AWESOME King Cobra Blog

[BoddaH1994]

@Kyle Kruthoffer, dam son.

Included is a Togo promo video for the stand up model. 

https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2020/august/the-astro-comet-remembering-king-cobra

What are your memories of King Cobra?

[Kyle Kruthoffer]

It was exciting to find it hidden deep in the archives on betamax, so after some digitizing I thought it would be awesome to show the world. Glad you liked it.

1 hour ago, BoddaH1994 said:

@Kyle Kruthoffer, dam son.

Included is a Togo promo video for the stand up model. 

https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2020/august/the-astro-comet-remembering-king-cobra

What are your memories of King Cobra?

 

[coaster sally]

What is with cincinnati people.  They think their chili, ice cream, and pizza is worlds best.  They also think their stand up was awesome.  Strange that kd and wonderland had the same ride and they all thought it sucked.

[Kyle Kruthoffer]

7 minutes ago, coaster sally said:

What is with cincinnati people.  They think their chili, ice cream, and pizza is worlds best.  They also think their stand up was awesome.  Strange that kd and wonderland had the same ride and they all thought it sucked.

K.

[Benjamin22]

19 minutes ago, coaster sally said:

What is with cincinnati people.  They think their chili, ice cream, and pizza is worlds best.  They also think their stand up was awesome.  Strange that kd and wonderland had the same ride and they all thought it sucked.

Does it really matter if someone enjoyed the ride? Perhaps people just have fond memories of King Cobra and because of that they like the ride? Also the blog says they removed the ride for a better thrill ride, how does that imply at all that King Cobra was “the best”.  I for one enjoyed the blog.

[coaster sally]

4 minutes ago, Benjamin22 said:

Does it really matter if someone enjoyed the ride? Perhaps people just have found memories of King Cobra and because of that they like the ride? Also the blog says they removed the ride for a better thrill ride, how does that imply at all that King Cobra was “the best”.  I for one enjoyed the blog.

I am stating in general.  The consensus is that most everyone loved it at Kings Island.  And the consensus is most everyone disliked it at other parks.

[SonofBaconator]

20 minutes ago, coaster sally said:

What is with cincinnati people.  They think their chili, ice cream, and pizza is worlds best.  They also think their stand up was awesome.  Strange that kd and wonderland had the same ride and they all thought it sucked.

The majority of us are Cincinnatians or people who grew up in the greater Cincinnati region. We like what we like. You don't have to comment on every little thing.

[Rivertown Rider]

Really cool article and video.  I wonder if their hard hats fell off in the loop?

[MDMC01]

That was a really cool blog post and great video to go along with it! It blows my mind that they built a full size coaster at a factory- the section of straight track before/during/after the trick track comes really close to that building! I never got to ride King Cobra (it was my only "walk of shame" as I was too short- my legs didn't fully reach the floor, even after the seat was adjusted as low as it could go), but I remember seeing it in the park many times as a kid. Stand up coasters in general were a pretty interesting concept; I've only ridden Mantis and Iron Wolf. The former was very interesting and the latter was terrible (IIRC, I rode towards the back and those turns on the second half of the ride were brutal). That being said, I wouldn't mind riding another standup sometime.

[disco2000]

Blue ice cream wasn't a hit at the other parks either...doesn't make it a bad ice cream...

[McSalsa]

13 minutes ago, Rivertown Rider said:

Really cool article and video.  I wonder if their hard hats fell off in the loop?

Possibly not, if the G-Forces kept them in place. I actually had a experience at Cedar Point that showcased this to me once: I was riding Rougarou at Cedar Point, and we were going up the lift hill. Someone in the row directly ahead of me (I was in the 7th row or so) had their change spill out of their pocket as we went up, and a quarter landed on a flat piece of the coaster car and stayed there. I was fully expecting that quarter to fall out on the giant loop after the first drop, but to my amazement it STAYED PUT.

The quarter was flung from the ride eventually though, during one of the turns however- not on a inversion.

Also that old TOGO video was awesome.

