Front Seat POV©
Banshee is an inverted roller coaster located at Kings Island amusement park in Mason, Ohio. Designed and manufactured by Swiss company Bolliger & Mabillard, the roller coaster opened on April 18, 2014. Banshee cost $24 million to build, the largest project in Kings Island's history at the time. With 4,124 feet (1,257 m) of track, Banshee was the longest inverted roller coaster in the world when it opened.[1] The ride includes seven inversions and travels at up to 68 miles per hour (109 km/h). Banshee operates with three trains, each with eight cars, giving it an hourly capacity of 1,650 riders.

Banshee was built at the former location of a wooden roller coaster named Son of Beast, as well as the Thunder Alley go-kart attraction. The ride was officially announced on August 8, 2013, although the "Banshee" name had been trademarked that April. The first track pieces were installed on August 27, 2013, and work continued through the following January. When Banshee opened, it was well-received, accommodating one million riders in less than three months. Amusement Today's annual Golden Ticket Awards has consistently ranked Banshee among the top 50 steel roller coasters in the world.

Banshee was built at the former location of Son of Beast, a wooden roller coaster plagued with issues and demolished in 2012, and the Thunder Alley go-kart attraction that was removed the same year. A memorial for Son of Beast is in the queue line of Banshee. Following their removal, it was not immediately clear what would replace the attractions.

Construction
Construction on a new attraction began on April 22, 2013, and a trademark for the name "Banshee" was filed the next day. Owner Cedar Fair had previously considered using the name for a roller coaster at Cedar Point, though Cedar Point's coaster was ultimately named Mantis. Kings Island began teasing the new attraction on the first day of the 2013 season. Along the perimeter of the former Thunder Alley go-kart track, a fence was set up with a sign that read, "Due to the increasing occurrence of mysterious and bone-chilling screams, it has become necessary to close this section of the park until the cause of this evil phenomenon can be identified." During the course of the summer, several clues about the attraction were set up around the construction site. On June 10, 2013, the park launched their social media campaign by posting a photo showing the construction site with the caption, "Field of Dreams". The campaign continued with five scarecrows around the construction site and several Twitter posts about the future attraction. Then, at the beginning of July 2013, recordings of someone screaming could be heard by park guests near the construction area. Two weeks later, farm owls were placed in nearby trees.

On July 31, 2013, Kings Island detailed plans to reveal a new world record-breaking attraction at 10 p.m. on August 8. Media packages containing a silver comb, artificial hair and a tag were sent out to media outlets to notify them of the upcoming announcement. A limited number of tickets were also made available to the public giving access to a tour of the construction site prior to the revealing and reserved seats at the event, with net proceeds being donated to breast cancer research.Blueprints for the project were leaked to the public on August 1, 2013. One week later, on August 8, Kings Island officially announced that it was constructing Banshee, the world's longest inverted roller coaster. Banshee would feature seven inversions, including a pretzel knot inversion and a vertical loop around the lift hill. Banshee would be the second coaster constructed at Kings Island by Swiss company Bolliger & Mabillard (after Diamondback, which opened in 2009), as well as the park's 14th operating roller coaster.

The foundation work for the supports was done by R.E. Middleton, and the rest of the ride's construction was performed by Adena Corporation. The first pieces of track and supports were delivered to the park from Clermont Steel Fabricators on August 16, 2013; the first track piece was erected on August 27, 2013. The lift hill was completed on September 29, 2013, and by the end of October, other elements such as the first drop, dive loop, and vertical loop were installed. Work on the station commenced that November, and the ride was 40 percent complete by the next month. The final piece of track was installed on January 23, 2014.Workers began installing the ride's trains that February, and testing began on March 15.

Filmed during Kings island 50th Anniversary