan

I am pretty sure Steel Dragon 2000 would be number 6 but not having ridden it yet its not fair to try to put it on my list.  I rank them based on if the coasters were next to each other and both had zero wait which would I go ride, I do consider re-ridability to an extent, which is mostly why I305 drops so low.  I think I might try to pull this off again in a few years, I do want to try out Steel Dragon 2000 sometime, and might as well hit the rest, it would be a fun way to spend a summer.

What do you think intamin could come up with 20 years after millenium and 10 years after I305 within the same lenght/height considerations?

[LuckyluvsKI]

4 hours ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

I've seen people nit picking other rides before for fun. Just to have a little fun. 

This morning kid and dad rode the scrambler and the OP called it fierce like a lion and better than Orion.. we both chuckled and always found the Ops funny when they'd say enjoy your beastly ride on Adventure Express etc I dunno guess we just have a matching sense of humor and never found it in poor form.  
 

maybe if they were to build a jungle cruise like ride they can put all the wisenheimers as skippers and they can tell all the jokes they want LOLOL  

[beastfan11]

18 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

It baffles me how some employees blatantly criticize the company they work for while on the job. Most companies will fire employees if they talk ill about their company or product.

I adore the fact that enthusiast members of this website are actively going out of their way to get teenagers fired from their summer jobs because they’re offended by fanboy coaster statistics. 

Guys, it’s a roller coaster. In an amusement park. Just have fun and enjoy the fact that you can experience this new coaster installation in the midst of global chaos.  

It can always be worse. Sheesh.