Kings Island (KI) Discussion Thread

Is this really steeper than Fury? That would mean it is B&M's steepest drop, excluding Dive Coasters. Did the park officially announce a drop angle?

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Kings Island has a time lapse of the lift/first drop construction on their Facebook page. There is already a lot of controversy claiming that KI didn't live stream the webcams during the construction of the lift/drop to keep it from the public... for no good reason. I'm enjoying trolling these comments, very much.

Well done KI! You've taken the spotlight off of the "It's not a giga" debate.

Is this really steeper than Fury? That would mean it is B&M's steepest drop, excluding Dive Coasters. Did the park officially announce a drop angle?

I had to look it up because I didn’t know Fury’s steepness. Apparently Fury is 81° so yep, this one is steeper than Fury!

That 1st drop should be the most intense first drop B&M has ever done. Now granted, you have RMC doing beyond vertical drops with a train that is the about same length and roughly a 95 foot shorter drop. So it probably won't be that intense, but I imagine the valley of this drop is going to pull some serious G's.

Wave turn going up! So will the rise of complaints about the webcam not catching it as the construction goes off screen

I understand people were upset about the camera not working and the whole situation about it being down was odd, but I'll gladly wait a day or two for the park to post some quality pictures on their socials.

Winterfest begins next Friday, which means in person views of ORION!!! Anyone else going? Ill be there hopefully Friday and Saturday night and ill try to post a Photo TR from the opening weekend.

I just can't believe they turned all three cameras down just for us not being able to see the construction of the lift hill on one of the cameras. But since the cameras worked fine during the time of being offline (otherwise there wouldn't have been the timelapse video) it really looks so.

I don't get it why they turned off the other two.

God, people are so irrationally angry about these webcams.

The fact that Kings Island has trolled enthusiasts from the very beginning of this project only solidifies it as my favorite park. Tearing down Firehawk, 287 feet, Vortex closure, webcam outages/positioning? How about the announcement of antique cars on National Roller Coaster Day? Best park ever!

The fact that Kings Island has trolled enthusiasts from the very beginning of this project only solidifies it as my favorite park. Tearing down Firehawk, 287 feet, Vortex closure, webcam outages/positioning? How about the announcement of antique cars on National Roller Coaster Day? Best park ever!

1000000% I forgot about the antique cars on the National Roller Coaster day

Along with some of the Cedar Fair videos that are actually funny and Kentucky Kingdom embracing the 'lol' persona it's a fun off season so far!

Orion has the launch of death right now. Looks like the ski jump at the winter Olympics. Just put me a net out there in the field.......

In regards to the Banshee discussion, I find it to be a much superior ride in the front row, unlike other inverts which ride best in the back. The front is much more forceful and smooth. To anyone who had a meh ride in the back I definitely recommend a front row ride.

I agree. Banshee is a front row ride for me, too.

In my experience, Banshee runs like crap in the back of the train. I wouldn't say it's rough but it's weird and shakes like crazy.

Perhaps it's just me, but I didn't find any invert yet I liked in the back row. All B&M's the other way, I love to death in the front row.

Any old school invert with a batwing is "back row or GTFO" for me.

Yeah.. Maybe you gotta put some of these Batman clones to central Europe..

But Raptor, Monster, Black Mamba and Banshee.. Front row, outside, please.

This was shared on The Coaster Kings facebook page. Honestly, this was not the color I was expecting. I can't say I hate it, but I'm interested to see how it'll match with the track.

I don't think Banshee particularly runs well in any row, to be honest. That wider/modified train design just doesn’t feel “right” to me. Because the train is wider, I’d assume the weight is distributed differently on the chassis, it definitely feels different than any other invert. If anything, it feels more like an inverted dive-coaster train, if that makes sense. It definitely doesn’t run as refined/smooth, even since new.

Banshee’s layout is fantastic, but the profiling of the elements is what bothers me (along with those trains). Add some traditional shaping and even if just a little “snap” back into the elements with the standard trains and it would be phenomenal, if not one of the best.

I personally think inverts give a phenomenal back seat ride. While of course front always wins for visuals, being whipped around those snappy, old school elements in the back is something special.

Ok I'm glad I'm not crazy for this Banshee back row opinion, after my one lap in the back left row I was shocked at how much it rattled my brain around, very similar to the first valley on Steel Dragon 2000. My on-ride photo even has me wincing. I love the layout and love every other B&M invert so next time I'm at KI I'll have to give it a front row ride to really judge it again. Out of my whole day at KI it was the one coaster I was shocked at how much I disliked, so it really can just be the back of the weird trains.

It didn't bother me that much but you'll have an entirely different opinion of the ride if you wait for the front.

Ohhh let me get in on this. For me an invert is a must to try the front and back and typically I end up enjoying the front more for the view. Don't get me wrong I like the whip you can get down the first drop on Raptor, Afterburn, Banshee; but the 4 wide trains make a front row wait next to nothing so I'm all in on waiting for the front seat!

Yeah, Banshee can really shake you up. It has some bad days and so does Diamondback. It's as if you're going through gravel. What is the because the trains are heavier? With Banshee's high speeds and positive g's you just feel it more?

Perhaps it's just me, but I didn't find any invert yet I liked in the back row. All B&M's the other way, I love to death in the front row.

Hmmmmm. This makes me think maybe you haven't ridden Afterburn at Carowinds.

I've been looking at the design of the old vs. new invert trains… The old design had (4) individual seat 'arms' if you will, bolted from the top 'frame' connected to the wheel bogeys, while the new one is (2) arms that each support a pair of seats. The new design would put the loading stress of each pair of seats directly in line with the wheel bogey, while the old design better spread the load equally around the bogey... with each seat arm both to each side of the wheel assembly. I'm guessing if you ran some FEA on that, you'd see the stresses behaving a bit differently up top there with how the forces are being transferred along that top frame. Perhaps some flexing and less rigidity (from the looks of it at least) cause the newer train to ride a bit rougher.

The old design looks a bit more robust, in my opinion. I'd also guess weight between the two is probably comparable, but without knowing the material gauge and all that fun stuff, it's hard to know obviously. Weight is not necessarily a bad thing for how a train may ride necessarily (more-so for the structure and track design), but will likely influence how the car rides for sure.

Too bad I don’t have access to FEA at work like I used to, I’d be curious to simulate a generic representation of these designs and compare under various loading/stresses to see how it changes. Wouldn’t be too hard at all.

Perhaps it's just me, but I didn't find any invert yet I liked in the back row. All B&M's the other way, I love to death in the front row.

 

Hmmmmm. This makes me think maybe you haven't ridden Afterburn at Carowinds.