Banshee at Kings Island is the fastest and longest Bolliger and Mabillard inverted roller
coaster.
Built in 2014, this is the most recent B&M invert to open in North America and it’s
an impressive ride with its size and seven inversions.
When it opened, Banshee was highly rated, placing second in Amusement Today’s Golden
Ticket Awards as the industry’s best new ride for 2014 and it recorded three consecutive
top 20 finishes in the Golden Ticket Awards Top Steel Coaster Poll.
But how is Banshee riding today?
In this review, I will discuss the history of Banshee and why the ride is rather inconsistent.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, many major parks in the United States either received a B&M
invert or a Vekoma SLC.
However, Kings Island was a notable exception.
The only inverted coaster this park received was Invertigo in 1999, a Vekoma inverted boomerang.
It always seemed strange Kings Island didn’t have a full-circuit inverted coaster considering
how deep and varied the park’s coaster lineup was.
In 2000, Kings Island opened Son of Beast, the world’s first and only wooden hyper
coaster.
The ride was a statistical monster with heights of 218 feet or 66 meters, speeds of 78 mph
or 126 kph, and length of 7032 feet or 2143 meters.
And it was the world’s only looping wooden roller coaster when it opened.
Built by Roller Coaster Corporation of America, or RCCA, Son of Beast was problematic from
day one.
The ride was notoriously rough and required constant trackwork due to a variety of structural
issues.
The need to run lighter trains after a major accident in 2006 ultimately caused the ride
to lose its loop that offseason.
After the failed wooden hypercoaster, it was no surprise Kings Island added Diamondback
in 2009, a steel hypercoaster from Bolliger & Mabillard.
Unlike Son of Beast, this ride was an extremely smooth and reliable attraction.
Later that summer, Son of Beast injured a woman, and that was the final straw with Son
of Beast.
The ride was closed indefinitely and it ultimately never reopened.
Son of Beast was demolished after the 2012 season.
Since the coaster took up a massive tract of land, it was a prime location for the park’s
next attraction.
Kings Island knew they needed a signature new coaster to fill the void that Son of Beast
left.
At the start of the 2013 season, Kings Island began clearing land on Son of Beast’s old
plot.
A trademark was found for the name “Banshee,” which was an interesting development.
Back in the 1996, Cedar Fair planned to use the Banshee name on a new stand-up roller
coaster at Cedar Point.
However, the park ultimately decided the name was too dark, so the stand-up coaster was
renamed Mantis instead and the original Banshee logo was repurposed as the logo for Dorney
Park’s Steel Force.
But almost 2 decades later, Cedar Fair was reviving the Banshee name for Kings Island,
which is quite interesting.
And the park heavily teased their upcoming addition.
Recordings of mysterious and bone-chilling screams could be heard by the construction
site, which tied in with the attraction’s anticipated name.
Then on July 31, 2013, Kings Island announced Banshee, a record-breaking inverted coaster
from Bolliger & Mabillard.
And this was a very logical fit for Kings Island.
After the disastrous Son of Beast, which was horrifically rough and a maintenance nightmare,
they wanted a smooth and reliable attraction.
Since Kings Island knew first hand B&M provided high quality coasters from Diamondback, they
selected them for their newest coaster.
Plus, it finally gave Kings Island a traditional inverted coaster.
But this was no ordinary invert.
This one was B&M’s fastest invert at 68 mph or 109 kph and it also became the world’s
longest invert with 4124 feet or 1257 meters of track.
And it would be the first invert to feature a redesigned train from B&M featuring vest
restraints.
This would eliminate any risk of headbanging, even though that was rarely an issue on the
older inverts due to the smooth trackwork.
Banshee would open in 2014 and it seemed like a screaming success.
The ride was a people-eater and praised for its smooth, intense ride.
I rode it just a few years after it opened and I agreed with this sentiment.
However, something has changed over the past few years.
Several B&M coasters have developed a rattle to some extent.
Usually, this is a slight and noticeable nuisance that doesn’t really impact the ride experience.
But the rattle on Banshee is a different story.
This has the potential to ruin a great attraction.
I believe the rattle is related to the trains.
Kings Island usually runs three trains on Banshee.
In my 2019 and 2020 visits to Kings Island, the rattle was significantly worse in one
or two of the trains.
In these visits, the blue train was easily the smoothest.
This train still delivered the fun and forceful ride I got on my first rides on Banshee.
The other two trains were much shakier, particularly the teal train.
There was no headbanging due to the wide vest restraints, but the constant chattering was
far from comfortable, especially considering the G-forces that Banshee pulls.
None of the other B&M inverts provide a shaky ride experience like this.
The easy culprit is the trains since they’re different than all the other inverts, but
regardless of the cause, I really hope Kings Island can find a way to get all three trains
riding consistently smooth in the future.
