Bennett

Still a fun ride, worst part for me is getting in and out of the seat. Ride wasn't built for the 6'6" 250 lb dude.

Got my last ride in Sunday, we rode in 5-1 and 5-2. Still a cool ride, but there is a reason that I had not ridden it in years. I know when and how to brace myself, but just brutal with the old school restraints and cars. Goodbye and good riddance to this incarnation.

Magnuson East is a great place for the money. Right near the park, and can be had on Hotwire or other sites for less than $50 per night. Wolf Inn is ok, as long as you ask for and get one of the renovated rooms in the old executive building. The other rooms are old and smoky. But, for sometimes $35 ish a night, it's a place to sleep. If you scout it out, you can catch rooms at the Express on Hotwire for less than $70 per night, and the rooms there are clean and comfortable.

I've said since day one of this announcement...look carefully at the wording used. I cannot stand to ride Vortex anymore, and wouldn't lose a minutes sleep if it was torn down tomorrow. Nowhere have I seen the word removed, demolished, taken down from the KI folks. Take that, and add the last minute nature of the announcement. I am doubtful it is coming down...but it is changing.

Be very careful, and pay attention to the words used in the announcement by Don. Very similar to what CP said when they closed Mantis.

CP did similar with the Mantis-Rougarou conversion.

This quick sendoff makes me think that the ride isn't going to me dismantled, but refurbished with modern cars and modern restraints, and perhaps retracked in a few key areas, and probably renamed.

Went up Saturday night, got in the park at 10pm no problem...visited my daughter, and left at 11. Leaving there on a Saturday this time of year is a free for all. ERT Sunday at 10am was far less crowded than it was last month at the drop. Got my rides in on SV, Maverick, Valravn, and MF with ease before 11. Used my free FP plus, so really didn't wait for anything the rest of the day. Steel Vengeance never fails to put a big grin on my face. How they took a turd like Mean Streak and made such a great coaster out of it makes me sad for the decisions that KI made with SOB. The structure was so bad they had no choice, but had they gotten just that part right...

It's just funny to watch guys with no business running unless something scary is chasing them, knowing exactly as you said, they will be one car ahead. I always go in the Breakers gate. I wonder, though, how they plan to police the half hour difference with gold pass vs platinum and resort guests.

They had a sign up Sun/Mon stating that at the checkpoint, but there was no one policing it. More of a free for all. Grown adults sprinting full speed at 9am to ride a ride should be summarily tasered, and then thrown out of the park. The rest of us made it to Steel Vengeance without running just fine.

The ride before was not ridable for me at 6'6". The new restraints are awesome, and I can enjoy the coaster now without getting my brains beat in.

We've done 5 cruises now, we love it! We enjoyed the Oasis class ship we did last year, but for whatever reason, we seem to like the Freedom class ships a little better, which we have done twice, the last on Liberty of the Seas out of Galveston this May. Felt the Oasis was awesome with all the separate areas, especially the central park, but the sheer size made it tough to walk around to get anywhere, and having to pre-book shows with a large group was a pain. Freedom class ship, while a click smaller, just fits us better. I would highly recommend to anyone here to do a cruise.

Just go. There is plenty to do, even if it rains a bit. Some of the best days in the park in my experiences have been on days that were supposed to be washouts. Have fun!

Went up late Saturday for the first time this year with my daughter. International Street looks great, I think the fountain, once completed, will be an upgrade from what we had. We did our usual "sad coaster tour" of Racer, Adventure Express, and The Bat. Everything was actually working on AE, for the first time in 10 years it seemed! What a fun coaster in the dark! The Blue Racer was actually running? Yes! First time riding that one in years as well. Great ride again in the dark. The Bat was The Bat, still not worth the walk back. On another note, Mystic Timbers is such a great coaster, seemed faster in the rain/mist. I didn't get to get my Beast ride in the dark and rain, as it was down. Banshee might be taking over as best night time ride...

I've tried twice now to take one more painful ride on this...been down both Sundays when I was back in that area. Goodbye, and good riddance to bad rubbish.

All Vortex needs is to put in a modern restraint system, something along the lines of the way they redid Maverick at CP. Fun ride, but it was made a non-rider for me due to the uncomfortable old restraints. The way Vortex is, and being 6'6", it just beats me to death. I haven't ridden it in years, and won't until they modernize the cars.

They were running three trains Sunday. What an incredible ride. Talk about making lemonade out of a lemon... Made me a bit sad riding it, though...wish the timing for a certain coaster in Kings Mills would have been a little different.

They can have Lucy at the top pulling the football away from Charlie Brown...

Man, I hope I am wrong...I have a funny feeling about this.

I can tell you that Vortex just kills me now. The way that I fit in the cars, there is almost no way to keep my 6'6" frame from being punished. The only thing that will fix the ride for me will be new cars and restraints. I see the ride going away before being retrofitted.

Perfect North does similar. That said, I have never seen anyone check your "time slot". Once you're in, you're in.

Well, not exactly. As mentioned above, at Universal, you aren't getting in line for a coaster with a cell phone or keys in your pocket, zippered or not. I do agree that planning ahead can fix things most of the time. Correct. I was turned around on Dragon Challenge on our first day with only my phone in my zippered pocket. They don't, they don't, they don't mess around.

While not Cedar Fair, Universal has one of the most stringent loose article policies on their coasters. They have metal detectors at the queue entrance and you can't take any loose articles into the queue at all including cell phones and keys. And they provide free lockers at those locations, so its clearly not about profit. Unless you are considering that it is cheaper to build lockers than get sued over flying objects, then sure. This was not the case two years ago. Just went first week of October this year. Very, very, very strict.

This looks to be a great ride. Can't wait to see the finished product.

All who have thrown their respective hats in the ring would be great choices. In fact, to that end, I think adding a couple would be a wise choice. No one nominated would do anything with that power to shine a bad light on this site, quite the contrary, would help to head off problems.