Orion at Kings Island

I didn't want to create a whole trip report around this, but I rode Orion over the weekend for the first time and thought it was amazing.

That first drop is great, and the banked curve really makes you feel like you're going to go upside down. Overall, a very smooth ride.

So glad that I was able to squeeze in two rides on it.

While I haven't been on it yet, I don't get the hate. It looks amazing, and quite a lot of fun and I genuinely want to ride it. No reason this shouldn't rank right below Fury and Leviathan.

For what it's worth, I have only ridden Leviathan and found it decent at best.

Tommytheduck said:

While I haven't been on it yet, I don't get the hate. It looks amazing, and quite a lot of fun and I genuinely want to ride it. No reason this shouldn't rank right below Fury and Leviathan.

It’s a good ride. I think some of the hate is based on the B&M hyper in the same park has a couple more drops.

While I haven't ridden Orion, I thought most of the hate was coming from not beating Fury in terms of ride scale (height, drop, length).

I hate it because it disrespects The Beast.

Yes, I agree that Fury is better, but in my book (or track record), I put Orion right behind it. They are very close and are both amazing rides!

Sucks.

Tommytheduck said:

While I haven't been on it yet, I don't get the hate. .

And you call yourself an enthusiast. The first rule is that you must hate rides you have not yet been on.

The second rule is "You don't talk about Orion."

Sure, of course the ride could be longer and feature a few more hills. But I absolutely loved it. In fact, I love the fact that is does something completely different from Diamondback, which is the king of floater airtime IMO. To me, Orion is more along the lines of Millennium Force. It's about speed. The first drop is sublime, the wave turn has the feeling of flying through outer space. The turn around gives some great positive g's through a turning dive, leading into the speed hill and camel back. The helix is surprisingly forceful and lengthy.

Is it the greatest Giga there is? Nah. Does it fit fantastically into KI's lineup? Absolutely. People who complain about it can stay outta the line while I have a blast on the thing.

In my mind, hypers are for airtime and an endless series of hills and gigas are for one big-ass drop and sustained speed. I liked Orion but didn't think it was anywhere near one of my favorite rides. Not even sure I could pinpoint anything wrong, it just didn't have it. It's probably fourth at Kings Island, behind The Beast, Mystic Timbers and Banshee. But I'll confess I probably need a few more laps on it (including at night) for my thoughts to settle.

I haven't ridden The Orion, and I'm sure that it's an outstanding ride that 30 years ago would have left us in awe. For me, any disappointment is that the terrain around it would have lent itself to an amazing terrain ride, a kind of steel counterpart to The Beast (which they sadly would have called "Steel Beast," or possibly "The Steel Beast") and that didn't happen for ... reasons. It still could of course, although the ride they built appears to cut off access to where such a ride might have been placed.

...or maybe "The Beast's red-headed stepchild."

I wanted to add my two cents but I already did a year and a half ago...

Lord Gonchar said on August 23, 2020:

I rode Orion on Saturday.

My initial take was that it was a really great ride...and it is.

But upon further reflection, the best way to describe it is "truncated." It certainly feels like it's missing 2 or 3 more airtime hills at the end. It just kind of quits.

The air is big. It's still B&M air and not Intamin air, but it's big B&M air.

The trim bites hard, but I'm not one to whine about trims and I don't think it kills things - but I don't generally think that way about trims anyway. It plays a lot like Diamondback's trim where it grabs as you peak over a hill and give a weird feel to the float over that hill.

I'm also not one to say, "but they have another similar coaster in their lineup!" But man, they have another similar coaster in their lineup...and the best way I can put it into words is that Diamondback already did pretty much what Orion does, but in a more complete way.

I hadn't really paid much attention, but in the Diamondback/Orion lame enthusiast comparison face-off, the track length is only 40 feet more, the height only 50 feet more and the speed only 10 mph faster. They're much more similar than I had realized and while everything on Orion (the drop, the hills, the air, the brake run) is "bigger, faster, more!" like I said, I think you get a more 'complete' ride from Diamondback.

Or maybe it’s “The We Ain’t Calling Nothin The Beast Anything Ever Again”.
I was ready to meh Orion. When it was announced I didn’t like the layout, I didn’t understand the location, and I felt cheated out of what should’ve been the worlds best B&M giga. However… I’ve been on it many times now, and had a chance for unlimited rides on a pretty slow day. I must confess I have secretly fallen in love with it.
It’s fast, the hills are thrilling, and the theme is cute. I’m a big fan of Diamondback and my fears of a repeat/inferior experience have been squashed. Orion is enough of a different ride to qualify as a good companion piece.

Orion's first drop is really good. The whole ride is really fun, overall, and I really like it, but that drop is fantastic.

Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland was such a great, fast ride. But that 95 foot high brake run it slams into. Oh, such energy left over. Orion looks great, can't wait to ride it. Looks similar to Leviathan, so I'm sure I'll like it, but not go out of my way for it.

The big B&M coasters seem the same to me, not that I don't enjoy them. After years of riding them, the only standouts in my head are Raging Bull, Apollo's Chariot and Great Bear. Probably due to their unique features. The only different or unique layouts B&M seems to comes up with is when there is some sort of challenge or obsticle in the way.

I love Raging Bull, not because it's so close to me - or that everbody complains about that damn trim on the third hill. But because it's got such an interesting and unique "Cyclone-esque" layout, and variation in pacing (it really doesn't have to maintain a constant rip-your-face-off speed to be good.) Those high-up, slow spots provide GREAT views.

hambone said:

I haven't ridden The Orion, and I'm sure that it's an outstanding ride that 30 years ago would have left us in awe. For me, any disappointment is that the terrain around it would have lent itself to an amazing terrain ride, a kind of steel counterpart to The Beast (which they sadly would have called "Steel Beast," or possibly "The Steel Beast") and that didn't happen for ... reasons. It still could of course, although the ride they built appears to cut off access to where such a ride might have been placed.

I agree with that. They missed the opportunity to have a totally unique ride by not utilizing the nearby terrain. Imagine a finale that went down into the valley.

However the buildup of houses across the river may have made that difficult. Amazing how people build new housing beside amusement parks, speedways etc then think that it’s THEIR right to have total silence

Schwarzkopf76 said:

Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland was such a great, fast ride. But that 95 foot high brake run it slams into. Oh, such energy left over. Orion looks great, can't wait to ride it. Looks similar to Leviathan, so I'm sure I'll like it, but not go out of my way for it.

The big B&M coasters seem the same to me, not that I don't enjoy them. After years of riding them, the only standouts in my head are Raging Bull, Apollo's Chariot and Great Bear. Probably due to their unique features. The only different or unique layouts B&M seems to comes up with is when there is some sort of challenge or obsticle in the way.

I love Raging Bull, not because it's so close to me - or that everbody complains about that damn trim on the third hill. But because it's got such an interesting and unique "Cyclone-esque" layout, and variation in pacing (it really doesn't have to maintain a constant rip-your-face-off speed to be good.) Those high-up, slow spots provide GREAT views.

Raging Bull is my favorite B&M because it is unique and just not another out and back. Kings Island has 4 out and backs now.