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There was a tour of Orion today, all these pictures are from r/rollercoasters on reddit

Look at the size of the people in this picture compared to Orion...

https://twitter.com/KingsIslandPR/status/1236367972568096769?s=20 they are using a darker blue colored train in testing now! I wonder what the third color is?

Man nothing makes me miss trees quite like a new B&M coaster at a Cedar Fair park XD

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the old DA path might be used for a temporary overflow que for Orion

Not sure what you’re trying to say—everything you have written was already said in the blueprints. Also, you have the Orion entrance building marked as the food stand. The food stand is a new build where the hillside was.

^Those are some lovely curves on that turn around there. I'm hoping for some decent positive g's as it crests like Nitro pulls off.

Have we seen anything on the queue theming yet?

Before anyone says anything, this is the exact video Kings Island linked to the KI Blog below: https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2020/march/aerial-view-of-kings-islands-new-giga-coaster-opening-in-april If you guys watch the video closely, you can see The Vortex plot and that it appears that not much of the shrubbery was saved during its removal.

Is that breaking the 11th Commandment?

Not every wooden coaster needs RMC treatment and you really can't re-vamp a steel coaster in the way that RMC revamps wood coasters. It'd be cheaper and way more practical to build a new coaster than re-vamp a steel coaster in that way. If KI goes for an RMC, it should be a ground-up coaster. I'd prefer a Topper Track coaster, but anything would suffice.

Yes. That’s the biggest improvement needed in the park. Look at past photos and see how many trees have been lost. The park is barren and miserable in the heat. Kings Dominion is the opposite and a much more beautiful park.

I am curious about B&M giga coaster chain lifts. My limited coaster understanding In the 90s was that coaster chain lifts above 200’ were heavy and reaching the practical limit. This appeared to be confirmed in 2000 when Steel Dragon utilized dual chains, and Millennium Force introduced a cable lift. Flash forward to 2012, and Leviathan breaks 300’ with what appears to be a traditional chain lift. Not only that, it’s quite fast, and there’s no return trough hanging below... it’s enclosed in the beefy track. This has obviously been successful with Fury and now Orion. So my question is, what’s special about B&M giga chain lifts? How did they seemingly so simply solve this problem that other engineers did not?

Love the rock and roll music they picked.

Due to low ridership.When they see that the ride no longer draws a reasonable amount of riders then they will add that to the equation with maintenance and operating cost. With Adventure Express being an Arrow coaster I would imagine maintenance and operating cost are higher compared to newer rides as well. Arrow parts are harder to come by with them being out of business and most certainly played a role into The Vortex demise.

On the other hand, how often is that thing down? I have never seen it. If it isn't a maintenance headache and they don't need the space for something else why would they chop it?

Was looking on Twitter and here are some answers from the park on our frequently asked questions

This might not be the best quality, but I caught Orion testing from great wolf lodge today.

I would definitely like a return of the German restaurant at Hank's and more German themeing in the Bier Garden.

I would say they would make the exception become the norm. This year Orion is the big spender, last year it was Carnivale, a few years ago it was a restaurant. They would make incremental upgrades to everything every year. Eventually people would expect a new restaurant, new ride, new celebration, etc every year.

RMC should DEFINITELY NOT touch any of the existing coasters at Kings Island. Period.

My pick would be a brand new topper track RMC. Something like Outlaw Run or Goliath at SFGAm would be great. I want them to stay away from a launch like Lightning Rod because that ride has always had notorious downtime, said as someone who is at Dollywood 8 or so times a year.

If you want a family hybrid go ride Adventure Express.

RMC doesn't need a touch any existing coasters at Kings Island. We've had GCI work on Racer and I'm sure they would work on The Beast to if given the opportunity.

Just remove Vortex and build a ground up in its place

Best answer and most logical thinking. RMC is good for a problem child coaster. The only problem child Woddie we had was removed. Yes I would like to see an RMC at KI, but ground up. Why do they have to transform an existing coaster?

Kings Island is the "Wooden Coaster Capital of the World"

