Had the chance to visit yesterday (with a longer trip report inbound shortly, especially for how Kings Island handled their Covid-19 protocol. Spoiler: they did a good job).
For Orion, here's some hot takes and review:
Theming
.... It actually, kinda, worked! Area 76 (or whatever number we are using) is a nice doubling-down of the
secret military base theme established allllll the way back when Flight of Fear was installed in 1995. While Firehawk was adapted to a test-pilot-ish theme to match, the back area felt rather unconvincing to say the least; just a few hangars and military-looking apparatus strewn about. While the military-looking appartus have been further strewn about with the new and improved military base theme; some additions of lighting package and fresh coats-of-paint to existing structures has the whole place pretty satisfactorily themed. To play out the Orion story-line (AsTeRoIdS iN sPaCe!), some asteroid impact sites have been added around the base, one even "damaging" some of the Flight of Fear hangar. A portion of the queue also goes through a prep room, telling the story of how each of the former roller coasters in the park were test projects, culminating in Orion (aka Alton Towers Secret Weapon Light Motif)
And yes, there's A LOT of concrete laid bare along the site. But... it isn't too bad? In that, it's a lot of dead space that you don't need to ever walk along. Or at least, you get a good vista view of Orion which is nice.
My favorite part of the theming is a new addition just before you enter the base - a conspiracy theorist broadcasting from his beat-up Volvo. (Audio is being perpetually piped out) The truth is out there, folks.
Queuing
I give Kings Island props on this one, as they were thoughtful on mitigating excess Covid queuing/excess queuing in general that occurs for a big, new coaster. Setup outside the queue, visitors were given timeslot cards for an hour window when they may return to ride. Basically, grab a card, come back at the allotted time, ride, repeat. Easy system, that while not as sophisticated as a virtual queue, meant actual queue times were ~30-40 minutes each ride (at half capacity for Covid loading).
Ride Experience
Ahhh... you wanted to go there? After I was telling you how surprisingly well done the theming was? And the good job on queuing?
Alright, the ride. Let's get this out of the way first - this is the worst Giga coaster I've ever ridden, and is moreso competition with Hyper B&Ms than it's Giga brethren. I have it slotted between Apollo's Chariot and Diamondback on my "Hyper" scale, and it's my 43rd favorite roller coaster overall. Full stop.
But as Don Helbig has made readily apparent - that is kinda what the park was going for. Nowhere in this layout is there a "top 10" spirit of contention - it's too short, too small, and too-few-airtime hills do count against it. BUT, for what is there; it's actually pretty alright. In true B&M tradition, you will find floater airtime hills for days, giving the better ride in the back of the train. Specifically, while I still need to ride a few more times to figure out
if the first sideways airtime hill actually does anything; there was a good floater tug on the turn around and speed hill. The speed hill was the best element IMO. That unfortunate trim half-way through however leads to aimless meandering through the second half. And while you get some pops of airtime in the final airtime hill (really moreso due to the transition of the train, similar to Fury's treble cleff turnaround) and (yeah, I'm about to write this) hill into the brake run - you're just grasping for straws of airtime at that point.
I do think it's better than Diamondback. I don't think it's the best coaster in the park. And I also think the GP will find it pretty fun, but recognize the far too many similarities to the Hyper across the way. As in.... every rider onboard was asking the same question of if it was built by the same people who built Diamondback. ?
TL;DR Talking Points
- The Orion theme is pretty solid.
- The Orion ride is what we expected, lots of floater.
- Don't go in with high expectations, take it for what it is.