[BeeastFarmer]

5 hours ago, coaster sally said:

What is with cincinnati people.  They think their chili, ice cream, and pizza is worlds best.  They also think their stand up was awesome.  Strange that kd and wonderland had the same ride and they all thought it sucked.

Maybe the folks in West Liberty have hometown pride too Brian.

[bjcolglazier]

7 hours ago, BoddaH1994 said:

@Kyle Kruthoffer, dam son.

Included is a Togo promo video for the stand up model. 

https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2020/august/the-astro-comet-remembering-king-cobra

What are your memories of King Cobra?

I remember waiting hours to ride it. Not at opening day, but on a school trip when I was in 8th grade. It was short, but amazing. Nothing else like it. I wonder though if standups lost favor not because they were bad rides, but due to the capacity. All those restraints take time. I think a modern standup would potentially be amazing, but I doubt anyone wants to build it. It's expensive, not just up-front, but from a daily operation standpoint.

[Pagoda Gift Shop]

Oh my goodness the music in that video. 

I never rode any other Togo stand-up coasters, but I thought King Cobra was great.  It had some big air time moments, and overall was less intense and painful than Mantis.  I was sad when it left, but also not surprised given how odd the trains/restraints were.

"The idea of riding in a standing posture surpasses common sense." 

There is some ironic foreshadowing in that quote.

[Stitch]

I really enjoyed King Cobra and unfortunately only got to ride it in it's last season of 2001. I found it comfortable and enjoyed the airtime, positive Gs and the pointlessness of the trick track. I was very sad when I arrived at the park for opening day of 2002 to see it dismantled and in pieces.

[SnakePlissken]

7 hours ago, coaster sally said:

I am stating in general.  The consensus is that most everyone loved it at Kings Island.  And the consensus is most everyone disliked it at other parks.

King Cobra was terrible but I only rode it at Kings Island. I HATE standups. I used to think my opinion wasn't maybe valid because I rode it so long ago and before I was even 20 but then last summer I rode Vortex at Carowinds and it reminded me that yes standups are still godawful rides. I don't like the blue ice cream and I prefer the harder serve over the soft serve any day but I love Cincinnati style chili but its only good as a topping. Not as an actual bowl to eat.

[CorkscrewMcPuke]

10 hours ago, BoddaH1994 said:

What are your memories of King Cobra?

 

[BoddaH1994]

1 hour ago, CorkscrewMcPuke said:

 

Okay, that’s funny!

What I did like about it was actually that it was less intense than the modern ones. Like Chang and Mantis were so taxing on the legs from the forces. I remember wishing it was over sooner than it was. 
 

KC did have some... crunching... issues, but I feel like the ride experience was over all pretty decent. 

[coaster sally]

5 hours ago, SnakePlissken said:

King Cobra was terrible but I only rode it at Kings Island. I HATE standups. I used to think my opinion wasn't maybe valid because I rode it so long ago and before I was even 20 but then last summer I rode Vortex at Carowinds and it reminded me that yes standups are still godawful rides. I don't like the blue ice cream and I prefer the harder serve over the soft serve any day but I love Cincinnati style chili but its only good as a topping. Not as an actual bowl to eat.

Vortex is also another crappy stand up.  Riddlers revenge is the best large stand up and georgia scorcher is probably the best.  Correct me if I wrong but I believe GS is the last stand-up built.

[Shaggy]

19 hours ago, BoddaH1994 said:

@Kyle Kruthoffer, dam son.

Included is a Togo promo video for the stand up model. 

https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2020/august/the-astro-comet-remembering-king-cobra

What are your memories of King Cobra?

Kyle is doing great stuff!  Love his historical documentation.

[SonofBaconator]

9 hours ago, CorkscrewMcPuke said:

 

That's my purse! I don't know you!

[DonHelbig]

19 hours ago, coaster sally said:

What is with cincinnati people.  They think their chili, ice cream, and pizza is worlds best.  They also think their stand up was awesome.  Strange that kd and wonderland had the same ride and they all thought it sucked.

