Kings Island- Orion, New coaster for 2020.

Kings Island building a new giga coaster, Orion for 2020. 

In August, Kings Island shocked the coaster world with the announcement they would be building a new giga-coaster for the 2020 season.



 The first giga to be built in five years, this comes as big news as the park hasn't built a new coaster since Mystic Timbers in 2017. Cedar Fair parks often run in cycles, each park gets new attractions or additions each year but coasters tend to only come on the building block every 3-5. It's impressive Kings Island is getting something new so quickly over their sister park, Cedar Point, who has been added a new coaster every two years lately.

Let's get into the real details of this new beautiful creature coming to Kings Island.

Manufacturer: Bollinger and Mabillard
Type: Steal, Giga Coaster
Ride Time: 3 minutes.
Trains: 2 trains of 8 car each, 4 riders in a single row for 32 riders per train.
Track Length: 5,321 feet
First Drop Height: 300 feet
Length of First Drop: 447 feet
Top Speed: 91 MPH
Total Hills: 8


Set to open in Spring of 2020, Orion boasts some impressive stats. It's 70 feet taller than Diamond Back, the current tallest coaster in the park. Built by the same coaster company, Kings Island boasts a collection of the finest things B&M has to offer.

Orion is themed to a new area of the park, Area 72. Themed around a group of scientists in a race to develop travel though a coming meteor storm and investigating a new planet in the Orion constellation. Naturally, we riders will be the 'volunteers' to help with testing out this transport system.

The new themed area will be going into the park which currently houses Flight of Fear, beyond the Racer. Ground clearing for this new coaster has been in progress since 2018 when Firehawk was demolished. During this time when additional land clearing began, fans began to get suspicious- why would they need that much land cleared out suddenly?

A coaster, was the obvious answer and Orion doesn't disappoint.

Orion is taking over a portion of the space Firehawk once occupied and a good bit more, stretching itself into the back part of the park towards the wooden area Beast plays in and that once housed the 'Dinosaurs Alive' attraction.

 In September, Kings Island showed us this lovely gem. The beginnings of the lift hill base and starting on vertical progress.

More recently, Wild Gravity Travels showed us this amazing little gem from earlier in November. The lift hill has been completed and downward progress is nearly to the bottom of the first drop.  While it's difficult to tell, we can guess that outward progress from the lift hill has begun in the form of supports and footers. Although how the cold weather will slow construction is difficult to say.

If we get the chance, we'll have to get out to Winterfest and take a look for ourselves.

Image from Attractions Magazine 

New today we have these lovely, sweet looking new trains which where just released at the IAAPA expo in Orlando, Florida.  B&M displayed the lead car for the new coaster at the expo, giving fans a another hint of what to expect in the spring of next year.

Easy to say, we're excited. We look forward to watching the progress of this coaster more so than we already are.  So stay tuned, space travelers? Space Travelers, we're going with it.. we'll have more to come soon!

Busch Gardens Williamsburg- Pantheon News 11/2

Busch Gardens Williamsburg- Pantheon News 

 For those who haven't been following along, Pantheon is the newest coaster coming to Busch Gardens Williamsburg in 2020.  Themed to the Roman Gods, with various elements of the coaster being named after them, the ride is an Intamin steel, sit-down coaster. Slated to be the fastest, multi-launch coaster in North America.

Coasters and You- How 'Water Dummies' Work

Image from NBC10

Water Dummies and You- 
Why one falling off isn't a reason to panic.


Okay people, it's time for a rough and dirty crash course on coaster dummies combined with some easy math.

Everyone loves to panic and panic they have, since two water dummies fell from a the Gale Force coaster at Playland's Castaway Cove in Ocean City, New Jersey.

In essence the story reads like you'd expect- Playland's Castaway Cove was doing it's safety testing, this is accomplished by using 'water dummies' which every theme park uses. They leaked, lost mass and became loose. This allowed them to fly off the coaster and damage the roof of a nearby hotel.  This story came across my dash, shortly followed by the rounds of internet hysteria.

Direct caption from BroBible

Naturally, this has lead to some people fear-mongering, then having a fit over the safety of roller coasters without even having a clue what a 'water dummy' is. This response naturally made my eye twitch. It had me groaning at my phone, using that famous line from a commercial 'That's not how it works. That's not how ANY of this works!'.


So now, I'm here and I'm going to give you a down-and-dirty explanation of what happened.

Kings Island- Firehawk Demolition

 Firehawk Demolition at Kings Island. 

Normally we're sad to see coaster demolished but sometimes, it's got to happen. More so when it's an old Vekoma that's painful to look at and more painful to ride. Which is the current situation with Firehawk at Kings Island.  While this makes us wonder what will soon be taking it's place, we've got some video that is both shockingly amusing (to those of us who've had the pain of riding Firehawk) and interesting to see the process used in coaster demolition.


These were found of YouTube which show the lift hill being brought down as well as someone having some fun, tipping over the loop.

For those who might miss Firehawk or never got the chance to ride it, we've also added in the POV down below for your viewing (or cringing) enjoyment!

Seaworld San Diego Announces Mako- New Dive Coaster for 2020

New Dive Coaster Coming to Seaworld San Diego in 2020- Mako

Image from Behind the Thrills

Friday, in a surprise move, Seaworld San Diego made an announcement that somehow slipped under our radar.

Coming in 2020, they will build a new addition to their coaster collection-  B&M Floorless Dive Coaster going by the name of 'Mako'. Stats look to be a lift hill of 153 feet with a following vertical drop of 143. This would then make it the tallest dive-coaster in Southern California.

While it may share the same name with the Seaworld Orlando coaster, nothing else is similar in the design of California's Mako Coaster.  Although they are taking a leaf from the Orlando book on several levels. Much like Orlando, the new coaster will come with the current Shark Encounter getting a heavy refurbishment to match up to the shiny new coaster going place.

Universal Orlando- Changes coming to Wizarding World

Image from Behind The Thrills

Changing coming to Islands of Adventure and Wizarding World of Harry Potter. 

Not saying I'm surprised, but I am sad.

On Monday, Universal Orlando Resort announced that 'Dragon Challenge' or 'Dueling Dragons' would be closing on September 4th to make way for an 'all new attraction within the Wizarding World of Harry Potter'.

We knew it was coming. It's been coming since Universal made the call to no longer have this amazing B&M roller coaster 'duel' as it was intended. Many believe this voided the agreement with the coaster builders which would lead to long-term problems with the ride, as well as other issues with a computer system running it that was never designed to function in. It was a death blow and it was all just a matter of time.

All because people just can't listen to the simple phrase of 'No Loose Objects'. So in September, we're loosing another amazing coaster due to the humans ability to mess things up for everyone.

This leaves a very large question- What is Universal Orlando putting in this rather large footprint?

Universal has given us a few clues-

Image from Universal Orlando

While this isn't a full announcement, we know that Universal WILL be building another coaster in the place of Dragon Challenge. Something with heavy theming which will also be a key part of the Wizarding World.

Stay Tuned- We'll be following this one closely!

Busch Gardens Williamsburg- InvadR Construction Update

 Greetings Folks,
As you know, we're still working over here at ISI but updates have been slow. With the season slowly ramping up we're hoping to have more time available to stop patching in updates! Currently, I can't make any promises as to when those are going to be, but I'm aiming for at least once a week updates!

This WILL get moving again!







Now, As you may know- Busch Gardens Williamsburg has their first wooden roller coaster under construction. InvadR is set to open this season at the park and over the last week or two I've been scrounging for updates, images and information about the ride.

Recently, Busch Gardens Willimsburg has posted up this image, giving us a nice look at the two trains going onto the coaster. Frankly, I think they look amazing! The perfect fit and detail we've come to know and love from such a detail-oriented park!

Image from Attraction Chasers

 Also online lately, a few amazing photos from the awesome folks over at Attraction Chasers, who got in for a hardhat tour of the new ride!

Can you tell I'm jealous yet? Because I am. I so very am! You lucky people!

Now I've got several images from them so let's post the link to their main site!
Attraction Chasers

Image from Attraction Chasers, Those lucky Bastards!

 Honestly, this ride looks like it's going to be simply fun. From these construction photos we can easily guess this newest addition is going to be well themed, fitting into the area of New France.

I did have a few doubts from the layout and blueprints that they'd be able to get a good coaster into this area. Well, this will teach me to stop having doubts!

Image from Attraction Chasers

Finally, we get a look at the lift hill for InvadR. Still not much news about the ride building or anything else involved with the coaster but from these photos, we can see things are well on the way for the opening!

Just in case you missed it, Busch Gardens has this to say about the ride-
"In 2017, a great battle will ensue in the trappers' village of New France. Vikings will invade, forcing the trappers to defend their village. Invade new territory on the first wooden coaster at Busch Gardens ® Williamsburg. The 74-foot drop makes it a force to be feared and nine airtime hills wait to be conquered by bold warriors. Chart a course through the winding frontier at 48 mph and claim eternal glory for your crew." 

That is all for now. We hope to bring you more news soon. 

And again, make sure you thank those lucky folks at Attraction Chasers for the images!

Breaking - Kings Island Announces Mystic Timbers Coaster for 2017!

We've been teased for the past couple of weeks of the big announcement from Kings Island for their 2017 project, and at long last, we're finally here! So, just what is coming to the park? What could possibly be bigger than the Banshee announcement? Well, look no further...

The creation from GCI marks the park's newest and baddest coaster to be added to the family of already insane creations. So, let's get right to it and stop waxing poetic about the whole thing.

Mystic Timbers will be located in the Rivertown section of the park. Already home to The Beast and Diamondback, the newest creation from GCI looks to be one insane addition to the park. The lift hill will be 109ft and the first drop 97ft. Traveling at 53mph this one is going to one wild ride through the trees and cover 3m265ft of track as you fight against nature itself. The ride itself will feature 16 airtime hills and an extreme S-turn feature.

There's been talk about a shed, and this is sounding very much like what's going on with Verbolten at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Is it a drop track, marking the first ever wooden coaster with such a feature? Something else all together twisted? They're not saying, but it definitely smells like something that's similar in nature.

Here's some of the official word from Kings Island on the parks 16th coaster!

"Themed to an area surrounding a lumber company becoming overrun by a mysterious medusa-like overgrowth of vines as nature reclaims its land, Mystic Timbers will be 3,265 feet in length, reach 109 feet in height and weave along steep cliffs, down ravines, cross over water and go through an extreme S-turn, among a forest of trees, at speeds up to 53 mph.

The ride will feature a total of 16 airtime hills, a mid-course tunnel and interact with parts of the Kings Island & Miami Valley Railroad and White Water Canyon attractions."

Check out more details and the POV below!

Busch Gardens Williamsburg Announces Park's First Wooden Coaster for 2017

Busch Gardens Williamsburg has announced that in 2017, a brand new coaster will be coming to the park. This time, the park's first ever wooden coaster! Yep, that's right...at long last there will be a woodie within the confines of BGW.

There's not a ton of details out about this one just yet, as 2017 is a bit far off, but we do know that the coaster, built by Great Coasters International, will feature a few different elements and we know it's top speed. After a 74ft drop, riders will hit speeds of 48mph and will have 9 air time hills as trains cover over 2100ft of track. Sounds tame, but remember, some of the best coasters in the world aren't the fastest either.

Outside of that, the coaster will be going in the New France section of the park and will be themed around the idea of a Viking invasion where the settlers of New France will have to defend themselves against the invading hordes. Definitely going to be interesting to see just how that plays out with theming and other ride elements. 

Speaking of that, one of the more interesting things about this is that Busch Gardens Williamsburg is involving park goers and coaster fanatics alike to help with the decision making process. Yep, you heard that right. Not only is the name of the new coaster up for a vote right now, you can vote once a day here, but they're also going to be letting everyone vote on certain elements of the ride and theming as well!

And that's about all there is at the moment. Be sure to stick around as we'll definitely be covering the developments of this all throughout the progress, and check out the full trailer for the ride below!

Coney Island's Cyclone Stuck on Opening Day

Image from HuffPost News

Coney Island's 'Cyclone' Evacuated on Opening Day.

It seems Luna Park at Coney Island isn't off to an excellent start for the 2015 season.

On Saturday, the parks opening day, the first public riders on Cyclone had to be evacuated and walked from the ride by employees when the coaster had a cable within the lift hill motor snap. This stalled the roller coaster's train on the lift-hill making it impossible to continue on it's journey. While riders were in no danger, thanks for the roller coasters anti-rollback system, it was a long walk down.

All riders were safely escorted from the ride and the staff of Coney Island have stated this is a simple fix for their classic roller coaster. They expect to have Cyclone up and running for next Saturday, April 4th, the parks second weekend of operation.

Tayto Park's New Coaster Named as Construction Continues

It's been a while since we've taken a peek at what's going on over at Ireland's Tayto Park, and it seems quite a bit has transpired since our last look. Not only has their newest coaster gotten a name, but concept art for the trains has been released as well as a ton of construction photos.

The coaster, built by The Gravity Group, will be a true one of a kind and Europe's only wooden coaster to feature an inversion in the layout, for now at least.

Definitely interesting and should fit the theme of things pretty well. Oh, right the name. Earlier this month it was announced that it will be called The Cú Chulainn Coaster after the Irish mythological hero of the same.

Coming in at 4,593ft in length, Cú Chulainn, will be Europe's longest wooden coaster and in the top ten for height and drop as well. Sadly, it's corkscrew inversion will only keep it as Europe's only wooden coaster with such for a year, since Kolmården's Wildfire is set to open in 2016 with three. Still, it gets to be to be first, so that counts for something!

As you can see in the image above, the trains are going to themed pretty insanely and they're really something different all together. I don't think I've seen that much work on the front of a lead car in a very long time.

So, anyway, here's the real reason ya probably, came. Pictures of construction!

Roller Coaster Vs. Deer at Lightwater Valley Park

Image from The Mirror

 Have you ever wondered what would happen if a Roller Coaster and a wayward Bambi decided to become friends? Nothing pretty as passengers on "The Ultimate" from Lightwater Valley Amusement Park in North Yorkshire, England have stated.

Apparently a few days ago, a deer managed to get beyond the coasters perimeter fences and onto the roller coasters tracks while the ride was in motion. The roller coaster did strike an decapitate the deer, bathing passengers in all forms of lovely deer-bits. Thankfully no human injuries where reported from the deer-strike but the ride and fence was checked by Lightwater Park, it re-opened the same day.

Cedar Fair Parks- Seat Belts Added to Rides.

Seat Belts on Diamondback from CoasterForce

 Cedar Fair is Adding Seat Belts to Rides.

 This is surprising, rides which have operated for years without 'seat belts' are now getting them. Rides which where never built or designed to have them, now have them. Likely cutting down on loading time and the riders 'air time' feelings.

 No one is entirely sure why Cedar Fair is going around it's parks and adding unneeded seat belts, but it's happening and fans aren't very pleased about it. Rides which have operated perfectly fine under manufacturer specification are now subject to added seat belts which where never required or needed in the past. The list of coaster effected is fairly wide and spread out all over the various parks which Cedar Fair owns.

Kings Island- Diamondback
Carowinds- Intimidator
Canada's Wonderland- Behemoth (Unconfirmed)

 Each of these coasters are considered 'sisters' meaning they have many of the same elements and much of the same set-up. Diamondback and Behemoth both have coaster trains with the 'stadium seating' (I can't speak for Carowinds as I haven't gotten there yet).  There is no word yet what other coasters may have been infected with Cedar Fairs newest madness but it's a likely bet that Canada's Wonderland's 'Leviathan' may also have been effected in this not-bright move.

 It seems silly. As I've learned about B&M coasters I've also learned it takes power to unlock their ride restraints. Without that power, they simply can't unlock as it isn't possible. If they can't get power to the ride (in event of a ride stop or power outage) they pretty much have to take the seat apart around you to remove you from the ride. Unlike others, there isn't a button or lever you can activate to simply unlock the seat, it has to have power plus those other items. You can't "fly out" of these things even if you wanted too. They cannot 'unlock' on their own. Once your in that seat- your in it. 

 That's why, to me, this seems a highly silly move.
 Plus if your dumb enough to TRY and get out of you seat while on a roller coaster..You deserve exactly what's coming to you.

