Kings Island | Mystic Timbers | GCI Wooden Coaster
- Thread starter Jarrett
- Start date
Some more photos from Kings Island (the small photo sizes are killing me). Looks like they are now stretching back over White Water Canyon.
Overall, I do expect this to be a "good" roller coaster. Prowler was a fun number; while not my top favorite GCI by any measure, it did well for what it was designed.
.... There remains however irony of this coaster being placed next to Beast.
.... There remains however irony of this coaster being placed next to Beast.
If the image is anything to go by, it's an outline of a person with their arms taped to their side and a spooky detached, floating head. Could be the most incredible thing in the world if it's that.
my guess is there's nothing interesting in the shed, they're just using it as a tease. I seem to remembers they did the same thing while Maverick was under construction at Cedar Point. In the promotional videos they were intentionally ambiguous about what happens in the tunnel. With Mystic Timbers they are really doubling down on it with a full-on campaign.
^ That Maverick tunnel launch was fantastic - they used misters and light packaging for a great strobe effect.
... Unfortunately the misters interfered with the sensor array, and were removed within weeks of Maverick's opening.
Additional fun fact - those misters were later deployed on Shoot the Rapids (RIP), and are now featured as a mist effect for Rougarou.
With how much they've built up the shed, there is surely something in it. And Kings Island, unlike it's pure Cedar Fair brethren, actually carries the ability to keep effects working on their rides!
... Unfortunately the misters interfered with the sensor array, and were removed within weeks of Maverick's opening.
Additional fun fact - those misters were later deployed on Shoot the Rapids (RIP), and are now featured as a mist effect for Rougarou.
With how much they've built up the shed, there is surely something in it. And Kings Island, unlike it's pure Cedar Fair brethren, actually carries the ability to keep effects working on their rides!
Lofty
CF Legend
There's a difference between a bit of a tease and using the entire #WhatsInTheShed as the marketing campaign. There will without doubt be some form of special effect, whether that be a trick track effect or environmental effect, it will have something.
I also really like the elevations!
I also really like the elevations!
GuyWithAStick
Captain Basic
I'm gonna say it's a thematic effect of some sort without (much) special track effects.
I literally can't get excited about this project, it's so uninteresting.
I literally can't get excited about this project, it's so uninteresting.
Well, at least it has something somewhat notable going for it: It's the second-tallest all-wood coaster built outside China in nine years. Since T-Express opened in 2008, only Wodan, Fjord Flying Dragon and two of the Jungle Trailblazers have been built taller than Mystic Timbers.
^Really Outlaw Run should count, it's only got a slightly skewed height statistic because the lift is on a hill.
And then to discount things like Goliath and Wildfire because they have some steel in their structure is a bit of a reach.
Basically, stop trying to find ways to make this seem interesting.
And then to discount things like Goliath and Wildfire because they have some steel in their structure is a bit of a reach.
Basically, stop trying to find ways to make this seem interesting.
You might think that Outlaw Run is two feet shorter than this one, but that's not really the case. Outlaw Run has a 162 foot drop and that's at least 55 taller than the this one's.
Goliath is 165 feet tall with a 180 foot drop and Wildfire is nearly 184 feet tall with an almost 161 foot drop. Both are wooden coasters built within the last few years and well above Mystic Timber's 109 foot tall structure.
Yes, but all of those are hybrid woodies with inversions. The influx of RMCs has been a wonderful thing to entusiasts and industry alike, but traditional, large woodies seem to have died off completely in recent years. If you disregard Lightning Rod as well (which is built on a hillside, and while it has a lot larger height difference than Mystic Timbers, it lacks a tall, freestanding lift hill), this is actually the tallest, traditional woodie to be built in the US since El Toro.
It's not a defense of this coaster, though, I agree with the rest of you that it seems rather mediocre, especially with Beast a stone throw away. But I think it's an interesting observation. It seems like parks have collectively agreed to all go the extra mile when they build large woodies nowadays, and slap inversions onto them as if size isn't enough anymore. Arguably, with the technology available, it has become a "waste" not to have inversions when you're spending millions of dollars on a woodie anyway. Build anything taller than, say, 40 metres, and inversions are practically a requirement. Mystic Timbers isn't an unusually large woodie per se, it just appears to be a rather large coaster for the "not quite big enough for inversions" size bracket. Strange how technology marches on...
^Sorry. Even though I quoted you I didn't notice that you wrote "all-wood coaster", but then I could really care less if a woodie uses wooden, steel or a combination of both when it comes to supports. It's the track that affects the ride and that's all I really care about.
Pink Cadillac
Giga Poster
Good point - it is interesting to think that ten years ago the difference between steel or wooden supports, and the advent of Intamin's pre-fab technique were considered the difference makers in the wooden space. While GCI and GG surged with some great additions for the mid to late 00s, it's funny to think how "antiquated" their approach is now a days. Roll the clocks back to when Arrow was in business - they were a trendsetter for decades without any need for major track and train design improvement. Time does march forward - and increases in speed!
I'm very interested to see how White Water Canyon will change with Mystic Timbers. The interaction was tough to read due to the poor environment rendering in the CGI video - I just hope they're able to keep tree removal to a minimum for the benefit of both the coaster and the water ride.
roomraider
Best Topic Starter
A view of the construction site as a whole.