Leaderboard

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"

Looking back at last year, I really think that Kings Island has a winning lineup with food. It's hard for me to pick my favorite place as of right now. However, If I had to pick best restaurant in the park, it would have been Miami Brewhouse. The food, the atmosphere, and selection on the menu is perfect in my opinion.

Maybe it’s an even darker blue :p

Blitz!!!! Sent from my KFSUWI using Tapatalk

Vibranium. They have a special source.

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

Do you think we will see some new light bulbs, on the Grand Carousel also? It would look really nice since some of them are burnt out.

I will be calling it “The Southside Blues”. First in reference to the great view from the lift hill of that empty plot of land just south of it where Vortex stood. Second for the color of Orion.

Agree. All the wood coasters at KI have great ridership.

I’m so glad you wrote this. As you stated, KECO were the ones managing the park day-to-day. Carl Lindner and American Financial’s business model was to reward success, and Kings Island was hitting attendance records nearly every year. AFC financed the park very, very well and let Kings Entertainment Company “do their thing” at the park level. A small correction, Vortex, Amazon Falls and WaterWorks were all KECO-ownership additions, although Amazon Falls and WaterWorks opened under AFC’s ownership. Vortex is notable as the only coaster to be designed, built and opened totally under KECO’s ownership. Maybe now people on here will listen when I say the Lindner years were good ones. Everyone I talked to who was in management at the time had glowing things to say about being owned by Lindner.

Oh wow. Obviously not my intention!

Let us always remember. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Was that on Dining plan?

Wait just a minute... An article on KI's official website says it's new restaurant is opening to RAVE REVIEWS?! YOU DON'T SAY!?!?

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

I have a question about the All season Drink Plan. If I go the disposal cup option over the souvenir bottle, what size disposable cup do you get? Do you get the large one or can you pick whichever you want?

I believe so.

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.

Is the Skyline 4 way onion or bean? I'm an onion guy and I hate beans.

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?

Very true. Maybe a ground up RMC T-rex with a similar layout to Vortex should Thanos ever decide to cleanse the coaster universe.

^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.