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Beast project details revealed!


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3 hours ago, The_Reaganator said:

I think that a "small wall" would be much more intrusive and unsightly (let alone a expense which quite simply is unnecessary) than just letting people do what they've always done. 

 

Personally, I enjoy having a laugh seeing the weird and creative things people have thrown on top of the roofs next to The Beast and Diamondback. And of course the people that throw stuff on those roofs must enjoy doing it too.

I don’t enjoy it. It looks trashy, and who get a thrill tossing trash? Weird folks! 

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Some interesting updates, from the KIC Podcast with Brian Kosmac. I highly recommend you listen if you haven't already! I'm mainly here to summarize some of the more interesting parts.

 

For those who don't know, the GG engineered pre-cut track takes the stress of trains flexing the boards, which flexes the nails, which causes the nails to lose their strength over time. That's how those coasters get rough. This track takes the nails out of the equation, it's entirely on the wood. Longer lasting + Much more Powerful = Less Maintenance. Keep in mind it is still wood, so there will be maintenance still of course, but just less of it. This is good news for The Beast and Racer, I could easily see GG getting the opportunity to come back and do more work on these rides in the future. Brian goes into more detail over this in the podcast, so I recommend listening to that. 

Some interesting things to start off, is The Beasts tunnels are especially cold, so that's fun! The original designers took a very MacGyver approach to the project, Brian noting the turn out of the first tunnel was obviously increased in banking early on, the helix, etc. This of course being due to how it was designed, being so long ago without computers and not a full career of experience like John Allen. It was really interesting to hear Brian's engineering views on the old design practice on Beast vs how it's done today. 

It seems we may have partial confirmation of part of the in-house re-track; the second drop, which is around 400-ish feet long. Brian mentioned how they, the park, were doing work in that area. Next up, what they're calling "Sycamore Hollow", the area before the midcourse tunnel - or what we now know as the Coon tunnel, and the brake shed, is additionally something the Gravity Group is designing but not directly building. This is the 4 foot raise before the tunnel. Moving the ledgers off of the ground basically. According to Brian, GG "did the engineering" and passed it over to Kings Island so they could do it as part of their in-house work. 

Moving to the Helix, we can expect to see a drastically different structure - partly new, partly old. According to Brian, there will be a lot more steel present. There was no mention of anything relating to trims, so I am unsure if they will remain or not after this work. What I believe is the trims are there to decrease the stress of the trains on the structure, that and make the ride more bearable for the riders. 

That about covers the main topics, once again would recommend listening to this podcast if you haven't already!

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On 2/9/2022 at 8:34 AM, IndyGuy4KI said:

I have never understood why the headbands get thrown off while going up the lift hill on The Beast.  I would assume the people with long hair would want to keep their hair contained before going down  hill? Do they bring extra hair bands just to throw out there?

The head bands and silly bands are just this generation's gum tree. Must just be something to do with human nature. Perhaps about leaving your mark.

Personally, I don't like it. I think it's at best littering and at worst vandalism. 

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Hi, I'm back to once again overly fixate on this project.

I have composed what we know from blog posts and the KIC podcast (Ep. 20) to concoct my next interpretation of the work they are doing on Beast. The visual to supersede all past visuals I have posted here, showing a combination of everything we know and places where we know work is happening (but aren't sure which parts of these are!). I do hope to eventually post a final visual when we get more confirmations and when we are sure of everything they are doing off-season. 

Original Photo Credit: Google Maps Satellite Image

Screenshot_415.png

 

Everything in green is 100% confirmed, we know these are spots they are working on.

Everything in red-green and red-yellow is somewhat confirmed. We know, according to the podcast, that KI is working on the second drop area. What parts of that is unconfirmed, but the entire section is highlighted anyway. I may have placed Sycamore Hollow wrong, as a hollow is typically a valley of sorts. I know that the second drop is in a valley, so that is likely where sycamore hollow actually is, but it's fine where I put it in this visual.

The helix, based on the blog post image from Mr. Helbig is speculated to be re-tracked to some degree in-house; whether it's partially or fully re-tracked. I posted a set of images similar to this on my Twitter profile, but this is basically combining those into one photo. 

Finally, looking at the turn before Coon Tunnel, we know that Gravity Group passed over engineering to KI so they could perform work there too. Hopefully that spot won't be so bouncy anymore!

