The land once held by the long-dormant Son of Beast wooden roller coaster will soon be filled with screams once again. Kings Island, a Cedar Fair park near Cincinnati, has unveiled plans for their latest record-breaking roller coaster that's set to debut in 2014: Banshee. Banshee was unveiled at 10 p.m. Thursday to coaster fans at the park with a special teaser video that shows the Son of Beast crumbling in an eerie graveyard under a moonlit sky as the Banshee's track rises from the ground. With 4,124.1 feet of twisted steel track, Banshee -- a $24 million project -- will be the world's longest inverted roller coaster. An inverted coaster (like Raptor at Cedar Point) is one where the riders are suspended below the track with their feet dangling freely. Banshee, which is the first female-inspired thrill ride at any Cedar Fair amusement park, features seven inversions and reaches speeds up to 68 mph. The ride will last 2 minutes and 40 seconds. In addition, Banshee -- which is the largest investment in Kings Island's 41-year history -- will feature several unique elements that distinguish the ride from others. The roller coaster begins with a lift taking riders up to the maximum height of 167 feet. After plunging down 150 feet, riders will go through a dive loop, followed by a vertical loop, zero gravity roller, two batwing inversions, a second vertical loop and a 170-foot long heartline finale. Two of the most unique features about Banshee are the massive size of every loop, and unlike other roller coasters, the top speed isn't reached until halfway through the ride's course. Since Banshee's lift hill is on a higher elevation of terrain than the other side of the ride that goes down into a valley, the total elevation change is 208 feet from the highest point at the top of the lift hill to the lowest point, which is the bottom of the batwing between loops four and five. Passengers will be seated in cars four across. A total of three trains, each containing eight cars, will enable Banshee to accommodate approximately 1,650 riders per hour. The construction of Banshee is currently underway in the Action Zone area of Kings Island. Park visitors can see the ride being built from the ground up. It is taking up the space previously held by the troubled Son of Beast, which was the first wooden roller coaster in the world to ever feature a loop. After numerous closures due to injuries on the ride, Kings Island demolished Son of Beast's structure last year. Pieces of Son of Beast's track were sold to fans shortly after the ride was dismantled. Banshee will be the 15th roller coaster at Kings Island, which is home to some of the top-ranked roller coasters in annual industry and enthusiast polls including the Beast and Diamondback. Banshee marks the first new roller coaster to be introduced at Kings Island since the park unleashed Diamondback in 2009. In 1995, Cedar Point announced a stand-up roller coaster named Banshee, but quickly changed its moniker to Mantis after complaints that "Banshee" carried negative connotations. Bolliger and Mabillard of Switzerland is the company behind Banshee's design. It's the same company that also created GateKeeper, which debuted earlier this year at Cedar Point in Sandusky. http://twitter.com/WackyWeazle http://facebook.com/wacky.weazle https://plus.google.com/106514532726205063691 Visit http://www.MotionPictureArt.com for all your original movie posters and more.
Visibility: 25802
Duration: 4m 14s
Rating: 75