Banshee at Kings Island as viewed from the Eiffel Tower
Front carriders' pick, 5 of 9

Kings Island, Mason, Ohio

Banshee

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“It’s worth the wait.”

7times upside downNo. 2 of 446 US coastersBansheeSteel CurtainTMNT Shellra.Scream!
POV
Ride it: back row POV
Back row
The scream at the top of the lift hill
What riders love
  • In the front row it feels like you are being held face-down to the ground at the end of nearly every inversion, and it's a super unique feeling.
  • Plus that final inline twist delivers some of the best hangtime out there.
  • The highlight is definitely the loop over the chainlift and is satisfying to look at.
  • The drop absolutely flings you sideways and every inversion gives a mix of bone crushing positives and elite hangtime.
  • All of the inversions are very intense, with that pretzel knot, 2nd loop and ending helix packing in the most g's.
  • It was my last ride of the day at King's Island and somehow, it's intensity exceeded anything else I experienced during the day.
  • As such, there are no dead spots here, and the valleys themselves give the coaster an ebb-and-flow feeling to it as the crests become the most exciting moments, those of being upside-down.
  • The layout is definitely the best of all the inverts and I found it to be incredibly smooth.
  • Maybe riding in the front saved me a headache, but I was mostly struck by how much I liked it's graceful, drawn-out layout, and the cool visuals.
Banshee Watch Performance Should I ride it? Where to sit Specifications Reviews Planning History

Watch POVs and more

Banshee Front Row (HD POV) Kings Island

youtube.com › coastercrutchfield

Banshee Back Row (HD POV) Kings Island

youtube.com › coastercrutchfield

Banshee POV 5K B&M Inverted Coaster Kings Island Mason, OH

youtube.com › East Coasters

Banshee Off-Ride Kings Island HD 60fps

youtube.com › Coaster Studios

my FIRST RIDE on BANSHEE - Kings Island | Reaction POV

youtube.com › Michael Berra

Banshee - Review (Kings Island - Mason, Ohio)

youtube.com › XscreamThrills

Banshee Kings Island Review: A Top-Tier B&M Invert?

youtube.com › Coaster Adventures

Banshee at Kings Island

youtube.com › Kings Island

Coroner: Man dies after being hit by Banshee roller coaster at Kings Island

youtube.com › WBNS 10TV

Banshee Roller Coaster at Kings Island Television Commercial (2014)

youtube.com › Cow Missing

Banshee Roller Coaster at King's Island

youtube.com › Iowa guy

Matt does the iconic Banshee scream - Kings Island

youtube.com › NorthEastCoasters

Banshee at Kings Island Halloween Haunt (October 29th, 2021)

youtube.com › rtraveler2004

Performance

Vs. other coasters at Kings Island

My favorite part of the ride is the floaty zero-g roll that drops down the hill into the massive pretzel knot.

Zach Payne

Floating throughout the ride was amazing, and it’s very true that this ride doesn’t let up.

JTW

The inline roll is just awesome with that Falling out feeling with airtime.

stashua123

2.) The In-Line-Roll gives such a floating sensation it is truly unbelievable.

TheBEASTunchained

I also got some decent airtime in a few spots on BLSC...Banshee really doesn’t have that whatsoever, save perhaps that slow roll at the end, but I dunno if I could call that airtime...it was more of a...

McSalsa

It was smooth, the transitions were executed fine, and I was definitely impressed, but I felt like it was missing something.

flashpoint1230

The smoothest B&M inverted coaster and probably the smoothest and most comfortable B&M period.

anonymous Outcast

...to be not tight enough; that was my experience on Diamondback, another coaster at Kings Island.)  From start to finish, Banshee is forceful, exciting and wonderfully smooth.  In a word, awesome.

Coaster Critic

That being said the rattle was very apparent, and the restraints gave me some of the worst pain I’ve ever felt on a coaster in my upper chest.

william smith

The only real drawback I experienced was feeling a slight vibration on the train while riding along the course.

gad198

Has a gut punch of a drop, intense inversions with a nice slow roll mixed in, but the restraints get really tight near the end of the ride.

J&B FitzTubeKidz

1.) The second half of the Batwing, as you’re plummeting back towards the ground, seems to be the most absolute forceful part of the ride.

TheBEASTunchained

It’s a little too chaotic to process, so it ends up feeling like you’ve been put in a box and shaken up for several minutes.

Andrew Clark

I am not a fan of large-scale inverts, because they are way too intense for me.

Rollertoaster

The pacing feels weird, it has too many drawn out inversions, and there is little to no intensity.

Limitless Park

The scale and speed also felt grander than any other invert out there...maybe Alpengeist can compete on size, but Banshee was packed front to finish.

Sean Reardon

I felt like at times I was on a spinning ride because of the quick turns, the drops, and the speed.

Shawn Meyer

Banshee is a giant, length ride with breakneck pacing.

thomas stanley

Row 8 was super fast!

Nick_Plummer

...by the time you get to the last inversion (an inline twist), you go through it so slow that it feels less like a grand finale and more like a drawn out, blood-rushing gymnastic tumble that...

Limitless Park

The capacity is also top-notch with the ops churning out coasters 4 people across and no brake run wait on a Saturday which is quite impressive.

Max S.

There is almost nothing about this coaster that I didn’t love.  The loading process was remarkably efficient; the ride ops dispatched the trains so quickly that it wasn’t unusual to see two trains...

Coaster Critic

The full total came out to be 4 hours 30 minutes, even got the front seat.

TopThrill

At time of writing I slightly prefer Orion, mainly due to the fact that Banshee typically has a long wait and Orion’s wait has never been that bad even on the busiest day I’ve been there.