Really looking forward to a backstage tour of this at Coasterstock this year, hopefully that's on the itinerary again! :)

Apologies for the edit, for some reason the site posted the same image a second time after my first paste. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
3 minutes ago, silver2005 said:

This may seem like a very pedantic question, but with the alterations, will the length be affected, even if miniscule?

I would imagine it would change, but based on how it's mostly sticking to the same layout it may be only a few feet less or a few feet more. Either way, not much of a change. 

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The length change is an interesting question.

Since The Beast is the wooden coaster record holder, every inch matters.   :^) 

I did some quick “eyeball sketching” on my CAD program of the first drop, using the known heights and angles, and some guesses.

My guess is that the new curved first drop will add around 4-5 feet. Maybe a couple more, maybe only 2 or 3. 

I don’t expect the other changes to impact  more than couple of feet. 
 

The Beast needs only 775’ to beat Steel Dragon 2000 for world’s longest coaster, so this particular Beast upgrade won’t get that done unfortunately. 
 

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Anytime I've looked at the POV of Steel Dragon (Never actually ridden it) it has always reminded me of Wild Thing at ValleyFair! (which I have ridden twice (same day)).

I assume Steel Dragon is bigger since its longer, and it appears to be faster on the POV (though i can't say for sure) but it just feels so similar to Wild Thing... Great first drop, epic floater air time on the 2nd hill, a boring figure 8 kind of maneuver in the middle, break run, hit some little ejector air time (similar to Magnum at CP) then continue the small bunny hills into an ending tunnel.

At some point, someone will make a ride longer than Steel Dragon, but to be honest, it appears thru the POV and in comparison to my ride on wild thing to be a far inferior ride compared to Orion, Diamondback, Maverick, Steel Vengence, Millie, Banshee, Lightening Rod, The Beast, Renegade, Mystic Timbers, etc....  basically if not for the length, it wouldn't be particularly noteworthy.  Wild thing was enjoyable, but was easily outperformed by Renegade.  Only reason I'd ride Wild Thing again is because I'd be willing to go out of my way if every in that area again to ride Renegade; its largely forgettable.

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Not entirely a trackwork update, but the trains are back on the track again! 

When asked when we'll see both trackwork updates & testing POVs/offrides, Kings Island officially responded saying they will be posting a new blog-post soon (soon is vague) and testing videos will follow shortly after testing begins (my assumption is late March/early April). 

Hype!

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  • 2 weeks later...
19 minutes ago, PKIDelirium said:

There's also the possibility that what was uploaded wasn't completely new at the time of posting.

The pics seen at other sites were taken on Friday.

That being said- the amount of work that can be accomplished by those in the business in a short amount of time will shock many outside of the business.

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While we await the next blog post from the park for further updates on the project, which is hopefully soon, let's have a quick poll.

Which part of The Beast Retracking Project are you most looking forward to?
The first drop/first turn, the second drop, the pre-midcourse tunnel, the helix, or something else?

I can't decide, but I'm really excited to see how the first drop feels and runs now!

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58 minutes ago, Coasterteam said:

While we await the next blog post from the park for further updates on the project, which is hopefully soon, let's have a quick poll.

Which part of The Beast Retracking Project are you most looking forward to?
The first drop/first turn, the second drop, the pre-midcourse tunnel, the helix, or something else?

I can't decide, but I'm really excited to see how the first drop feels and runs now!

Yes. 

silver2005, avoiding 1 word posts.

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18 hours ago, Coasterteam said:

While we await the next blog post from the park for further updates on the project, which is hopefully soon, let's have a quick poll.

Which part of The Beast Retracking Project are you most looking forward to?
The first drop/first turn, the second drop, the pre-midcourse tunnel, the helix, or something else?

I can't decide, but I'm really excited to see how the first drop feels and runs now!

Personally, I really cant wait to ride the updated helix. The one picture of part of the helix being gone made me pretty excited. It is sure gonna feel different! I am sure I'm not the only one thinking this.

Edited by KIEagle33
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hayo

As we know from an earlier announcement here on this site and KI, Beast will be 2 feet longer. 
Hidden at the end of the announcement was confirmation that the ride would NOT open on time. 
 

