Since Jarrett posted a trip report of what it was like to attend Banshee's media day from a coaster club member's perspective, I'll post one of what it was like for members of the media.
After a 10 hour drive I arrived at my hotel at 7:30pm and received a text to meet up with some friends to grab a bite to eat. After chowing down we went to their hotel room to have a few beers. That's when I found out that some of the other media were told to show up at the park at 4am instead of 5am the following morning, so I had to cut off the drinking a bit early to get a few winks before a 3am wake up alarm.
I got to the park a few minutes after 4am and noticed about two dozen cars of coaster club members lined up at the main entrance. I drove around to the employee entrance to find the "official media" parking and checked in. It was strange being there so early and walking through the park all alone in the dark. When I got to Banshee there were only a three national TV station reporters there setting up for their morning show live feeds. The coaster hadn't even started testing yet and I immediately realized that I could have gotten a lot more shuteye before starting what was going to be a very long day.
Here's a photo of what the area looked like without anyone around before the fog machines were even turned on.
I decided to check out the queue, which is themed to a cemetery and has this great tribute to Son Of Beast.
The cemetery themeing is only around the entrance and beginning of the queue with standard cattle pens behind the entrance. I walked up the stairs into the station to check out the trains. To my surprise there was no staff there yet, so I headed back out since I didn't want to get into any trouble before the day had even begun.
I noticed that there were a few workers setting up a breakfast buffet at the nearby Chicken Shack and went over there and had a cup of hot chocolate to warm up a bit since it was just a few degree above freezing at that time of the morning. I had been at the park for about an hour when the coaster began testing and other people started showing up, including Robb Alvey and Marcus Leshock, a reporter friend of mine from WGN in Chicago, who took this photo of me when the fog machines started up.
I can't begin to tell you how good the coaster looks at night. The cemetery effects and fog really pop under the colored lights and extend all along the coaster layout. Like Beast, this is another coaster that's a must-ride at night.
The sign with those glowing eyes really stands out at night. <3
I grabbed another hot chocolate and watched the coaster testing for about another half hour when the coaster club members start streaming in. They formed a long line to the right of the sign, so I figured I better head on up to the station and beat the crowd. When I got to the top of the stairs I saw that there were already a few people seated on the train, so I got on the back row outside left seat for a ride on the first train of the day. Although it was still very cold and the coaster was running much slower than it would later in the day, I had a great ride. Since it was rather dark in spite of the lighting effects and I was unfamiliar with the layout, I couldn't really see what was happening from the back row. But I sure could feel how massive every loop is and just how good the Heartline Roll into the Helix finale is. I was blown away on my first ride and it only got better as the day wore on.
By now the coaster club members were pouring into the queueline, so I decided to get some more chocolatey liquid warmth. It wasn't long before my friends from the night before showed up and got a good laugh when I told them that I had been there for two hours already, yet had only gotten my first ride a few minutes ago. They wanted to get on right away, so we headed over to the entrance.
It was then that I found out that I had a different pass than the coaster club members and got to skip the 45min-hour queue. The passes with yellow text were coaster club members and the ones with pink were media.
So we walked past the queue straight into the station and got right on to the front row. Although the trains were still running slower, I was blown away again because this time I could see and feel how massive this thing is. I also could see the effects much better, including headstones that were blown over at spots when the trains got close to the ground. The others wanted to try a back row ride, so we went straight back on as the sun just started to rise.
After three rides I was really starting to get cold, so I convinced everyone to get some breakfast and wait until it got brighter to get our on-ride videos. We all headed over to Chicken Shack when we found out that the outdoor buffet there was for coaster club members and that media members should go into the Festhaus for a warm breakfast buffet. Western style scrambled eggs, tons of bacon, biscuits & gravy, toasted bagels & cream cheese, fresh fruit and above all HOT TEA! This beat the hell out of the cold bagels and doughnuts outside.
After chowing down and warming up we all headed back out for our on-ride video rides. However there were already eight people lined up for the second row (the ridercam camera is mounted to the back of the front row of seats) and since only one of the two trains had the camera, we decided not to wait and jumped back on the front row for another ride.
