Banshee media day at Kings Island

I was thinking the same thing. I'll be there this weekend. I'm glad it's only an 8 hour drive from Cleveland. :-)

Jason Hammond said:

I was thinking the same thing. I'll be there this weekend. I'm glad it's only an 8 hour drive from Cleveland. :-)

8 hours?? EDIT: Oh carowinds.

Snagged 4 banshee rides at media day. A great event by KI and a wonderful time had by all.

I've seen much recent debate that recent B&Ms have been "weak" and "forceless" and such.

Well... banshee is not. It is a fun, well-paced ride that thrills. Not rough, the OTSRs and vest were not painful at all (and I'm a big guy). I love the beginning: curved drop into a high banked turn and then dive loop. The zero-g roll is great too.

Solid ride. A winner for KI and B&M

I've confirmed elsewhere that the seat belts on Flight Deck (now The Bat) and Backlot Stunt Coaster were removed prior to 2013. I consider that good news and a sign that Cedar Fair may have backed off their extreme stance on seat belts from a few years back.

Neither one of those were manufactured by Intamin, so they should be fine.

It's hard to believe that Kings Island would become a park my girlfriend and I would want to visit multiple times a year now. We only live 3.5hrs away, but never had much desire to go before aside from a trip every other year or so. Most of the rides are just "so-so", including Diamondback. But Banshee changes the park dynamic and gives us a ride we want to drive down there for. Funny how one ride can change an entire outlook on a park... :)

The park has always been nice, don't get me wrong... But there was nothing particularly impressive in the lineup for me. Best ride in the park prior to Banshee was probably X-Flight (errr.... Firechicken... ).

We can't wait to stop in while driving down to Dollywood in a few weeks. Should be passing through mid-day to snag a ride or two, hopefully if it is not too busy.

SteveWoA said:

Most of the rides are just "so-so", including Diamondback.

*sigh*.............

Beast and Diamondback are two of my favorite coasters, but I do agree that Banshee changes the park lineup completely.

Eric83 said:

*sigh*.............

I figured I would have some reaction to this, but it is true (for me).

Beast is extremely unimpressive for me. The ride itself is fine but honestly, I could never ride it and not care.

The Bat is OK, but again, not worth riding unless walk-on. It is a great suspended coaster, but in general I don't like them much (aside from Ninja at SFMM which was fantastic).

Stunt Lot Coaster Thingy - It is a fun ride, but not a must-ride.

Vortex - Meh

Racer - Meh

Flight of Fear - Never a fan of these... I prefer the outside models more (Jokers Jinx). Plus, being 6'6" it is a pain to get those lapbars over my knees with those trains.

Firehawk - Having worked on X-Flight and actually enjoying the ride, this was probably top pick at the park until now... Which is a bit crazy.

Diamondback - Probably my least favorite B&M speed coaster. Was never that much of a fan of it (and this is coming from a B&M fanboy practically!). Give me Nitro, Behemoth, Leviathan, Goliath, Apollo's Chariot, etc... Anyday.

Banshee - Amazing.

Until Banshee, there was nothing to draw me to the park. Its a beautiful park, for sure... And I do like it as a whole, but it was never worth the drive to visit. I would rather drive to Waldameer for example for Ravine Flyer or Kennywood for some of their rides. Nothing stood at for me at KI until now. But hey, at least there is something now and I will visit more often :)

I think the same of Canadas Wonderland as I do Kings Island... Until Behemoth and Leviathan (<3) came along, the collection of rides is just as bad (aside from some cool flats). Now we try to make it there every year. All it takes is a stand out ride or two.

I actually found Canada's Wonderland to have one of the lamest coaster collections in existence beyond the Beemers and Vortex (a five-star coaster in my book). I'm trying to imagine Vortex being the signature ride up there and it still baffles me.

That's one thing that always surprised me, now that I bring it up. Paramount rarely seemed to get it right on the steel coaster front once the 1980s ended. Only the two smaller parks actually got any B&Ms, which is mind-boggling to me. I don't know why Paramount had to go so weird or so low-capacity as often as they did. Don't get me wrong; some were pretty good, but even so, Volcano, Face/Off, Hypersonic XLC...CF sure knew what they needed and took care of that nice and quick.

Also, count me among the batch that found Diamondback to be toward the low-end of the B&M speed coaster spectrum. Better than Raging Bull for sure, and possibly Apollo's Chariot as well, but bested by the majority. Still a great fit for a park that sorely needed a signature steelie, though.

SteveWoA said:

I think the same of Canadas Wonderland as I do Kings Island... Until Behemoth and Leviathan (<3) came along, the collection of rides is just as bad (aside from some cool flats). Now we try to make it there every year. All it takes is a stand out ride or two.

I'll agree that CW's collection of coasters was pretty lame (save for Vortex) up until a few years ago. That being said, it is THE best collection of flats on the continent, save for perhaps Puyallup...and maybe(?) the TX State Fair.

I didn't even have time to get to those. That park was so huge, I could see it being a three-day destination if you include the waterpark.

To Paramount's credit, even if they were pretty inconsistent on coaster quality, they built stellar parks. As far as the park itself, Canada's Wonderland was stunning. Sitting on that grassy hill overlooking Vortex's lake having a picnic lunch...what a pleasant place to be.

What caught my attention on CW's collection of coasters is how many of them are copies of coasters in other parks. Stunt Coaster, Bat, Flight Deck, Fly, Ghoster Coaster, Silver Streak, SkyRider, Taxi Jam, Time Warp and Wild Beast = 10. Mighty Canadian Mineblaster inspired by one at old Coney Island (Cincy) makes 11.

But so what? I never got the clone argument, because the majority of people generally don't travel the country seeking out different roller coasters.

I want to draw attention to Time Warp, though. Aren't those supposed to be the high-end thrillers for parks that can't afford actual flyers? It seems like such a colossally bad idea for a park that size.

Apologies on derailing this thread further, but that's one thing Cedar Point (as far as regional parks go) always understood, and probably better than anyone else: when you get that big, build for capacity as well as thrills.

Edited to include a response to Vater's comment: you're correct, but originality never hurt anyone. Frankly, if TV shows have any measurable impact on drawing attention to parks, originality actually helps. There's a reason Millennium Force comes up so often.

There's a reason Batman comes up so often too...

I don't get the claims of mediocrity toward Diamondback. That ride kicked my ass on its media day.

Thank you, I really dont get it either. I've been on several different B&M giants and IMO Diamondback wins hands down. I'm always impressed by the air time on that ride and you can't see a parking lot anywhere. Notice, among us, Behemoth and Intimidator come in ahead of DB on the list of CoasterBuzz favorites, so what do I know? Except that I'm glad I have DB closest to me over all the others- I wouldn't trade it.
If I had to say, my main disappointment about these designs is the last portion peters out after a mid- or end-course brake (and that seems typical of B&M installations in general) and Behemoth and Intimidator are some of the worst offenders. At Kings Island, at least the mid-course is not as interruptive and you get a final drop below grade into the splash and that puts it in the fun-to-the-end category for me.

SteveWoA said:
Banshee - Amazing.

Until Banshee, there was nothing to draw me to the park. Its a beautiful park, for sure... And I do like it as a whole, but it was never worth the drive to visit.

I've always liked Beast and Diamondback, and CP is my home park. But glad to hear you really like banshee.

Jeff said:

I don't get the claims of mediocrity toward Diamondback. That ride kicked my ass on its media day.

I'm a bit of a newb enthusiast, so DBack is the only B&M hyper I've ridden. Once I ride others like Leviathan and Intimidator, I may start to feel different about it...

Racer--AT NIGHT--is a unique adventure