VortexBFForever

I personally think Corkscrew is fun, especially in the back. I LOVE riding Corkscrew in the back! And I don't even need to mention its neat location! Not many looping coasters corkscrew right over the midway.

I went with Rougarou as well. It's a good ride, but I personally don't find anything special about it. I rode it as both Mantis and Rougarou. The inclined loop is unique (for a floorless) as well as its cool placement over water, but after the ride I always thought it was nothing more than "okay" or maybe even "boring." Am I really that spoiled by the likes of Vortex, Viper, and Tennessee Tornado? I have always found Rougarou to be rather tame compared to the snappiness that Arrow loopers have.

I have ridden Witches' Wheel several times, and I have enjoyed it! I thought about it when I rode Silver Bullet (another Enterprise) at Darien Lake last week. Looks like Witches' Wheel will join Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle (technically), Action Theater, and Shockwave on the list of defunct rides I've ridden...

By now I know all too well how hard it can be to determine the day which I will hit a milestone ride, especially if it follows a multi-day vacation. My original plan was to hit a certain milestone on a certain ride on the anniversary of my first time riding that certain ride (July 23) before I left for my Darien Lake vacation the next day. But since I could stay for only two hours after my open shift (I got off work at 4 and had to be home by 7) and I was still 14 rides away, I did not have enough time so I determined I would reach it on Saturday, the 28th, the day after arriving home from Darien Lake. But the 28th was more crowded than I expected, due to the "bring-a-friend" day, the nicer weather, and the fact that this was the last midnight close, as well as only being able to stay until 10:30 (and I worked a swing shift that ended at 9). So I figured that if I stayed as a guest after my open shift on Monday, July 30, I could finally do it as I knew a Monday would not be as crowded as Saturday. My dad told me to be home by 8, which meant I could do whatever at the park until 7. My shift ended at 4 so I had about three hours to enjoy the park as a guest. I entered the park just before 4:30. I had just enough time to slip in a ride on Vortex and make it back to the KI Theater to see Gravity at 5. I had test ridden it at work in the morning so my count was at 595 1/3 when my guest visit got underway. My pre-Gravity Vortex ride was enjoyed in 6-1 on Train 3. I often underestimate how fun of a ride the sixth car offers (as car 7 is superior) but the sixth car still offers a decent amount of airtime! It was just after 4:40 when my ride concluded, so I skedaddled all the way to the front of the park, where I entered the Kings Island Theater as the pre-show was beginning. I hopped into the front row next to @whengodsaysgo (whom I saw earlier at WindSeeker and decided to enjoy the park together after work!). I had not seen Gravity since June 12 when the rola-bola act last performed, so I got to see the new contortion act for the first time. That act was AMAZING and unlike any other contortion act I have seen! The bicycle act is still my favorite though. The seat next to mine remained empty, so Toothless, my Vortex beanie bear and my stuffed bumblebee got their own seat! And of course, we had to get a picture with the cast afterward. For the first time I was first in line for the meet and greet. We headed back to Vortex (yes, I know, you're SO surprised ) and rode the rest of the way to 600...er, 600 1/3 together. For #597 1/3, #598 1/3, and #599 1/3, we rode in 2-1, 7-1, and 4-1, respectively. Taking #599 1/3 aboard Train 3 was special, as I was on Train 3 when I got the 1/3 ride (PM me if you want more details) a.k.a. my incomplete 547th ride last month, so it paid homage to that atypical ride as without it my count would have been 600 that time. Also a side note: if/when I say "600th ride" or the like, the number refers to the number of completed rides, i.e. right now I have ridden Vortex 602 1/3 times, yet I might tell someone I have ridden it 602 times. As we got back in line for the momentous 600th 1/3 ride, Train 1 was departing and there were two groups of two in front of us in line for the front row, which meant we would board Train 1 when it returned and I would ride in the EXACT SAME SEAT where I took my 100th, 200th, 300th, 400th, 500th, and first test rides of 2017 and 2018!! Finally, I was next to board the front seat, and Train 1 arrived for my milestone spin. We stepped aboard and my crewmate at Unload snapped the traditional picture... As always, my "milestone train" gave us a great ride as I experienced my first six inversions for the 600th time! I'm glad things worked out so I could enjoy yet another milestone ride with a friend! Thanks for joining me @whengodsaysgo! It was 6:20 when we boarded, but a brief delay in the station had us sitting in the brake run for several minutes (no worries, it was a nice way to relax!) so we got off at 6:30. We parted ways, as she wanted to see Gravity again at 7, but I had to leave at 7, so after saying bye, I "celebrated" by riding Vortex again of course. I rode in 5-1 this time to wish "smooth sailing" for the ride to 700! And yes, 5-1 was smooth, but not the smoothest ride I've had in that row. This was 5-1 on Train 1, by the way, and I think my earlier rides in 2-1 and 6-1 on Train 2 were a little bit smoother (or at least didn't vibrate as much) which I found funny. Gotta love Arrows, where the ride experience can vary by the day! Toothless got his own picture with Train 1 after disembarking from #600 1/3. This is my drawing closer up, with Train 1 rolling in in the background. Using various pictures as my guide, it took me four hours to draw and another two to color this thing! I still had 20 minutes before I had to leave so I decided to give WindSeeker some love. I was assigned to Seat 15, right next to another single rider in Seat 16. I noticed her "Coaster Hair Don't Care" shirt and mentioned how I had seen it in the shops and always thought about getting one. I eventually mentioned that WindSeeker and Vortex are the rides I work and that Vortex is my favorite ride, and then she mentioned that we saw each other earlier in the day when she rode Vortex because I had apparently said the same thing to her earlier about how Vortex is my favorite ride. When she mentioned that, I did remember seeing her earlier! It was so cool riding WindSeeker with one of the very same guests that I helped while working! The timing of that is simply amazing! We talked throughout the ride about various things, all while enjoying the view. As we touched down on solid ground once again, we decided it would be fun to ride Vortex together. So we went back over there. Train 1 was departing as we arrived, which meant we would end up riding Train 2, where I had experienced my smoothest rides this day. We were going for 2-1 but the row was taken so we rode in 1-2. In the meantime we talked about the experiences we have had with riding Vortex, and I eventually mentioned to her the riding habits I developed as early as my second ride. Our ride together was fun and mostly smooth (other than the Arrow-esque transitions as always) and she and I both had a good time! The advice I gave helped her and she didn't get a headache like on her previous ride. But even on her previous ride she still enjoyed it, from what she told me. We exchanged our "it was nice meeting you" 's and headed our separate ways, as it was now 7:00 and I needed to leave. She has a Gold Pass so we will likely see each other again, and I hope we do because we had a nice time riding WindSeeker and Vortex together! I made my way out of the park, including walking past Off the Charts as they performed. I'm glad they came back this year. They sound great! +Vortex: 8 YTD: 109 1/3 Total: 602 1/3 +WindSeeker: 1 YTD: 17 Total: 136