This is rather unfortunate news, but likely a result of the unstable winter season we had. My personal prediction is first or second weekend in May we’ll see it open, but I may be wrong. 

With this park update, linked here https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2022/march/kings-island-beast-roller-coaster-will-break-its-own-record-in-2022

We got some awesome new photos, including a better one of the drop from a news outlet. I don’t see any trims on this one yet, but time will tell! (edit: didn't notice this photo was also posted in the KIC announcement!)

 

9A0CE79A-2DA4-48CD-8B3C-8BCC21A506A5.png
 


 

 

 

Additionally, I can confirm some news in regards to all the track being worked on as we’ve gotten more photos of the ride this time round from official sources, which back up this photo. 
C84E4DF9-F2BF-4FEB-838B-064879FB63EC.png

 

 

 

 


As per my previous graph, but this one includes an orange side to parts that we know 100% now are being worked on. Note this visual is not final yet, so things can still change. 

I am looking forward to riding, are you?

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28 minutes ago, Coasterteam said:

Hayo

As we know from an earlier announcement here on this site and KI, Beast will be 2 feet longer. 
Hidden at the end of the announcement was confirmation that the ride would NOT open on time. 
 

This is rather unfortunate news, but likely a result of the unstable winter season we had. My personal prediction is first or second weekend in May we’ll see it open, but I may be wrong. 

I was wondering the same about the winter or if the decision was made to start the refurb in November after HH knowing that the impact of Beast being down in May is less than during night rides in October.

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7 minutes ago, Browntggrr said:

I was wondering the same about the winter or if the decision was made to start the refurb in November after HH knowing that the impact of Beast being down in May is less than during night rides in October.

What I think happened is the snow we had during winter delayed construction by a few weeks. Leading the the March 31st deadline being pushed back maybe out for late April and saying Early May as a last resort if another delay happens. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hayo!

Back to describe some things I saw while riding Orion, Racer, and Diamondback.

On Orion, I could see progress was still being made on the mid course tunnel area. With a few glances during the turnaround, I could tell it has a long way to go still.

on Racer, during the turnaround, I could see deeper into the forest and saw lots of new bents/ledgers on the second drop.

The biggest one, the helix. While on the overbank turn for Diamondback, I could see the new helix structure. It looked like the same clearance as the old one, so that’s a good sign. Note, only caught a few glimpses so I may be wrong. 

Additionally, on the lift hill for Diamondback, you can see that they've put some sort of cover over the wristband graveyard on The Beasts lift hill. Not sure if this is temporary or a whole new cover piece. 

Hoping we’ll see it done early to mid May. 

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13 hours ago, Coasterteam said:

Hayo!

Back to describe some things I saw while riding Orion, Racer, and Diamondback.

On Orion, I could see progress was still being made on the mid course tunnel area. With a few glances during the turnaround, I could tell it has a long way to go still.

on Racer, during the turnaround, I could see deeper into the forest and saw lots of new bents/ledgers on the second drop.

The biggest one, the helix. While on the overbank turn for Diamondback, I could see the new helix structure. It looked like the same clearance as the old one, so that’s a good sign. Note, only caught a few glimpses so I may be wrong. 

Additionally, on the lift hill for Diamondback, you can see that they've put some sort of cover over the wristband graveyard on The Beasts lift hill. Not sure if this is temporary or a whole new cover piece. 

Hoping we’ll see it done early to mid May. 

I hope as much work as was done cleaning up the park this year, they don’t allow the garbage dump on The Beast to return.  

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just saw a train parked on the end brake run of The Beast (while riding Diamondback) with what looked like blue water dummies on board. This should mean testing has begun.

Edit: also saw around 5 workers in hard hats scaling the first drop around where the trim is usually, so I feel like they were working on something related to the trim brake but maybe not

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40 minutes ago, The_Reaganator said:

I just saw a train parked on the end brake run of The Beast (while riding Diamondback) with what looked like blue water dummies on board. This should mean testing has begun.

That is a GREAT SIGN!!! This means we can possibly see an opening day of early to mid May!!

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4 hours ago, Coasterteam said:

That is a GREAT SIGN!!! This means we can possibly see an opening day of early to mid May!!

That is amazing!! Kings Island said that when the testing was completed they would post a POV video of it. So it probably will open shortly after the testing is done!

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