Viking Fury

The Viking Fury is a Viking-themed swinging pirate ship ride located in the Oktoberfest section of Kings Island. It is one of the most notable classic carnival rides in the park that is not located in either Coney Mall or Planet Snoopy. The ride is located right next to the Festhaus restaurant, and overlooks the small lake behind Hank's Mexican Grill. Similar rides under different names and models exist at other Cedar Fair parks, including Cedar Point, Knott's Berry Farm, Canada's Wonderland, Michigan's Adventure, Worlds of Fun, and Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom.

Background
Viking Fury is a classic swinging ship carnival ride, and is one of the most noticeable rides when entering Oktoberfest from International Street. Although most rides of this kind are based around pirates, this ride is based around Vikings, possibly due to being closer associated with Europe, as the Oktoberfest area is named after the German festival of the same name that has also been held in the Cincinnati area, which features a lot of German heritage.

Ride Experience
Riders board the ship from the queue line platform, and are seated on benches, rather than individual seats like most rides. In addition, each bench shares the same lap bar. Once the lap bars and seatbelts are in place, the ride begins to swing. At first, the swinging is mild, but begins to pick up, until the end of the boat is just barely sticking out from the ride platform. After a few big swings, the swings begin to slow down again, and the boat returns to a halt as riders depart on the opposite side of where they entered.

Trivia

 * The ship features a statue of a woman at the hull, though it is not known what she represents.
 * The ride got a new paint job in 2020, the supports are now tan. And the ship got a touch up with brown paint.