Kings Island will have one less roller coaster in 2026

[DonHelbig]

Surf Dog has officially been reclassified by Kings Island from a roller coaster to a thrill ride on the park’s website. 

This change begs the question if you counted Surf Dog as a credit, does it still count as a credit because it was classified as a roller coaster by Kings Island when you rode it? 

[IndyGuy4KI]

27 minutes ago, DonHelbig said:

This change begs the question if you counted Surf Dog as a credit, does it still count as a credit because it was classified as a roller coaster by Kings Island when you rode it? 

Never counted it as a coaster in the first place. What about you?

[RollerColt]

11 minutes ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

Never counted it as a coaster in the first place. What about you?

Same. Even Planet Coaster considers it a flat ride heh…

[TheCrypt]

The way that this title made my heart race...

[Diamondback_Is_King]

Yeah never thought of this as a roller coaster. There's no chain lift, not really a launch, and it's not a complete circle. That's like saying that these kind of rides are roller coasters:

[Orion-XL200]

Didn’t Zamperla classify these type of rides as a coaster? I remember seeing it listed at some point under roller coasters. Could this be an alignment between the manufacturer and parks?

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

You scared me there for a second Don lol. I thought they were removing a coaster for a sec....I never ONCE considered Surf Dog a coaster. Same with Larson loops. I even have a hard time counting Alpine coasters even though they technically are.

[CedarPointer]

I'm glad they're worrying about the important things. 🙄

[tks944]

1 hour ago, Diamondback_Is_King said:

Yeah never thought of this as a roller coaster. There's no chain lift, not really a launch, and it's not a complete circle. 

Not a complete circle is not a good argument for not counting as a coaster. That logic any shuttle coaster (Invertigo) would not be a coaster then?

For me the definition of a Roller coaster is in the name. I think any ride that rolls on wheels and coasts down a hill or moves under own momentum is a Roller coaster. 

Surfdog is a roller coaster 

[beastfan11]

Well, I’m keeping the credit. 
 

*adjusts fanny pack and glasses* 

[johnjniehaus]

I personally counted it because it does have a downhill section. Don't count the diskos but that's just me. Not gonna argue with anyone counting it or not counting it

[robintodd]

In my opinion It's a flat, no different than antique cars.  To me a roller coaster COASTS.  Surf Dog and Pipe Scream both are propelled by the ride vehicle itself.  You could put the ride vehicles on the ground and provide power (I'm pretty sure power is supplied by the track) and it will go/stop on its own.  The track they run on doesn't have any means of propeling the ride vehicle (besides providing power) nor any way to stop the ride vehicle.  Therefore I don't consider it a roller "coast"er.  Just my 2 cents.

[Klabergian Empire]

I get why they considered Surf Dog a coaster for a long time. But I personally never considered it to be a coaster or a coaster credit.

[Swiftdrawer]

Way back before I left Twitter permanently and even deleted my once long standing account on there and for multiple justified reasons at that, KingsIslandPR posted a trivia question of how many coasters are at the park and after I answered with the number I did, whoever was managing the account at the time replied something along the lines of: “you forgot one! Surf Dog!” Ive never considered Surf Dog a coaster. Ive come close to genuinely classifying it as one but that never stuck.