The Rougarou Files #1

So during the off season, I don't know whether to call this coaster Mantis or Rougarou. Because technically, it's no longer Mantis and it won't become Rougarou until May...

Mantarou! ;)

Bantisaru* :)

Come on. Mantarou at least has a nice ring to it. Besides, it never actually opened as Banshee.

I see that and I think of Manta though, and that doesn't fly with me..see what I did there :)

I do see what you did there, and that might be why Mantarou rolls off my tongue (or fingers) so well. Oh, the B&M flyer-y goodness. :)

They are the best flying coaster manufacturer. I'll never ever ride a Zamperla Flyer again..ever. If you got to CW, avoid that ride

But we all know Vekoma takes the cake for best flyers ;) *sarcasm*

Flying Dutchmen are okay, but after getting stuck on my back on KI's Firehawk on Friday night.. Yeah, I would much rather a B&M flyer. Thanks, though.

B&M makes the best, but I will say Dutchmans follow second. If the layouts for their coasters weren't all the same & had ridiculously complex & uncomfortable trains & stuff I'd like em more.

Zamperla is just a disaster all around when it comes to their flying coaster. I'll ride Firehawk anyday over Tomb Raider @ CW or whatever it's called now I can't remember for the life of me.

Time Warp is that god-awful coaster at wonderland. It really is probably the worst mess of a ride i have ever been on.

On to the heartline issue, who cares obviously it must be solved if they can run floorless trains.

I guess the issue I have with Dutchmens are the crews who work them. They are very inefficient at Kings Island's Firehawk. It really is a fun ride, but every time we happen to go there, our biggest complaint are the workers at Firehawk. Now, I know it isn't mostly the ride ops fault. The way they're trained to run the ride is just mind boggling. However, they don't have the luxury of being able to incline to seats as the train pulls into the station like it did when it was XFlight at GL.

You hinted at my exact largest issues. I've griped about KI ride ops for quite some time. The crew itself with the fact they kept adding rules over & over and changing the SOP has made it increasingly ridiculous on the platform.

Yep, between the ops not necessarily being the quickest and some operational issues, Firehawk capacity has been decimated. I think once (on a half dozen visits this season) I saw a train dispatch *before* the other train was returned and loading. Such a shame, too. It's as if the split-loading station is all for naught.

Imagine if it didn't have the dual stations though, could be alot worse.

thedevariouseffect said:
Imagine if it didn't have the dual stations though, could be alot worse.

When I was there June 21 (the evening the power went out for hours), they DIDN'T have both stations open. :/

Sometimes it could be, other times not so much. Way more often than not, they have one train fully ready to go by the time they dispatch the other. Ugh. Is it like 500/hr?

I hate to turn this into a CP ride op thing, but since having been a ride op at CP, every time I go to another CF park and see something out of the ordinary (or what I would expect to be out of the ordinary), I always think to myself or say to my gf/friends "that wouldn't fly at CP".

You're not the only one..I like you was a CP ride op, & gf was a prior KI ride op...We both see things eye to eye now..before we kinda fought over it, but now she agrees momma park knows best.

Plus their terminology is all jacked up..They call controls a drive box...You're not driving anything..You push like two buttons the majority of the day lol

Haha yes! And their order of clears/half assed high clears. I'm just standing there looking like oh my goodness.