Yay puns. So normally I would just redo my Meal Deals thread, but I think it is getting a bit too big to be useful anymore. So here I am with my thread where I again fail to eat every meal in the park, and people eventually complain about the food service. 2019 Meal Plan List Chicken Shack (New: Smoked Wings) Hand Breaded Chicken Tenders with Fries Smoked Chicken Wings with Fries Crispy Chicken Salad with Texas Toast Chick-Fil-A Chick-fil-A Sandwich with Waffle Fries Chick-fil-A Nuggets with Waffle Fries Coconut Cove Cafe (New: Veggie Pizza, also I miss cheesey breadsticks) Two Slices of Cheese, Veggie or Pepperoni Pizza with Breadsticks Entrée Salad with Breadsticks Fresh Grilled Cheeseburger with Fries 1/4lb All Beef Hot Dog with Fries Coney Bar-B-Que Rotisserie Chicken with One Side Tri-Tip with One Side Pulled Pork with One Side Smoked Sausage with One Side Skyline Chili (New: 4-way, and no fries on the ways) Two Cheese Coneys with Fries 3-Way 4-Way Skyline Express (Soak City Water Park) Two Cheese Coneys with Bag of Chips Coney Subway Six-Inch Sub and Bag of Chips Festhaus (New: Veggie Pizza) Two Slices of Cheese, Veggie or Pepperoni Pizza with Breadsticks Chicken Tenders with Fries Fresh Grilled Cheesebuger with Fries Gluten Free Pizza (include GF logo next to line item) Hank’s Mexican Grill Burrito Burrito Bowl International Street Skyline Chili (New: 4-way, and no fries on the ways) Two Cheese Coneys with Fries 3-Way 4-Way Island Smokehouse Hand Breaded Chicken Tenders with One Side Fresh Shrimp with One Side Smoked Chicken Wings with One Side Pulled Pork with One Side Juke Box Diner (New: Double Burger, and the hot dog is cut in half?) The American Double Stack Burger with Fries Chicken Tenders with Fries Grilled Chicken Sandwich with Fries 1/4lb All Beef Split Hot Dog with Fries LaRosa's Pizzeria (New: Veggie pizza) Two Slices of Cheese, Veggie or Pepperoni Pizza with Breadsticks Entrée Salad with Breadsticks Miami River Brewhouse (New: Potentially everything, but probably only Vegan burger, Cod Sammy, BLT and Sliders) KI Salad: Spring Mix Salad Hail Caesar: Classic Ceasar Salad Clucks & Barrels: Chicken Tenders with Tots BBLT: Loaded BLT with Tots Three Pigs: Pulled Pork Sliders with Tots Pub Burger: Cheeseburger with Tots Big Dog: 1/4LB Split Hot Dog with Tots Impossible Burger: Vegan Burger with Tots London Bridge: Fried Cod Sandwich with Tots Panda Express One Entrée Bowl & Side Planet Snoopy Grill Chicken Tenders with Tots Fresh Grilled Cheeseburger with Tots 1/4lb All Beef Hot Dog with Tots Corndog with Tots Rivertown Potato Works Gluten Free Chicken Tenders with Fresh Cut Fries (include GF logo next to line item) Subway Six Inch Sub and a Bag of Chips Tom + Chee Classic Grilled Cheese and a Bag of Chips BBQ Bacon Grilled Cheese and a Bag of Chips

I'm sure I'll get quoted here, but that's alright. I want them to keep Adventure Express as long as they can. That ride has been there since I was a kid. A lot of nights when I go, I still see kids running back to get in the queue for another ride before the end of the night. I try to hit at dusk on a summer night so me and my friends can go ride The Beast for a night ride. The Beast is amazing at night!

Vibranium. They have a special source.

I feel like that would definitely break the 11th commandment, however, we need an official word on that.

Oh wow. Obviously not my intention!

Let us always remember. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I know this would cost more but I love the contrast of the red and the yellow. Wish all supports were yellow.

A couple of years ago we saw the addition of Chef James Major to the Ki staff. Since this time, Chef Major and his team have opened some restaurants in the park that are arguably some of the best in the business. We saw the addition of Coney BBQ in 2018 and Miami River brew house in 2019, both of which have great amusement park food to offer. I’m curious to see what the enthusiast community thinks the best food venue in the park is. I’ve listed to the best of my knowledge, every single food Venue in the Park minus The Sweet Spot on International Street. Please note that food venues that are of restaurants that are run outside of KI will be put in their own group. Ex: Larosa’s. Criticism is welcome, it’s my first poll so there is bound to be a mistake or two.

That's only what they have on draft. According to the bartender on Preview Night, the selection is supposed to change periodically. They have bottled selections, as well. For example, I had a black cherry-flavored hard seltzer. I am not sure why those are not included on the menu.

I agree! That's been my go to at KI since I was 6 and usually the first thing I hit at KI It's happiness in a slice

