***@aol.com wrote:
: I finally got to ride this the past few days. First visit to Kings Island
: since 2015. Spent two days in the park, the first day, the ride was
: running, but the show elements were off for technical difficulties.
I've never ridden it when the show elements didn't work. You've had a rare
experience!
: Didnâ??t know this beforehand, got to the shed and nothing happened, just
: a screen that did nothing, wasnâ??t sure if thatâ??s really what it was
: supposed to be. A friend confirmed that itâ??s supposed to be more, still
: didnâ??t want any spoilers (I had gotten this far without looking at
: anything, and still had another day at the park!). Luckily, the second
: day the show elements were back running. This included audio in the
: entrance/queue, lift and entering the shed (which were all off the first
: day). The shed itself was kinda neat, itâ??s basically a way to give the
: brake holding area something other than just sitting there. Not a bad
: idea. I rode three times that day, seemed to be the same each ride
: (snakes), which Iâ??m seeing on this thread that there are different
: versions. Did I just get the same each time by chance or are they rotated
: between seasons? Or, because the show elements had technical difficulties
: the day before (and at least the day before that from what I saw online),
: maybe they only had one version running? Either way it was decent.
There are three video programs, and I think four different songs on the
boom box. Each is rotated, and there is no connection between the music and
the video. So I think it's four of one and three of the other, so a total
of 12 different combinations.
Except that isn't quite true. There are actually six different videos,
because the videos exist in both daytime and nighttime versions; likewise
there are two different lighting programs (day and night). Rumor has it
that there may be a third lighting program that provides a 'special' show
which always accomanies the show featuring Norwood*, but I can neither
confirm nor deny that bit. I can tell you that if the 'blinder' light that
shines in your eyes while you are on the final brakes outside (that prevent
you from seeing into the shed while the show before yours is going on) is
white, you will be seeing a daytime show; if it is blue you will get the
nighttime show. I thought that the day/night mode was automatic based on
the time of day, but once I got a daytime show during Winterfest, which was
a bit of a surprise. You can also tell which of the three monsters you will
be seeing based on the door position. You want the shed doors to be closed
when you arrive, as Norwood is the best show.
: Of the three rides the day the ashes was working, my first was in the
: front row, which is good for the side screen, but you move out before you
: really see the big snake appear on the main screen). Last two rides were
: toward the back, which you miss the side screen start, but get to see the
: entire large snake appearance.
I really think the right-hand wall in the railroad bridge should have been
angled outward to meet the wall behind the desk and pop machine, just to
provide better sight lines for the big screen. And that presumably *is* the
bigger screen, as it has two converged projectors.
: The coaster part of the ride is
: excellent. Definitely one of the best GCIs Iâ??ve been on. Assigned
: seating stinks though. Glad to see the park is back up to 4 wood
: coasters. This one is good, and probably my 3rd favorite coaster in the
: park, behind Beast and Flight Of Fear.
Most definitely the best coaster in the park, in my opinion, and with the
demolition of both Screechin' Eagle and Villain, competes with Blue Streak
to be the best wood coaster in Ohio.
----------
* I keep hearing people refer to the monster as "Oakley". But I have a
friend who lives in Oakley, which is a nice neighborhood in Cincinnati
immediately adjacent to Norwood, which is a somewhat less nice neighborhood
in Cincinnati. He tells me that when anything good happens in the area, the
local media say it happened in Oakley, whereas if it is something
unpleasant, it happened in Norwood. Therefore if the creature is in fact a
monster, it would be far more appropriate to refer to him as "Norwood". So
far as I know he does not have an official name.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
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