During the daylight I really noticed just how steep that first drop is.
It reminds me of the one on Jubilee.
In fact, there's much about Banshee that reminds me of Jubilee. Not that it's so much better than all the other B&M inverts like Jubilee is so much better than every other Vekoma SLC. Everything just feels huge like on Jubilee. I don't know if the POV really shows this very well, but you can get the idea from it. (Click on the Banshee drop photo above to watch the on-ride POV video.)
After our first "daylight" front seat ride we only had to wait for one train to get our on-ride vids.
This one is with my friend Scott from Upstop Media. Scott is on my left with his friend Andrew next to him and his friend Brian next to me. (Click on the photo to watch the video.)
Before I could do another with some other friends, they shut the coaster down for the Opening Ceremony.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PlPbpLs36g[/youtube]
After the ceremony ended we got right back on for this on-ride video. This one is with my friend Rocco from Sex, Drugs & Rollercoasters. Rocco is on my right with his friend Adam next to him and his friend Meghan next to me. (Click on the photo to watch the video.)
When I got off the ride I noticed someone on the train out of the corner of my eye and I saw our favorite goon Jarrett waving at me. I had to wait for them to put the video on a thumb drive for me and by the time that was done Jarrett was pulling back into the station. We chatted for a bit and I introduced him to Rocco and Scott before going over to the entrance with him to take a mandatory photo.
It was great seeing Jarrett and I wanted to spend more time with him, but it was time to do some work. They had a media work area setup in the Festhaus which I used to upload the POV onto the CoasterForce YouTube channel and then headed back over to the coaster to get some off-ride footage and snap a few photos.
The view of Banshee behind Delirium from the Festhaus entrance:
The view of Banshee from the plaza:
Since most of the huge elements are down the hill behind the station, you only notice just how big the Dive Loop is.
The loop over the lift hill reminds me of Kumba and Riddler's Revenge. <3
I really like the way the train shoots up into the Zero-G Roll, which makes it feel different than Patriot's (for example) but just as good!
The vantage points for the entire lower area are very limited, but here are a couple of photos I was able to get from the old Son Of Beast exit ramp:
Click on the photo of the Heartline Roll to watch the off-ride video I filmed.
By now it was afternoon and getting quite warm. We decided to get some lunch and shed a layer or two of clothing. The lunch spread was incredible and I mostly munched out on the fantastic shrimp they were serving up by the bucket loads. Soon it was after 1pm and the event was ending in less than an hour, so we decided to forget about any more work and get in a bunch more rides before they shut everything down. We never bothered riding Bat, Delirium or the SkyCoaster (which most people did because it's normally an upcharge) and just rode Banshee four more times.
The more we rode it the better it got. It didn't even matter which seats we sat in, although the front and back rows are the best. One train had a slight rumble to it, which I found strange since the thing is brand spanking new, but it not too off-putting and definitely not as bad as Hydra's or Raptor's rattling.
I can only describe Banshee as Nemesis' big brother. It's forceful and thrilling all the way through, but doesn't hit top speed after the first drop. Instead it gains speed as it drops out of the Zero-G and heads down the hill, nearly halfway through the ride. You really go flying into the Batwing, which is so big it doesn't really feel like one. Kind of like the Cobra Roll on Alpengeist, it almost feels like two separate loops. The increased acceleration also helps it fly over the vertical loop, but my favorite part is the ending Heartline Roll into that final downward Helix. It reminds me so much of the ending of X-Flight, only it's taken at a higher speed. Too bad Great Bear doesn't have an ending like this.
Overall I rate it just behind Nemesis and Black Mamba as my third favorite B&M invert and definitely the best in the USA. If they could have put in a trench or two and a tunnel it would be my number one, in spite of the lack of heavy themeing.
