Gatekeeper anticappointment

Tyler Boes said:

I wish I rode it.

No, you don't.

My dad rode it and said it was the most parinful experience of his life when he rode it in the back seat. It can't be that rough, right?

Not sure what parinful means, but listen to your dad.

Edit: SoB suffered from MeanStreakism. A very good looking ride that did almost everything wrong.

The Paramount years didn't do much for the parks. I remember going when Vortex was the new thing. Beast and Racer had perpetual lines at that time. The park felt friendlier. Paramount focused on branding, and they spent money, but it didn't seem they were interested in rides much. Kings Island has been surviving off the Beast for 30 years. Diamondback was about a decade late. Now all the Paramount parks are playing catch up.

Sirloindude my thoughts exactly! Gonch described KI as being horribly average, not great but not bad either, and I immediately thought of Canada's Wonderland. It had the same meh lineup as KI before Behemoth and Leviathan came along. To be honest, before the two B&M's entered the park, it was just so so. When the highlight of the day is TOP GUN (as it was formally called) you know the park has some "issues" lol. So ya, hands down, if we were to take the outcome of what happened at CW since Behemoth and speculate on KI, I would certainly say that the 2014 coaster for KI is a biggy.

sirloindude said:

Honestly, I think a great coaster collection is only a small part of what makes a park fantastic, but I do think that the park must be the stuff of legends to impress me without a good coaster lineup.

Agree 100%. But the whole park suffers that same "it's nice enough" thing. There's nothing outwardly horrible about any of it. I can't say anything bad. But there's nothing outstanding either. I can't rave about any of it or recommend any of it as "must see" stuff.

It's nice. So is my grandma.

Living in Columbus I've had Kings Island as my 'other home park' since 1972, and I don't get the notion of it being the meh-est park of all. If Kings Island falls victim to anything it's that they've had a string of amazing, innovative, or record breaking rides, only to be outdone at a later date by someone else. I dunno, do they need to raze rides like Vortex, the Beast, and Invertigo just because better rides exist at other parks across the country? I think KI has a well rounded collection. One more stunner would be nice, I guess, and it looks like something's on the way.

The park has a large area to draw from and their attendance figures don't suffer. I doubt the typical customer stops to say "gee, that Vekoma inverted boomerang is so dated, where's our giant B&M invert?", or "that giant Arrow looper may be the last of its kind, but at this point in our lives we'd like to see something like Smiler", or "that mine ride was good, but wasn't SDC's better?" If I had to point to any particular drawback to Kings Island I'd call lack-o-flats as the primary one, not crappy coasters.

Now having said that, I point to Carowinds as meh-est park! One decent ride, (Intimidator), one great ride, (Afterburn) and the rest I'd consider "one and done", good for track record only.

I like Canada's Wonderland for flats, but I don't get there often.

Lord Gonchar said:

It's nice. So is my grandma.

That's phenomenal. This so should be KI's new tagline.

RCMAC, Carowinds flats aren't that good. What one do you like so much? I consider them a 6/10. Ki is a 5.

I didnt say anything about Carowind's flats. I like CW for flats.

You like Carowind's flats then?

Canada's Wonderland.

I think I love KI because I grew up going there all the time. It's the park that turned me into a coaster enthusiast. I liked parks before that, but I was standing in line for King Cobra and just happened to glance up at the lift hill chain as I was standing under it. That was the moment I was possessed by the coaster bug. I couldn't stop talking about or thinking about coasters since.

So KI hold a place in my heart. Beast is still one of the greatest things ever built on the planet, mag breaks or not.

I remember when those coasters that are now considered lame were big deals. Vortex was amazing in it's day. Racer was so much fun when one traveled the course backwards. White Water Canyon was one of the first rides of it's kind, and a major ride during it's first decade. Flight of Fear was fascinating, but much too painful after a few years of operation because of the now-removed shoulder harnesses.

Face Off/Invertigo was never a big deal. Neither was Adventure Express, unfortunately. Firehawk seems popular with the kids, at least.

I could understand how someone could be disappointed with KI these days.

I think the park needs some new coasters.

If SoB was as good as like El Toro, then we'd be talking about the park a lot differently, just saying.

Just because you wanted to know, SoB was the worst coaster ever built, Tyler. I rode it twice; a few weeks after it was built and a few weeks before it closed. Both were absolutely terrible.

Unfrotunately, you're probably right. What could've made it better.

A lot.

When the ride bounces and shuffles along the track at 80mph it becomes very uncomfortable very quickly. Also remember that it opened with Premier trains, very similar to what FoF has, but with 3 rows. So now you are shuffling and bouncing along the track while cramped in a tiny car being crushed by a huge lapbar.

Now, we know that the trains were terrible and the track was questionable at best. But the layout wasn't even very exciting. Big hill, drop, giant helix, mcbr, loop, helix, turn, station. Mean Streak has more airtime.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GPmIW629e4

Tyler Boes said:

It can't be that rough, right?

Not now, anyway.

That video actually makes SoB look somewhat decent. How very deceiving.

I'd forgotten that it had the loudest lift hill in existence. I guess when your brain has just been pummeled into submission you kind of forget about your recent deafness.

The shuffle is pretty apparent in that video even. Just the way it pinballs around turns was terrible. I wonder if that lift was supposed to be intimidating? It certainly woke us up when we used to camp at the campground(rip) next door.

Carowinds has one awesome flat ride....

Canada's Wonderland has an amazing *collection* of flat rides. The only time I've seen one equal or better was Puyallup.

Son of Beast was the only thing on Earth worse than Hurricane Cat 5. Even Psyclone and Herc were less painful. And then there was Williams' Grove... ;~P

I'm going to KI (for the second time this year) later today and part of tomorrow to meet a friend there, and I'm feeling pretty meh about it. I kind of got my fill of the place when I was there two weeks ago. Like others have said, it's a nice park, but it just doesn't excite me. We looked at trying to find a way to get to Holiday World instead, but we just weren't able to budget the extra drive time.

And since this thread is about Gatekeeper, I'll add in that I'm looking forward to giving it another spin on Sunday. I'm curious to see if I can notice the supposed speed increase people have been talking about.