We’ve heard rumors for months of something lurking in the woods of Kings Island, we’ve seen plenty of photos of footers visible from the park’s train, and we’ve seen plans for what appeared to be a new roller coaster coming to Kings Island. Today, the park officially gave the details of their 16th roller coaster!
That roller coaster is Mystic Timbers, a new wooden coaster manufactured by Great Coasters International (GCI). The ride will be themed to a lumber company that has been overtaken by a “medusa-like overgrowth of vines.” Some of the stats of the ride include a 109-foot tall lift hill, a top speed of 53mph, and a 3,269-foot long track that will travel through the woods, interact with the park’s railroad and river rapids rides, traverse steep cliffs and ravines, and even cross over water. The wild course will provide 16 airtime hills and an extreme S-turn.
The GCI coaster will have three trains, each seating 24 people, and will have a capacity of 1200 riders per hour. The two-minute long ride’s height requirement will be 48 inches.
After the ride’s brake run, the train will enter a shed. Inside the shed, riders will be in for a surprise. The park is not revealing what will be inside, but since they are teasing the shed, it is probably an exciting unique element of the ride!
Above is a look at the ride’s water crossing. Below is a rendering of the ride’s tunnel followed by a rendering of the ride’s first drop.
Below are videos of the ride released by the park:
This first video is the ride’s animated on-ride POV! You can take a virtual ride on the coaster up until the shed, of course!
The second video is the off-ride animation video!
The third video is the ride’s teaser video!
In this final video, you can take a 360-degree look at the ride’s mysterious shed!
My Opinion on the Ride and what could be in the Shed:
For those who don’t visit the site too often, I always like to give a little bit of my opinion on the news. In my opinion, Mystic Timbers looks like a great coaster, which is fitting for the ride based on the manufacturer’s name. The ride will be a low-lying GCI ride filled with airtime. Another example of this type of ride is White Lightning at Fun Spot America in Orlando. White Lightning is a very small GCI woodie, but it is an incredible ride full of airtime moments that is certainly a beast for its size. This ride appears to have the same type of elements, although on a larger scale. When you have a great ride like that, plus the unique wooded terrain elements of Kings Island, this ride has a lot of potential to be great! In fact, I think this could be the best coaster of 2017 unless another park has a surprise on their hands, as there are currently no big rumors that I’ve heard about other parks.
As for what is inside the shed, I am not sure, but I do think there are a few likely possibilities. I heard some speculation on Twitter about a vertical drop like that of Verbolten at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. This type of drop would be a first for a wooden coaster. Although this would be exciting, it appears the structure of the building is hollow underneath, therefore I do not think this ride will feature a vertical drop. There are two more things that I think are possibilities (so far). One of these ideas is a very slow inversion on the inside, although I don’t really think this will happen due to the building’s dimensions and the fact that it is after the brake run. It’s definitely a possibility though. The other is some sort of a themed experience, which in my opinion is a very likely possibility (keep in mind I am not a Kings Island expert). The park talked about a vine taking over the area, so maybe the room will feature some sort of a show scene. As far as I know, there are no show scenes on wooden coasters, so that would be a first. Although I am not sure what exactly will be inside, I think the shed will feature one of those possibilities, but you never know what Kings Island will have up their sleeves!
What do you think the unique feature of the shed is? Are you excited for Kings Island’s 2017 roller coaster? Let us know in the comments and be sure to follow Theme Parks and Travels on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more theme park content! You can also subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Don’t forget to give our west coast correspondent, Michael, a follow on Twitter and Instagram! You can also subscribe to us on Apple News by searching “Theme Parks and Travels” in the app!
