Are they trying to re-theme that area of the park or something?

I am offended!

Seven-story water slide complex coming to Kings Island in 2016

 

 

Kings Island announced on August 19th a major expansion to its Soak City Waterpark for the 2016 season with the addition of Tropical Plunge, a complex of six different water slide experiences towering nearly seven stories.

 

Three of the slides on the 65-foot tall complex will start with guests climbing inside an Aqua-Launch chamber where they will wait anxiously for the floor to drop out from underneath their feet, sending them into a high-speed, almost vertical free fall through a series of flat loops and S-curves in a translucent flume.

 

More below:

https://www.visitkingsisland.com/what-s-new/2016-news/?mobile=0#panel1-3

Kings Island launches construction of new attraction

 

http://www.screamscape.com/

 

A new attraction is beginning to take shape at Kings Island, WCPO reports.

 

The Mason amusement park has been teasing fans on social media about a significant project underway, tweeting photos of trees being removed, its train and a toy ax that says “Something is going down in the woods of Rivertown.” That section of the park also houses Diamondback, the Beast, the park’s train and White Water Canyon.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/blog/2016/06/kings-island-launches-construction-of-new.html

It’s official: Kings Island unveils new roller coaster

Jul 29, 2016, 6:53am EDT

Erin Caproni

Digital Producer

Cincinnati Business Courier

 

After weeks of clues and teasing, Kings Island has finally revealed plans for its next attraction.

 

The Mason amusement park on Thursday announced that a new wooden roller coaster called Mystic Timbers will open in April 2017.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/07/29/it-s-official-kings-island-unveils-new-roller.html

Courtesy of Screamscape: http://www.screamscape.com/html/kings_island.htm

 

 

 

Honestly my favorite thing so far has been that all of the promotional material is just from the NoLimits video game. They didn't even get someone to make real renderings for the ride  :laugh:.

It's almost done!

 

Photos --> http://mystictimbers.visitkingsisland.com/nature-rises/construction-photos

 

 

 

Haha I missed this post. I'm sure you chuckled pretty hard when you saw that for the first time.

Back to me!!!

 

‘Mystic Timbers’ completes first test run at Kings Island

 

 

The newest wooden roller coaster at Kings Island took its first test run Monday.

 

According to the park, the 24-passenger train of Mystic Timbers made its way around the track for the first time as park officials, engineers, technicians and construction workers stood by and watched.

 

More below:

http://nbc4i.com/2017/03/20/mystic-timbers-completes-first-test-run-at-kings-island/

Looks lame. I hate wooden coasters. They're too jerky. They also are limited in how they can move.

^the technology behind wooden coasters has changed dramatically in the past 20-ish years. Most modern wooden roller coasters, especially by those built by GCI (who are building Magical Forest) are butter-smooth. And a lot of wood coasters actually have inversions and 90 degree banks these days.

Kings Island's new Mystic Timbers roller coaster

 

 

Kings Island is unveiling a new wooden roller coaster for the summer season boasting top speeds of 53 miles per hour, 16 airtime hills and 3,265 feet of track. I got to check it out Friday during a media preview day.

 

This is my second media day at Kings Island after riding the Banshee three years ago, so I knew not to make the same mistake I did in 2014: The buffet shrimp made me nauseated last time, so I had Taco Bell for breakfast instead.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/04/13/i-tried-it-kings-islands-new-mystic-timbers-roller.html

This is my second media day at Kings Island after riding the Banshee three years ago, so I knew not to make the same mistake I did in 2014: The buffet shrimp made me nauseated last time, so I had Taco Bell for breakfast instead.

 

I think I'd prefer to go on the rollercoaster with the risk of nausea from buffet shrimp, over explosive diarrhea from taco hell.