This rattle is the main thing holding Banshee back in my opinion.
While Banshee is a massive ride, it only uses a fraction of Son of Beast’s old land.
This coaster dominates the Action Zone with its size and magenta track.
It also has an ominous presence.
The ride sign is constantly emitting fog and a piercing banshee scream can be heard throughout
the park anytime a train clears the lift.
And the ride’s queue even pays its respects to Son of Beast with an eternal flame.
Despite the ride’s popularity, Banshee usually has one of the shorter waits of the park’s
major coasters.
Typically, Banshee is 15 minutes or less due to the ride’s very high throughput.
Not many parks consistently run three trains on inverts, but Kings Island does and their
dispatches are reasonably fast too.
In terms of seat selection, I prefer the front.
Even with Banshee is running smooth, this is my favorite seat for the sense of speed.
But when Banshee is shaking, riding in the front is more critical since it helps minimize
the rattle.
Once dispatched, you turn out of the station and ascend the 167 foot or 51 meter tall lift
hill.
At the top, you forego the pre-drop found on all the other B&M inverts found in the
United States.
Instead, you immediately plunge down a twisted drop to the right.
Most inverts feature a twisting drop, but the one on Banshee is considerably steeper.
While it doesn’t offer the airtime found on OzIris’s first drop, Banshee’s drop
is very whippy in the back row.
And every single valley on Banshee accentuates the coaster’s speed.
Unfortunately, these are the primary spots you’ll be jackhammered if you’re riding
in a rough or shaky train.
The drop is followed by a colossal dive loop.
The size of the element causes the train to lose some speed over the top and it results
in a little bit of float on this element.
Then comes the first on an invert, a vertical loop that interlocks with the ride’s lift
hill.
B&M featured interlocking loops on some of their non-inverts previously and it is a really
neat visual off-ride.
On-ride, it’s not particularly noticeable since you’re on the outside of the track.
This is the first of two vertical loops on Banshee and they’re the ride’s most forceful
elements.
The loops are sneaky forceful and usually I’ll start to greyout a bit from the sustained
Gs.
This is followed by a large zero-G roll.
Like the dive loop, Banshee loses a considerable amount of speed going through this element,
so it doesn’t have the same snap as the earlier zero-G rolls on B&M inverts.
This one is instead floaty start to finish, which still makes it a ton of fun for me.
Banshee then zips into a one-of-a-kind element, a giant pretzel knot.
This is similar to a batwing except the track crosses over itself on the entry and exit.
If you’ve ridden Montu or Afterburn, you know how intense a batwing element can be
on an invert.
Unfortunately, Banshee’s pretzel knot does not have the same snap or forces.
Where this element excels is in the speed department.
While it may not be as evident as some other rides, Banshee is a terrain coaster.
The coaster has a 208 foot or 63 meter elevation change and the ride’s lowest point is at
the base of the pretzel knot.
This is where Banshee hits its max speed and you really feel it.
Then comes the ride’s second vertical loop and it’s every bit as good as the first.
It’s fast, forceful, and usually causes me to start greying out.
Banshee then spirals high above the ground and this turn pulls some strong Gs.
At the top of this element, Banshee has lost a ton of speed and it uses that to its advantage
as you crawl through a super slow and elongated inline twist.
This element has some of the best hangtime of any coaster.
The element seems to last an eternity.
Banshee then regains some speed in a compact, downwards helix that delivers another dose
of solid positive Gs and then you twist up into the brake run, ending the ride.
One of the best parts about Banshee is the coaster’s pacing.
Unlike the other large-scale B&M inverts, Banshee does not have a mid-course brake run.
This allows the coaster to maintain its speed until the very end.
While the dive loop and pretzel knots may not deliver the crushing positive Gs you’d
expect, the sense of speed helps compensate.
So what would I rate Banshee?
I really hate to penalize a coaster with a layout as strong as this, but I’d give Banshee
a 6 out of 10.
If you get a smooth train, Banshee is probably closer to an 8 or an 8.5.
But in a rough train Banshee is considerably worse, so I’m going to split the difference
as a 6.
Banshee is a fast and decently forceful invert with several great elements.
But the rattle is a major issue with this ride, especially on my 2019 and 2020 rides.
To figure out how Banshee is riding in advance of your visit, I would recommend checking
a theme park forum and asking a local if a certain train is riding smoother or rougher
than the others.
This can make or break Banshee for me.
At its peak, Banshee is a mid-tier invert.
With the rattle, Banshee is easily my least favorite B&M invert.
It becomes difficult to enjoy this amazing layout when you’re being shaken that badly
in a rough train.
So those are my thoughts on Banshee, the imposing B&M inverted coaster at Kings Island.
Do you find Banshee smooth or have you had some shaky rides like me?
I would love to hear your thoughts on this coaster.
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