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Vortex is leaving Kings Island

Intricks

Intricks

Strata Poster
In a surprisingly late night/early morning post to their Facebook Page - King's Island has announced that Vortex, the multi-inversion Arrow Looper, will be closing October 27th of this season.

Wasn't all too sure where to post this, but this is a surprise to me as this is pretty late in the season imo for this sudden of an announcement.

Link: Clicky-Poo

Edit: Addedd in link to blogpost.
 
That bit of the park is becoming an Arrow graveyard.

I didn't much care for it. It hasn't aged well, and something better can now go in its place.
 
Wasn't this the first-ever six-inversion coaster? It was a pretty big coaster too, at 45 meters tall and 1160 meters long. You certainly don't see many coasters with those figures being built anymore. That being said, it doesn't seem to be quite up to modern standards in other respects either.

Looks like Kings Island has decided to keep 14 coasters running. Orion comes in, Vortex goes out.
 
Pokemaniac said:
Looks like Kings Island has decided to keep 14 coasters running. Orion comes in, Vortex goes out.
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Well they already closed Firehawk so will be 1 down overall.

After all the fuss and big announcement about Firehawk last year this is a surprisingly low key and late announcement, especially as Vortex is a much bigger and more historically significant coaster.

I wonder if they will re-use the station again - it could be the first ever station building to be used for 3 different coasters!
 
Peet said:
I wonder if they will re-use the station again - it could be the first ever station building to be used for 3 different coasters!
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Honestly, I think 2023/2024 will be something like a Single Rail, but the first to use two seat cars, not one, to fit the capacity issue and the same amount of cars as Jersey Devil... Apart from a Copperhead Strike coaster, that is all I can think of aha
 
Surprised and sad to hear this tbh. It was a classic but not that nice to ride.Two coasters in two years spited though! The thing was rough but not the worst of the arrow loopers I have done (think anaconda was worse??).

It does however look really good offride and really fills that area of the park so I think the biggest loss is going to be not seeing it on the coaster skyline.
 
It is a staple attraction of Kings Island, and will represent a huge shift for that side of the park. From the enthusiast perspective: it is a very uncomfortable, rough ride. But locals have a sweet spot for the coaster, holding it with the same regard as Beast and Racer (and don’t even get them started on how Cedar Fair turned the Racer trains back round).

I too would have liked a bigger deal for Vortex’s retirement, as at the end of the day it’s an icon for the park. It was the tallest full circuit coaster with the most inversions at opening, let alone being built as replacement for the OG Bat. But who knows, maybe the tactic is to let it quietly slip into the night?

Whatever you do Kings Island - please reuse that station.
 
I really liked it when I rode it a few years back, didn't think it was painful or anything.

I'm guessing this was just becoming too expensive for the park to upkeep?
 
dontbesuchamcbr said:
:mad:
Next year will be my first visit to KI ans I was looking vorward to ride Vortex. It's not only a count that I will miss, but it also remid me of Viper at SFMM. That was my first 7 Inverion coaster in the mid 90s and I loved that coaster.
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Oh don’t you worry. You’ve dodged a bullet here.

Someone get the wrecking ball and just **** this thing up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Cranedude said:
If they announced vortex is being removed and they made the decision ahead of time.......
WHY IS VORTEX IN THE ORION ANIMATION
Also @Peet, Z-Force/Iron Wolf/Goliath's station at SFGam was the first ever station used for three coasters.
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I mean, they weren't announcing the removal of Vortex at the time, right?
 
I gotta say, this one kinda hurt me. I remember back when I saw it for the first time, it seemed like a spiral to me. Definitely an astonishing ride to watch and look at. However, I know it's for the best and I'm sure that whatever will replace it will be a good fit for Kings Island!
 
I haven't ridden Vortex, but I certainly have faith in Kings Island to eventually replace it with a stronger coaster. That being said, I can imagine quite a few people being pretty sad about this; it seemed to get pretty positive reviews from some of the UK enthusiasts who rode it earlier this year!

Also, I must admit that I am rather surprised that they're removing it now, just 1 year after they removed Firehawk; if anything, I'd have expected them to remove Vortex in favour of Orion! Maybe there was some sort of recently discovered structural issue, or it just isn't getting the crowds to warrant operating it?
 
Matt N said:
Also, I must admit that I am rather surprised that they're removing it now, just 1 year after they removed Firehawk; if anything, I'd have expected them to remove Vortex in favour of Orion! Maybe there was some sort of recently discovered structural issue, or it just isn't getting the crowds to warrant operating it?
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When they say "serviceable life", it is most likely a little of both: structure upkeep/cost and guest throughput.

More importantly (and what I would suspect), the true reason for removing Vortex now is the length of time it will take to deconstruct and prepare the site for new addition. This can often take 1-2 years for larger attractions and spaces, and wouldn't surprise me if, whatever is to come, would not arrive until 2021/2022 at the very earliest.
 
Interesting, this all came out of nowhere! I'm surprised that Vortex is chipping and not Anaconda at Kings Dominion or any of the Cedar Fair Corkscrews - they get much worse reviews. I'm going to believe that they will keep some parts as spares for the other Arrow loopers in the Cedar Fair chain.
 
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