Firehawk

Entrance and Ride Layout

***Firehawk*** was a flying coaster located in the Coney Mall-X-Base (now known as Area 72) section at Kings Island. It was the first coaster to be constructed in the park since Cedar Fair took over operations in 2006. *Firehawk* originally operated under the name of *X-Flight* at Geauga Lake from 2001 to 2006. It was relocated to Kings Island shortly before Cedar Fair decided to close Geauga Lake in 2007. It's worth noting that the coaster is a duplicate of *Batwing*, a Batman-themed coaster located at Six Flags America in Woodmore, Maryland, possibly due to both coasters being constructed by the same manufacturer. After eleven years of operation at Kings Island, *Firehawk* was closed at the conclusion of the 2018 Halloween Haunt event at the park. In 2020, the *Orion*giga coaster opened in *Firehawk*'s former location.

## History

In 2004, Cedar Fair acquired the Six Flags Worlds of Adventure park from Premier Parks, and restored its original name of Geauga Lake, and replaced the SeaWorld area with the Wildwater Kingdom water park. Cedar Fair would later go on to acquire all of the Paramount Parks, which included Kings Island, in 2006. For unknown reasons, Cedar Fair decided to close Geauga Lake in 2007, and had been dismantling several rides as early as 2006. *X-Flight* was one of these rides, and it later opened on May 26, 2007 at Kings Island under the name *Firehawk*. The ride was built next to *Flight of Fear* creating a new sub-section in Coney Mall known as X-Base, themed around a top secret military base. More rides from Geauga Lake were later relocated to other Cedar Fair parks, including

* Kings Dominion
	+ (Dominator(B&M Floorless Coaster)
	+ (El Dorado(Weber 1001 Nachts pendulum ride)(2009-2011)
	+ (Americana(Ferris Wheel))
* Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom
	+ (Possessed(Intamin Impulse Coaster))
* Carowinds
	+ (The Flying Cobras(Vekoma Boomerang))
* Cedar Point
	+ (Planet Snoopy kids rides)
* California’s Great America
	+ (Firefall(Huss Top Spin))(2008-2016)
* Worlds of Fun
	+ (Grand Carrousel(1926 M.C. Illions Supreme Carousel)
* Michigan's Adventure
	+ (Thunderhawk(Vekoma SLC))

On September 27, 2018, the first day of that year's Halloween Haunt at the park, park officials announced that *Firehawk* would be closing permanently following the conclusion of Halloween Haunt, after eleven years of operation. The reason behind the closure was that manufacturer Vekoma was no longer manufacturing parts for their Flying Dutchman coaster model, causing difficulties in finding potential spare parts for maintenance. The coaster was still standing, but not operating, during that year's WinterFest event, with a banner saying "R.I.P." added to the entrance sign.

For the 2019 season, the surrounding area had been walled off. The coaster had been completely demolished for scrap, though some parts of the track and ride cars can be seen nearby from a distance while riding *The Racer*. On August 15 of that same year, Kings Island revealed *Orion*, a new giga coaster is being constructed by Bolliger and Mabillard for the space formerly occupied by *Firehawk*. This is the same company that manufactured fellow Kings Island attractions *Diamondback* and *Banshee*. As a giga coaster, *Orion* replaced the area formerly occupied by *Dinosaurs Alive!*, and opened in 2020. Additionally, the X-Base area was also renamed to Area 72, and focus on a theme of space exploration. The station that was once used for on-ride photos of *Firehawk* still stands, and now serves as *Orion*'s entrance. The queue line has now been connected and *Flight of Fear* uses it now.

## Theme and Ride Experience

### ​Theme

*​*Based on the theming of the queue line, *Firehawk*​ was presumably themed to a new flight technology developed by the military. The local X-Base is looking for volunteers to test the technology, and all subjects must be willing to accept any risks associated with the test.

## Trivia

* *Firehawk*​was the first coaster in Kings Island to be opened under Cedar Fair's management.
	+ It was also the first coaster opened during Cedar Fair's ownership to close.

* *Firehawk*​ tended to have some of the longest wait times in the park. This was probably because the safety checks for this coaster are much more crucial than the other coasters, as a restraint failure would easily cause a rider to fall out, as opposed to having to hold on tight on coasters like *The Beast*. Extra care may have been necessary to ensure this didn't happen.
* The on ride photo camera is reused on *Orion*.
* *​Firehawk*did not allow guests to leave items in the loading station while they ride.
* Much like *Son of Beast* the only remaining structure from this attraction is the queue line. Which has been repurposed as Flight of Fear’s extended queue.
* *Firehawk* was replaced by *Orion*, a giga coaster that opened in 2020. It was manufactured by Bollinger and Mabillard, the same company that manufactured *Diamondback* and *Banshee*. The coaster has a similar theme to *Firehawk*, but instead of military flight equipment, guests will serve as test subjects for a prototype spacecraft that is intended to reach a newly discovered Earth-like planet, in preparation for an impending asteroid strike that could wipe out the Earth. The former photo station that had been shut down for several of *Firehawk*'s final years in operation would later be reused for *Orion*'s entrance.