Midgetman82 Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Hello again, park-goe'ers. I figured I should post a TR since I haven't done one in a long while. As many of you "probably" have heard, Kings Island recently opened a brand-spakin'-new inverted roller coaster, Banshee. I was pretty hyped about it's opening but didn't originally have any thoughts on visiting the park during its opening weekend until I learned that my Friday college classes were not going to take place. So as I kept my ear and eyes toward Twitter on Thursday of Banshee Media Day to hear how the coaster was, I was scouring for discounts to make a day-trip to Mason, Ohio on Friday the 18th (hoping it would be less crowded on friday than it would on Saturday, totally forgetting that it was also Good Friday and a lot of schools and work places were closed that day :-/ ). Opening day came, and I get to the entrance to the park 30 minutes before it opened. This was probably the first and biggest mistake of the day because there was a sizable crowd waiting when I got there! Kings Island was renamed to a single roller coaster for the entire day. Here's that notorious line everyone's been talking about. Because I came to the park with only a certain amount of money for food and merchandise, I didn't have enough for FastLane+. And considering I've had most other credits I needed, and drove all this way for one coaster, I tested my patience and stood in line like everybody else. The line for that purple coaster in the bottom corner starts where I'm standing. A band went up and down the line entertaining guests. The line started about halfway around the eiffel tower, went around the corner of an Auntie Anne's, passed Viking Fury pirate ship and THEN it entered the action zone where you could finally get a clear view of Banshee. We're still not in Action Zone yet though Getting closer, I got some distant pics. They seem happy! Park attendants told people in line that there weren't any cubbies in the station, which surprised me considering there's only one station for loading/unloading. Luckily i made some friends in line who agreed to hold my spot as i jumped out to grab a locker for my bag, and the park attendant seemed cool with it as well. Undercoaster cell-phone pics. The last switchback. 5 hours later, we're finally up the stairs! We've made it. No doubt I wouldn't settle for anything less than a front row ride. All in all, the coaster was wonderful! Plenty fast, plenty forceful, and an overall exciting layout that utilized the valley wonderfully for that extra speed boost in the second half! Loved it, loved it! Bought a Banshee t-shirt, and headed over to The Beast to (surprisingly) have my first ride on it. The wait was roughly an hour and a half. "ACE wuz here" Sunset double train shot. Noted Very interesting coaster. Not top 10 material in my book (unless compared with other wooden coasters), but definitely up there. Very fun, especially the second-half. Sunset splash Sunset Arrow Went to check up on Flight of Fear, found it broken down. People in line told me they had been waiting for 2 hours for it to re-open! Yeah, not chancing it. I spotted the entrance to Adventure Express and hopped in line since I also didn't have that credit. While waiting, I saw some more angles of Banshee. Wee! Anyone can hop onto this ride not knowing what they're getting into, which makes even this ride a gold-hidden-gem not to miss! Lots of people seemed very confused by the second lift-hill! Looking through the opening once inside the roofed portion of the line. Kings Island definitely made sure this coaster was photogenic, because it sure is! Sleek! Time for a re-visit! Seems halloween came early! Still a fun coaster, and I'm very, very happy the park not only kept it, but gave it a fresh makeover! With night approaching, I ran over to Invertigo to lock-in my first-time credit on it, along with my first time on a Vekoma Face-Off type ride as well. Safe to say, I survived, and kinda liked it. (twss) Did I mention this coaster was photogenic?! ... because it really is! I ended the night on Delerium (stinks that it doesn't stay up in those sweet spots long enough), then wandered over to my favorite flat-ride to try to find out why it wasn't operating all day. 'Tis a shame, was kinda looking forward to getting back on this. Thus ends my report. I didn't get to do quite everything I wanted, BUT I still had a pretty good day nonetheless. Banshee was purely awesome, as was many of the other rides I got on, and Kings Island seemed to do a pretty good job handling the huge crowds hungry for free t-shirts (which I didn't get, but didn't really care for). Credits (in order): Banshee - 1x Beast - 1x (My 100th roller coaster! ) Adventure Express - 1x The Bat - 1x Invertigo - 1x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamondbacker27 Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Great photos! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevinC049 Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Some really, really nice pics in there. Loved the sunset pics of Vortex which is one of my favorite coasters- Oddly enough theres a special place in my heart for getting banged around on a arrow. I too was wondering about the Drop tower for opening weekend.. hopefully it'll be open this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon8899 Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Gawd, as also said before I might have turned around and came back another day... A cool idea would be if they have such lines that they close of some flats on the lines way exclusive for people in line to ride - as well as drop out and drop in areas to visit the toilet or snack-shacks, I would never be able to stand 4 hours in a line without visiting a toilet... Nice pics, nevertheless! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamondbacker27 Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Was Windseeker open? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Great report. I'm glad the ride lived up to your expectations despite the long wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midgetman82 Posted April 22, 2014 Author Share Posted April 22, 2014 ^^Yep, it was running for about half the day, but then closed late afternoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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