Long lines for Banshee and on the freeway for King Island's opening day

I waited almost three hours for Banshee. Some people were telling me that they waited a lot longer than that.

"Theme Park Trifecta" happened to me at Great Adventure when I visited this park on Columbus Day, 2007. Four Roller Coasters (El Toro, Kingda Ka, Superman - The Escape and Nitro) had been built since my last visit in 2000. It took me eight hours to get one ride each on these coasters.

Anyone complaining about waiting 2 (or 3, or 4) hours to ride a new coaster at a park needs some perspective in life.

What did you expect?

Personally, I would've expected at least 3.5 - 4 hours minimum.

Kids these days.

p.s.: Regulus, my wife and I had the same experience at that same park on part of our Honeymoon in 2007; it was our first (and only so far) trip to that park.

Just for the record, I wasn't complaining about waiting three hours. I decided to get into the line. I was commenting that the news source said that people were waiting "just over two hours" was inaccurate by my experience. I got into the line when it was shorter than usual for the day, and I waited almost three hours. I realize now that I didn't explain what I meant in my original post.

You probably weren't even talking about my post. lol

No, LK, I wasn't directing that at you at all, but the article (and I suppose the "author") in general.

He/she seems rather surprised at such a long arduous wait, and the fact that there was "traffic".

At its peak, the line for Banshee reached around to the far side of the Eiffel Tower.

we were there today. waited one-half hour in the morning (well, the wife did as I didn't ride it) and she waited 20 minutes at around 2:30pm

That's because everybody in the tri-state area and their brothers went yesterday.

I have a feeling once the frenzy calms down Banshee has the potential to be a people eater. Like Diamondback, with consistent three train operation even a long line won't be so bad.

Tomorrow, Easter Sunday is another noon opening.

B & M stands for bodies moving. I have no fear of waiting more than 45 minutes tops on our visit in July.

We were in the park for a few hours this morning before going to the airport, and it didn't seem like the same park. Not crowded at all. Simon got three laps on Woodstock Express.

OhioStater said:

Personally, I would've expected at least 3.5 - 4 hours minimum.

We live in vastly different worlds.

It's Easter Sunday. If I were going opening weekend, I'd have went today.

Given the lines for Diamondback on opening day, I'm not surprised the lines were that long. I just don't know who does that. I don't think I'd ever get in line for anything estimated at more than 2 hours and I'm a super coaster nerd. (Then again, I also plan my trip so I don't end up needing to decide between a 2 hour wait and not riding a signature coaster).

Gonch, I said I would've expected to....not that I would have.

On this particular day.

This is just from our collective experiences of waiting 4 hours for Magnum's opening, Mean Streak, Millennium, El Toro, etc...

First day for a big coaster combined with lovely weather, I would say that an expectation of waiting at least 3.5 hours is reasonable.

Which is why they have FastLane. :)

I remember SDL at HP regularly being over a 3 hour wait when it opened, so in my opinion, not much has changed over the decades....

Sounds like Stater needs to start a class for people who are afraid of long lines.

Bunch of sissies.

;)

People do it just to do it. My son and I went to Gatekeeper opening day knowing full well what we were in for. He said he wanted to go and I told him I'd take him as long as he understood what we're getting into and didn't complain. It's more about being there for the event. And hey, we got coozies out of it. Would I ever wait 3 hours for GK again? Heck no! But it was more of a special occasion type deal.

Besides, people wait in way worse lines in way worse weather to save $50 on a TV that's missing $100 worth of features every Thanksgiving. Those are the crazy ones.

Although we were at media day, we ended up waiting again on Friday for another ride. We got in fairly quickly though, so it should have been less than a 2hr wait...But it had a 1hr breakdown and the operation of the ride was terrible. Stacking all 3 trains constantly, so it ended up being 3hrs and 15mins. We also heard from friends while in line everything had a full queue already, so we didn't leave the line when it broke down. Afterward we just grabbed the camera and walked around the park a few more hours and left.

Stopped back Saturday and the park was basically dead... Banshee was 20min waits and got two more front seat rides. There was a 5min wait for Diamondback, 10mins Beast, 5mins Racer, 5min Bat... Was a great little visit, especially with the beautiful weather.

All in all, we ended up with 10x rides on Banshee this weekend... Love it! The ride for sure is in my top 3.

Easter Sunday it was about a 20 minute wait for the ride most of the day except when it went down. It was about 15 toward the end of the day.