Kings Island 2020

High five!

Y’all out here acting like most people know there ARE roller coaster enthusiast stereotypes.

I don’t think people at large really know it’s a thing.

Parks do, and it used to be a constant struggle and string of apologies to keep us in the good graces of parks willing to do stuff for us.

Tekwardo said:

I don’t think people at large really know it’s a thing.

I completely agree. I'm curious, where is the line between enthusiast and someone who enjoys theme parks? If you've never been to an enthusiast event are you truly an enthusiast?

Roller coaster enthusiasts are harder to spot than someone walking into a comic book convention dressed as their favorite version of Spider-man, etc.

Comic nerds cosplay, while enthusiasts make shirts that say "SINGLE RIDER" on them. Or maybe they're all comic book types cosplaying coaster enthusiasts.

Outside of enthusiast events how prevalent are they? In all my years of visiting theme parks I've only seen a few people that stood out as enthusiasts (jean jacket with ride patches, fanny pack, etc.)

As a general rule, the further away the coaster on their t-shirt is located from the park you see them in, the less desirable striking up a conversation with them will be.

That "meandering" that Fury does before the brakes seems to bleed off a lot of speed, personally I'd rather maintain the speed all the way to the brakes like with the other non-Steel Dragon gigas.

If they're worth their weight in gravy, they'll pull out their ACE card and leave no question as to the extent of their authority.

(Where the hell is that thread? My Gonchback powers are failing me this evening.)

Oh man... I remember that thread. Kid pulled out his Coasterbuzz Club card like they were the police. Right?

*Edit. I was wrong it was his ACE card.
https://coasterbuzz.com/Forums/Topic/americas-stupidest-public-comments

Tommytheduck said:

As a general rule, the further away the coaster on their t-shirt is located from the park you see them in, the less desirable striking up a conversation with them will be.

I wore a Kings Island t-shirt to Magic Kingdom last week. No one spoke to me, not even my own family.

Ahhh....if there's one things that's reliable in my world it's that Coasterbuzz will be worth reading.

I'm way late to the party so here's my 2c on everything:
-Orion is very short. I thought Leviathan was very short. Both will be great rides but will probably not crack my top 20. Nobody will care and the park will rake in the cash. No, I haven't ridden it. I have ridden a million B&M speed coasters and I generally have a good idea of what I'm getting.

-People may not know the stereotype of coaster nerd specifically (though there's that Simpsons reference to "out of town coaster weirdos") but there are a lot of broad strokes hobbies which get lumped into the "weird nerd" bin. Comics, computers, RPG's, board games, video games (at least until the Frat Boy Halo/Madden stereotype), trading cards, and yes, coasters. I don't need to have a specific thought about a team's fan base to have a general stereotype about sports fans or a specific thought about a denomination to have a general stereotype about religious folks.

-Coasterbuzz is awesome because we are at least a tiny bit self reflective. We can at least look at ourselves and laugh at how passionately (or not passionately) we take something which is totally and utterly trivial and meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Most forums I'm on (the aforementioned U2 forums, for instance) are chock full of people who genuinely seem to think the world is going to end if things don't go exactly the way they think they are entitled to as a "megafan." I am proud that Coasterbuzz is legendarily inhospitable to those people, because I'd much rather have a conversation about human nature, politics, philosophy, or even the dynamics of online forums than another thread of "What is park X getting next year?" or "Who thinks <my opinion> is right?" followed by "Go to hell if you disagree with me."

Go to hell! I disagree with you!

High five!

ApolloAndy said:

Most forums I'm on (the aforementioned U2 forums, for instance) are chock full of people who genuinely seem to think the world is going to end if things don't go exactly the way they think they are entitled to as a "megafan." I am proud that Coasterbuzz is legendarily inhospitable to those people

You may want to avoid the Cedar Point thread then.

So I know its been some time since the last reply, but now that I have found some time to read all of this, here goes...

First, I'll admit something. I really should have taken the response/reaction to the infamous 'Top Airtime' more seriously. In that, yes, its true. You guys really don't like these kinds of discussions. But that's perfectly fair, and I can understand why. As someone said in that thread, there are plenty of other places one can go for strictly coaster-centric talk (reddit, CoasterForce etc.) Which is why I will not be posting much here from here on out (I'll still lurk).