Kings Dominion and Canada's Wonderland didn't have the same stand up ride that Kings Island had. I rode all three and their similarities were different. The stand up coaster at each park gave over 20 million rides and remained popular with guests from the day they opened until giving their last rides. The retirement of each of the three rides were met with a great deal of sadness by guests. For some it was their first big coaster, or their favorite ride. For others it may have been the site of their first job. Literally thousands of people have wonderful memories of these stand up coasters. 

[BringBackOurEagles]

Great blog Kyle. My second looping coaster after Vortex of course. Also reminds me how much I liked the Adventure Village them back there before Paramount. This is off-topic and I'm sure we've discussed it before, but it's so strange that they built Adventure Express, which is perfectly themed to Adventure Village and has Adventure in the title.... in Oktoberfest.

[KIghostguy]

5 minutes ago, BringBackOurEagles said:

This is off-topic and I'm sure we've discussed it before, but it's so strange that they built Adventure Express, which is perfectly themed to Adventure Village and has Adventure in the title.... in Oktoberfest.

It was considered a Wild Animal Habitat/Adventure Village/Paramount Action Zone ride from its opening in 1991 until 1999. It was reclassified as Oktoberfest in 2000, where it’s remained ever since.

[gforce1994]

32 minutes ago, DonHelbig said:

Kings Dominion and Canada's Wonderland didn't have the same stand up ride that Kings Island had. I rode all three and their similarities were different. The stand up coaster at each park gave over 20 million rides and remained popular with guests from the day they opened until giving their last rides. The retirement of each of the three rides were met with a great deal of sadness by guests. For some it was their first big coaster, or their favorite ride. For others it may have been the site of their first job. Literally thousands of people have wonderful memories of these stand up coasters. 

I rode the one in KD a week before it closed. It and the KC were incredible rides, as the KC was my first big coaster (mistook it for Adventures Express, whoops).

[Shaggy]

21 hours ago, coaster sally said:

What is with cincinnati people.  They think their chili, ice cream, and pizza is worlds best.  They also think their stand up was awesome.  Strange that kd and wonderland had the same ride and they all thought it sucked.

"They?"

I can only speak for myself, but I have been fortunate enough to have ridden the following Stand-Up coasters in my life:

King Cobra (Kings Island), Shockwave (Kings Dominion), Skyrider (Canadas Wonderland), Chang (Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom), Georgia Scorcher (Six Flags over Georgia), Iron Wolf (Six Flags Great America), Riddler's Revenge (Six Flags Magic Mountain), Mantis (Cedar Point), Vortex (Carowinds), and Batman the Escape (Astroworld.)

Of course opinions about coasters is subjective.  But out of those, King Cobra and Skyrider easily held my top spots.  Chang probably held my #3 position, Scorcher probably 4th. I've personally never found the B&M's to be that re-ridable.  They amount to a one-and-done for me.  Shockwave fell somewhere in the middle of the list, and my least favorites were easily Riddler's Revenge, Iron Wolf and Batman the Escape (dead last.)

As Don already said, the 3 Togos all differed.  King Cobra had, IMO, the best air and inversion of the 3.  Its one flaw was the "jolt" you felt when dropping to the right into the helix.  Skyrider was a VERY close second - and was extremely similar to KC.  Shockwave was not even on par with the others because the last half of its layout was jarring and not engineered as well IMO. It was the most different of the 3 by far.

B&M's are chock full of inversions, so I guess if someone loves a lot of those then they may be their preference.  But the vast amount of inversions is what, IMO, makes them uncomfortable.  B&M excels at placing the riders heart at the center of gravity, but on the standups they are dealing with an elongated body - so that made forces harder on legs and head.  I think of it like a cheerleader twirling a baton... the center is not feeling nearly the forces that the ends do.  Often when I have ridden a B&M standup, either my legs/feet go numb or my head gets banged around.  (Riddler is notorious for giving me a headache.) The horse collars on B&M's are ridiculously confining to the point they are claustrophobic.  I never felt nearly as closed in on the Togos.  Also, unless you ride in the front row, your sight is obstructed by the seats in front of you.  The Togos seats offered more visibility, allowing you to anticipate what was coming next.

