The Beast at Kings Island is being improved with new track and structural changes from The Gravity Group
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From the blog post:
The Gravity Group, which installed 600 feet of its new engineered precut track on the park’s Racer roller coaster last winter, is breathing new life into the ride’s first drop and through the first tunnel and turn towards the second drop and 540-degree helix tunnel, while Kings Island’s carpenters are retracking approximately 1,090 feet of track in other sections along the 7,359-foot long course.
The first drop will see a change from 45 degrees to 53 degrees. This change isn’t being made to add more speed or thrill element to The Beast, but to come in lower in the tunnel to provide the proper parabolic arcs due to reprofiling of the track in that area of the ride. This change, along with The Gravity Group’s vertical track design, will deliver a buttery-smooth transition through the tunnel and onto the second drop.
The Beast helix crossover will see a redesign and installation of new bents. With the redesign, the forces through the structure will be more evenly distributed to the foundation, the rigidity of each bent more consistent and therefore resulting in a smoother ride experience.
Read more and see photos from Kings Island.
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I just now heard from a friend with a source that the ride will not be ready on opening day. It's looking to be open closer to the beginning of May. It may or may not be true. I know some people travel really far to visit some parks, so keep it in mind when you make plans to visit.
-Travis
www.youtube.com/TSVisits
If it's not ready by the Coasterstock event in May there will be hundreds of Ohio enthusiasts that will need to be made whole.
Whoops. Wrong Buzz.
PLEASE God!....No Timberliners, ever. They vibrate horribly. I have a feeling it's why the Koch's didn't put them on The Voyage. Hades is un-ridable with them. Mine Blower is pretty bad, too.
Never been.
And I’m the kind of enthusiast that will make at least one visit to every park that he can, but from what I’ve heard over the years I’m happy to put that one last on my list of must-dos. And this is terrible to say, but I won’t be unhappy if I never get it.
Timberliners are fantastic trains. No train can correct for poorly maintained track.
Jeff - Editor - CoasterBuzz.com - My Blog
LostKause said:
I just now heard from a friend with a source that the ride will not be ready on opening day. It's looking to be open closer to the beginning of May. It may or may not be true. I know some people travel really far to visit some parks, so keep it in mind when you make plans to visit.
Here's a drone video from last week. There's still quite a large hole in the the helix. The turn out of the first drop seems quite visibly more banked.
I agree with the comment about Timberliners not running well. Even on brand new Mine Blower at the time, it didn't track well. Or a year later when we rode it again... Only one I've been on, but I can't imagine they somehow messed up the brand new track work that badly.
Add Kentucky Flyer to the list, too. For such a small ride it tracks pretty rough. Plus the Timberliner restraints are pretty awkward.
Keep the PTCs on Beast, bring back the buzz bars.
Totally disagree about Mine Blower when it opened. I was there on opening day, and thought it was pretty remarkable for how tight the turns are. Haven't been back since.
Jeff - Editor - CoasterBuzz.com - My Blog
I didn't ride when it first opened. But I honestly thought it sucked when I did ride it
Mine Blower = Rip Ride Rockit
I'm surprised that no one has brought up Millennium Flyers yet. I've yet to be on a ride where I believed that they made the experience worse. Yes, Wildcat at Hershey is bad, but I don't think any train could rectify a 30 year old prototype wood coaster that's had nearly zero track work done.
I personally despise PTC and I curse their trains every time I step foot into them. I'm a tad over 6' and average weight and I feel like I need a shoehorn to get into the seat. They track fine on well-maintained coasters with minimal high speed turns (e.g., Racer at Kennywood or KI) but are just horrific on modern woodies with aggressive transitions and elements.
Yeah, PTC's are completely AWFUL if you are tall. Being 6'5" myself, my legs get jammed in weird ways and any ride with them is worse for it.
Millennium Flyers are god's gift to tall people on wooden coasters. Simply the best train out there for woodies, tall or not. They track extremely well too, especially if the park does their part on maintenance...
One of my first thoughts after riding Ice Breaker for the first time was "this isn't going to work out well for Steve." I never even thought about how awful PTC trains must be for you.
The two click rule at KI I cannot ride in their PTCs with another person in comfort, I essentially have to swing my legs into the other side of the car. As long as it’s not the first row of a car I can cross my legs and not take up the other seats leg space but it’s really uncomfortable. MFs are so much better.
2022 Trips: WDW, Sea World San Diego & Orlando, CP, KI, BGW, Bay Beach, Canobie Lake, Universal Orlando
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