So something I wasn't advertising widely... I never knew what was in the Shed until today. I purposely blocked this construction discussion the beginning of the year, and kept myself in the dark until I would be able to ride.
One thing led to another, and I was not able to get to Kings Island until today (June 4). Plenty more of a trip report to come, but I thought I would share my hot takes on Mystic Timbers.
It's like Prowler... but with a shed
This is exactly what I was expecting. Prowler, while a good roller coaster for lesser tier parks such as Worlds of Fun, still left a lot to be desired. The roller coaster started out with a good punch, but always felt like it lost steam on it's return voyage, relying too much on left-and-right laterals to provide thrill, rather than simple up-down airtime hills.
Bearing that in mind, we hopped on Mystic Timbers this afternoon. Not being familiar with the layout beyond an out-and-back design, I was pleasantly surprised to find a greater amount of airtime hills on Mystic Timbers than on Prowler. Speed and pacing also kept up nicely, with good transitions both as lateral and vertical g-force. The moment finally came to find out what's in the shed; since I knew there was no additional track work installed beyond the brake run, I was expecting something along the lines of projections (a Kings Island staple!) or physical animatronic-ish stuff. Well, I wasn't far off, and it was as lackluster as I expected. I mean, is it bad if my favorite part is the radio that plays 1970s and 1980s pop music?
Coming off the first ride, I could see Mystic Timbers as a definitely passable roller coaster for Kings Island. Great even. But I wasn't so convinced on the forces and speed, while simultaneously facing the similar question of comparing it to the grandfather of the modern wooden coaster a few hundred feet away.
So my friend and I decided to wait for a second ride at night, just to better feel out the layout and experience things with a different setting. While not the iconic pitch-dark scenario on Beast, in part due to unfortunate lighting placed along the Thunder Canyon water ride, Mystic Timbers opened up as a totally different ride experience at night. Speed and pacing felt faster, airtime was great, iconic GCI laterals felt more... lateral-y. The ride never let up, and kept hauling all the way into the brake run.
This is my seventh GCI roller coaster. Given it's tallest height and speed, good layout and placement, and fantastic pacing (especially at night), I think I am going to place this second only to Thunderhead as my #2 over all. While on the surface this ride compares most with Prowler due to the similar layout, I would actually compare the ride most to American Thunder, which too features a fast pace with a peppering of small hills and turns (American Thunder comes in third for me). Overall, I was very pleasantly surprised with this ride, and really look forward to other folks getting to ride it to see their reaction. Definitely a better of the bunch for GCI.