We all decided to stay an extra night for the Opening Day to take more photos and shoot more off-ride footage of the Bat, but the next day we returned to the park an hour before opening to find this:
Scott needed to get a season pass and we got into this line:
With all these folks behinds us:
After about a half hour hanging around with thousands more lining up at the front gate every 5 minutes, I decided to skip all this and start the 10 hour drive home. I'll get more photos and video footage when I return to the park in June. In the mean time I'll leave you with these photos the park included in the media kit they gave me:
After a 10 hour drive I arrived at my hotel at 7:30pm and received a text to meet up with some friends to grab a bite to eat. After chowing down we went to their hotel room to have a few beers. That's when I found out that some of the other media were told to show up at the park at 4am instead of 5am the following morning, so I had to cut off the drinking a bit early to get a few winks before a 3am wake up alarm.
I got to the park a few minutes after 4am and noticed about two dozen cars of coaster club members lined up at the main entrance. I drove around to the employee entrance to find the "official media" parking and checked in. It was strange being there so early and walking through the park all alone in the dark. When I got to Banshee there were only a three national TV station reporters there setting up for their morning show live feeds. The coaster hadn't even started testing yet and I immediately realized that I could have gotten a lot more shuteye before starting what was going to be a very long day.
Here's a photo of what the area looked like without anyone around before the fog machines were even turned on.
I decided to check out the queue, which is themed to a cemetery and has this great tribute to Son Of Beast.
The cemetery themeing is only around the entrance and beginning of the queue with standard cattle pens behind the entrance. I walked up the stairs into the station to check out the trains. To my surprise there was no staff there yet, so I headed back out since I didn't want to get into any trouble before the day had even begun.
I noticed that there were a few workers setting up a breakfast buffet at the nearby Chicken Shack and went over there and had a cup of hot chocolate to warm up a bit since it was just a few degree above freezing at that time of the morning. I had been at the park for about an hour when the coaster began testing and other people started showing up, including Robb Alvey and Marcus Leshock, a reporter friend of mine from WGN in Chicago, who took this photo of me when the fog machines started up.
I can't begin to tell you how good the coaster looks at night. The cemetery effects and fog really pop under the colored lights and extend all along the coaster layout. Like Beast, this is another coaster that's a must-ride at night.
The sign with those glowing eyes really stands out at night. <3
I grabbed another hot chocolate and watched the coaster testing for about another half hour when the coaster club members start streaming in. They formed a long line to the right of the sign, so I figured I better head on up to the station and beat the crowd. When I got to the top of the stairs I saw that there were already a few people seated on the train, so I got on the back row outside left seat for a ride on the first train of the day. Although it was still very cold and the coaster was running much slower than it would later in the day, I had a great ride. Since it was rather dark in spite of the lighting effects and I was unfamiliar with the layout, I couldn't really see what was happening from the back row. But I sure could feel how massive every loop is and just how good the Heartline Roll into the Helix finale is. I was blown away on my first ride and it only got better as the day wore on.
By now the coaster club members were pouring into the queueline, so I decided to get some more chocolatey liquid warmth. It wasn't long before my friends from the night before showed up and got a good laugh when I told them that I had been there for two hours already, yet had only gotten my first ride a few minutes ago. They wanted to get on right away, so we headed over to the entrance.
It was then that I found out that I had a different pass than the coaster club members and got to skip the 45min-hour queue. The passes with yellow text were coaster club members and the ones with pink were media.
So we walked past the queue straight into the station and got right on to the front row. Although the trains were still running slower, I was blown away again because this time I could see and feel how massive this thing is. I also could see the effects much better, including headstones that were blown over at spots when the trains got close to the ground. The others wanted to try a back row ride, so we went straight back on as the sun just started to rise.
After three rides I was really starting to get cold, so I convinced everyone to get some breakfast and wait until it got brighter to get our on-ride videos. We all headed over to Chicken Shack when we found out that the outdoor buffet there was for coaster club members and that media members should go into the Festhaus for a warm breakfast buffet. Western style scrambled eggs, tons of bacon, biscuits & gravy, toasted bagels & cream cheese, fresh fruit and above all HOT TEA! This beat the hell out of the cold bagels and doughnuts outside.
After chowing down and warming up we all headed back out for our on-ride video rides. However there were already eight people lined up for the second row (the ridercam camera is mounted to the back of the front row of seats) and since only one of the two trains had the camera, we decided not to wait and jumped back on the front row for another ride.
During the daylight I really noticed just how steep that first drop is.
It reminds me of the one on Jubilee.