We tried Brew House on Friday. The line was pretty long to get in but went quickly, which was a huge improvement over last year. BUT, with them having both lines now for food orders, it took my husband 20 minutes of standing back in the line just to get a soda refill, I don't know what the solution is to that but it sucked having to wait that long for another soda. I like some of the menu but I'm also disappointed. Everything that sounded amazing was pretty much not on the dining plan, which means for us we won't ever have it. We do the season dining plan specifically so we don't have to have money in the park. I wasn't a fan of them taking a decent regular hamburger and making into a double patty McDonald's like burger. I knew going in there were changes but what I used to order the most are both gone. . Grilled chicken sandwich and grilled chicken salad. Yes they have a salad with grilled chicken but it's Caesar which I do not care for. I asked about just having a plain mixed greens with chicken nope can't do it. The new KI house salad sounds yummy but it has no protein on it, only time I will want that is if it is really hot and I'm not very hungry. I saw a salad come out yesterday and it was small. The double bacon burger sounded amazing, only $1 more than the burger on the dining plan, but yep you guessed it, can't have that either even asking if I could pay more for it was a no. Then asked can I get Munster on the order, nope can't do that either. Now the chicken tenders dinner only comes with honey mustard, no other choice. So I settled on the three little pigs, this wasn't bad, as others have said, the pulled pork in the park has gotten good in the last couple of years. My husband had the fish sandwich and he said it was good. We both liked the tater tots but agreed this is something we will get tired of quickly. I loved the sweet pickles, for me that was a great addition. We went back on Saturday because just like others said, we wanted to warm up. Friday service staff was excellent, checking to make sure everything was good, taking plates away, etc. This wasn't so much the case for us on Saturday. I ordered the bblt and my husband ordered the pub burger. When it came out the server gave him an impossible burger, quite a difference from beef. I told her no that's not right and her response....well that's what was on the ticket. No I was right there when he ordered, it was a pub burger. She looked like she didn't want to be bothered, so out came a supervisor. Tried to explain the same thing to him, just wanted the burger on the dining plan. So he took it away finally and few minutes later comes out and gives my husband a PLAIN cheeseburger with nothing on it but cheese, again that's not what he ordered. I had to take care of this as he was in line for a drink refill. So again they took it back and finally came out with the correct item. He said it was ok but not like what it used to be. Again, I know this is just personal preference, not saying it was bad. My bblt I honestly was not impressed with. The bread was so chewy hard like that I had a hard time biting into it. The bacon I liked the thickness but it was also chewy and not the way I like it, way undercooked. I could definitely have been ok with this but the HOT spread they used instead of mayo was way too hot for me. I'm not sure if you can get just plain mayo or not. My tater tots were not nearly as good as the day before, they weren't as fresh. Our friend that we sat with had a pub burger and wasn't all that impressed either. I understand that things change but it's frustrating that what seemed like all the good items were not on the dining plan. This won't be my go to place anymore due to this. I do have to say that the grilled sausage sandwich sounded good so I may try that sometime. I was quite impressed that there was a manager type person walking around asking how things were. I told him some of my observations like the house salad not having any meat on it. He seemed genuinely interested and actually wrote down my comments. So do I think this is a bad place? No, but it's just not really my preference. I realize this was only opening weekend so I won't say I won't ever go back because I know it's going to take time to get running fully. So my thoughts are it's ok but not somewhere I'm going to rush to every time I'm at the park. Luckily there are a good variety of options to choose from and not get bored with. We did go to Coney for lunch on Saturday and I like that they have actual food scales to weigh the meat, that was always a frustration in getting too little or too much depending on who was working. I am interested to see how things with food in general go as the year progresses.

I notice on the Kings Island website that Panda Express has changed back to 2 entrees. Can anyone confirm this was the case in the park? Panda Express Two Entrées Bowl & Side

Rivertown Freestyle was actually open yesterday, I couldn't believe my eyes.

The onion rings are pretty solid at the Brewhouse, too. I like the batter they used for those and the cod. The register personnel were a bit slow since they were training, but the food came out lickety split.

That answers it, thank you!

It's hard to find a good corndog these days, even at sporting events.

And not some grocery store frank. Quarter pound, all beef

And now it's named Hank's, like Tom Hanks. Coincidence? Probably.

Former Skyline employee here- the 4 in 4-way is the number of ingredients. There are 4-way beans and 4-way onions. A 5-way is both beans and onions. Realistically, the progression goes like this- 2-way- Spaghetti and either chili or cheese, the former they just refer to as chili spaghetti 3-way- Spaghetti, chili and cheese 4-way- Spaghetti, chili, cheese and either beans or onions 5-way- Spaghetti, chili, cheese, and both beans and onions For coneys- - Single wiener bun- just hot dog and bun, can also have cheese - Weiner bun- bun, 2 hot dogs, can also have cheese - Coney- Bun, hot dog, mustard, chili, onions (if you just say coney, servers will ask if you want cheese because they are 2 separate things, most customers don't know or forget that, its even listed on the menu that way) - Cheese coney- Bun, hot dog, mustard, chili, onions, cheese - Chili sandwich- Bun, mustard, chili, onions (same rule with coneys involving cheese) - Chili Cheese Sandwich- Bun, mustard, chili, onions, cheese - Coney bowl- bowl with 3 hot dogs, mustard, chili, onions, cheese Seriously though, if you want good Skyline around the park, the one by The Beach is better in every way (better quality and cheaper) and offers Skyline's full menu (wraps, chilitos, deluxes, burritos, extreme cheese, etc) , and is also one of the better run Skylines in the area to boot.

People complain about changes to the brake trims on The Beast, imagine the complaining people would do if they RMC it and change the layout!

Am I the only one who thinks a Vortex redo by RMC would be super ugly and should be done by someone else?

^But that's meant for a ground-up design only, yes? Would 30+ year old Arrow supports be able to support those huge I-beams and the forces associated with the faster pacing RMC goes for?

If they did Vortex they had better leave the first drop alone. Best coaster drop ever.