There doesn't seem to be anything notable about this coaster at all. Nothing like Banshee. The only advantage I can think of, to any wooden rollercoaster is that it's construction materials may be cheaper (in the short term) and that the rides tend to take you for a longer, linear physical distance through the park.) You probably get a better tour of the park (but hell, Top Gun did that.) The rides along the tracks seem to last longer, but maybe I think that because the Beast and Son of Beast banged my knees up so badly and I was in so much pain that it felt like the ride lasted forever and I couldn't wait for it to end. The wood frame should act as a shock absorber but as a rider you don't feel any benefit of that. The jerkiness isn't a horrifying thrill that adds to the experience - it just sucks and feels very uncomfortable. Wooden coasters do tend to be more scenic, natural environment but I don't think wooden coasters are inherently more suitable for a scenic environment in the park (Top Gun did a better job of that, too.)

 

People love trying out a ride that has broken some kind of world record or is at least innovative in its features. It creates a buzz, which is good for publicity and ultimately for business. You know - something that makes it stand out or unique. That's what's going to keep people coming back each year.

 

It's really not hard to make a rollercoaster interesting or even to have it break some kind of official record. You just need to make it slightly better than the last, latest-greatest thing and use a little creativity. Kings Island is up against Cedar Point. Opening Mystic Timbers isn't going to give them any competitive advantage at all.

 

As un-couth as I am, I certainly wouldn't refer to it as "gay-ss[/member] Mystic Timbers" but I think her observation is pretty accurate. I could be wrong but it really doesn't seem like people are particularly excited about the idea of new wooden rollercoasters; I certainly don't know anyone who particularly favors them. Certainly no enough to warrant spending millions on yet another, outdated concept.

 

Aside from all of the other disadvantaged of going wood (jerky and uncomfortable, limitations of features, requiring more real-estate in the park,) just thinking from a business perspective, it seems the wood wouldn't hold up as well over time like steel, would require more maintenance and inspection due to dry-rotting wood and if they were ever to dismantle it and sell it to another park, it would be much more costly to dismantle it, replace the compromised wood and reconstruct it. Transportation and reconstruction of those wooden coaster frames would have to be significantly higher than the metal ones and I can't imagine they have nearly as much resale value, when

selling it to 2nd tier amusement park 25 years later.

 

 

 

These are coaster features you fan achieve by not going wood.

 

https://coasterpedia.net/wiki/List_of_roller_coaster_elements

Except that you can do most of these elements on wooden roller coasters now...

 

Check out Goliath at Six Flags Great America or Outlaw Run at Silver Dollar City or Hades 360 in the Wisconsin Dells. All of these wooden roller coasters have inversions and extreme banked turns. Honestly wooden roller coasters have improved so much in the past two decades that they are now frequently smoother than steel roller coasters, and most coaster enthusiasts I know tend to actually prefer wood coasters because the ride layouts are less reliant on some new gimmick and focus more on a quality ride experience. The company who built Mystic Timbers, GCII, has made some absolutely phenomenal rides including Thunderhead at Dollywood. Plus, they have an office in Cincinnati, and the wood coaster company Gravity Group is HQ'd in Cincinnati! Show some Ohio roller coaster engineer love!

Yeah you really need to check out what Rocky Mountain Construction is doing with their wood coasters. And GCI, and Gravity Group. I much prefer wooden coasters to steel in general and they're improving so much recently that they can do basically anything a steel coaster can do.

 

Wood coasters have seen a huge uptick in construction lately for a good reason. Modern wooden coasters are fantastic rides. If your only point of view is Beast and Son of Beast then you need to just get out more. Go to Holiday World and ride their three wood coasters. Go to Lake Compounce and ride Boulderdash. Go to Six Flags Great America and ride Goliath. Go to Six Flags Great Adventure and ride El Toro. Go to Silver Dollar City and ride Outlaw Run. Go to Sweden (or watch on line) Wildfire.

 

Wooden coasters are great these days. They're not just a way to save material costs. They're not a compromise. That's entirely inaccurate.

First, this ride will not be jerky or rough. The Beast and Racer are like land lines, this is a cell phone. They are both phones, but a LOT has changed in the last 30+ years. (RMC's would be the smart phone in this analogy, because they actually can go upside down and can do literally any element you want).

 

Second, Diamondback doesn't go upside down, have any crazy elements or do anything ground-breaking, and it is probably my favorite ride in the park along with Beast. Airtime, speed, and a quality layout are more important than chasing records or trying to go upside down a ton of times.

