The Vortex roller coaster at Kings Island will close at the end of the 2019 season, the park announced today. Vortex is an Arrow steel roller coaster that opened on April 11, 1987. It replaced The Bat, which was the...
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Floorless Conversion Creates Patriot, Improving Vortex
This weekend California’s Great America opened Patriot, the newly converted Vortex, to the public. Vortex was one of the earliest Bollinger & Mabillard stand-up coasters, actually the company’s second ever coaster, opening in 1991 at the park. Over the years...
Continue reading...Vortex at California’s Great America Is Losing Its Floor, Becoming Patriot
Back in 2015 there was an article that hinted Vortex at California’s Great America, the oldest stand-up coaster in the United States, would be getting a floorless conversion like the one that turned Mantis at Cedar Point into Rougarou. In...
Continue reading...Carowinds’ Coasters: From Tame to Thrilling
Edit: This article was originally written in 2015, and has been updated to include Carowinds’ “New for 2019” Coaster: Copperhead Strike I visited Carowinds this past Sunday for the first time as a “regular visitor” this season. After a relatively...
Continue reading...A-Z Coaster of the Week: Vortex at Kings Island
This week’s A-Z Coaster takes us to Vortex at Kings Island. The 3,800-foot-long Arrow looper opened in 1987. Standing 148 feet tall, Vortex drops riders 138 feet at speeds of 55 mph before sending them through six inversions: two vertical...
Continue reading...Kings Island’s Vortex Reaches Milestone
Vortex, the 1987 Arrow looping coaster at Kings Island, reached a new milestone yesterday when the coaster gave its 40 millionth ride. The coaster was the first to turn riders upside down six times. Riders have inverted more than 240,000,000...
Continue reading...Canada’s Wonderland Trip Report
I’m going to write this Canada’s Wonderland review in the same style as Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback (MMQB) columns. Let me know if you like this format or not. Quick note, Wonderland is famous for their outstanding collection of...
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