I know its removal made way for Orion, but still- I miss Firehawk. Do you?

I miss it when it was operated VERY well at SF: WoA, that ride NEVER stacked at that park.  I enjoyed it, but wouldnt wait for it at KI unless i was with someone who hadnt ridden it yet.  Rhat and I couldnt stand looking at it in the queue and seeing the electric green paint showing through under the faded and neglected Firehawk paint job.

I miss that it was a unique ride but Orion is definitely better, has higher capacity, and not as much downtime. I actually miss it more when I ride nighthawk or batwing because both of those ones are super janky and rough that it makes me miss how Firehawk was decently smooth for an old Vekoma and it's unfortunate that the best of the Vekoma flying Dutchman coasters reached the end of its service life somehow before then others which are much worse in my opinion. I think reach the end of its service life is relative to the park because if Firehawk had been relocated to let's say, valleyfair or Michigan's Adventure, it would have to have had pieces of the track falling off of it to be removed because those park never remove anything because of their smaller budgets and the fact they NEVER get new coasters. Maybe it did have some huge issue at KI that I don't know about but I assume that KI knew it was down alot and problematic, expensive to maintain, and when an opportunity came along to replace it with "the Orion project" inherited from CGA they jumped on it... 

 

I will say at least they replaced it unlike a much more beloved coaster they claimed had "reached the end of its service life" and was removed in favor of a grassy field and a drone launch pad...

50 minutes ago, johnjniehaus said:

I miss that it was a unique ride but Orion is definitely better, has higher capacity, and not as much downtime. I actually miss it more when I ride nighthawk or batwing because both of those ones are super janky and rough that it makes me miss how Firehawk was decently smooth for an old Vekoma and it's unfortunate that the best of the Vekoma flying Dutchman coasters reached the end of its service life somehow before then others which are much worse in my opinion. I think reach the end of its service life is relative to the park because if Firehawk had been relocated to let's say, valleyfair or Michigan's Adventure, it would have to have had pieces of the track falling off of it to be removed because those park never remove anything because of their smaller budgets and the fact they NEVER get new coasters. Maybe it did have some huge issue at KI that I don't know about but I assume that KI knew it was down alot and problematic, expensive to maintain, and when an opportunity came along to replace it with "the Orion project" inherited from CGA they jumped on it... 

 

I will say at least they replaced it unlike a much more beloved coaster they claimed had "reached the end of its service life" and was removed in favor of a grassy field and a drone launch pad...

Although Firehawk did definitely have its problems, I think it could've been possible to keep that coaster running for a bit longer if the park really wanted to, but when the opportunity came up to put in a giga coaster, it was a pretty clear decision for the park to replace a problematic coaster with a more reliable and popular attraction.

I think the "reached the end of its service life" reasoning definitely applied more to Vortex than it did for Firehawk. I'm certain Kings Island would've preferred to keep Vortex in operation until a replacement was ready for construction. It seems the problems with Vortex were significant enough for Kings Island to pull the plug on it well before such a replacement was even conceived. Unfortunately, I think the problems with Vortex just came at the worst possible time. Not just because Firehawk's replacement was still under construction, meaning it would take at least another three years before Kings Island's next major coaster, but also because of the pandemic which delayed that project even further until we're still talking about what could go into that plot five years later.

I like the flying coaster concept and I think Vekoma pulled off the 'seats' better than B&M, though B&M's load faster (at least only going by Firehawk, Nighthawk and Superman at NJFTP).  It was a unique ride at Kings Island and I think I liked it more than most.    However, talking to a few maintenance workers I've come across, it was a bit of a maintenance nightmare, particularly when it came to its computer system.  

Rode Superman 3 times today at SF Great America. It made me miss FH less. I never was a big fan and I have to totally disagree with @silver2005, the B&M restraints are way better than Vekomas'. 

To clarify, the upper body restraints on B&M flyers aren't bad, it's the leg restraints that ruin it for me with them. 

I'm also kind of reserving judgement on B&M flyers until I ride the bigger ones like Manta or Tatsu.

43 minutes ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

Rode Superman 3 times today at SF Great America. It made me miss FH less. I never was a big fan and I have to totally disagree with @silver2005, the B&M restraints are way better than Vekomas'. 

I 100% agree with you. I just wish that the loading/unloading of the trains were quicker...especially if they are 2 train and ops are 2 train operations....which means you've got a train sitting waiting for the train in the station to dispatch and riders laying down "on their stomachs" facing down to the ground without much support.

I loop Firehawk into the category of mid sized inverting coasters- a similar vein to X- Flight (Ironic) at SF Great America. Even if Vortex’s replacement is large, I wouldn’t mind something under 125ft down the road.