"Banshee" Once gonna be name for Mantis Comes to Kings Island

Wasn't The Banshe the hanging winged rider that kings island has that was black a years ago? Then moved it to Cedar Point and renaimed it The Mantis. Now Kings Island will have a new Banshe back.

No. It wasn't.

Um, what?

Ignore the troll... This is the guy who thought they used Space Spiral's tower to build Windseeker.

I also recall hearing somewhere that Flight Deck is being rethemed to be The Bat again, which would help if they're trying to shift that area to a more cohesive theme. It definitely beats the crap out of the Kinzel-era renaming if they do.

I think KI really needs to think of something to put in the Flight Deck/Top Gun queue. That really is a long way to walk back to the station now and not surprised hardly anybody bothers to go all the way back there to ride it. If they opened that up, maybe stick a flat in there or some kind of attraction. Its remoteness is kind of cool but that line seems really unnecessary and is dragging Flight Deck down. Daggone, I still remember waiting in that line from the beginning when it was new.

I am very excited to go to Kings Island next year for this ride. I sort of feel bad for Michigan's Adventure, they get next to nothing though.

I have not banged my head on Raptor, I read here a few have. I'm still wondering why B&M are putting the vest restraints on this like Gatekeeper and why they think a vest is apparently necessary for any ride with inversions.

Raptor can box the ears of shorter riders, as can many other rides with OTSRs. The new restraints are designed, among other reasons, to eliminate this problem.

Raptors restraints are great for me (6') but I can see how they pose an issue to shorter guests. The only part of Raptor I hate is the turn into the brake run. The B&M vests hurt my collarbone and I think the problem is using the shoulder harness as the primary restraints instead of the lapbar

I thought the reason behind Banshee's name change to Mantis was a backlash from various groups that the name wasn't "pc". And that a Banshee was a harbinger of death and no one wanted a coaster associated w/ death. What has changed? (I could be wrong about that, though!)

I agree, i thought the same. It kinda feels like the name belongs to Cedar Point but it kinda doesn't...

I never did understand why anyone got so upset over the name Banshee. I think that would have been a better name for Mantis, it would have gone along with the way the coaster sounds.

I don't see what the big deal was over the name, I have used the phrase "screaming like a banshee" quite a lot over the years.

Captain Crunch said:
I thought the reason behind Banshee's name change to Mantis was a backlash from various groups that the name wasn't "pc". And that a Banshee was a harbinger of death and no one wanted a coaster associated w/ death. What has changed? (I could be wrong about that, though!)

Mantis was originally announced as Banshee.

One of the local papers (don't remember if it was Toledo or Sandusky) printed the definition of "banshee" as part of their story. Based on all records, this is the first that DK had ever read the definition.

DK didn't like this definition and so decided the name would change and that's how we ended up with Mantis.

You can find some of the timeline on the Pointbuzz History Page under 1995.

So this CEO of a major company aproves the name Banshee for a ride and he seriously has no clue what a banshee is until the newspaper prints a definition? Really? I knew what a banshee was in middle school from English class folklore stories.

Well from reading some FB post, people are already up in AIR abt the name. It looks like it will be a good ride. As a retired charter & tour bus driver who has been to many parks in a 14 yr run, KI isn't the most exciting place when you pull up to it. CP has that over KI, if people are concerned abt the name and where it's going, maybe a Ghost Hunting Team should be called in and do a show on sy-fy or something. With me knowing some of the folks in the ParaNormal field, and what I hear abt the director's of these shows having alot of it FAKED, maybe they will find something really spooky there cos of SOB's accident.

In fairness to Kinzel, Mantis/Banshee was a comparatively new type of coaster. Associating death with an unfamiliar type of coaster (a standup) may not have been the best PR strategy.

Today, 16 years later, not only are people VERY familiar with inverted coasters, our "extreme" culture seems to find death by thrill rides a dare, not something to fear.

I don't think there will be any issues with the name down at Kings Island. The video clearly shows how SOB was laid to rest and how the Banshee now roams the area. My only wonder is if there will be a SOB gravestone in the area come 2014.

Captain Hawkeye said:
In fairness to Kinzel, Mantis/Banshee was a comparatively new type of coaster. Associating death with an unfamiliar type of coaster (a standup) may not have been the best PR strategy.

Today, 16 years later, not only are people VERY familiar with inverted coasters, our "extreme" culture seems to find death by thrill rides a dare, not something to fear.

I think you are overestimating the public's understanding of coaster types.