Opening next April at the Cincinnati-area amusement park, this Bolliger & Mabillard roller coaster will be the world's longest inverted coaster, at more than 4,124 feet or track length and a two-minute, 40-second ride cycle. The coaster will feature seven inversions and a top speed of 68 mph.
Here's the computer-generated POV, courtesy the park:
Kings Island is claiming that Banshee will be the first "female-inspired thrill ride at a Cedar Fair Entertainment Company amusement park," but let's not forget that when Kings Island was a Paramount Park, it had a Tomb Raider-themed ride, and as every male gamer of a certain age remembers, Tomb Raider very much had a female lead.
Banshee is going onto the site of the former Son of Beast roller coaster, which the park tore down last year after closing it in 2009, following years of bad reviews and mishaps.
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Anyway...looks pretty good. Ill be curious to see if they add some visuals. Also wondering if we will see the return of The Bat...
I like the return of the loop around the lift hill, a trademark of early B&M designs (Kumba and Hulk), and the dive loop, which I think is the first on an inverted coaster. Inverted batwings are some of the most intense elements on any coaster, which is why Montu and Afterburn(Carrowinds) are two of my favorites, but the batwing on Banshee looks almost too big. That may cause the element to loose the out-of-control element that you get from the tighter/smaller batwings on Montu and Afterburn. That slow inline twist at the end looks sick, and any coaster fan has got to love the absense of a mid-course brake.
As with any coaster, it's difficult to tell if it's going to be better than existing installations, but it does appear to be an excellent addition to the Kings Island lineup.
This looks fantastic!
However, I do really like these new harnesses, particularly on the fliers. My only concern would be longevity, but the ones on Superman at SFGAdv seem to be aging pretty well, especially considering the maintenance reputation of that park.
To be fair though, the two logos do have some resemblance.
I like the story of the ride, when a Banshee screams it means "the death of a family member". (SOB). I think this will be the beginning of other new inverts, I love how they're bringing new elements in.
Most importantly, it's a safe choice, not a prototype. I doubt Kings Island tries something new again for a while...
However, maybe this can be Kings Island's claim to fame. They can try to have the longest of all types of roller coasters. Next up, the worlds longest mine train coaster, the worlds longest wild mouse, the worlds longest stand up coaster, the worlds longest flying coaster..... and so on and so forth. ha ha.
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