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The looping coasters of the 1970's spawned many other innovations in the 1980's. Kings Island was the epicenter of many of these including, at the time, the failed Bat. While the Bat sputtered in its existence, TOGO was brought to the southwestern Ohio park to begin another project. Stand up coasters were being experimented on at the time but to no avail. Many of the attempts were on coasters that had sit down trains and it was thought that a simple transition to stand up wouldn't be hard. Of note, Six Flags St Louis' River King Mine Train and Worlds of Fun's Extremeroller were the first to attempt it only to end in utter failure. TOGO's intent was to make the ride fully designed to have stand up trains. The layout would be simple due to that. 95 ft high, around 2,200 ft of track, a few drops and a helix rounded out the compact green twister, located at what was then Adventure Village, now the Action Zone. Unfortunately, the ride was taken down due to TOGO going out of business, bad quality steel and lack of parts. The trains were distributed to the other two TOGO stand ups in the chain in hopes their lifespans will be greater, being Canada Wonderland's Skyrider and Kings Dominion's Shockwave.
© Joyrides.com
The ride starts in the jungle themed station. Riders straddled the bicycle style seats and folded in the restraints to be situated. Straight out of the station, the train engages the lift, tilting 30 degrees as the long trek to the top commenced. As the train leveled out at 95 ft, the chain ends out the straight-away before finally releasing the train as gravity takes hold. The train smoothly rounds a bend to the right and runs parallel with the lift. The tracks shoot downwards as the train careens to 50 mph. At the bottom, powerful positive g's push on the riders' legs before going through the one and only inversion, a vertical loop as guests look on from the Oktoberfest path. The train rises again over a hill, providing some rare airtime for the stand up ride The track then circles around and around in a clockwise fasion as the g's add up again. A full 540 degrees is traversed. The ride straightens up as it flies over a hill above the exit path, dropping again as the train shoots back to below the lift. The level track gives way as it leans to the left with a little bit of trick track. After leveling off, the ride cuts right and gains a bit of altitude before dropping into a pair of short bunny hops, ending out the air time moments only to rise again into the final brakes aside the station. A small curve right feeds the trains back into the station where riders disembark.
Though the ride is long gone, it isn't without its impact to the industry. It paved the way for other innovations to follow, and as the 2000's showed us, there seems to be no stop to how crazy the average roller coaster can get.
King Cobra
Kings Island
Last Update: January 9, 2013

The looping coasters of the 1970's spawned many other innovations in the 1980's. Kings Island was the epicenter of many of these including, at the time, the failed Bat. While the Bat sputtered in its existence, TOGO was brought to the southwestern Ohio park to begin another project. Stand up coasters were being experimented on at the time but to no avail. Many of the attempts were on coasters that had sit down trains and it was thought that a simple transition to stand up wouldn't be hard. Of note, Six Flags St Louis' River King Mine Train and Worlds of Fun's Extremeroller were the first to attempt it only to end in utter failure. TOGO's intent was to make the ride fully designed to have stand up trains. The layout would be simple due to that. 95 ft high, around 2,200 ft of track, a few drops and a helix rounded out the compact green twister, located at what was then Adventure Village, now the Action Zone. Unfortunately, the ride was taken down due to TOGO going out of business, bad quality steel and lack of parts. The trains were distributed to the other two TOGO stand ups in the chain in hopes their lifespans will be greater, being Canada Wonderland's Skyrider and Kings Dominion's Shockwave.
© Joyrides.com
The ride starts in the jungle themed station. Riders straddled the bicycle style seats and folded in the restraints to be situated. Straight out of the station, the train engages the lift, tilting 30 degrees as the long trek to the top commenced. As the train leveled out at 95 ft, the chain ends out the straight-away before finally releasing the train as gravity takes hold. The train smoothly rounds a bend to the right and runs parallel with the lift. The tracks shoot downwards as the train careens to 50 mph. At the bottom, powerful positive g's push on the riders' legs before going through the one and only inversion, a vertical loop as guests look on from the Oktoberfest path. The train rises again over a hill, providing some rare airtime for the stand up ride The track then circles around and around in a clockwise fasion as the g's add up again. A full 540 degrees is traversed. The ride straightens up as it flies over a hill above the exit path, dropping again as the train shoots back to below the lift. The level track gives way as it leans to the left with a little bit of trick track. After leveling off, the ride cuts right and gains a bit of altitude before dropping into a pair of short bunny hops, ending out the air time moments only to rise again into the final brakes aside the station. A small curve right feeds the trains back into the station where riders disembark.
Though the ride is long gone, it isn't without its impact to the industry. It paved the way for other innovations to follow, and as the 2000's showed us, there seems to be no stop to how crazy the average roller coaster can get.
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