Today is the one year anniversary of the day I officially became a certified Vortex driver! July 29, 2017 was that day!

Yesterday (Saturday) was more crowded than I expected; Vortex's queue was full most of the day as well as WindSeeker's! Even after watching the fireworks, I still waited a good ten minutes to ride Vortex once before I had to leave at 10:30. Also, Shake Rattle & Roll was closed all day for some reason.

^I saw the same thing on Monday! I was on Vortex waiting to go back into the station when I happened to see Racer going by. I thought only the red train was going until I saw the blue train right behind it. I had never seen the trains so perfectly in sync — they sounded (and apparently looked) like just one train was roaring by!

^^Good thing this is just speculation and not what will ACTUALLY happen, thank you very much. And @Maverick44, I would be glad to run “Stinger” once my period of mourning for Vortex AND WindSeeker passes...which will take a LONG time. So...again, I’m so glad this is just speculation!

I will still call it the Butterscotch train (its original nickname), but I have also heard it called “chicken tender,” as well as “Mac & cheese”!

At least the likelihood of a Twisted-Timbers-cell-phone incident will be drastically reduced! -BFF, whose sister rode Steel Vengeance...and lost her phone. True story.

Soak City was closed, but The Beach Waterpark (a standalone waterpark directly across from Kings Island) did open. They're two different places.

The Beach Waterpark actually opened today; there were some people there when I was driving to work. Not surprisingly, it closed early at some point too. One of the rare days where The Beach's attendance is higher than Soak City's. I can safely say I had my most interesting swing shift today, which included a solid drive hour at Vortex (which was running two trains FYI), the first big storm coming during my break (I barely made it back just when the rain started coming down!) and getting to explore the old Action Theater (since its basement is our tornado shelter) before we all went back to Vortex and hung around for another hour before being informed of the early closing and subsequently getting to go home early. It was weird hearing the park closing announcement at 5:00, especially the "Good night!" part which doesn't quite fit this time of day. Nonetheless, today was great! Stay safe everyone! I work an open shift tomorrow (and the weather's supposed to be bad tomorrow too...) so this weekend will be interesting.

