Banshee Construction Update 8-10-13

One of the treats of participating in BeastBuzz last weekend was a surprise tour of the Banshee construction site (maybe next year the event will be called BansheeBuzz). We got a unique view of the future location of the world’s longest inverted coaster and learned a few interesting facts along the way.

Banshee construction site overview.

There wasn’t much to look at yet as the site was still mostly dirt and concrete but I was very shocked at how big the elevation change of the terrain really is. The size of the valley cannot be seen in pictures taken from the Eiffel Tower. The area looks vastly different than it did back in 1996.

Banshee’s batwing element will be in the center of this photo.

Son of Beast’s station will remain to be used for a Halloween Haunt. Kings Island looked at other options to fix Son of Beast but they all required rebuilding most of the structure anyway, so why not replace it with something they know will work 100%? Son of Beast was poorly designed and engineered and had a terrible layout to begin with.

Son of Beast’s station.

Banshee’s concrete foundations are eighteen feet deep. At the time of the tour about 50% of the footings had been poured. Son of Beast covered 10 acres of real estate and Banshee will amazingly take up 13 acres! As far as theming, there will be some gravestones scattered throughout the course.

Looking back toward the lift hill.

The new style trains will offer better visibility than previous B&M inverted coasters. The restraints are basically the next generation of those found on the wing coasters, similar in style but with new technology. Kings Island promises the straps on the vest will not tighten up throughout the ride, a common complaint on GateKeeper and Wild Eagle.