VortexBFForever

I love Invertigo! It's one of my favorite rides. I love riding on either end (partially because I normally ride by myself or with one friend). After just over 100 rides on it, my best experiences come from staying relaxed throughout the ride (as tensing up will make you feel worse), and taking a deep breath during the more intense moments to avoid blacking/graying out. I hope you can get a better experience on it.

I also rode Blue Racer last night, in row 9 (a wheel seat!) and it was the smoothest ride I have ever had on it. There were still small bumps here and there as expected, but it is a night-and-day experience from my first ride in 2008 (which was the roughest). As the first big coaster I rode, I have a whole new appreciation for Racer and will definitely make sure to ride it more often!

Panoramic power!

Hopefully this summer I can once again see and ride two of the trains I checked for three summers...and of course get my first rides on Fury 325.

Rankings are not my strong suit. I group my rides instead. But I will give it a try! Orion Diamondback WindSeeker (for sentimental reasons ) Invertigo Delirium I love a lot of rides, and these are just five of them! And yes, Vortex would be on this list if it were still here.

empty plot of land on Coney Mall's east end > Vortex Boo Blasters > Phantom Theater Madame Fatale's > Tomb Raider: The Ride

As of Saturday, March 13, the last coaster I have ridden is now Nuclear Rush at Scene75 Columbus!

A few weeks ago I dreamt I was riding Orion in a prone position, as if I was on Skyflyer. Imagine taking a 300-foot drop lying facedown! On top of that, Orion had SINGLE CARS instead of trains, and on one of my flights/rides, I valleyed. Even though I was lying down, I still rode on top of the track (like on a sled). Long story short, I dreamed the result of Orion and Skyflyer having a baby, and it was indeed very interesting (and thrilling!!).

As much as I enjoy and appreciate Orion, Diamondback, and Banshee, I do not want a B&M in Vortex's space. I personally hope for Vortex's successor to feature a handful of inversions with a lower height requirement (48") as I know from my experience working at Vortex that a lot of young thrill-seekers set foot inside Kings Island. Dare I say that it MUST be as photogenic as Vortex was, in its own way. Bonus points if it breaks a record! Right now, a Mack multi-launch has my vote. Granted, I have not yet ridden one, but Copperhead Strike looks fun (and photogenic) and I hope to visit Carowinds this year to find that out for myself!

Thanks to a several-minute-long station stop, my highest score on Boo so far is 6240, on August 23, 2020. Part of this may have to do with the fact that part of my job is maintaining and testing the blasters...

BUMP! And here we are, ft. the wonderful MultiQuote feature, in January 2021. Let's see how this topic aged! And yes, it was just a rumor at that time. Thankfully. Soon is a subjective term... Vortex lived for 7 more years. Close enough We Vortex fans thankfully got that chance, with a month's notice. Hey look, my own take on it! Yes, Vortex operated for at least a few years to come; yes, I worked on Vortex (for three years, 2017-2019!); and yes, I was crying when we lost Vortex, albeit in varying degrees since the emotions hit in different amounts at different times rather than all at once. In addition, I got my wish of working on Vortex's final crew. I wish. Now if you had said this between 1999 and 2009...but still, 7 more years was still rather good. How did this play out? I'm genuinely curious. Yay, 7 more seasons! Definitely longer than the "foreseeable future," as subjective as that is, so this was spot on. I live by this statement. I often like to say something along the lines of "don't worry about the future, because it'll undermine your enjoyment in the present" and that was definitely my motto with Vortex. I made sure I enjoyed it in the present rather than be tempted to worry about its future. And to add, in the end we must remember that KI is a business... Me too. And I was. A lot of us were and likely still are since barely more than a year has currently transpired. A lot of hearts ache over Vortex's 2019 departure for sure. You're on to something... Vortex indeed reached its 30th anniversary. I hoped it would reach 35. But alas, it settled right in the middle, at 33 seasons. The Bat's 29th season is this year (2021). Its 33rd season will be in 2025. We shall see how things swing. Let's hope the 11th Commandment continues to hold up for numerous more seasons! And let's not forget our four-decades-old Flume; it's technically an Arrow too.

If you want to get super technical, Vortex has -1 years left. In all seriousness, I really miss it.

Tsunami at Scene75 Dayton on January 2. Before then, it was a front seat night ride on The Beast on November 1!

I have multiple other favorites for various reasons, but Orion has already proven itself as a favorite. I started working in maintenance as it was being built and I got to put sound equipment on it, so basically I helped build Orion! I had wished for a B&M giga to come to KI for some time, so Orion was literally a wish come true. When I felt sad over Vortex's demo, I could look over at Orion and see what was new, and watching its test cycles was a reminder to me (and later a lot of us) that things were going to be all right. Orion became so special to me even before it opened. As for other favorites, I have a soft spot for WindSeeker (the ride I worked along with Vortex and my most-ridden active ride), Diamondback (got me over fears of height and speed), and Invertigo (another ride I think is overhated) among others.

Hmmm, I wonder what season it is