As I'm waiting in line again for Banshee. It has broken down on me for the 4th time this season. I know coasters tend to go down briefly, and B&M has a great track record of reliability. Did Diamondback also go down as frequently as Banshee it's first year?

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You must have joined the line at 4 unlucky times. In my 11(!) visits this season, the only time it was down when I was trying to ride it was Opening Day. (Not counting weather, of course.)

Go ride something else, and it will probably be back up by the time you work your way back.

Don't forget they also have to close the ride if someone get's sick on it to make sure it's completely clean. There is quite a few inversions on Banshee plus dollar food days going on today doesn't probably add up well.

No I agree with you Oldchool. In the 5 years DB has been at Kings Island it has broken down on me while in line once, and the only major closing it had was I believe in 2011-2012 when it was down for a week for repairing some concrete. Banshee broke down twice for me on opening day, once in June, and has been down both times when I went for ERT. It also had that issue in the station around June.

I rode it a few hours ago.

It broke down moments before we got in line on July 31st but we got to be the first riders when it re-opened

Banshee isn't "down" any more than most other coasters and rides at the park.

It's just more noticeable when it is "down" because it is the newest ride with the most spotlight directed towards it, at the park currently.

I think it was down a little while ago because they were moving the purple train onto the transfer table...

Its a brand new complex machine. The bugs are probably still being worked out. I'm sure there are still some bad or overly sensitive sensors. It's better than the alternative of sensors not tripping when they are needed.

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And interstates should be safer because in the last 2 months I have seen the highway shut down 5 times....

The only times I've seen it down all season have been weather related.

I'm not complaining, I'm just making an observation.

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Our family has been at the park more than a dozen times this summer, I don't think I've ever witnessed it down while there.

Being completely honest, Banshee does go down quite a bit. But most of the time, it's for 10 minutes or so. As CharleyTheDinosaur said, it's all about the sensors on the rides. It's not like the ride is literally breaking down.

...and for weather, ugh! It will storm for 5 minutes and the ride will be down for an hour!

Oddest experience I've had so far is the ride being closed for "weather" when it misted for 15 or 20 seconds.

Immediately thereafter, the sun came out BLAZING. I mean, we were absolutely BAKING on the stairs up to the station. Ride ops were telling us (yes, I heard with my own two ears) that the ride would be closed for "about an hour" due to weather.

Of course, the ride opened about 8 minutes later... RIGHT AS IT STARTED DRIZZLING.

I'm sure they were following instructions, but it was the oddest thing. The ride ran in light rain, closed for the sun, the started up again a few minutes after the light rain returned.

Is this kind of thing Cedar Fair policy? One particular day at Cedar Point, we were told that everything was closed. Everything. Because of weather. We literally squinted and could not see a single drop of rain on the ground. Was there lightning in the distance? I don't know. Didn't see any storm clouds or anything, but I trust the park's weather resources more than my eyes. Still, EVERY COASTER closed, and it hadn't even sprinkled. We ended up leaving early in the afternoon because every single coaster was closed on a generally misty day with light clouds and a couple sprinkles here and there. I'll never forget.

Sometimes lightning can force everything to shut down without ever getting a drop of rain, if an isolated storm passes close enough to be seen but far enough away to not get anything wet. I saw this at Soak City once a couple years ago; they closed everything and cleared the pools with an announcement that there was lightning in the area, and the pools reopened about 30 to 40 minutes later without a single drop of rain falling; the sun even stayed out the whole time.

Guys, Banshee is new so there will be some downtime.

Like some people have said, I have seen it down quite a bit, but usually only for like 10-15 minutes at a time. That happened again today at around 9:10.

I saw it down 3 times today

Oddest experience I've had so far is the ride being closed for "weather" when it misted for 15 or 20 seconds.

Immediately thereafter, the sun came out BLAZING. I mean, we were absolutely BAKING on the stairs up to the station. Ride ops were telling us (yes, I heard with my own two ears) that the ride would be closed for "about an hour" due to weather.

Of course, the ride opened about 8 minutes later... RIGHT AS IT STARTED DRIZZLING.

I'm sure they were following instructions, but it was the oddest thing. The ride ran in light rain, closed for the sun, the started up again a few minutes after the light rain returned.

Is this kind of thing Cedar Fair policy? One particular day at Cedar Point, we were told that everything was closed. Everything. Because of weather. We literally squinted and could not see a single drop of rain on the ground. Was there lightning in the distance? I don't know. Didn't see any storm clouds or anything, but I trust the park's weather resources more than my eyes. Still, EVERY COASTER closed, and it hadn't even sprinkled. We ended up leaving early in the afternoon because every single coaster was closed on a generally misty day with light clouds and a couple sprinkles here and there. I'll never forget.

Most parks (and golf courses among other things) have a lightning detector and have a policy with which if it is within X miles, it shuts down. A lot of places go with 10 miles, wouldn't be surprised if KI is 15 miles due to 3 structures at 300' tall.

At one point it was 15 miles, I believe.

Gatekeeper was down quite often it's opening season, at least the visits I made (5 or so). It wouldn't open with the park, it'd go down mid-day. There was a video at one point of it going down because it had struck a Sea Gull. These things are big machines, I'd be more concerned if they didn't go down periodically.

Banshee is on pace to give the most rides ever for a new attraction at Kings Island.

I did notice the third party that is working on the on-ride video was working on it for a majority of the day (Sunday). I returned to Banshee after the Purple train was transferred and third party appeared to be working with it. Ride Op did say they were at least a month behind. Kind of a tough situation to be in trying to record/transfer video in a short time from that many cameras. I will stick to the mechanical side of things thank you very much. Was surprised to see them allow the train to be removed from service, however the crew was doing their best to compensate.

It has been up and running every time I have been at the park. Honestly any park I go to, the coasters I see running the best without complaint are the B&M coasters and the old reliable Arrow coasters. If they are ever down for any reason it is usually because someone puked or some minor error that doesn't keep them down for long.

I'd say Banshee has proven to be a hard workin' gal thus far and will continue to be a reliable machine and worthy investment

Compare Maverick.

First season...or even still.

Or Volcano: The Blast Coaster, which ran 1/4 of the time its first season. If even that. Then with only 1/2 the seats on the trains.

Compare it to Son of Beast 2010-2012. I'd say it's doing way better than what it replaced.

Or Son of Beast in 2000.

Opened late Media Day. Less than an hour the next morning. Shut for weeks. Then weeks later before a second train was added.

Frequently shut down most of the summer...

I'm thinking maybe I'm just bad luck. Lol. Love Banshee though. Awesome ride. And being on pace for the most rides ever for a new attraction, goes to show how hard the Banshee crew works.

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I've been to the park approx 20 times thus far and have yet to be in line when Banshee has broken down. I've only seen it down once or twice all season when passing by. Once because someone threw up so they we're cleaning it off. You seem to have really bad luck. Don't jinx the rest of us!

The cool thing about Banshee is that if it breaks down while you're in line, it's typically a quick fix It's worth keeping your place in line. I think Opening Day was the only time I'd ever seen it down for more than just a few minutes.