Kings Island Area 72 - Tumblr Posts
IN HONOR OF KINGS ISLAND NOW BEING OPEN, I've decided to do another ✨Kings Island lore post✨, this time moving over to Area 72 in order to talk about the Project X Initiative!
Feel free to speak up and ask me anything if you want further elaboration or have anything in particular you want me to talk about! This can be in the comments or through an ask, whatever you feel more comfortable with!
Now with all of that out of the way, sit back, relax, and mentally prepare yourself. The ramble shall begin after the cut!
The first time we are introduced to the Project X initiative is on July 2, 2020 when Orion first opened. It's mentioned by name in the description of the video "Orion: New for 2020 at Kings Island" on Kings Island's YouTube channel (which can be found here -> https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sNV6lnyv2s0) It says:
"Themed to the park's new Area 72, the ride features the latest prototype vehicle developed by the Project X Initiative. Scientists are in a race against time to develop technology capable of weaving transport vehicles through a coming meteor storm and traveling to a new planet within the Orion constellation. For the program to be successful, it needs volunteers to help with testing."
So if Orion is the latest prototype vehicle developed by the Project X Initiative, then there had to be more from before that, right? CORRECT!
Orion is actually Sequence X of the Project X Initiative! The full 10 sequences are as follows:
Sequence I - Shooting Star-47, Study of Astrology & Rapid Directional Changes
Sequence II - The Rotor-72, Study of Centrifugal Forces & Gravity Centrifugal Effects
Sequence III - Bayern Kurve-73, Study of Interstellar Travel & Acceleration
Sequence IV - Zodiac-75, Study of Symmetry & Radial Forces
Sequence V - SkyLab-86, Study of Gravitational Pull
Sequence VI - Vortex-87, Study of Inversions & Inversion Effects
Sequence VII - Flight of Fear-96, Study of Acceleration & Sensory Deprivation
Sequence VIII - Invertigo-99, Study of Balance & Motion Pull
Sequence IX - Firehawk-07, Study of Maneuvering/Evasive Maneuvers
Sequence X - Orion-20, Study of Time Space
Are any of these names sounding familiar? They should! They're the names of Kings Island attractions, both past and present! And the numbers after them are references to the years that those rides opened!
All of these different "Sequences" can be found throughout Orion's queue, particularly on the fake pin board on the Fast Lane side of the queue where you'll find posters for each of them & on the wall next to the front row line for the ride itself in the station. For the station one, I'll put an image below:
The first time we were clued in on any of this "Project X Initiative" stuff was on the construction fence for Orion back when it was being built. Every once in a while, the park would put up a poster with one of it's rides (past or present) on it (which ended up being Sequences I-IX) with a faint letter in the background. Eventually, with a hashtag made up of QR codes in the front of it, it spelled out "#TETOWAWKI," which for those of you who were following Orion's teaser developments, ended up standing for "The End Of The World As We Know It." The QR code hashtag led you to a petition on Change.org by "Concerned Citizen" who talks about how Kings Island needs to reveal what's behind the wall for the safety of the public. Concerned Citizen even got a signature from a Mr. Christopher...fans of Flight of Fear will know that name...
(Here's a link to the Change.org petition in case you want to check that out for yourself: https://www.change.org/p/kings-island-kings-island-what-s-behind-that-fence-85f62e10-4170-437b-9cc3-ae87d9973b45?recruiter=987799620&recruited_by_id=fd9dc1d0-b26b-11e9-87b8-9b832214eee5&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=petition_dashboard&utm_content=bandit-starter_cl_share_content_en-us%3Av4)
Honestly, the #TEOTWAWKI/Orion teaser campaign is so interesting and lore heavy that I'll probably end up making a post on it in the future at some point XD
And that's it for this KI lore post! Again, feel free to let me know if there's anything in particular you want me to touch upon! And if you're ever looking for any of my other KI lore posts, they can be found under the tag #kings island lore. I hope you have a wonderful day!
Words cannot express how ecstatic I was to see a human claw machine being built in Area 72. I laughed so hard when I saw it there for the first time /pos
(Image taken June 13, 2024)