Kings Island 2020

Gary Dowdell said:

Like some others here, though, I'll always wonder what could have been.

Is your flux capacitor still functional? Because I would love to know if all this hype about the Browns is worth it or not before the season starts.

40 years of experience should answer that question.

Gary Dowdell said:

it will be interesting at the first big Q & A session after this is officially announced to hear how and why they settled on this particular layout.

To some, I suppose. If the question is asked, I can't imagine anyone who thinks they missed the mark with this coaster will be satisfied with the (likely very corporate PR style) answer given.

I can actually field that one for you. "It fit our budget and will be very popular with the general public."

Unpossible. Everyone will be able to tell it's not more awesomer than Diamondback.

"We settled on this sub-par layout because, while we certainly wanted to market a big new attraction to boost attendance next year, we also wanted to make sure we retained enough leftover capital to line the pockets of our executives to further widen the wealth gap among the important folks and lowly peons of Cedar Fair. In addition, we made the deliberate decision for this one to be far less interesting than our previous installments to annoy the f*** out of enthusiasts everywhere, especially within the greater Cincinnati area."

ShaneDenmark said:

Tek- Wouldn’t this KIGA be the Cindy, Fury 325 the Jan, and Leviathan the Marsha Marsha Marsha?

KI’s Giga would be the Cindy, possibly. But Fury is definitely Marsha. I’m not basing them on age. I’m basing them on how good they are. And I can hear Lebiathan saying “Fury Fury Fury” when I ride.

So this could indeed be Cindy or another Jan.

Does that make The Beast, Alice?

When was the last time any other regional park chain built a giga coaster? Do the Six Flags parks even have a giga in their collection? Seriously- Cedar Fair is the only regional operator I know of that actually invests in quality of attractions. Would you rather this or a Larson Looper?

Well, Six Flags has a Strata and Titan and Goliath as well as a number of ~200' coasters. So missing a giga seems like a somewhat arbitrary checkbox. In spite of the prevalence of S&S Freespin clones, they also invested in some pretty amazing RMC hybridizations, Wonder Woman SFFT, and have a couple of interesting looking customs (West Coast Racers, Maxx Force) coming this year. I'm not that sad that they're not putting gigas all over the place.

John Hildebrandt mentions in his book that Dick Kinzel, back in the day, was always surprised that only Cedar Fair invested heavily and consistently in the 200-foot+ coaster strategy. I have to agree that while they vary in quality, they're certainly marketable and almost always one of the best rides in every park. They've certainly been my favorite rides in each of the Six Flags parks where they had them.

For those interpreting criticism of this new giga as us saying we don't like it, I would like to put out the reminder that could-be-better and don't-like-it are two different things. I'm sure it will be a massively fun attraction, as I feel like you have to work harder to make a giga unenjoyable than you do to make it fun. I'm just saying that I feel like KI had an easy shot for having the best ride in the world and I think they missed that. I've no doubt that it'll still be fun and likely be the best ride in the park.

I do admire CF for the way they seem to pace themselves on addition, though, and I believe I've said that numerous times in the past. While Six Flags may have installed a number of good attractions in recent years, especially including the hybrids, I think I look at them the way I look at this KI giga: good or very good, but could've been better. I have a lot of ground to cover with newer SF additions, but I take a ride like SFGAm's Goliath as a prime example: it was over too soon. I'd rather they space out additions and quit building half-rides. It's hard not to think that Six Flags Great America could've skipped on Joker and used the money to make Maxx Force longer, Six Flags Magic Mountain skip on Green Lantern (that ride sure didn't last long) to make, well, just about any ride they've built in recent memory longer, etc. The rides that have come seem to do just fine, but imagine West Coast Racers or Twisted Colossus as being two full-length tracks apiece instead of one.

Coaster enthusiasts thoughts on KIGA

https://youtu.be/qPy_ybPWUUs

Another note. They cleared trees in view of The Beast’s first brake run, reducing the isolation of the coaster. They definitely could have rerouted that further away from The Beast.

How the planning team decides where to put a new ride is one of the more interesting park mysteries to me. In this case, the removal of Firehawk opens up a nice spot for a new coaster station with an existing midway connection. They have chosen to go south from there though, into the forest, instead of north into the former Son of Beast helix area.

Mystic Timbers is a good example also. They relocated buildings, adjusted an existing ride's queue, and built over train tracks and water crossings, all so they could put it where they decided they wanted it.

I would have loved to see the new coaster travel towards SOB helix area. Maybe they wanted to keep the ride from disturbing the Great Bear guests.

For those not following the Kings Island progress elsewhere, the color of the new giga appears to be royal blue with grey supports. This info comes from many photographs taken by locals who drive by Clearmont Steel Fabricators. CSF is just east of Cincinnati and is where all B&M track is made.

It's not just drive-bys. There is some guy taking his plane up on a regular basis just to take pics of Clearmont and the ride site.

Dedication.

I just got invited in once.

Announcement will be made on August 15th at 10:00 pm, and all guests at the park are welcome to attend. The park closes at 8:00, but apparently they are keeping some rides and concessions open in Coney Mall after the park closes.