The final year of the 90’s brought Paramount’s Kings Island the second Vekoma Invertigo to the US: Face/Off. Named for the Paramount film of the same name, this Vekoma Invertigo brought the park its first inverted roller coaster. With its unique train design that has riders face each other, it’s no wonder why Paramount named the coaster after the successful movie that starred John Travolta and Nicolas Cage.
The original paint scheme was a bright yellow track with red supports. It didn’t really have any theming from the movie other than the name, so was kind of a lazy addition on Paramount’s part. With the opening of Face/Off along with Drop Zone: Stunt Tower in 1999, the section of the park became Action Zone and incorporated the Arrow Suspended Coaster, Top Gun, and the soon-to-open Son of Beast in 2000.
When Cedar Fair purchased the park, all of the Paramount theming was dropped. The whole area was “de-themed” in 2008 which brought the name change to Invertigo. It was eventually repainted to its current blue and teal paint scheme in 2012, as the red and yellow was rather faded by then.
Photo taken by Larry Treece
When Cedar Fair moved Invertigo from California’s Great America to Dorney Park as Stinger, they also gave it a teal track and blue support paint scheme. Confusing, I know. Most Invertigo models have had a turbulent history for downtime and relocations, such as Stinger, which ended up being removed in 2018. Only 4 of were ever manufactured by Vekoma, and Kings Island has the only one that has not been relocated and seems to be the most reliable.
Photo taken by Larry Treece
Invertigo follows the same exact layout and inversions as the standard Vekoma Boomerang, except using the inverted track and the very unique face-to-face trains. Featuring a loop and a Cobra Roll, the train is first pulled up the track outside of the station. Once it reaches the top, the catch car detaches and the train goes flying through the station and up the Cobra Roll, up and around, down again and into the loop. Once it exits the loop, the train is pulled up the second lift hill then released and follows the track back in the other direction.
Photo taken by Larry Treece
It doesn’t rank very high on coaster polls, and can be a rather uncomfortable ride due to the extremely heavy trains. But, considering it’s still at Kings Island, it goes to show that guests will still ride the coaster. There are only three left in the world, and Invertigo is the only one left in the US. It’s a very unique, intense, ride, that should be experienced at least once. What are your thoughts on Face/Off and Invertigo? Has it held up against the test of time?
For more on our on-going series highlighting unique and favorite coasters from 1999, check out all the whole series.
Yes. This was one of my favorite coasters. I loved the name Face-Off they should have left it. I couldn’t wait to get on this ride everyone had fun. The line was always long and I waited. I’m coming in July and going to Kings Island. It’s been a long time since I’ve been there. So excited.