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Vortex question


Vortex1987
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On 10/1/2020 at 9:26 PM, standbyme said:

My memory is not that great...but I thought it was $99.99...maybe $149.99...and wasn’t the bolt around $25.00?

Edit: Yeah it was $99.99...for the record, the park backed out of selling the wood.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/10/09/kings-island-sells-pieces-of-troubled-son-of-beast-roller-coaster/amp/

Thank you for clarifying! My memory is bad! 

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Glad to see The Vortex fans coming out strong for their favorite ride!

Anyone willing to pick one of these up for me please LMK.  Got my last ride in a year ago next weekend   I am in Colorado so there is no way I am going to get one in person - unless they somehow end up online Monday.

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On 10/1/2020 at 5:47 PM, Vortex1987 said:

That $200 doesnt mean much to me. I dont care. Im happy i finally get my peice of Vortex. Finally. Its completely worth it to me. 

The way I see it, I can always make more money. There are only so many pieces of my all-time favorite ride and once they're gone, there will never be any more. I realize that I am more fortunate than some to be in this position (and I PROMISE this isn't meant to be braggadocious) but I would have been willing to pay essentially any price they asked, even if it meant spending the entire pile of cash I have sitting in my bank account for a PS5. My track slice will become my most cherished worldly possession and will likely keep that title for many, many years or even decades to come.

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49 minutes ago, homestar92 said:

My track slice will become my most cherished worldly possession and will likely keep that title for many, many years or even decades to come.

I think that is nice...although most of the general public might think it’s a bit sad! :lol: (Not me.)

Also, on a side note...the people who criticize the (lack of) size puzzle me...it’s what it represents, not how big it is...a bigger piece would not bring me more memories...just less shelf space! :P

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8 hours ago, RandyV said:

Glad to see The Vortex fans coming out strong for their favorite ride!

Anyone willing to pick one of these up for me please LMK.  Got my last ride in a year ago next weekend   I am in Colorado so there is no way I am going to get one in person - unless they somehow end up online Monday.

I wouldn't call myself a fan of Vortex, not even remotely close to even an enthusiast thereof. However, I did appreciate the coaster and enjoyed it more and more in it's latter years. It just had a really good layout, and honestly I think if it had some touch ups to smooth it out more it could have been a top 20 coaster at least. 

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We knew that would happen - hopefully no takers so they eat the cost!

It would be great if KI comes out and says "we have 7,600 feet of track to work with and will make and sell these as long as interest remains.  Simply place an order."

For those questioning the length of track...length of coaster was 3,800 but they have two rails thus double the footage...

Now granted they probably didn't keep that much rail, but point being as long as KI has a supply available, price gougers like this will not be able to sell it.

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3 hours ago, disco2000 said:

We knew that would happen - hopefully no takers so they eat the cost!

It would be great if KI comes out and says "we have 7,600 feet of track to work with and will make and sell these as long as interest remains.  Simply place an order."

For those questioning the length of track...length of coaster was 3,800 but they have two rails thus double the footage...

Now granted they probably didn't keep that much rail, but point being as long as KI has a supply available, price gougers like this will not be able to sell it.

Actually the amount of track Kings Island could have salvaged for this is not as high as you would think. For the collectible they are selling, each 1.5 inch slice of track would have to be cut from a flat piece of track in order for it to work. While areas like the station, brake run, midcourse break run, transfer track, and lift hill will work, the majority of the track won’t work in the way they are making these mementos. Also, areas of the track where there are cross ties can’t be used.

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54 minutes ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

Actually the amount of track Kings Island could have salvaged for this is not as high as you would think. For the collectible they are selling, each 1.5 inch slice of track would have to be cut from a flat piece of track in order for it to work. While areas like the station, brake run, midcourse break run, transfer track, and lift hill will work, the majority of the track won’t work in the way they are making these mementos. Also, areas of the track where there are cross ties can’t be used.

I agree with you about not using track where the ties were welded but I'll bet they could (and did) use curved track to make these.  One of the post cards included with the collectible shows a picture of them cutting the rails on the curve right out of the station leading to the lift.  My assumption is the collectibles are made from those rails.  Otherwise, why include that particular picture?  It seems like a strange choice so I think they were trying to say "Hey - your collectible was made from these rails."