Nothing personal. It's just that I'm not as big into the business/operational/financial/logistics side of the industry as you all are. (My posts in the news forum say it all!) On the flip side, even I find talking nothing but the most intricate details of coasters to be tedious some times...

But like I said, that is perfectly fine. To each their own. You do you. That's why different forums/communities exist, and thankfully there's plenty of other places for what I'm more interested in.

Now with that having said, I still would like to respond to a lot of what was said in between now and my last post in this thread....

1. "It doesn't matter what enthusiasts think, the park will prosper regardless"

Oh totally agree. 100%. For the record, I am fully aware of this. If you want the honest reason as to why I didn't bother to mention it initially, it would be because that that fact seems to be so commonly understood on this site (this is a compliment), that I didn't think it necessary. In other words, I know that you all are intelligent and rational enough to know this. So just to clear the air, yes, I know this too. I fully understand that no CF higher-up will be losing an ounce of sleep over what some coaster dork says about one of their upcoming rides on the Internet.

2. Which brings me to my next point...Believe me, I'm just as unfond of those kinds of enthusiasts (see this post, and this post) as most here are. I want to punch through a wall anytime I hear complaints such as Banshee's inversions being "too drawn out", or some variant of the god-forsaken "Millennium Force-less" trope. I know, there really does seem to be enthusiasts out there that like so few rides and complain so much that you wonder how they can even consider themselves "enthusiastic" about them at all.

3. But on that note, I really don't think what I said in my previous comments was all that negative (but apologize if they came off that way?). I even emphasized first what I liked about the ride, noting the crazy drop (85 deg.) angle its going to have, and that that the drop will be no less than Millennium's.

To throw in some more positives I think the color scheme is dream-like, and that traversing the dark blue track in a secluded setting, is going to make for yet another amazing ride to be found at KI.

I'm not the only one that thinks its short. ApolloAndy and Tekwardo seem to agree with me. And conversely, the three of us can still agree none of Orion's stats or the layout is going to bare even the slightest financial relevance for the park. The park is going to rake next year regardless. I totally get that.

At the end of day, Orion, Fury, Leviathan, Millennium Force, it doesn't matter. They are/will all be reffered to as simply "the big blue one" by the common guest in their respective parks, and will be universally praised. And I'm thinking that Orion will probably be my new favorite at KI. My new #1 within an already great lineup that I would pick any day above any park I've been to not named Cedar Point.

--

Thanks for reading all this if you did, but if you want the TL;DR version, its this: I was not expecting what I said in my previous comments to be taken so badly. I thought wrong, and for that I apologize. I am immeasurably excited for Orion, as well as the general direction my home park is headed for in the future...

Llama Drama said:

To throw in some more positives I think the color scheme is dream-like, and that traversing the dark blue track in a secluded setting, is going to make for yet another amazing ride to be found at KI.

Personally, I don't recall realizing the color scheme of a ride while I was on it. Maybe that's me.

Or maybe you just visit parks that have all red track...

Aw, please stick around, Llama Drama- nobody’s wishing you would go away.
I like you because you can write AND type in complete, punctuated sentences. And we can all agree on what opinions are like. Everybody’s got one, and that’s what keeps the discussion lively, right?

yawetag - Sorry, meant to say "night ride. In that, the track will look nearly pitch black at night, and similar to Millennium Force, might create that illusion that you're riding on nothing. I know, small detail. I'm into details like that. Who knows? Maybe that was Rob Decker's intention. I'm told he is a man of details...

But no, it's not like I get on the ride, only to make the realization later: "Whoa, will you look at this color scheme!" XD

RCMAC - Hey thanks! Yeah, I always try my best in that realm, as my philosophy holds: If you don't display grammar and spelling that can be taken seriously, then it becomes that much harder for your argument to be taken seriously!

Like I said, I'll definitely still lurk, as there is a lot of good dialogue and discussion here that you can't find much elsewhere. I'll still post occasionally as things strike my interest. I'm over what happened previously in this thread. No, I didn't take offense to any of it by any means. I was just surprised at it. I guess now I know what I can expect when I drop a "hot take" here.

And yes, it is perfectly fine for there to be disagreement, even strong disagreement, as that is what makes the discussion lively. This is a great site!

I've been a card carrying ACE member for more decades than I care to admit; and for well over a decade I wrote and designed ACE's national event fliers. But I would never think to whip out my membership card in expectations of special treatment.