In fact, there's much about Banshee that reminds me of Jubilee. Not that it's so much better than all the other B&M inverts like Jubilee is so much better than every other Vekoma SLC. Everything just feels huge like on Jubilee. I don't know if the POV really shows this very well, but you can get the idea from it. (Click on the Banshee drop photo above to watch the on-ride POV video.)
After our first "daylight" front seat ride we only had to wait for one train to get our on-ride vids.
This one is with my friend Scott from Upstop Media. Scott is on my left with his friend Andrew next to him and his friend Brian next to me. (Click on the photo to watch the video.)
Before I could do another with some other friends, they shut the coaster down for the Opening Ceremony.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PlPbpLs36g[/youtube]
After the ceremony ended we got right back on for this on-ride video. This one is with my friend Rocco from Sex, Drugs & Rollercoasters. Rocco is on my right with his friend Adam next to him and his friend Meghan next to me. (Click on the photo to watch the video.)
When I got off the ride I noticed someone on the train out of the corner of my eye and I saw our favorite goon Jarrett waving at me. I had to wait for them to put the video on a thumb drive for me and by the time that was done Jarrett was pulling back into the station. We chatted for a bit and I introduced him to Rocco and Scott before going over to the entrance with him to take a mandatory photo.
It was great seeing Jarrett and I wanted to spend more time with him, but it was time to do some work. They had a media work area setup in the Festhaus which I used to upload the POV onto the CoasterForce YouTube channel and then headed back over to the coaster to get some off-ride footage and snap a few photos.
The view of Banshee behind Delirium from the Festhaus entrance:
The view of Banshee from the plaza:
Since most of the huge elements are down the hill behind the station, you only notice just how big the Dive Loop is.
The loop over the lift hill reminds me of Kumba and Riddler's Revenge. <3
I really like the way the train shoots up into the Zero-G Roll, which makes it feel different than Patriot's (for example) but just as good!
The vantage points for the entire lower area are very limited, but here are a couple of photos I was able to get from the old Son Of Beast exit ramp:
Click on the photo of the Heartline Roll to watch the off-ride video I filmed.
By now it was afternoon and getting quite warm. We decided to get some lunch and shed a layer or two of clothing. The lunch spread was incredible and I mostly munched out on the fantastic shrimp they were serving up by the bucket loads. Soon it was after 1pm and the event was ending in less than an hour, so we decided to forget about any more work and get in a bunch more rides before they shut everything down. We never bothered riding Bat, Delirium or the SkyCoaster (which most people did because it's normally an upcharge) and just rode Banshee four more times.
The more we rode it the better it got. It didn't even matter which seats we sat in, although the front and back rows are the best. One train had a slight rumble to it, which I found strange since the thing is brand spanking new, but it not too off-putting and definitely not as bad as Hydra's or Raptor's rattling.
I can only describe Banshee as Nemesis' big brother. It's forceful and thrilling all the way through, but doesn't hit top speed after the first drop. Instead it gains speed as it drops out of the Zero-G and heads down the hill, nearly halfway through the ride. You really go flying into the Batwing, which is so big it doesn't really feel like one. Kind of like the Cobra Roll on Alpengeist, it almost feels like two separate loops. The increased acceleration also helps it fly over the vertical loop, but my favorite part is the ending Heartline Roll into that final downward Helix. It reminds me so much of the ending of X-Flight, only it's taken at a higher speed. Too bad Great Bear doesn't have an ending like this.
Overall I rate it just behind Nemesis and Black Mamba as my third favorite B&M invert and definitely the best in the USA. If they could have put in a trench or two and a tunnel it would be my number one, in spite of the lack of heavy themeing.
We all decided to stay an extra night for the Opening Day to take more photos and shoot more off-ride footage of the Bat, but the next day we returned to the park an hour before opening to find this:
Scott needed to get a season pass and we got into this line:
With all these folks behinds us:
After about a half hour hanging around with thousands more lining up at the front gate every 5 minutes, I decided to skip all this and start the 10 hour drive home. I'll get more photos and video footage when I return to the park in June. In the mean time I'll leave you with these photos the park included in the media kit they gave me:
