I was thinking about this today and had a hard time deciding, there's a couple that I really enjoy...

I wanted to say Beast, but only at night. During the day its barely worth the walk through the line for a ride...

Top Gun/(edit:flight deck, whooops) is always good. Vortex is pretty enjoyable although a bit rough.

I guess I have to go with (editflight deck.

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"For each path you walk down, there are several others you have to bypass. Maybe walking those paths would have made you happy, maybe they wouldn't have. You'll never know. Choose your path, walk it, and make the best of it."

Top Gun/Flight Deck(didn't ride it yet as such) is my favorite park coaster following by Night Beast and Vortex.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
2008 & 2009 TN Coaster Draft Champion
You knew I wanted the other repeat too

None of them.

But I guess I Topgunburn is the best of KIs crappy coaster collection.

I'd say the Beast at night.

That might change next year when i go ride Diamondback.

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2009 Carolina Cobra Crew
Go Panthers! 4-6: Week 12 @ New York Jets

#6 North Carolina Tarheels 4-1

I honestly dont see the appeal of the Beast. Its so rough... its got such a poor layout. And outside of the helix at the end.. it doesnt do anything but big flat turns.

It's really not all that great. It's just the best coaster at KI which says alot about the coaster collection at KI.

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2009 Carolina Cobra Crew
Go Panthers! 4-6: Week 12 @ New York Jets

#6 North Carolina Tarheels 4-1

I would say the Beast. SOB is terrible, I am not a fan of flying coasters, and the only suspended coaster I truly enjoy is BBW.

I used to absolutely love the Beast after I went in 2005. It was when I was newer to coasters and had many, many less rides under my belt.

I went back to KI this year. I was horribly disappointed in the Beast, and although the ride is rough, I would say the main problem is actually the trains. The seat dividers are at the perfect height to give most adults bruises around the rib area, enough that I had to find a way to brace myself. That being said...

I had an amazing night ride right before close my second night at KI. It redeemed itself for me. It's no longer my favorite wooden coaster (I'd have to say El Toro and/or Phoenix if you want to ignore non-traditional), but I still see the alure of racing through the woods at night in near darkness.

Next I would pick Flight of Fear or Racer.

Please, get new trains for the Beast.

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Yeah, ummmm this is a weird thread considering KI collection of coasters. Beast is a classic, therefore I do like it. But honestly there is nothing at KI worth bragging about at all. Hopefully Diamondback will help the place, but they really need some stand out coasters (plural) badly.

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Never argue with an idiot. They bring you down to their level..... and beat you with experience.

I've never been to KI, but I thought Son of Beast was like the best coaster there. Is it because they took out the loop? Why is it not the best one there?

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It is the roughest coaster I have ever been on. It is like riding a jackhammer being dragged by a car at 80 mph. Other than the first drop it is sheer misery.

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It is much better now that they have the lighter trains running. Less track work needed. The g-trains aren't the best, but they are better then the Premiers.

I loved my Vortex fix when I got it. Flight of Fear would be a hell of a lot better if they would stop braking the mid-course so hard. It would run so much better.

Beast does need new trains. They are old, too tight for anyone and not even necessary.

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^I rode SOB this year and still think it is the roughest coaster I have ever been on. I am not sure this can be fixed. It was either a bad design or shoddy workmanship, but it's time to pull the plug.

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And this just goes to show that basing a ride off LOOKS is a terrible thing to do.> As everyone who's ridden SOB will say its just awful. But someone who has only seen photos or videos somehow thinks it could be good.

Flight of Fear is a good 4th place for me. The collection at KI is shocking that it didn't have a B&M til now. Face/Off - Invertigo was always way down at the end of the list for that park for me.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
2008 & 2009 TN Coaster Draft Champion
You knew I wanted the other repeat too

Well with the investment in that ride the park is not going to get rid of it yet. They have literally spent at least 35-40 million dollars on the coaster since it's inception. They had to reprofile the second hill the first year it was open, the accident and the constant retracking because it ate up so much track it was ridiculous.

Honestly, if they did not brake that coaster it wouldn't shuffle so bad. I mean going 80+mph on a woodie it will not be smooth. It has to shuffle a little and now with the newer trains it doesn't nearly as bad.

SoB is not the worst woodie I have ridden. Mean Streak was. But, that is just me. I am a masochist and like a little jostle in my coasters. ;-)

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Sadly probably Flight of Fear is the best IMO.

Beast lost its glory a long time ago.

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I was hoping your coaster count was public. If you like a "little" jostle in your coasters, then you will LOVE the woodie known as Cheetah down at Wild Adventures. That thing is rough enough to make you reconsider your hobby of riding coasters ever again.lol By far the worst wooden coaster I ever ridden before. I found Mean Streak to just be boring. Top speed about 15 MPH now? lol

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Never argue with an idiot. They bring you down to their level..... and beat you with experience.

I haven't been on Cheetah. But, I have heard some pretty nasty things about that ride in the last year or so.

CCI's seem to be getting worse and worse with age. Or so it seems.

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I rode Cheetah on the 8th.. And loved it. It was wicked fast.. not rough at all! not even the end turns... Yeah it has awful G-Trains, but they dont take away from the ride like the ones on BOSS do.

I couldn't get that opportunity to tell you anything about Cheetah. It was closed with Hangman when I went to Gainesville and came up!

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
2008 & 2009 TN Coaster Draft Champion
You knew I wanted the other repeat too

Of what's there today, I'd probably go with Night Beast or Racer. Vortex would be third.

The Beast was the king in its' day, but it's just resting on its' laurels, anymore. KI hasn't kept up in the coaster department like they used to.

Top Gun isn't bad, but anyone who got to ride the Bat can never be totally pleased with the redesign on suspendeds. The Bat was the first, and the best of the breed.

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ThrillNetwork Lead Moderator
My neighbor got a big new house, and all I got was his lousy payments

So are we talking the rides in their Paramount state or their Cedar Fair state?

Because in Paramount days, the Beast was amazing. It absolutely flew, especially when wet. There were no brakes on the first hill, the second hill, or going into the helix. The MCBR was still there but I think didn't clamp down as hard. The whole ride felt out of control and really lived up to it's name and reputation. Of course, at night, the feeling was amplified as you went hurtling through the pitch-black woods, with only a handful of lights on the entire 7300+ foot track.

Now, there is nothing more sickening than feeling that brake grabbing as you come down what, IMO, is one of the best first hills and straight into the first tunnel. It's seconded by the feeling of the brake grabbing the back of the train going over the bunny hill out of the tunnel. And of course, then there's the slow progression down into the helix that is slowed even further by yet another brake.

And then there's Flight of Fear. First, there were those awful OTSRs, which were miraculously removed within a handful of years, making this ride actually fun rather than something you just made it through. Then a couple years later, the MCBR was no longer utilized and it started really flying. It was during that time that FOF became my favorite ride in the park. After I got off work at the waterpark, I would run at top speed across the main park to get on the last couple trains of the night. My post-shift record was 7 straight. I discovered how amazing the back seat was without the MCBR and the ending of the ride became my very favorite part. When I rode it this year for the first time since the CF buyout, I was massively disappointed to discover that the MCBR was being used once more, and realized how much it slowed down that final corkscrew. My favorite part of the ride doesn't have as much zing as it used to, and it makes me very, very, very sad.

So, what's KI's best roller coaster right now? None of them, because Cedar Fair needs to lay off on the trims to make any of them noteable once more.


And my few words on Son of Beast - the ONLY reason I ever rode that ride was the novelty of the loop. Without the loop, it's boring after the first drop, more violent than Mean Streak (yes, it's possible) and needs to be seriously reconsidered. I think it's got potential, if CF wanted to do some redesigning and make it something more than the giant letdown it currently is, but whether they'll do anything with that potential is highly unlikely.

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05.16, 05.17, 05.18, 06.05, 06.06: Cedar Point
05.25.09-06.01.09: KD, SFA, BGE, SFGAdv, Morey's & More!
06.18.09: Holiday World
2009 Diamondback laps: 41

SOB is tied with the now defunct Viper from SFGAdv as the worst coaster I have ever been on. Absolutely awful... I rode it in its second season and felt it wasn't too horrible, kind of rough but decent all in all. Two summers ago I got to ride it with the g-trains being used and the loop gone, wow, just wow. Rougher then anything out there and slow as heck too. Just a really awful ride.

I fortunately got to ride Beast once with the old friction brakes. The magnetic brakes they installed after the accident a few years ago really just kill the ride. Night time saves it from being a complete waste, though.

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"For each path you walk down, there are several others you have to bypass. Maybe walking those paths would have made you happy, maybe they wouldn't have. You'll never know. Choose your path, walk it, and make the best of it."

Violakat03, I just want to toss out that The Beast has had those trims in all of those places for at least 25 years. It used to be skid brakes so they were much more subtle. Now they use magnetic brakes and they are much more noticable because they suck out the speed all at once instead of over a long stretch like the old skids, especially before the second drop (which used to really take my breath back in the day). It's still a great ride but not worth all the hype you hear about it and the brakes these days are very unfortunate but have nothing to do with Cedar Fair. It's from an accident that caused them to update the braking system of the ride before Cedar Fair ever took over.

As for my favorite coaster at KI, I'm not going to lie, I VERY much love their collection. It's tough to pic my favorite, but honestly all three Arrow coasters rock my world. I'd say Top Gun (FD), then Adventure, then Vortex take my top three, but they are all VERY VERY close. Next is Flight of Fear, followed by Beast, Face-Off, then Sonny, then Firehawk, Racer ,then Italian Job (BSC). I won't rank the kiddies on here, that's silly. I really do love them all there though. It's on a scale of one to ten, Top Gun is a ten and IJ/BSC is like a 7 or 8.

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I like the Zingo a lot.

I think the park just did (and is still doing) a lot of track work on it. At least that's what ACE said. And we know they are always right.

I don't get the comments about Mean Streak being rough. It wasn't rough at all last summer. Just a snooze-fest.

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Intimidator Coming in 2010 to Carowinds!

^It was posted on the GCII website that work was done on the far turnaround and half of the figure eight. I hope that its smoothed it out.

Yeah it had just got a lot of work done on it. Having been closed when Leo C went to the park just a few weeks before I did. Maybe all the work they did fixed the ride.. As it really wasnt a bad coaster. I even rerode it. And rode in the back row.

Is Firehawk a good coaster?

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I rode it as X-Flight (and I've done Borg and Batwing as well) - I like it.. But I wouldn't wait more than 15 minutes for it.

I rode it as X-Flight too. It's a good ride.