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Kings Island has been quite busy this off season. With all the news surrounding Soak City and their new web site, many will have noticed another ride along side Son of Beast is missing from the ride listings. Crypt, the park's indoor Giant Top Spin, has also disappeared from the website. The news finally saw some light today as on Kings Island's Twitter, they made it clear that Crypt would be gone for 2012 and replaced by a Haunt attraction in October.
Crypt has gone through a bit of transformation in its history. It opened in 2002 as Tomb Raider: The Ride while under Paramount ownership. It opened as the world's first and only Giant Top Spin made by Huss, able to carry over 70 riders up to heights of over 80 ft. The ride had lots of theming and even a soundtrack to enhance the ride experience. As 2006 came, Cedar Fair took over and had to change the ride's name to Crypt. Along with that, they made several changes to the ride itself, including ditching all the Tomb Raider theming and the program. However, the ride program was such that the ride couldn't handle the more intense movements, and thus, the ride began to tear itself apart. In years following 2007, Cedar Fair has changed the program over and over to both give it a program, but to make something entertaining as well. As such, it only did on average 1-2 flips in those programs, and word of mouth followed to lack of ridership.
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Kings Island has made another big announcement for Spring 2011, which is not a roller coaster, but something rather different for the park. "Dinosaurs Alive" will be debuting at this popular Ohio amusement park on May 26th, 2011, and park guests will just have to pay five dollars to get into the dinosaur park. Once visitors step into the park, it will feel as if time had been rewound over 65 million years ago and humans will be walking in the presence of "live" dinosaurs in a Jurassic Forest setting.
More than 60 life size dinosaurs will be scattered throughout the park, 56 of them being animatronic. Science and technology will be utilized to its best to bring this park as lively as possible for guests to experience. The dinosaurs will be designed to replicate every movement of the dinosaurs, and will be very realistic. The 60 life size dinosaurs will move in a variety of different ways including mouths opening and closing, legs and arms moving, and even eyes moving. They will even feature sounds. They will be designed to replicate everything about the dinosaurs as possible and guests really will feel as they are being watched by these enormous creatures lurking in every corner. Each of the dinosaurs in the Dinosaurs Alive park will be hand carved as well as covered with skin-like materials. The dinosaurs were created by the Canada-based company, Dinosaurs Unearthed. Based on the latest paleontological knowledge, the dinosaurs will be as scientifically accurate as possible. Not only being the world's largest animatronic dinosaur park, but also being the park that houses the world's largest animatronic dinosaur! The Ruyang Yellow River dinosaur will measure an astounding 72, feet long, 30 feet high, and 12 feet wide. Other dinosaurs guests will encounter throughout the park will be the Baryonyx, Spinosaurus, Stegosaurus,Tyrannosaurs Rex, Triceratops, Pteranodon, Irratator, and more. Guests will be able to walk through nearly 4,000 feet of path through about 12.5 wooded acres. They will travel through six main scenes and will learn a lot about the time of the dinosaurs such as what they ate, how they adapted to their prehistoric world, how they protected themselves, and much more. There are even more features of the popular park. One is that four of the dinosaurs will actually have interactive consoles where guests will actually be able to guide the movements of the dinosaurs. This will allow them to see how scientists believed how each dinosaur moved certain parts of its body from its mouth, to its arms, to its legs, and even its eyes. Another feature will be an excavation site replica, a paleontological dog site. Here, visitors will be able to dig up prehistoric fossils. Also, a 1,500 foot gift shop will most likely be a hot spot to stop and do some shopping. The shop will consist of 500 dinosaur like items that guests will be able to purchase. The park will be a fun filled experience for guests of all ages. Beginning May 26th, the park will be open from 10:00 am to dusk, where guests will just pay the extra $5 to get in. Guests will be able to purchase the tickets to "Dinosaurs Alive" at Kings Island or in advance online as you would be able to with regular Kings Island admission. After a successful run since opening its new coaster, Diamondback, for the 2009 season, Kings Island has come upon the first mishap of the season.
Allegedly, on May 31, a woman reported to have gained a head injury on Son of Beast after riding it. However, the complaint wasn't filed to the Ohio Department of Agriculture, which oversees amusement park operations, until June 16th. The park has since voluntarily closed the ride due to the inspections upon the woman's complaint, and the park also states that mechanical reasons called for the ride's closure. It is now known at the moment how long Son of Beast will be down for this incident. Son of Beast is no stranger to long closures and accidents. The ride was plagued with delays when it first opened in 2000, and in 2006, a damaged piece of track in the first helix sent a train load of 27 passangers to the hospital, prompting the use of new trains and the removal of the signature loop that once had the ride claim to be the world's only looping wooden roller coaster. While the recent closure has prompted rumors on the ride's removal, Kings Island has not revealed public intentions to perminately close the ride. After much anticipation prompted by the Kings Island, Diamondback has been announced as the park's 15th roller coaster. The ride will break many in-park records as well as being one of the largest coasters built to date.
