Kings Island

I visited Kings Island last summer for the first time in awhile..

I was thrilled with the airtime on Diamondback, I don't know if it is fair to put DB and Magnum XL-200 on the same scale but Diamondback just had a great, bumpy thrill factor.

Banshee was an all-around crazy invert, I must say that in-line twist at the end is a thing of beauty. Taken at the PERFECT speed. Kudos to the designers. If only Gatekeeper had such an element, I'd say the closest we will get to that is the return flip over the front gate.

My ONLY gripe: Invertigo.

Holy hell. Let this thing die. I love Wicked Twister, but this thing just tore me apart. Extremely rough, felt like a death trap, the gates to get into the ride area are major over kill, and not to mention, the thing made me motion sick (which never, ever happens).

I find King's Island and Cedar Point to be a very, very good complements to one another, as opposed to one being "better." I do think KI has an edge in quality for many of their CP counterpart coasters, but not always.

• Banshee > Raptor
• Beast > Mean Streak
• Invertigo > Wicked Twister
• Bat > Iron Dragon
• Racer > Blue Streak
• Vortex > Corkscrew
• Adventure Express > Mine Ride

Other comparisons could be Diamondback with Millennium/Magnum (1-1, I'd put Diamondback above Magnum, but not Millennium). Also, Maverick with BLSC (Maverick wins, of course, but BLSC is still fun).

Then there are the unique rides. CP has Gatekeeper, Dragster & Gemini, whereas KI has Firehawk & Flight of Fear.

The kids area tends to be about equal, but I'd still give the edge to KI because of significant rides like Race for your Life Charlie Brown and Flying Ace. Then again, CP's Woodstock Express is better than KI's.

Water park? KI's is included in the price, whereas CP is not.

At the end of the day, if I've ever had a bad day at either, it's usually a weather thing, not because one park is better or worse than the other. If nothing else, if you ride a ton of rides over and over at one park, going to the other park is a nice change of pace.

magdrag95, I agree with you about Invertigo. Heck, I agree that they need to let all Vekoma Boomerangs die out (whether inverted or not). When we went to Carowinds, I just HAD to ride Carolina Cobra for nostalgia sake, thinking it would be the fun Mind Eraser like it was at Geauga Lake. Never again. I'm not sure if time has taken its toll on that thing, or as I'm getting older, I can't ride them anymore. Same goes for Hershey Park's version.

They're both great parks with their own charms.

magdrag95 said:

My ONLY gripe: Invertigo.

Holy hell. Let this thing die. I love Wicked Twister, but this thing just tore me apart. Extremely rough, felt like a death trap, the gates to get into the ride area are major over kill, and not to mention, the thing made me motion sick (which never, ever happens).

FWIW, the I remember standing in line for over 2 hours to ride Face/Off (which is what you now know as Invertigo) when it was knew, and all of the queue was full and people couldn't wait to ride it again.

I still enjoy it, but probably because it reminds me of Mind Eraser (for obvious reasons) at Geauga Lake.

I have heard people say Diamondback has more airtime than Magnum. Now I have never been to Kings Island so I have never ridden Diamondback. But how can a coaster possibly have more airtime than Magnum!?

It's two different types of airtime (I'd say).

Magnum has triangle shaped bunny hills, producing ejector air. Short bursts of violent shots.

Diamondback has a smoother, more engineered airtime, with drawing a median between ejector and floater. I rode the back seat multiple times. The hills were significantly higher than Magnum's, and they took you out of your seat for a significant period of time (much more sustained than Magnum). The first drop had me out of the seat the whole way.

I prefer the type of air on Diamondback merely because it is both forceful and sustained. Magnum just knocks your family jewels around in short, repeated punches.

Agreed, Diamondback keeps you out of the seat for longer periods of time, but it's a pretty consistent force. I think "violent" is a good way to describe Magnum. Pull those seat belts tight, kids!

Violent is exactly why I love Magnum. I think the B&M hypers are great fun, but I love the triangle hills of Magnum and the forceful rough and tumble feel it has. They don't make 'em like that anymore, which is really too bad.

I also love the "violence" of Magnum. I believe the ejector airtime gives more an aggressive thrill. That is probably the reason why I prefer it than floating sustained airtime. That being said I love all airtime!

One reason I've enjoyed Magnum less and less over the years are the insanely painful and restricting restraints on the older the Moses trains.

If any ride in the park (After Mantis) could use a new set of modern rolling stock I would say Magnum would be a good canididate. I just hate crawling into the boxes. (I'll duck from all the thrown rotten tomatoes now)

Now that Morgan is back in the game, I would love to see a set of their new trains on Magnum.

The lap bars on Magnum are exactly the opposite of restrictive... that's the problem. They have a fair amount of play between "clicks" and they don't conform in any way to your body. So when you sail over one of those hills, you get the brunt of the force on a flat surface. That's exactly why I tell people to pull the belt tight. It's flexible, and conforms to your body, distributing the force across your thighs/waist/whateverfitsthere instead of taking it hard on the bar in one spot.

Magnum's restraints are my brother's favorite restraints on a coaster. I think he is crazy. I wouldn't mind Intimin lap bars like from MF or TTD on Magnum. That would solve the problem of thigh banging.

I guess by restrictive I mean more so for the U shape of the restraint, and the feeling of having my legs pressed together, then like you said being voilently slammed into the bar over each hill. I prefer the T shape lapbars.

I'm guessing with age I just don't like the feeling I got my butt kicked when I get off a ride, i'm not the type who enjoys pain.

I find when I sit towards the back of the train it minimizes the pain. I used to sit in the front and that just killed me.

Scottyf said:

• Banshee > Raptor
• Beast > Mean Streak
• Invertigo > Wicked Twister
• Bat > Iron Dragon
• Racer > Blue Streak
• Vortex > Corkscrew
• Adventure Express > Mine Ride

Then there are the unique rides. CP has Gatekeeper, Dragster & Gemini, whereas KI has Firehawk & Flight of Fear.

I would have to disagree with Invertigo, Racer, and Adventure Express. I absolutely love Wicked Twister (one of my favorite rides actually) and Invertigo is just painful and sickening to me. Racer is too rough for my liking, though Blue Streak is not far behind. Maybe I have gone on bad days for it but it beat the living crap out of me. I also think I prefer CCMR to Adventure Express, but neither of them are great rides.

The unique coasters do complement each other well though.

Wicked Twister and Invertigo aren't even comparable. 2 different rides altogether. Same goes for Maverick and BLSC. Not even close! The only one I agree with is The Bat > Iron Dragon.

I didn't think he was saying this ride is greater than that ride. I think what he was going for was the > signs were arrows. Now I could be wrong but it just wouldn't make much sense to say invertigo is better than WT. I believe he was just pairing similar rides.

Long time reader for many years on this site, just finally signed up! Been going to Cedar Point for years.... Above where postings about Magnums trains, I always wondered how those B&M trains they put on Steel Dragon 2000 would turn out on Magnum? I believe it would improve it. But in a way I like the old trains cause that's what I grew up with but those B&Ms look comfy.

They're presumably like any other B&M hyper train. The problem is, Magnum has outside rail ties, and B&M's bogie system is intended for track with ties on the inside. They would have to significantly re-engineer their system.