Elijah Bacelieri
Worth the queue

It’s worth the wait.

TombRaiderFTW

It was worth it. The rush I felt as you take flight from the lift hill, whipping, twisting, and spinning was simply and purely indescribable.

Joshua
Motion sickness risk

I definitely was a little dizzy after this one but it is a great ride.

Randy Ruble

It’s intense but I did not feel thrown around relentlessly like from Batman or ready to hurl like Raptor.

Aaron88stang

Should I ride it?

Organize by

Where to sit

Front of trainBack of train

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Car 1, the front: 5 of 9 riders who named a rowBack row: 4 riders

Specifications

167 ftHeight
287 Orion 230 Diamondback 167 Banshee 131 Invertigo 110 The Beast 109 MysticTimbers
150 ftFirst drop
300 Orion 215 Diamondback 150 Banshee 141 The Beast 98 MysticTimbers 82 Racer
68 mphTop speed
Orion91 Diamondback80 Banshee68 The Beast65 Flight of Fear54 Mystic Timbers53 091 mph
7Inversions

What riders say

Praised for

Great inversionsIntenseGreat layoutHuge first dropHangtimeLong ride

Criticised for

Rough or rattlyUncomfortable restraintsRider fit issuesMade riders sickToo intense for some

Whereas older B&M Inverts focused on snappy inversions, Banshee focuses more on drawn-out, intense inversions, making it more akin to their floorless coasters.

I'm NotHere, Captain Coaster review

I haven’t experienced restraints this uncomfortable since Viper at MM, and they completely detracted from the entire ride.

Nick Barrett, Captain Coaster review

The vibration doesn’t bother me nearly as much as the vest restraints, which single handedly keep Banshee from feeling as powerful as it should.

Bryan Bonafede, Captain Coaster review

The first drop is awesome, especially in the front row, the ride is very intense and all of the elements are very well placed into the layout.

Simon, Captain Coaster review

I like Banshee, its a great addition for the park, it wasn’t as forceful as i hoped but, it does keep a great pace threw-out the entire ride.

Tr0y, review

What looks good on paper about this coaster is certainly appealing to those who have never ridden before, but I honestly think that Banshee is one of the most overrated rides I’ve ever been on.

Limitless Park, published review

Photos

The Banshee roller coaster at Kings Island amusement park in Mason, Ohio
Oldiesmann, CC BY-SA 3.0
Banshee's station at Kings Island
Jeremy Thompson, CC BY 2.0
Banshee at Kings Island
Jeremy Thompson, CC BY 2.0
Banshee at Kings Island as viewed from the Eiffel Tower
Jeremy Thompson, CC BY 2.0
Banshee at Kings Island
Jeremy Thompson, CC BY 2.0
Banshee at Kings Island
Jeremy Thompson, CC BY 2.0
Banshee graves at Kings Island
Jeremy Thompson, CC BY 2.0
Banshee at Kings Island
Jeremy Thompson, CC BY 2.0
Banshee train on lift hill at Kings Island
Jeremy Thompson, CC BY 2.0
Banshee graves at Kings Island
Jeremy Thompson, CC BY 2.0
Banshee at Kings Island
Jeremy Thompson, CC BY 2.0

11 photographs. Swipe or drag sideways.

Planning your ride

History and awards

April 18, 2014Opened

Built by Bolliger & Mabillard.

$24 millionTo build

Golden Ticket Awards, top steel coaster: ranked in 11 polls, 2014 to 2025

16th2014, its first poll
13th2016, its best placing
46th2025, most recent

Sources

Restraint types: Captain Coaster. History, incidents and awards: Wikipedia. Height requirement: Kings Island. Specifications and status: Coasterpedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Also read: Captain Coaster (converted to feet and mph). Rider sentiment and performance scores: rider reviews on Captain Coaster, kicentral.com, coastercritic.com, limitlesspark.com, themeparkjames.co.uk, read and scored by AirtimeFever.

Photographs via Wikimedia Commons: Jeremy Thompson (CC BY 2.0), Oldiesmann (CC BY-SA 3.0). Video thumbnails remain the property of their channels and link back to them.

Live wait times: Powered by Queue-Times.com.

Quote at the top of the page: TombRaiderFTW, kicentral.com.

What riders love, by theme (themes in the order riders pick them most on Captain Coaster): Zach Payne, rider review on Captain Coaster: “My favorite part of the ride is the floaty…”; MapleFlakes, rider review on Captain Coaster: “In the front row it feels like you are…”; Inverted Thrills, rider review on Captain Coaster: “Plus that final inline twist delivers some of the…”; Isaiah White, rider review on Captain Coaster: “The highlight is definitely the loop over the chainlift…”; Landan Vance, rider review on Captain Coaster: “A steady surge of crushing forces follows you throughout…”; Cooper Zimmerman, rider review on Captain Coaster: “The drop absolutely flings you sideways and every inversion…”; Carter Eckhart, rider review on Captain Coaster: “All of the inversions are very intense, with that…”; Sean Reardon, rider review on Captain Coaster: “It was my last ride of the day at…”; Mike Davis, rider review on Captain Coaster: “Perhaps the most majestic of all the B&M inverts.…”; I'm NotHere, rider review on Captain Coaster: “As such, there are no dead spots here, and…”; Jack Jack J., rider review on Captain Coaster: “The layout is definitely the best of all the…”; Em McMahon, rider review on Captain Coaster: “Maybe riding in the front saved me a headache,…”; SaberVizion, rider review on Captain Coaster: “The scream at the top of the lift hill…”.

The photo slider at the top and the fading stills: coastercrutchfield's back row POV, Banshee Back Row (HD POV) Kings Island (YouTube), and the page's Wikimedia Commons photographs.