kirbias1

I don't think they leave at night. It looks like same cars have been parked in same spot for weeks.

I'm sure this has probably already been mentioned, but why have all of those cars been parked in KI's lot for all of these weeks?

It doesn't spread as well outside via aerosolizing in the heat and humidity, either. Sunlight apparently kills it. Besides, I would not have a problem wearing a mask if it meant we could go this year. Would you?

I'm hoping for July. Apparently, the virus doesn't survive on surfaces when the heat and humidity are high.

How do you know the footers are still there? The drone flyover that I saw with Vortex site flyover was from 2-3 weeks ago.

True, I just think it's interesting how they left it open at the bottom of the Firehawk ramp. The way they have it paved makes it look like they will use those steps to direct foot traffic down the other way towards the new path that will go under Orion sometime in future.

Anyone notice on Flying High Dronez flyover of Area 72 that they have paved the area at the bottom of the small set of stairs angled towards maintenance area to look like walkway will eventually go under Orion for possible future Area 72 expansion? Very interesting.

The park opening in mid May is a stretch. I'm thinking mid June to early July. Hope I'm wrong.

It's hard to predict how that element will feel since it's new for a B&M. The only thing I could see is that it was going very fast through it. I'm expecting some vertical floater into some lateral floater airtime.

We saw Orion testing from the Little Miami Trail today which was very close to the ride and I will tell you that it was absolutely flying through the elements. It was even going much faster than I anticipated through that huge turnaround. A very nice surprise. I hope it's like this when it opens.

Sad how Cedar Fair is getting rid of history. Should have at least kept the station. I think it added so much more aesthetically to that area, too. Vortex and Bat were firsts of their kind as well and they have now gotten rid of all traces of both. Funny how they keep Corkscrew and Gemini open up north though. When they opened they were firsts as well. Hmmmmm.....

Yeah, he was specifically asked about trims. MCBR was not in the question. He may have thought that's what I meant, though.

Actually, it is somewhat of a surprise because Don said that there would be no trims until the final break run. Multiple people heard him say this. Hopefully, this trim will be like Banshee's which is hardly used.

is that a trim break on the floater hill before the helix? The blog pic from KI today shows it. hope not.

It was the station for the first ever suspended rollercoaster ,The Bat and the record breaker, Vortex. The Bat was a precursor to Banshee and all of the other great inverted coasters out there today. The Vortex at the time was the highest rollercoaster in the world with the most inversions and the first to turn riders upside down and with three different types of inversions. It also pushed Cedar Point (for competition reasons) to build Magnum XL 200 which opened only 2 years later to be the new highest coaster in the world, which in turn started CP in building all the record breakers we see today. So, yeah, in my eyes in the context of amusement park history, it's historic.

Oh Wow, SkyHigh Coasters must also have another division called SkytoGround Coasters. Interesting..... On another note....whoever demos it, I wonder if they will remove the old Bat footings that can still be seen. If so, that could be an indicator that they are planning to do something with the site, too.

O'Rourke removed SOB and Firehawk, so, it will probably be them.

If they do put another coaster in there, I wouldn't expect it till at least 2023.

Of course we don't know. Don said he didn't as well. Just guessing that because of Vortex's station being iconic, in a prime location and much more aesthetically pleasing than SOB's station, that it will stay and be reused somehow for the next coaster. I hope it stays regardless.

Yep, and it's also back where no one really sees it and not in a prime location like Vortex. Plus, Banshee and Bat being in the way make it very difficult to build a coaster there.

I asked Don at the ACE Orion construction tour about The Vortex station staying or going. He said he didn't know, but he did say they will tear down the ride down in January. I think him saying that tells me that it probably stays and will be reused somehow for the next ride. If it does stay, that will indicate it probably won't be a dive coaster as they would have to widen that station a lot to get it to fit. Seems more likely that an RMC would reuse the station before any kind of B&M.

The wave turn really looks good. On another note....They really need to quit using Haunt's creepy house entrance theme for Winterfest. It looks like The Adam's Family decided to have Christmas.

With Vortex being removed and Orion's addition, KI's skyline will now mostly have their coaster lifts heading in the same direction, which is south. I have to say IMO, this doesn't look that good. It's almost like they keep designing their coasters so the lifts are easily viewed from 71. I think the skyline would look better if the lifts were facing in different directions. Hopefully with whatever replaces Vortex, the lift will approach a different direction.

Didn't they first say it was because of lights being installed, then IT upgrade? What its really about is that Cedar Fair probably saw KI web site was getting more hits than CP's because of Orion construction, then decided to pull the plug. This sounds like another "Reached end of service life". excuse to me!

It's amazing how insignificant the ride looks from the front of the park compared to other gigas as It barely looks bigger than DB, but if you go back towards Great Wolf, it looks significantly larger than DB.