 

This ride looks great, and if you haven't ridden any other modern woodies, or haven't ridden a wooden coaster besides Racer, Beast or Son of Beast, you are in for a treat.

Or as an even better (and fitting for Cincinnati) analogy than phones, assuming a new wood coaster will be as rough as The Beast is like assuming a new, modern streetcar is a hopelessly outdated technology that hasn't evolved since the 1800s just because one hasn't been built in your area in a long time!  :-D

Nice.

The whole point of a wooden roller coaster is for it to feel a bit like Billy Bob and Bubba built the thing without drawing it first.  Like The Jack Rabbit at Kennywood...that thing is as punk as it gets. 

 

The Beast is not a very rough ride until the second hill's insane plummet into the helix.  Whoever came up with that idea was pretty nuts.  It's definitely right on the threshold of being unrideable, which is why people keep coming back for more. 

Modern wooden coasters can still have a little bit of that feeling but it's definitely not as primitive as (the seriously amazing) Jack Rabbit. They still have that wooden coaster feel but are nowhere near as rough or jerky. GCI does it best in that regards I think. They ride like really well made, well maintained wooden coasters should. There's no mistaking them for a steel coaster but you'll never get off in discomfort. RMC wooden coasters and Intamin's plug-and-play wooden coasters are far more technologically advanced and ride much smoother than traditional wooden coasters but are still undeniably wooden.

 

There's always a place for the classic wooden coaster, but modern wooden coasters are a completely different animal.

Hell, I find the Magnum XL-200 to be "rougher" than The Beast, to be honest.  It has not aged well...at all.

did you know... once you have gotten into motorcycles roller coasters are tame. Especially if you've crashed a lot.

did you know... once you have gotten into motorcycles roller coasters are tame. Especially if you've crashed a lot.

 

Yeah I've never ridden any roller coaster that comes anywhere close to what riding a sport bike feels like.  I rode over 100mph one time and had to swear off motorcycles completely because I knew I'd get addicted to them and die.  There is some point with speed on a motorcycle where you get the feeling this is so much fun I don't care if I die.  That's what I imagine heroin, etc., feels like, which is why I stay away from all of that! 

did you know... once you have gotten into motorcycles roller coasters are tame. Especially if you've crashed a lot.

 

Last time I checked you can't experience -1.5 G's on a motorcycle. Or anywhere other than certain aircraft really. Or 2 lateral G's. Or 5+ vertical G's. Speed isn't the only thrilling part of coasters. Sounds like you just haven't ridden some of the world's greatest.

When you crash it's like 10Gs+. Or else people wouldn't become paralyzed and die so easily.

Hell, I find the Magnum XL-200 to be "rougher" than The Beast, to be honest.  It has not aged well...at all.

 

That's because it's sinking into the beach!!!  :-D

When you crash it's like 10Gs+. Or else people wouldn't become paralyzed and die so easily.

 

Didn't realize crashing was a desirable activity when riding motorcycles.

He's right though. I've never driven a motorcycle but four wheelers and especially dirt bikes are way more of a thrill than a roller-coaster. Especially if you're going up a 90 degree + incline of a very high hill on a 1.5 foot wide beaten path. You'd be surprised, the terrain you can handle on a powerful dirt bike. The only time I've ever crashed was after thinking it'd be funny to hop on a little 50cc Honda meant for a little kid. That was definitely more embarrassing than exhilarating.

I'm sure, but that still doesn't allow for you to experience g forces reserved solely for certain types of aircraft or crashing. Call me crazy, but I prefer NOT injuring myself to feel those g forces.

Now that the POV's have been leaking out, Mystic Timbers' pacing doesn't look as terrible and bland as it did in the original rendered video (never judge something by a rendering!), it looks like a pretty solid Prowler-esque ride even if the whole shed thing was a tad overhyped. Still one of the better final brake runs though!  :laugh:

What's so great about it? It seems pretty boring to me. Cincinnatians love boring, rickety wooden rollercoasters for some reason. This one will probably be considered a 'classic' like the others.

 

I heard the shed is a major let-down.

It's Cedar Fair. If people honestly expected anything interesting to actually happen in the shed then they clearly know nothing about Cedar Fair, who couldn't properly theme a ride if their lives depended on it.

What's so great about it? It seems pretty boring to me. Cincinnatians love boring, rickety wooden rollercoasters for some reason. This one will probably be considered a 'classic' like the others.

 

I heard the shed is a major let-down.

 

I'd hate to see your take on Metro Pittsburgh's amusement park roller coasters!

What's so great about it? It seems pretty boring to me. Cincinnatians love boring, rickety wooden rollercoasters for some reason. This one will probably be considered a 'classic' like the others.

 

I heard the shed is a major let-down.

 

I see you took zero of our suggestions to look up modern wooden coasters. GCI doesn't make "rickety" coaters whatsoever. Liking wooden coasters has literally nothing to do with Cincinnati. Like I said earlier, they're being built at a much greater rate than the world has seen in decades, and for good reason. They're great rides. They're smooth, provide airtime, lateral Gs, etc. This ride has a great setting, a good mix of traditional elements, and a endearing goofy ending. Go ride it instead of projecting your ignorance onto it.

What's so great about it? It seems pretty boring to me. Cincinnatians love boring, rickety wooden rollercoasters for some reason. This one will probably be considered a 'classic' like the others.

 

I heard the shed is a major let-down.

 

I see you took zero of our suggestions to look up modern wooden coasters. GCI doesn't make "rickety" coaters whatsoever. Liking wooden coasters has literally nothing to do with Cincinnati. Like I said earlier, they're being built at a much greater rate than the world has seen in decades, and for good reason. They're great rides. They're smooth, provide airtime, lateral Gs, etc. This ride has a great setting, a good mix of traditional elements, and a endearing goofy ending. Go ride it instead of projecting your ignorance onto it.

 

I did look into it, but aren't the ones you speak of, considered hybrids? There's nothing all that modern about Mystic Timbers and Mystic Timbers is what we're talking about. You're talking about air time and Gs - that's the point of any roller coaster. Mystic Timbers seems pretty generic. I don't like wooden roller coasters. The only somewhat remarkable thing about the ride, from watching the POV videos, is the scenery (and view of real roller coasters nearby) but that has nothing to do with the ride itself.

'

 

I want to go to Hong Kong and ride this!

 

 

Only the RMC ones I suggested are hybrids. None of the rest are. Boulderdash and El Toro are my two favorite wood coasters followed closely by the three at Holiday World. None of those are hybrids. El Toro's fabrication methods aren't traditional but it's wood track layering is traditional in nature.

 

GCI's coasters are extremely good. It still sounds like your only point of reference are the wood coasters at Kings Island which are frankly not good rides. Beast is incredible at night for its setting and immersion, but the ride itself is unremarkable (many coaster enthusiasts will hate me for that statement). If you haven't ridden a coaster by GCI you have zero point of reference.

 

The coaster you linked to, Hair Raiser, is built by a company that has been known since the early 2000s to have gotten progressively less interesting. With only a handful of exceptions, Banshee at Kings Island being one of them, all their coasters have been mundane. Fun, solid rides. But not intense and very rarely innovative. Which is a shame since they used to produce some of the most intense, innovative coasters around. The inverted coaster is their invention and the first iteration, Batman the Ride, is insanely intense. But as they (Bolliger and Mabillard) their niche has gotten more and more tame.

 

Which very well may be why wooden coasters are seeing a renaissance. The 90s and early 2000s were dominated by B&M and later Intamin creating super intense, smooth, awesome steel coasters which were wildly different than everything that came before them. But then B&M stopped creating products that were noteworthy beyond being fun, solid coasters but they weren't pushing any boundaries. Intamin kept pushing boundaries but their rides have become exceptionally expensive. It's easy to spend $20 million+ on a mid sized steel coaster these days.

