After months of speculation, we now know what’s going on behind the fence where Firehawk once stood at Kings Island. Tonight the park announced Orion, the tallest, fastest, and longest steel coaster at Kings Island.
It will one of only seven giga coasters in the world, and fifth at a Cedar Fair park. Reaching speeds of 91mph, it will be the 7th fastest coaster in North America and 10th in the World. The coaster is the single largest investment in park history, and cost roughly the same as it cost to build Kings Island in 1972.
Orion will have a 300′ drop, and 5,321′ of track, including 8 hills, and is manufactured by Swiss Ride Manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard.
Orion Facts
- Ride Manufacturer: Bolliger & Mabillard
- Coaster Type: Steel
- Classification: Giga
- Lift/Launch System: Chain lift hill
- Duration: 3 minutes
- Trains: 3 trains with 8 cars. Riders are seated 4 across in a single row for a total of 32 riders per train
- Capacity: 1,650 riders per hour
- Minimum Height Requirement: 54 inches
- Ride Opening: Spring 2020
- Track Length: 5,321 feet
- Height of First Drop: 300 feet
- Length of First Drop: 447 feet
- Total Number of Hills: 8
- Height of Hills: 287 feet, 174 feet, 202 feet, 56 feet, 147 feet, 125 feet, 90 feet, 83 feet
- Top Speed: 91 mph
Themed to the park’s new Area 72, the ride features the latest prototype vehicle developed by the Project X initiative. Scientists are in a race against time to develop technology capable of weaving transport vehicles through a coming meteor storm and traveling to a new planet within the Orion constellation. For the program to be successful, it needs volunteers to help with testing.
Take a virtual ride on Orion Below!
For more information, be sure to visit Kings Island’s website, and follow the park on social media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Cedar fair. Shame on you. KI deserves the crown for a year. We know your doing something huge in 2021 for cedar point. You should’ve given Ki 1 year.
It annoys me that people are upset about this edition. It’s a giga coaster! That’s exciting news!! So what if it’s not the best in the world, it still looks like anl thrilling and enjoyable ride! The GP are more excited about this than the enthusiasts are, that’s kind of ridiculous imo, this looks like an awesome ride to me!
I am not upset about the giga. However, I am upset that most of the other parks didn’t get anything.
I’m excited that KI is getting a giga, can’t wait to ride it and wish my home park SFGA gets a giga. This being said, I wish CF was more ambitious with this like Busch Gardens with Gwazi.
Im not upset per se, Im just more curious. Given all the hype and promotion of the ride before its announcement, Id have thought that Kings Island would welcome a chance to wrest the title from Carowinds. Im sure the ride will meet expectations, but I will bring up one small bone of contention. In 2016 all we heard for weeks is “What lurks in the shed?” regarding the hyped up ending to Mystic Timbers. So in 2018 when I finally got to ride it and get to the end, it was an abysmal let down. Sorry if thats an unpopular opinion. The ride itself is great, but with all the hype I was expecting a large anamatronic(sp?) werewolf to jump out at you or something. Not!
So with that I kinda thought KI would try to get back a lil bit of cred by building a bigger giga than Fury. I still have plans to attend KI in September(covid willing) and enjoy the park as I always do. But I guess I was just expecting something a bit more engaging. Nevertheless, I do plan on giving the ride a fair chance and an open mind. Thats all I have to say about that.