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"I think it's going to work."
This year's coaster season has got off to a rough start. Three weeks ago, Kings Island opened on a glorious spring weekend. Two weeks ago, I stayed home because I had ben warned that 70,000 people were going to be in the park for a company picnic. And last weekend we got three inches of snow in Columbus and rumor has it that Kings Island closed early on Saturday and failed to open on Sunday. This weekend was busy, but the weather was decent. More important, Kings Island was offering preview rides on their latest attraction, Italian Job: Stunt Track.
When I arrived at the park, I was directed to a kiosk at the end of International Street to get a ticket for the new ride. Because this is technically a preview, they are limiting the load on the ride: 2,000 tickets for gold-pass holders, 2,000 tickets for anybody, and each ticket has a fifteen minute return window. Mine was for 10:45, so I started my day on Flight of Fear. Afterward, a Flying Scooter ride would have been perfect to fill the time until my Italian Job ride, but that ride has been replaced with a useless patch of grass. I took some photos, then joined the queue. Before long, I was preparing to take a seat in Row #4 of the train. That's the back seat of the second car.
The train arrives in the load station with the doors open. We board, and I noticed that the seats are molded Fiberglas seats, but the mold is similar to the seats on Flight of Fear. The doors are extremely narrow and are more cute than functional. Nevertheless, I pulled down the lap bar and slammed the door. Without fanfare, we roll out of the station, then go shooting down the launch track. Some people have noted that the acceleration starts gently, then gets stronger...for me, the acceleration felt very natural, much like a car taking off from a stoplight. The launch ends with a quick trip up the "parking garage" spiral, followed by a long straight drop into a double S-curve past a couple of police cruisers, then a climb into a tight, high-banked curve, then through a straight dip that supplies enough airtime in the front seat to make you curse the wart in the middle of the seat when you land. On the other side of the dip is a trip down the stairs that would lead to a subway station, around a swooping curve and up into the block brake where, in the grand tradition of Kings Island coasters, the train comes to a complete stop. This is a bit mystifying as a helicopter appears and starts shooting, pipes spray water, and lots of things start blowing up. It's a bit mystifying as there is no clear reason for stopping here other than to provide an opportunity to get shot at, sprayed on and blown up. It has to be safer in that dark tunnel ahead, so STEP ON IT! What could possibly be our motivation for stopping here in what is clearly an unsafe place to stop, other than to make sure that it takes a full 45 seconds for the train to clear the block brake? Once everything has blown up, the train takes off and blasts through the tunnel, which appears to be a drop-turn to the right, followed by an upward turn to the left which culminates in the dive through the billboard, under the queue and through the splash in the drainage ditch. Brakes at the bottom of that dip bleed off enough speed to bring the train into the safety brakes cleanly. Even so, the dip into the "Los Angeles River" brings the ride to an exciting finish.
That's the play-by-play. As for an overall impression, it's a good ride. It's a fun ride, and most important it looks to be a crowd pleaser. I mean, I stood at the ride exit for a half hour or more, and everybody who got off was smiling. This may be the first coaster Kings Island has installed since at least Top Gun, perhaps since Adventure Express, to get this kind of a reaction. The problem is that the short trains may cause a bit of a problem, and that's why I was standing at the exit.
There is a set of brakes at the uptrack end of the launch, and much to my surprise, pinch wheels (rather than LIMs) are used to move the trains in the stations. The highest point on the ride appears to be the top of the "parking garage" spiral past the launch. It takes about 20 seconds for the train to get there. From that point, there are no brakes until the helicopter scene, which is cleared at the 45-second mark. From there, the tunnel is about fifteen seconds, and it takes about ten seconds to advance the train through each of the station blocks. What I am not sure of (and which will not become clear until they get their third train) is whether they can bring an empty train into the load station immediately after launch, or if they have to wait until the launched train clears the spiral. Clearly the ride is set up to allow for a 45-second launch interval (960 PPH) but if they have to wait for the launched train to clear the spiral before moving an empty into load, that only leaves them about fifteen seconds to load and check the train. With two trains running, they were dispatching at about a 72 second interval, for about 600 PPH. The interesting thing about it is that even though the trains are short, the dispatches are frequent (and will hopefully be more frequent with three trains) so even though the capacity is low, the line should keep moving. Note also that this was only the second day of operation...there are still some kinks in the load and unload process that need worked out.
Elsewhere in the park, I was disappointed to find that the trim brake on the Beastie is operating again. Over on Top Gun the second train has returned, and Adventure Express is still running with three. Adventure Express needs some cosmetic attention especially in the tunnel for the second lift, as most of the lights are burned out and the audio is virtually inaudible. But the ride is running quite nicely.
As you might expect, the same is not true for Son of Beast. That ride is running probably better than it ever has before, and it still needs serious help. Start by completely redesigning the trains into something not only more accommodating but also better able to properly navigate the course. Unfortunately that won't fix the fact that the course is just plain dull. John Allen was right: "Curves don't do anything for people." Well, not entirely. After all, Thunderhead is nothing but curves, and that ride is fantastic. No, the problem with Son of Beast isn't that the ride is all curves, it's that it's all boring curves: long helixes that accomplish little but to eat up momentum and distance. I still wonder what they were thinking when they came up with this ride.
Elsewhere in the park, a front-seat ride on Racer proved to be halfway decent. I really wish Racer could trade trains with the Mighty Canadian Minebuster. Then the ride that runs decent could have decent trains and the Wonderland ride would be entirely rotten. Sorry, my Canadian friends. But why is it that Kings Island, the #1 seasonal park in North America, is the only Paramount park that has three wood coasters that are almost unrideable, almost entirely because of the trains that are running on them? Traditionally, Kings Island has taken good care of its wood coasters, but their trains are just awful!
As it turns out I never did manage to finish my tour of Kings Island coasters. I did ride Reptar late in the day, and it still amazes me that it bangs around as much as it does. Speaking of banging around, Vortex was up to its usual tricks, but still remains a good example of the 1980's Arrow loop-fest. Top Gun is back up to two trains again, and I skipped Face/Off as has become my habit.
The park is pulling itself together for the season, and their new ride appears to be a real winner. Yes, the effects are important to the ride, but they don't overwhelm, and the ride can actually stand on its own without the effects. That was my biggest fear about Italian Job, that it would be so closely tied to the effects that it would end up being a dull ride. A couple of rides today, though, have calmed my fears. It's a good ride as a coaster first, and the effects add to the package. I'm glad to see it; this is a new ride that is actually worth getting a little excited about.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
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