I completely agree it would have been easier to use straight rail cut from the station or either of the holding brakes before the station.  But IMHO, making the collectibles out of a curved piece of track would probably work fine too.  I don't know what the radius is for curved sections of Arrow track but cutting a 1.5" slice out of one those curves would probably be barely noticeable at the scale we're talking about.  It looks like a small arc, but in 1.5" increments you probably can't tell.   

And congrats to those of you who got to buy one of these today.  What a truly cool piece of history to own!  I am really hoping those of us who cannot get to the park will have a shot at getting one online from KI sometime next week!

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13 minutes ago, RandyV said:

I agree with you about not using track where the ties were welded but I'll bet they could (and did) use curved track to make these.  One of the post cards included with the collectible shows a picture of them cutting the rails on the curve right out of the station leading to the lift.  My assumption is the collectibles are made from those rails.  Otherwise, why include that particular picture?  It seems like a strange choice so I think they were trying to say "Hey - your collectible was made from these rails."

I completely agree it would have been easier to use straight rail cut from the station or either of the holding brakes before the station.  But IMHO, making the collectibles out of a curved piece of track would probably work fine too.  I don't know what the radius is for curved sections of Arrow track but cutting a 1.5" slice out of one those curves would probably be barely noticeable at the scale we're talking about.  It looks like a small arc, but in 1.5" increments you probably can't tell.   

And congrats to those of you who got to buy one of these today.  What a truly cool piece of history to own!  I am really hoping those of us who cannot get to the park will have a shot at getting one online from KI sometime next week!

Good point about the curved track pieces. Also, hope everything works out for you, and you are able to get a track piece.

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The park still has some pretty good sized pieces of track.  You can see them when riding WindSeeker at the edge of the clearing.  People have been speculating about using them as decorations, but at these prices and demand it makes sense to make more collectibles.  My guess is there is at least enough track to make 200 more.

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I’m hoping the park can get one to everyone who wants to purchase it. I personally don’t care if they would pump out 5,000 of them...I didn’t buy one because they were limited, I bought one because I wanted to have a piece of the ride. 

Years ago the late Jack Lord (of Hawaii 5-0) donated his entire estate to charity...all of his belongings were sold on eBay. One of the conditions of the winning bidders was that they could not immediately resell the items...I believe it was for a period of 5 years...I don’t know how well that would hold up in court...but it did give them the power to have a listing pulled off of eBay...maybe Kings Island could try something similar.

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9 hours ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

Good point about the curved track pieces. Also, hope everything works out for you, and you are able to get a track piece.

Thanks.  A KIC member contacted me late last night and graciously stepped up and offered to stand in line and get me on the preorder list this morning while they were at the park.   So my order is in.  Preorder won't be in until Jan/Feb, but that's ok.

My guess is KI produced a small number of these to see what the actual demand would be.  Now that they know, they can safely make the rest knowing they are presold and that they will not lose money by making them.

 

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4 minutes ago, RandyV said:

My guess is KI produced a small number of these to see what the actual demand would be.  Now that they know, they can safely make the rest knowing they are presold and that they will not lose money by making them.

 

That makes sense.

Also, if/when The Bat meets it's demise, I hope they do something like this for it! It would be really cool to have a piece from The Bat (or even old Top Gun memorabilia that might be laying around!)

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And FWIW - I was watching some YT vids of Vortex last night.  What a great ride.

Yeah - it was from a totally different era and it could beat you up - but you can't deny Arrow and KI gave us something special. 

I found an old video tape from April 1988 when I first visited KI as part of The Beast 10th anniversary celebration.  My reaction to Vortex was pretty funny.  The ride was absolutely massive compared to any steel coaster I had seen before.  My home park at the time was Great America in Illinois so my only reference was the Demon.  Vortex dwarfed that ride.  Sorry it's gone but at least we had it for 33 years.  A good run ...

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2 minutes ago, MDMC01 said:

Also, if/when The Bat meets it's demise, I hope they do something like this for it! It would be really cool to have a piece from The Bat (or even old Top Gun memorabilia that might be laying around!)

Hopefully The Bat stays around for a good long time but unfortunately these old Arrows seem to be meeting their demise more frequently.  Viper at SFMM is the only 7 looper left (the last descendant of Vortex) and several suspended have already fallen.  The Bat is one of the better ones out there.

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