Don't overlook the fact that this ride was built back in the 80's. Kings island and Cedar Point were doing coasters in the mid/late 80's that other parks didn't start getting until the mid 90's.
I remember going to kings island as a kid and wanting to ride this so bad but I wasn't tall enough, finally hit a growth spurt and went back the next year and it was gone! I was so bummed.
It was taken out in 2002 and was located in the lot where the slingshot and Delirium currenlty reside. The Delirium is resting on the exact spot where the King Cobras double helix was once located. I must have ridden this coaster close to 75 times. I loved it, but it was a ball buster!
Good god! Glad to see this! I did a radio story that was aired on NPR for the 100th anniversary of roller coasters from this ride. .... Many Memories. Short lived.
Actually I work at KI. All the parts for the Cobra are still in the woods at KI. They were sold about 3 yrs ago to a park in Spain but the deal fell through because they couldn't come up with the money. The parts are still able to be put together and used. Who knows... with the other snake themed rides at KI... we might bring it back!?!?!
@MrsJonasNicholas No, it was removed at the start of the 2002 season. They had attempted to sell it, but there were no takers. Supposedly much of the steel track was rusted out prior to that time. Fortunately the two similar coasters found at two other Cedar Fair parks had better quality/maintained steel, so they continue to operate.
At the end of the ride, just before it stopped there were a few little hills or "humps" it would cover...and when you were watching the ride from the outside, it actually looked like a snake slithering...pretty cool....
Awesome example of what was possible for the original batch of Stand Up Coasters back in the day. Too many parks, took stand up cars and stuck them on some old coaster sitting in some forgotten corner of the park.....truly sad.
I loved this as a young teen in the early to mid 90's. Felt tall to get on it lol. Am 37 now, and looking back I don't get the idea of stand up coasters. Any others besides that I understand and love. STILL love stand-ups too, but besides being different, there's really no difference. You stand in line, ride standing up, and then you walk to stand in the next line. Loved KK, but I'd still prefer several normal coasters with similar features 8 days a week in the long haul.
This was the ride that had me not riding any rides for 28 year until last year. That damn ride had a malfunction and stopped while we was upside down for 15mins. I asked God to get me off of it and I will never ride again and I kept that until last year
I never got to ride the King Cobra because I wasn't tall enough to ride it when it was still at Kings Island. I hope the park's new ride for 2014 will be a B&M stand up roller coaster.
for a more helpful answer than was given by the other person, the techneique they used there is called a Trick Track which banks one way before turning the other, i hope this answer is what you were looking for
This ride closed because after Togo shut down, it became hard to maintain. Parts were hard to find, maintenance cost went higher, popularity for this ride went down. Kings Island did try to sell it, no one bought it because it was rough, out of date, etc. So yea Kings Island did the right thing and took it out.
what defunct? its intersting to see old rides fade away ! when i was young they had the bat and aride in center of prk that was just a loop, you went forward,then back and taht was it! (black and gold) i miss kings island , i cant go anymore!
I don't know about Arrows, as i don't think they're THAT bad when it comes to head banging, especially Loch Ness Monster at BGW. Even Anaconda at Kings Dominion was tolerable IMO. Why do Arrows receive such shit from people?
You're not actually supposed to sit on that bicycle seat. It was there to keep your posture straight and to keep you from slipping out of the restraints from underneath.
I road this ride the first year it came out. First stand up coaster I was ever on. The second was the Mantis which was like 5 times better. #3 Riddlers Revenge kicked ass as well.
Time to eat my words. It was a woman dying while on the Skylab thingy. Also, since KI counts the Eiffel tower elevator as a ride, there's a second one. John Harter, a high school graduate, was climbing the inside of the elevator shaft on graduation night, May 13, 1983. He was trying to jump on the elevator to scare his friends, but he was crushed and killed by the counterweight.
Actually, Flight Commander was not a coaster, rather a ride that roated in the air. People were able to control their capsule. I have the newspaper article from the accident. Interestingly though, two others did die the same day. One was a guest and the other a work who drown trying to rescue someone who fell into a lake.
@nhirajeblack Go to Kings Dominion and ride Shockwave... it's essentially the same ride, only difference is the back half after the helix is slightly different in layout.
@EatAtWhiteCastle No one died on SoB in 2006, but on July 30, 2007 a man died from hemorrhagic shock from blunt impact to his torso a day after riding. And on August 8, 2009, a man died after riding Firehawk and having breathing problems. Both victims had pre-existing medical conditions, but a death is still a death.
you are all wrong. it was removed because the type of steel used to mold the ride was losing its integrty and eventually would have started to bend under the stress. Togo did go bankrupt but the ride was coming down regardless.
@coasterwild um...no it doesnt i have been playing rct for almost 10 years. the stand up coasters dont let you do helixes, it even mentions that they should be avoided on stand up coasters in the description. it lets you do banked turns, but not helixe. rct 3 lets you do helixes on them, but not rct or rct2
i swear i rode this, but i keep thinking that it went around a pond and it had a giant figure of that little miner guy with the long orange beard? anyone gotta clue of what coaster that was?
@HarvestmanMan Skylab once injured a dozen people, but never killed any. On the contrary, people have died on or after riding Flight Commander, Firehawk, Son of Beast and Flight Deck.
actually ppl it was taken out for other reasons besides delerium. there waa a whole year when the old site of king cobra was empty, and they built delerium there because they had no other use for the space.