The announcement comes after the park began to set up signs on the Forth of July, placing teasers around the construction site reading "ride sally ride," and "steep incline ahead." Bolliger and Mabillard's signature red track with white supports have also been spotted around various areas of the park as well as the clearing that the Swan Lake used to inhabit. The statistics released are massive. The ride will be the tallest and fastest coaster in the park, lifting riders 230 ft, heading between the Crypt and train ride. After reaching that staggering height, the plummet to earth shall accelerate trains to 80 miles per hour. The ride will be 3rd in length in the park after Beast and Son of Beast with just around a mile of track. Ten drops including a hammerhead turnaround and a splashdown are included in the lenghty ride. The trains are also something to note. They are the same as Canada Wonderland's Behemoth attraction, with four-across staggered seating, where the two middle seats are just in front of the two outside seats. The trains paint job will resemble the skin of a real diamondback rattlesnake. The ride will run three trains, making it the highest capacity ride in the park. The investment shall come around $22 million. With the early construction, the opening date is set to be opening day for 2009. This will also be the park's first coaster produced by Bolliger and Mabillard. Kings Island is happy with progress towards reopening the world's largest, fastest wooden coaster to its crowds.
Just under a year after an accident left 27 riders with neck and back pain, Son of Beast runs test after test on a modified coaster to ensure that the July 8, 2006 incident is its first and last. Yesterday, a trainload of humans joined the water-filled plastic test dummies that formerly held the sole privilege of experiencing nearly 7,000 feet of track. However, the park is careful not to set a reopening date in stone just yet. "The progress on Son of Beast is coming along very nicely," Marketing Communications Coordinator Josh Hackenberg said. "We are committed to opening the ride this season." Kings Island's daily operation ends August 26, but the park remains open for the 2007 season on weekends through October 28. That provides a window of exactly four more months to reopen Son of Beast this season. The investigation into last year's accident discovered a cause of cracked timber giving way several inches as a train passed over the ride's sweeping double helix. While one of the goals of the past off-season was inherently to strengthen the structure, another was to find lighter trains. The park was successful in purchasing two trains manufactured by German company Gerstlauer that formerly ran on Hurricane at the now-defunct Myrtle Beach Pavilion. However, the use of lighter trains required a major sacrifice in the form of the ride's signature track element: its vertical loop. The loop has long been one of the park's most unique bragging rights. In Son of Beast's 1999 press release, then-Paramount's-Kings-Island advertised "the tallest, fastest and only looping wooden roller coaster in the world." That title rang true until this winter's modifications. Kings Island, home to a number of thrilling roller coasters will let their 14th roller coaster take flight come Memorial Day Weekend of this year. In celebration of the park’s 35th anniversary, Kings Island will open a new thrilling roller coaster that will be known as the Firehawk.
The Firehawk is a flying roller coaster that will allow its riders to experience the feeling of human flight. This innovative flying coaster will be located in the park’s Coney Mall section where it will stand beside one of the park’s award-winning roller coasters, Flight of Fear. Riders will begin by boarding the four-across red and yellow pilot seats, and then the passengers will be lowered backwards before there train begins to climb the 115-foot-tall red and gray colored lift hill. After about 2 minutes and 30 seconds, riders will have soared through a ½ mile of track and will have experienced five inversions and a top-speed of 50 mph. The Firehawk, manufactured by Vekoma International, will join a number of world-class thrilling roller coasters at Kings Island, which include The Beast, Son of Beast, Flight of Fear, and the Vortex. The Firehawk is actually the X-Flight roller coaster that will now be relocated to Kings Island from another Cedar Fair owned theme park, Geauga Lake. Kings Island will open for weekend operation on April 21, but will open for daily operation on Wednesday, May 23. The park will open at 10:00 am each morning, and the park’s Boomerang Bay water park will open Saturday, May 26. Also, Kings Islands is just the latest of the newly acquired Paramount Parks, owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, to drop the Paramount name off of the park’s title. In July of 2006, Paramount’s Kings Island’s wooden roller coaster, Son of Beast, left riders injured after an accident involving the ride’s support structure partially failing. The accident itself occurred just after all of the Paramount Parks, including Kings Island, all of which were owned by CBS at the time, had been sold to the Cedar Fair Entertainment Company. This now left Cedar Fair with the decision of what to do with the Son of Beast wooden roller coaster.
The State of Ohio’s Department of Agriculture was brought in to inspect the ride for obvious safety reasons, and a final report was recently released. This report describes the outcome of the incident and contains information about the near future of Son of Beast. Son of Beast opened in 2000 as the world’s tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster, and it also became the world’s only looping wooden roller coaster. Well this massive wooden coaster will lose that title in the future months as construction crews make modifications to the 218-foot tall ride, including the removal of the 118-foot tall loop. Kings Island plans to reopen Son of Beast next season, but not until the park is completed the project of reinforcing the ride’s wooden structure, removes the vertical loop, and installs lighter trains. Using these trains should reduce the load and create a more comfortable ride experience. Coming in 2005, Paramount's King's Island and Canada's Wonderland present The Italian Job Stunt Track, Paramount calls it a "High-Speed Mini Cooper™ Stunt Car Ride", and it appears to be the product of coaster masterminds Premier, who just recently opened Revenge of the Mummy at Universal Studios Hollywood and Florida.From the Canada's Wonderland and King's Island official websites: "Park guests will experience what it’s like to be a Hollywood stunt driver and go behind the scenes of an action movie. Guests board their very own MINI Cooper S tricked out with audio special effects adding to the multi-sensory sensation of the experience. Once strapped into their custom stunt car, rubber meets the road as the MINIs peel out to begin their chase sequence. Drivers twist through a parking garage, dodge near-collisions, race down stairs, chase through tunnels and narrowly escape massive explosions triggered by gunfire from a menacing helicopter. Tires skid out one last time as the stunt cars crash through a billboard and splash down into an L.A. aqueduct concluding the chase sequence and their trial as a stunt driver in this screen test!"
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