silver2005

A lot of it depends on what time of year and what days in the week you're going. I usually go 2 days when I do CP and I try to go in early June in the middle of the week for the more relaxing crowds where the lines are short and you can take your time. With breaks, I could probably say that 3 days would be ideal- you can get in what you want to do and take your time with breaks and you don't spend more time than you'd want, at least as an estimation. There's a lot of good beaches along Lake Erie that are good to relax at.

^That's one of the reasons I either want a RMC Topper Track or a Mack looping coaster that isn't launched. Both fill that niche.

Photo request- if anyone could get a shot of a Vortex train flying up near the crest of the 2nd hill silhouetted against the sunset, I'd be very appreciative. Preferably from the angle around Juke Box and The Vortex queue by the brake run. I'll be bringing my good camera to its last day, so I may get it myself. I also want some shots of it swooping by RT LaRosa's.

Given how long the line used to be on Vortex in the 90s, I'm really, really glad they never opened those up. Good googly moogly that would have been a long line.

I went into a huge nostalgia trip riding Vortex last night. Part of it was that the RT LaRosa's had a really strong, pleasant smell, so swooping over it on Vortex really triggered my nostalgia a ton as that was commonplace in the 90s. I also rode it in 6-2, which, is a spot where I did my biggest marathon on it. Back when Paramount owned the park, my family went on P&G day in the late 90s (dad worked there). Paramount allowed re-rides, or at the very least, they did on P&G day, and I got 6 rides in a row without leaving my seat on 6-2 on Vortex. Got a ride in the Ron Toomer seat (5-1), 7-2, and in 1-1 as well. Its such a cool ride despite its flaws, especially how the 2nd hill looks during a sunset with a train soaring up. I'm really going to miss it.

^Aside from last minute restroom additions to Area 72, I'm crossing my fingers that Racer gets some form of noticeable TLC to kind of compliment Orion.

^That might be one of the coolest park Easter eggs ever.

There's a Crocodile Dundee joke in there somewhere....

The park probably should have cleaned off the DB camera while they were moving the Banshee cam to view Orion. DB cam is nearly un-view-able.

3 words for you guys. Columbus. Day. Weekend.

Having 3 cranes in such a small area seems like overkill.

^The probably need to have space around it to attach the catwalk before lifting it into place. Its a brake piece for sure though. There's that big gap between the rails and the backbone which allows for the brakes to sit in. Don't see a support in place quite yet though.

Looks like they're working on the brake run pieces, too.

Exactly what part of that article was disrespectful? I don't get that vibe at all.

If you don't mind the drive, most of the hotels in Port Clinton are great. Also a great town to hang out with some great restaurants and lots of lake side beach.

I believe I see the crew preparing a blue drop support.

Could the new building colors be a hint to what the Orion station could look like?

Chattanooga Choo Choo would be a welcome song to hear.

Beast in back wheel seats (1-3, 2-3, etc) can be pretty bad. Racer is bad in pretty much any wheel seat sans 1-1, though, Blue Racer has been getting much, much better in front wheel seats. I had the best Racer ride of my life at the Haunt opening night in a wheel seat towards the middle of the train on Blue (I want to say 4-1). I have noticed Bat has been getting a more noticeable vibration this season, mostly around the far helix, not really rough though. More like a light rumble strip on the highway. Flight of Fear has that worse along with more of a rattle than most people say DB and Banshee have (BTW, the 'rattle' on our B&M's don't bother me in the slightest). I wouldn't say Vortex and Invertigo are 'rough' per say, its just the way Vekoma and Arrow set their wheel bases, it has a lot of give for shuffling, which results in headbanging. I can ride both pretty comfortably, albeit with some body control. Adventure Express is that way as well, but it gets points for only having a lap bar.

Sorry, I'm booked tonight, for realsies.

Hey, we're just simply giving the public what they want. Watching a modern engineering work of art go up without obstructions- serious business. On a more curious note- does anyone know why they'd be covering the ground with what looks like big wooden boards?

Now I'm imagining him switching it up and going by helicopter for pictures and then hovering by the Eiffel Tower to clean off the lenses of the 2 cameras. Just wait until the freezing rains we get this winter.

If I remember correctly, Paramount had a long grace period where they had some decisions that rubbed off the wrong way with guests such as getting rid of alcohol and blue ice cream, etc. that they later corrected (I think all 5 park managers got involved in saying Paramount was trying to change too much too fast if I remember the story correctly). I know this is very optimistic, but I think its possible, however unlikely, that if this happens and the new chain is more SIX oriented than FUN, that they will have the same thing with the new parks and customer bases of those parks. I will admit this is pretty unlikely. I will probably try to go to Kings Island a few times within the first season of this happening just to get a feel for things and make my decision from there whether to continue patronizing the park(s). Overall though, as they say in the Star Wars universe- I have a bad feeling about this.

But CP never said anything similar to Mantis 'reaching the end of its service life' in regards to its transformation into Rougarou. KI has also done more recent interviews stating rides like Vortex lasting only 25 years alluding to that premise.

Here's my running theory on the timing of The Vortex removal announcement. We haven't really seen a big Arrow looping coaster go down due to pure fatigue yet. Yes, some have been torn down already, but realistically, none of those were at the end of their lifespans. Examples- Shockwave @ Six Flags Great America- Six Flags originally wanted to put Superman: Ultimate Flight in Whizzer's spot, and due to the Save Whizzer campaign, they went with Shockwave's removal instead. Great American Scream Machine @ Six Flags Great Adventure- Shortly after Six Flags left Kentucky Kingdom, they took Chang to be relocated to Great Adventure, and GASM had dwindling ridership at the time which made that an easy decision. Steel Phantom @ Kennywood- Most people know of that one- it was made too big and fast for what it was, then Morgan came in and transformed it into one of the best steel coasters anywhere. I'm not familiar with Orient Express' reason for removal from Worlds of Fun. So with that, given Vortex's age, it is really the first one to make it to this stage and the oldest of the bigger Arrow looping coasters left (Anaconda and Viper were built after Vortex). Now, given the late season timing, I'm guessing something came up that Kings Island took note of as being a sign of that fatigue, enough to out-price its ROI, and something I imagine S&S has studied in taking up the Arrow parts supply. I'm sure all designers keep track of how their rides age. It probably just so happens it was noticed in the middle of their Orion hype campaign, thus, it was announced a bit after Orion as the best way the park had under those circumstances to give it its time.