Fire at Clermont Steel- B&M Ohio Coaster Plant

Fire at Clermont Steel, B&M's Ohio Fabricator.


 Not good news for American Roller Coaster Fan this morning as older news tends to hit late.

 Cincinnati's WLWT is reporting that two alarm fire broke out at Clermont Steel Fabricators recently. This is the Ohio Plant which produces many of the United States collective of B&M Roller Coasters. The fire departments reports the fire started in a 'bag house' in which the company stores recyclable items. They also report no injuries but also not damage assessment either. As you can see from the image, coaster track is stationed outside the plant for delivery... no word of if this will effect future coaster deliveries.

Info from: WLWT Cincinnati 

Kentucky Kingdom- Lightning Run Tack Arrives

Image from Kentucky Kingdom's Facebook Page

Lightning Run Track Arrives at Kentucky Kingdom.

 Some good news today from Kentucky Kingdom.

 The park which has struggled to re-open since Six Flags pulled out is planning their first new season for 2014. Their making up time and adding in new attractions though a multi-year plan to re-build the park.

 The new attraction for 2014, Lightning Run, is a Chance Hyper GT-X Coaster. The drop height will be 100' and an overall length of 2,500 feet. The new coaster will have a top speed of 55MPH and have a ride length of 2 minutes. While this might not be the most impressive coaster, it's new and will help replace the stripping of the park that happened when Six Flags left.

Image from RCDB and CoasterClub.org

 Plus, you have to admit- The cars for this new coaster look pretty awesome!

Carowinds- Hurler Overhaul

Great Coasters International Gives "Hurler" at Carowinds an Overhaul.

 Some GREAT news today for both Carowind's Fans and Coaster Lovers all over.

 Great Coasters International has both confirmed and posted of photos of the wooden coaster "Hurler" located at Carowinds Park. The ride is getting repair work and it appears like a full track overhaul, which is much needed. This ride, while great, has been reported getting rougher each and every season.

For more photo's of the repairs to the Hurler Roller Coaster, check out- Great Coasters International's Facebook Page!

Grand Texas Theme Park- Greased Lightnin' Not Returning

Image from Culture Map Houston

Grand Texas Theme Park- Greased Lightnin' Roller Coaster NOT Returning.


 The New Theme Park, Grand Texas is ready to begin construction but they've got some bad news for possible future guests.

 While people may be calling the park "The New Astroworld" it will be missing a key piece of the now extinct park. While Grand Texas had planned to rebuild the classic Schwarzkoph Shuttle Loop roller coaster, those plans have now been scrapped.

 Greased Lightnin' was sold when Astroworld closed and has changed hands at least twice. However, the once iconic ride has never been re-assembled at either park which owned it. We're unsure if the current owner refuses to sell the ride or if this is purely a money issue.. but Grand Texas has announced they won't be getting the once iconic thrill ride.

 Rather Grand Texas has stated they will be building another roller coaster, which promises fans a trip down "Coaster Memeory Lane". The park is being very quiet about what the new plans may involve but they are currently promising disappointed fans that the new ride will be a "taller, faster and similar" ride.

 Could Grand Texas be looking at a New Shuttleloop Coaster? Perhaps another model from another park? Right now, no one seems to know. We'll bring you more information as it becomes available. 

Six Flags Magic Mountain- X2 Reopens!

 "X2" to Reopen this Weekend!

 Screamscape is reporting that X2, the problem plagued roller coaster located at Six Flags Magic Mountain, is set to re-open this weekend.

 Screamscape reports this has been confirmed by Six Flags Magic Mountain. The roller coaster has been done since September had problems during it's season refurbishment.

Six Flags Adding Seat Belts to ALL 'Lap Bar Only' Coasters

 More News from Six Flags- This one involving all of the chains amusement parks.

 It seems that Six Flags will be adding in seat belts to all their roller coasters, franchise wide, that currently run only with a lap bar system. This news isn't really surprising after the deadly accident at Six Flags over Texas involving the New Texas Giant roller coaster.

 There doesn't appear to be a time-line for when this improvements must be completed and in place but is seems to be happening very quickly. However, the folks over at Great American Thrills reports that "Superman- Ultimate Flight" at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom has already added them.

 More information when we hear it!