I can also speak, to some degree, about operation.  I have worked as a ride op on both KC and Chang.  I found KC was easier to get guests in and out of, and found there to be less overall complaining when the ride ended.  There was a reason the Chang ride crew called it "BANG."  I can also attest, there were FAR more complaints on Chang from male guests remarking about the strain on their groins.

From an aesthetic standpoint, the B&Ms are far prettier than the Togo's were.  The Togos looked and felt like a machine, where the B&M's have a much more graceful visual appeal.  So in that realm, B&M's have the aesthetic edge in my book.

For posterity, I'm not a Cincinnatian (although I lived there for 5 years 25 years ago) and I personally think LaRosas pizza is bad, UDF and Graeters ice cream is outstanding, and Skyline Chili IS the best.  ;-)

[dbackdreams]

44 minutes ago, Shaggy said:

"They?"

I can only speak for myself, but I have been fortunate enough to have ridden the following Stand-Up coasters in my life:

King Cobra (Kings Island), Shockwave (Kings Dominion), Skyrider (Canadas Wonderland), Chang (Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom), Georgia Scorcher (Six Flags over Georgia), Iron Wolf (Six Flags Great America), Riddler's Revenge (Six Flags Magic Mountain), Mantis (Cedar Point), Vortex (Carowinds), and Batman the Escape (Astroworld.)

Of course opinions about coasters is subjective.  But out of those, King Cobra and Skyrider easily held my top spots.  Chang probably held my #3 position, Scorcher probably 4th. I've personally never found the B&M's to be that re-ridable.  They amount to a one-and-done for me.  Shockwave fell somewhere in the middle of the list, and my least favorites were easily Riddler's Revenge, Iron Wolf and Batman the Escape (dead last.)

As Don already said, the 3 Togos all differed.  King Cobra had, IMO, the best air and inversion of the 3.  Its one flaw was the "jolt" you felt when dropping to the right into the helix.  Skyrider was a VERY close second - and was extremely similar to KC.  Shockwave was not even on par with the others because the last half of its layout was jarring and not engineered as well IMO. It was the most different of the 3 by far.

B&M's are chock full of inversions, so I guess if someone loves a lot of those then they may be their preference.  But the vast amount of inversions is what, IMO, makes them uncomfortable.  B&M excels at placing the riders heart at the center of gravity, but on the standups they are dealing with an elongated body - so that made forces harder on legs and head.  I think of it like a cheerleader twirling a baton... the center is not feeling nearly the forces that the ends do.  Often when I have ridden a B&M standup, either my legs/feet go numb or my head gets banged around.  (Riddler is notorious for giving me a headache.) The horse collars on B&M's are ridiculously confining to the point they are claustrophobic.  I never felt nearly as closed in on the Togos.  Also, unless you ride in the front row, your sight is obstructed by the seats in front of you.  The Togos seats offered more visibility, allowing you to anticipate what was coming next.

I can also speak, to some degree, about operation.  I have worked as a ride op on both KC and Chang.  I found KC was easier to get guests in and out of, and found there to be less overall complaining when the ride ended.  There was a reason the Chang ride crew called it "BANG."  I can also attest, there were FAR more complaints on Chang from male guests remarking about the strain on their groins.

From an aesthetic standpoint, the B&Ms are far prettier than the Togo's were.  The Togos looked and felt like a machine, where the B&M's have a much more graceful visual appeal.  So in that realm, B&M's have the aesthetic edge in my book.

For posterity, I'm not a Cincinnatian (although I lived there for 5 years 25 years ago) and I personally think LaRosas pizza is bad, UDF and Graeters ice cream is outstanding, and Skyline Chili IS the best.  ;-)

Well mean Sally just likes to complain and get people all worked up so don't make her let you made. Dad said ignore peple like her because they eat negative stuff and want atenshun like a little kid

[IndyGuy4KI]

@coaster sally, Other manufacturers besides Intamin can make enjoyable thrilling rides. As @DonHelbig said, maybe go and enjoy the rides for what it is instead of writing about what it isn't.

