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Kings Island | Orion | B&M Giga Coaster

Hutch

Strata Poster
I've thought of a good analogy for this ride's layout compared to Fury's; think of Orion as the Lightning Rod to Fury's Steel Vengeance. By this, I mean that whereas Fury is a really long coaster and spreads its thrills along a greater ride duration (a la Steel Vengeance), Orion seems to throw loads of great elements into a shorter duration (a la Lightning Rod).
I understand the idea there, but there’s a couple of issues. The difference between Orion and Lightning Rod (other than the obvious steel/wood, B&M/RMC stuff) is that, despite being short, Lightning Rod has arguably some of the best elements on any coaster ever (stuff like the quad down and maybe even the wave turn are better than anything on Steel Vengeance imo), while Orion’s elements are fairly basic. LR also came before Vengeance, while Orion had to follow up Fury’s monster layout, so other people were inevitably going to be a little disappointed with a shorter layout.

I’ve said this before, but for me the length/height isn’t the problem for Orion. It’s the seemingly (and I’ll include seemingly as nobody’s ridden it yet) lackluster elements that this coaster settled for. I mean, you have a huge helix and a fairly basic turnaround taking up over a quarter of the ride.

I don’t need crazy RMC elements here (of course a huge outerbank turn would be amazing but there are other ways to make that element more exciting). But we know that B&M can do interesting elements (Fury’s treble clef, Mako’s Stengel dive, and now Candy’s helix exit), why aren’t we seeing any of that here? And imo airtime is what B&M does best... give me more than just two air hills lol. Enough of this big turn nonsense.

Want to talk about the helix real quick. I was never a fan of the look of it but I know B&M can do some pretty kick ass helices (ex. Nitro and Goliath in the case of hypers). However Fury’s big helix is a bit of a waste and the size of Orion’s helix leaves me a bit worried, however if it maintains a good pace I suppose it has potential to be good.



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KIFan

Roller Poster
I'm gonna go around and ? emoji as many posts as a I can that @KIFan has :mad:... Because I am Groot, and that's what heroes do. Onion 287!!
Apollo 170 FTW!!
Also, to everyone yelling about this having such uninspired elements, please send me photos of where the "wave turn" and turnaround are on other coasters??
 

Hyde

Matt SR
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
Also, to everyone yelling about this having such uninspired elements, please send me photos of where the "wave turn" and turnaround are on other coasters??
I mean, are you for real? Google it:

Twisted Cyclone
IMG_2841.jpg


Iron Rattler
sfft-iron-rattler_5431-750.jpg


Lightning Rod
lightning-rod-roller-coaster-dollywood-breaking-wave_20150807.jpg


Steel Vengeance
ffa3c6fe8182240bd17697548234f87c.jpg

Twisted Colossus
Twisted-Colossus-Edit-002.jpg
 

Zek_Teh_Kek

Hyper Poster
I just noticed something that's kind of interesting, but makes sense in the end as to why B&M would do it.



Orion and Candymonium have slightly similar endings, where the train goes into a banked turn, before dipping down and back up into the brake run. It's nice that they didn't just end it right after the turn, but it's still a tad bit weird.
It's not really anything important, just something I thought was interesting.
 

Hutch

Strata Poster
^For the case of Candymonium, I think the ending there is meant to get some good interaction with the pathway/guests. Kinda reminds me of Mako’s finale and how it swoops over and dips down by the lake.


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Antinos

Slut for Spinners
I mean, I thought this was beat into a pulp earlier in the topic but apparently not. Orion does not have a wave turn. The element after the first drop is not profiled as such. Instead, it's simply a hill where the apex is banked at 90 degrees. There's nothing wave about it. Riders will not experience airtime in the maneuver like they do on proper wave turns on RMCs.

Is this clear now, or do we need to keep beating a dead horse?

inb4 KIFan angry reacts this post.
 

KIFan

Roller Poster
I mean, I thought this was beat into a pulp earlier in the topic but apparently not. Orion does not have a wave turn. The element after the first drop is not profiled as such. Instead, it's simply a hill where the apex is banked at 90 degrees. There's nothing wave about it. Riders will not experience airtime in the maneuver like they do on proper wave turns on RMCs.

Is this clear now, or do we need to keep beating a dead horse?

inb4 KIFan angry reacts this post.
That’s why I keep on putting it in quotes. It’s not a wave turn, but what else do you call it? Where else can you find it? Nowhere else!!!
 

KIFan

Roller Poster
This crosses the line into trolling territory

Trax

Hyper Poster
There's a reason why KI fanboys are the laughing stock of the community
Oh Boy, you have never met a Phantasialand fanboy. They keep praising the park for the rusty wall outside of Rookburgh, and trust me (I‘ve seen this in person), it is one of the ugliest things I have ever seen. Or have you ever criticised Taron? I’ve been threatened because I called it overrated.

Btt: B&M manages to be a great manufacturer and a bad one at the same time. They deliver quality products, with a high reliability and a high capacity, while being crowd pleasers.
On the other hand, their layouts are quite blend and they do not try new elements. In addition, they love to put their brake runs 100+ft in the air, which always looks frustrating to me. They also don’t go to the extreme, which is great for the GP, but not for enthusiasts.

From the little footage we have, I am hoping for some intensity in the first valleys, but the rest of the Layout looks just ok to me. GP will of course love it, which is more important to parks, as the GP is slightly larger than the enthusiast community.
 

UP87

Mega Poster
They keep praising the park for the rusty wall outside of Rookburgh, and trust me (I‘ve seen this in person), it is one of the ugliest things I have ever seen.
This off-topic comment is really stupid. You judge unfinished theming?!

To say something on topic: Orion looks okay to me. Of course there is nothing too special about it. But not every coaster has to be something special. I mean... B&M is rarely about really unique designs. They're just good at what the do and their coasters have awesome capacities. (So here I fully agree with @Trax)
 

Us3rmane

Mega Poster
I'm glad to see that KI fans are the US equivalent to the EP fans/Parc Astérix fans community here in France (even though sometimes they can use your brains and see what's good or wrong with their parks).

Except they get great rides ! Man I want to ride that giga so much !
 
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