Orion at Kings Island

^5 if you count The Racer as 2 :D

super7* said:

Kings Island has 4 out and backs now.

I'm reporting live from Kings Island and I can tell you that the guests are burning their season pass lanyards in protest and preparing to march on the corporate offices of Cedar Fair over the travesty of a single park having 4, yes 4, out and bac...oh wait. Someone in the newsroom is telling me that no one really gives a ****.

I used to feel like Orion was just a slightly larger, less satisfying version of Diamondback. But now that I have had a chance to ride it a lot more, Orion is pretty good, in it's own way. Even with its obvious faults, I always have fun on it.

I feel like they are both similar at first, but different ride experiences once you get on them.

Orion gets the edge for me because of that first drop and the steeped banked turn halfway through.

I feel like Diamondback has more steep hills that go higher up on the incline.

I finally rode it for the first time last Friday. I thought that drop was crazy awesome! The whole coaster was excellent!

On a side note, it was strange NOT seeing Vortex in its usual spot. :)

-Tina

I rode Orion twice today, once in the front and once in the back. I must confess the affair with my secret love is continuing.
The first drop is everything. I was out of my seat both times, and especially in the back. Those 4-across B&M trains are a good example of how to be contained safely but not stapled in.
I wish the out portion was longer with a few more speed hills. Which would in turn would lengthen the back portion as well, right? After all, the ride seems to carry enough energy to make that so.
This was a good day, Orion was eating people like crazy for walk-right-on rides all day. It’s only 6 o’clock- I may feel a mini marathon coming on.

RCMAC said:

I wish the out portion was longer with a few more speed hills. Which would in turn would lengthen the back portion as well, right? After all, the ride seems to carry enough energy to make that so.

Ha ha. This is what everyone’s criticism of this ride is. Otherwise known as “hating”.

If I can dream of improvements for you is that considered “hating”?

For me? No. For the Internet? Yes.

Orion has been growing on me this season. If I don't compare it to Diamondback, it's a great ride. Kings Island is a park full of great first drops.

Does that mean it's not a great ride if you do compare it to Diamondback?

Is it a good ride. Yes. My favorite? Not close. Does it feel like the rumors of it being for Great America and then just being RCT dropped into KI are true? Yes. Basically what Lord Gonchar said. It's a larger, but truncated, less complete version of Diamondback - which would be fine except Diamondback is in the same park. KI could have spent their money on something more unique and probably had a better boost to the bottom line. This ride would have had a bigger impact at another park in the chain.

Having said that, KI really has turned into a great park. It always had a great layout, The Beast, and looked great, but Paramount installed so many small, gimmicky rides that really were not appropriate for the volume of people visiting. CF has corrected that since they took over. Listening to the speeches at Coasterstock and just looking around, you can tell the people in charge there care about the history of it, about improving it, and just take great pride in the place in general. To be honest, there's probably a good argument to be made for that being CF's best park these days. CP is unique with its location and the resorts, but recent years there have been frustrating to say the least. It feels like KI has been trending up and CP has, sadly, been trending down and I don't say that because they put a restaurant in place of a car ride. The food has actually gotten better as has the overall look and feel of the park. But the operations, weather policies, and arrogance about them just are getting to be too much of a factor and impact my enjoyment of trips there. Still haven't gone this season and hope they get their crap together by the time I do.

^all of this (regarding CP & KI). I was even noticing all that in the years prior to COVID and before Orion.

If CP had the current era of resorts, food services, non-coaster offerings (food festivals, the updated boardwalk, the bike and segway tour, etc) and park landscaping with Bill Spehn and the crews from the 90s and early 2000s in charge of ride operations, it would rival Orlando parks as far as an overall experience.

I was under the impression that CGA had a height restriction because it's pretty close to the airport. It may have been a hyper when it was planned for CGA?

The CGA B&M project was a hyper with the working title Mega-Bite as a nod to the local hockey team. It would have had staggered seating. When they relocated the project, the layout was completely changed for KI.

Vater said:

Does that mean it's not a great ride if you do compare it to Diamondback?

I guess what I mean is that if you ride Orion expecting a larger Diamondback, you might be disappointed. It's not an airtime machine like DB. My first few rides, I was looking for a better DB. It's not. It's its own thing.

Makes sense.

I would say that maybe people shouldn’t expect every coaster to be full of airtime. It’s not the only thing that makes a great coaster.

The only similarity between the two is the manufacturer. If they set out to make Orion different from its distant cousin across the park they succeeded.
I would say that Diamondback is more like the John Miller of steel coasters, with lots of big, lumpy hills. And Orion is… something else.