The rest of us are here because we love Kings Island and the industry. Things like the awesome blog post @Kyle Kruthoffer wrote. This is one of the many things most KIC members enjoy reading and discussing about and what we are all about.

Thanks Kyle for the blog post.

[BoddaH1994]

1 hour ago, Shaggy said:

"They?"

I can only speak for myself, but I have been fortunate enough to have ridden the following Stand-Up coasters in my life:

King Cobra (Kings Island), Shockwave (Kings Dominion), Skyrider (Canadas Wonderland), Chang (Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom), Georgia Scorcher (Six Flags over Georgia), Iron Wolf (Six Flags Great America), Riddler's Revenge (Six Flags Magic Mountain), Mantis (Cedar Point), Vortex (Carowinds), and Batman the Escape (Astroworld.)

Of course opinions about coasters is subjective.  But out of those, King Cobra and Skyrider easily held my top spots.  Chang probably held my #3 position, Scorcher probably 4th. I've personally never found the B&M's to be that re-ridable.  They amount to a one-and-done for me.  Shockwave fell somewhere in the middle of the list, and my least favorites were easily Riddler's Revenge, Iron Wolf and Batman the Escape (dead last.)

As Don already said, the 3 Togos all differed.  King Cobra had, IMO, the best air and inversion of the 3.  Its one flaw was the "jolt" you felt when dropping to the right into the helix.  Skyrider was a VERY close second - and was extremely similar to KC.  Shockwave was not even on par with the others because the last half of its layout was jarring and not engineered as well IMO. It was the most different of the 3 by far.

B&M's are chock full of inversions, so I guess if someone loves a lot of those then they may be their preference.  But the vast amount of inversions is what, IMO, makes them uncomfortable.  B&M excels at placing the riders heart at the center of gravity, but on the standups they are dealing with an elongated body - so that made forces harder on legs and head.  I think of it like a cheerleader twirling a baton... the center is not feeling nearly the forces that the ends do.  Often when I have ridden a B&M standup, either my legs/feet go numb or my head gets banged around.  (Riddler is notorious for giving me a headache.) The horse collars on B&M's are ridiculously confining to the point they are claustrophobic.  I never felt nearly as closed in on the Togos.  Also, unless you ride in the front row, your sight is obstructed by the seats in front of you.  The Togos seats offered more visibility, allowing you to anticipate what was coming next.

I can also speak, to some degree, about operation.  I have worked as a ride op on both KC and Chang.  I found KC was easier to get guests in and out of, and found there to be less overall complaining when the ride ended.  There was a reason the Chang ride crew called it "BANG."  I can also attest, there were FAR more complaints on Chang from male guests remarking about the strain on their groins.

From an aesthetic standpoint, the B&Ms are far prettier than the Togo's were.  The Togos looked and felt like a machine, where the B&M's have a much more graceful visual appeal.  So in that realm, B&M's have the aesthetic edge in my book.

For posterity, I'm not a Cincinnatian (although I lived there for 5 years 25 years ago) and I personally think LaRosas pizza is bad, UDF and Graeters ice cream is outstanding, and Skyline Chili IS the best.  ;-)

Yeah, I’m with ya. As I stated in my post, the B&Ms are taxing on the body. Don’t know if I agree about the aesthetics. I think there’s a certain beauty to the old school industrial rides. I don’t spend days and nights lamenting the loss of KC, but I do enjoy telling the stories about it from time to time. 

[SonofBaconator]

I'm no engineer, doctor, or physicist so I may be wrong but it seems like the less inversions the better. The togos each featured 1 inversion where as the B&Ms usually featured an average of 4/5. Some of the early B&M stand-ups were built with fewer inversions but I still think they were built with inversions in mind as opposed to factoring how those forces would impact the riders. 

I always figured the smaller stand-ups with less inversions were more well received because they didn't exert as much force on the riders