 

In came the big wooden coasters with really fantastic rides that packed just as much of a thrill or more at a fraction of the price. Then as more parks invested in these more traditional but really great rides several companies started innovating. Intamin produced four laser-cut wooden coasters, Collosos, Balder, El Toro, and T Express, all of which are known as being insanely good. I can vouch for El Toro having some of the most powerful airtime of any coaster around. Then Gravity Group started coming up with envelope pushing elements such as overbanked turns and with Hades 360, inversions. Then GCI came up with coasters with inversions (none have been built as of yet) and eventually RMC came into the picture. Though hybrids, their "topper track" coasters are still very much wood coasters. Outlaw Run disregarded all convention and opened to rave reviews.

 

They've continue to push the envelope including the first launched wooden coaster with lightning Rod at Dollywood.

 

Wood coasters are completely different from what they were a couple decades ago whether they're these ultramodern RMC coasters or modern interpretations of traditional wood coasters like what GCI produces. Rickety isn't a term that describes them at all. Just because g forces are "the point of any coaster" doesn't somehow mean they all deliver. And you don't need to pull any gimmicks to achieve a really awesome ride. Out and back coasters are one of the most loved coaster types because they provide good rides. Whether that comes in large soft hills that don't try to push any g-forces or have any quick transitions, like Diamondback, or are low to the ground with fast transitions and small bunny hops and quick turns, like Mystic Timbers, they provide fun rides.

 

Go ride this then come back here and tell us if you still feel it's a "rickety" or old feeling coaster. Because you won't be able to with a straight face.

 

End coaster history rant.

Note to self: Referring to wooden rollercoasters as "rickety" hits a nerve and p!sses off rollercoaster enthusiasts/ historians.

 

That's actually fascinating information though. You obviously know a lot about rollercoasters. Thanks for taking the time to share the history and evolution of the coasters and industry.

 

You have to admit - Boulder Dash is rickety as hell! I'm not sure why that's one of your favorite rollercoasters. It's scenic, the ride lasts a long time, but it's just a series of mild hills. Bah. I think I'm just more of a loops and twist guy and you're more of a hills and turns guy. Sometimes, there's just no explaining it though. Top Gun/Bat was one of my favorite rides at Kings Island, even though it was one of the least popular and never had much of a line.

 

Like J-Meck said, rickety is the charm of wooden rollercoasters. Feeling like you might die at any moment on a rickety contraption. After researching Son of Beast and finding out about many, many injuries and concussions, even death, I actually feel privileged to be alive right now, having ridden it so many times as a teenager. It's funny, I actually feel a sense of gratitude for being alive right now after thinking about it.

 

El Toro looks awesome! Kings Island should have built something like that, instead. I always hated when people would talk smack about KI and talk about how Cedar Point blows KI out of the water, being the roller coaster capital and all. Breaking all these records. As a Cincinnatian, I would always defend KI but now I'm at the point where I just give up. KI isn't even a "theme park" anymore and they're not doing anything that would allow them to hold a candle to Cedar Point. Pretty sad, considering they're both owned by the same company. Oh well, it is what it is.

 

 

 

 

The coaster you linked to, Hair Raiser, is built by a company that has been known since the early 2000s to have gotten progressively less interesting. With only a handful of exceptions, Banshee at Kings Island being one of them, all their coasters have been mundane. Fun, solid rides. But not intense and very rarely innovative. Which is a shame since they used to produce some of the most intense, innovative coasters around.

 

I've just never seen a rollercoaster built on such a complex terrain. That's what's so cool about it.

 

^The Mine Train at that same park (Ocean Park) has an equally spectacular location on the side of a mountain. It's probably got one of the coolest locations of any amusement park on the planet. Iron Rattler at Fiesta Texas is another ride that makes pretty good use of a cliff face, or a the edge of a quarry if you want to get particular about it.

Note to self: Referring to wooden rollercoasters as "rickety" hits a nerve and p!sses off rollercoaster enthusiasts/ historians.

 

You have to admit - Boulder Dash is rickety as hell! I'm not sure why that's one of your favorite rollercoasters. It's scenic, the ride lasts a long time, but it's just a series of mild hills. Bah.

 

El Toro looks awesome! Kings Island should have built something like that, instead.

 

It doesn't piss us off, it's just inaccurate when it comes to modern wooden coasters

 

Boulderdash isn't rickety at all and the hills aren't "mild." It's actually extremely smooth and the ride has seriously powerful airtime and lateral G's. The intensity is significantly greater than most coasters and the sense of speed is intensified by being built into the hillside and never really leaving the ground. It tops the ranks for a very large portion of the coaster enthusiast world for a reason. It's insanely good.

