originally posted on 7/1/2024
Photo: John Keeter. View full-sized image.
This summer, Snoopy and the Beagle Scouts are welcoming campers of all ages with the latest addition to Kings Island in Mason, Ohio: Camp Snoopy and its headline roller coaster, Snoopy’s Soap Box Racers.
For the 2024 season, Kings Island expands its already-generous offering of family coasters with Snoopy’s Soap Box Racers.
Photo: John Keeter. View full-sized image.
Photo: John Keeter. View full-sized image.
Joining an already impressive family lineup consisting of the E & F Miler Great Pumpkin Coaster, Vekoma’s Woodstock’s Air Rail and John Allen/Philadelphia Toboggan Company’s Woodstock Express, Snoopy’s Soap Box Racers is a Vekoma 208m Rebound family boomerang coaster.
With a number of parks installing family coasters in recent years, it’s the adorable touches to the ride’s theme that set it apart. Out front, a tower with Franklin as the race’s announcer welcomes people in. Even the train itself is themed as soap box cars, which are all individually decorated to different Peanuts characters, including Charlie Brown and even Snoopy himself.
Like Vekoma’s Boomerangs, familiar to most, the Family Boomerang models begin with a backward trip up a hill and a stall at the top of another.
Photo: Eric Holladay. View full-sized image.
Photo: Eric Holladay. View full-sized image.
After a quick trip backward up the 75-foot lift hill, the race is on! Riders hit 37 mph around the figure-eight layout before hitting a spike at the other end of 672 feet of track and doing it all again in reverse.
Snoopy’s Soap Box Racers is also a ride to be experienced more than once with different sensations based on where one is seated. The back of the train really feels the forces from the twists and turns, while the front gives a little pop of airtime in the spike.
The coaster’s colorful trains feature nods to the legendary Peanuts gang.
Photo: John Keeter. View full-sized image.
Photo: John Keeter. View full-sized image.
While not as thrilling as some of the other larger attractions at the park, Snoopy’s Soap Box Racers is a great new addition to Kings Island’s coaster lineup. Families (and enthusiasts) are sure to have loads of fun with this cute and delightful new experience.
— Jon Roost, ACE Eastern Great Lakes Assistant Regional Representative
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