“It’s fast, crazy, you’re pressed in your seat. You’re just constantly changing direction. It’s an addition that Kings Island really needed,” said Brandon Mathess, also of West Virginia.
Banshee riders will experience a 167-foot lift hill, 150-foot curved first drop, a dive loop, a vertical loop encircling the lift hill, a zero-gravity-roll, a pair of batwing inversions, outside loop, spiral, in-line roll and carousel with an elevation change of 208 feet. Unlike most roller coasters, Banshee won’t reach its top speed of 68 miles per hour until the second half of the ride.
The Warren County park’s 15th roller coaster was named after the mythological screeching messenger from the underworld. The 4,124-foot long coaster’s seven inversions will elicit plenty of similar screams from riders. State-of-the-art lighting effects will help create the ultimate night ride experience.
“Banshee is one of the most highly anticipated new rides for 2014, attracting international interest. People from all over the world will be visiting Kings Island this year specifically to ride Banshee,” Kings Island spokesman Don Helbig said.
The world’s longest inverted roller coaster isn’t the only big attraction coming to Kings Island this season.
An all-new live show, “Cirque Image,” opening May 24 in the Kings Island Theater will feature “an incredible showcase of strength, balance and athleticism” according to Helbig.
More than $25 million was spent on capital improvements for the 2014 season including Banshee, the Cirque Imagine show, new Chicken Shack restaurant in Action Zone, and a fresh new look in the park’s Action Zone including the rebranded Bat roller coaster that was formerly known as Flight Deck.
The park is also updating its operating calendar this year.
“We’re opening a week earlier this year on April 18. Over the past few years, opening day has been the last weekend in April. We’ll also be open on a Friday night in April on the 25th from 4 to 10 p.m. That will be a great night to come out to the park and get in a lot of rides. In the fall, we’ve extended our operating calendar by one weekend, closing this year after the first weekend in November,” said Helbig.
“The 2014 season can’t get here fast enough. There are a lot of people that have been looking forward to the start of the 2014 season since we announced we were building Banshee last August. The response to our new record-breaking roller coaster has been overwhelming. You have to go back to 1979 when the Beast debuted for the level of interest and excitement that Banshee has created,” said Helbig.
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