Negative-G - Kings Island Mystic Timbers Media Day April 13, 2017

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The new for 2017 Mystic Timbers Wooden Rollercoaster at Kings Island, Kings island, Ohio

So what is in the shed?

The real question is the why?

What happens at the end of Mystic Timbers is the train passes through a brake run that slows the train as it enters the transfer track and storage shed for all three trains. With a little over 3,200 feet of track with no mid-course break most rides have just two trains. Being a massive regional theme park Kings Island needs capacity, the capacity that a third train would add.

So #whatsintheshed is an extra brake run; a holding brake, where the third train will sit while one train is in the station and another is out on the course. What Kings Island, Great Coasters International did was to bring Holovis; a company that specializes in creating virtual reality environments to add a show element to that holding break. As the cat has been out of the bag since the Media Day what is in the shed is Hall & Oats, Gary Neuman and Bonnie Tyler. Ok, if you were not alive and listening to music in 1983 you might be a little lost as to what I am talking about. As the train pulls onto the themed shed holding break "Maneater" by Hall & Oats, "Cars" by Gary Neuman or "Total Eclipse of the Heart" suddenly starts playing on an old "boom box". After a minute of listening to the music while sitting in the dark the train pulls forward further into the shed where one of three things happens. The train is attacked by giant bats, a giant snake or the woods come to life and assault you. Now you are not really attacked but the computer graphics on the screens are amazingly good.

So boiling all of the shed talk into the purest form it is a little random thematic entertainment in order to get several hundred more people on the ride per hour.

As the clock ticked closer to the end of the day we had to grab a few more rides and grab photos of the awesome people we got to hang around with. I've known Sean since he was a high school kid seemingly ages ago. Time flies and we all grow up and it is interesting to see where people end up over time.

After losing a friend in Iraq to a roadside bomb Sean and a few others dedicated their lives to the memories of their loved ones. Sean is one of the people that runs the "Eyes of Freedom Memorial" that features life sized paintings of his friend and the rest of those from Lima Company, one of the hardest hit in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The not-for-profit organization focuses on remembering those who we lost, connecting to those who came home and helping all of those veterans who still suffer from post traumatic stress disorder and suicide. If you ever get a chance to see the memorial please do so and if you can donate to help with Sean and his organizations good work please do so.