 

El Toro is fantastic, but it would have cost more than twice as much to build. Not the same type of capital improvement project.

GCI's coasters are extremely good. It still sounds like your only point of reference are the wood coasters at Kings Island which are frankly not good rides. Beast is incredible at night for its setting and immersion, but the ride itself is unremarkable (many coaster enthusiasts will hate me for that statement). If you haven't ridden a coaster by GCI you have zero point of reference.

 

The irony in this thread is that Mystic Timbers might be Ohio's best wooden roller coaster.  This state is not good for current wood coasters. The Beast (a mere shadow of its former self), The Racer, the old Mean Streak, Blue Streak, The Beastie (or whatever CF has called it now), Sea Dragon, and the two at Stricker's Grove are all meh.  Screechin' Eagle and The Villain were the two best wooden coasters in the state and now both are resting peacefully in the woods (and steelyard, in Villain's case) they grew out of.

 

So yeah, there's that.

 

My criticism of The Beast is the second half of the first run.  After the first hill, the left turn through the tunnel, then the drop into that ravine, it settles into 1,000-2,000 feet of just running mostly straight and level.  There is a roof over about 800 feet of track for no known reason.  They could have done some bunny hop hills there and made it jog to the left and right like the return runs on classic wooden coasters.  It actually goes pretty slow through the second concrete tunnel, but then speeds back up while approaching the second lift hill.  I think the whole ride could be improved if they rebuilt that section before and after the second tunnel to be more aggressive. 

 

What's amazing though is that attempts to match the confusion of the first hill and the final helix have never really been matched by various imitators.  You get the sense that the whole reason that the high drama of those hills work is totally by accident.  If the thing burnt down and they had to rebuilt it, they'd probably mess it up.  The second lift hill and helix never really gets old, unlike every foot of most roller coasters with a ton of loops.  Loops are boring. 

How is the Beast a shadow of its former self? I have not ridden it in years, what has changed

Unnecessary brake runs, etc.

The magnetic brakes kill that ride. That said, The Beast at night during Halloween Haunt is unlike anything else, especially if it's raining a little bit and the track is extra slick. I've never been as genuinely scared on a roller coaster as I was riding it a few years ago under those exact conditions. We rocketed way further up the second lift than where the train usually engages the chain, and the helix was extra hellacious.

 

For each of Ohio's terrible wood coasters, PA has two or three good/great ones. It's unfair that that state gets Ravine Flyer and Phoenix and Jack Rabbit and Thunderbolt and Lightning Racer (hell even Flying Turns and Leap the Dips are at least unique) while we have Fairly Odd Coaster and other "meh" rides. All of our interesting woodies were at Euclid Beach and Idora and pre-1960s Cedar Point.

Beast was designed right before wooden coasters really started to see early innovation. Its original trains had cars that were 4 rows long. The axes did not have the ability to pivot so the trains couldn't change bank very quickly. Hence the very slow entrances to turns all over the ride.

 

The ride was also designed before pneumatic brakes were used on wooden coasters. The original method was the skid pads found on classic coasters. That gigantic, long shed was the mid-course-brake-run that could stop the train if the train in front hadn't yet cleared the second lift. Stopping a bulky old school train from that speed takes a ton of length. Hence the awkwardly long shed that is now just a spot for a magnetic trim brake so its function is nonexistent.

 

The ride, if untrimmed, could be really out of control, but the fact of the matter is that every turn and hill was designed around clunky old trains that they replaced shortly after opening. They also made a few modifications not long after opening including banking the hill into the double helix. You originally entered that helix without any banking whatsoever. There's a video on youtube from before the ride was actually finished and the POV shows this since the tunnel over the double helix isn't done yet.

 

Ohio really does have a wood coaster problem. Mostly because up until recently big corporate parks all had no idea what to do with them in terms of maintenance so they all sucked. Thankfully companies like GCI are changing that with relatively easy rides to maintain that are really well made and good fun.