I rode The Bat last night and one of the spiels I heard was chock-full of Top Gun references. The original name/theme flies again as well as The Bat! I also rode Adventure Express and loved hearing "Enjoy the most Adventurous and Expressive ride in all of Kings Island!" My crewmates at Vortex didn't really do anything overly interesting when I rode, but then again there were only two of them checking restraints (one on each side of the train) and they were concentrating a great deal on moving us through efficiently and safely...which is obviously more important. By far, my favorite spiel I have heard at The Bat was last year's "You'll go up, down, and all through Rivertown! Enjoy your ride on DiamondBat"

Time to update my list! - Ride Vortex for the 500th time, and celebrate with a fireworks ride on Vortex that same day. #MaybeMay4 <--Done, except for the fireworks ride part, which I did several days later. - Reach 600 rides on Vortex - Reach 700 rides on Vortex (believe it or not, that is my target for my overall total this year!) - Watch the new Cirque show from the day it starts (unlike when I never saw Origins until 2016 and waited until 2017) <--Done! Saw it on May 27 (the day after it opened) with some friends from school and I have seen it three times so far (I need to see it again soon so I can see the new contortion act!) - Possibly reach 200 flights on WindSeeker? (I'm at 121 and the most I've ridden in one season is 39) - Eat at Coney Bar B Que <--Done! Ate there May 27; I got the ribs and mac & cheese, which were really good! - Visit Soak City more than once - Spend at least one guest visit with a KIC group (especially if @Beastie1980 is there! We need to spend more time at KI together!) - Watch JUMP! The Ultimate Dog Challenge at least once in its entirety. Also, I must make note of a few "bucket list" occurrences not on the list that I got to do since the season started: -Ride Vortex at midnight -- May 18 (thanks Coasterstock!) -Ride Vortex in a torrential downpour -- June 12 -Get evacuated off a ride (for the full story PM me) -Ride Vortex with a double rainbow in the sky -- June 27 -Work the "Op-1" position on WindSeeker -- got to do that for one cycle while someone was being trained at Op-3 during my hour there. -See a train in Vortex's train storage (as well as seeing them move the train in/out) -- that was a super cool #geekmoment! -- July 6

I was driving Vortex when you rode! (I drove it from 9:15 to about 10:10) I hope you enjoyed it! I'm glad you at least had a good experience on my two rides. Fireworks rides on WindSeeker never disappoint.

Did you go to Guest Services?

The extensions happen every spring and fall, and now I expect them as a result. I have a Platinum Pass, so I tune out the May-July window of buying a Gold Pass and instead focus on the fall renewal window. And then there's Auto-Renewal but that's a different story. But I think @silver2005 is totally right. Surely I am not the only one who "knows" that they will extend the offers every time. @BoddaH1994 is right too. I believe the urgency has decreased dramatically, if not disappeared entirely since this past offer was extended for over a month rather than a mere four days. Then again, I have had a Platinum Pass since 2013 (and Gold from 2010-2012) so I am no longer part of the target audience (except for renewal time), but I just thought it wouldn't hurt if I chipped in with my thoughts.

I don't, because I was off today.

On the topic of sidewalk chalk, there was one day at Vortex when we were down and apparently one of the parties in line played tic-tac-toe with sidewalk chalk on the wooden queue floor. Great idea (to play tic-tac-toe) but with poor execution. Needless to say, we had fun cleaning the chalk up after closing for the night. Honestly though, I have never thought of bringing sidewalk chalk to Kings Island in the 200+ times I have been there (including work). I wonder how those who did got the idea...

I have also taken special (and more important!) zen rides on Vortex, WindSeeker, The Bat, Monster, Scrambler, Dodgem, Red Racer, Zephyr, Flume, Linus Launcher, Shake Rattle & Roll, and Flight of Fear (with lights on!) for many a morning; my fellow ride ops call them test rides.

I have experienced “zen rides” on Vortex, WindSeeker, Mystic Timbers, Adventure Express, Red Racer (if I remember correctly), Zephyr and the Grand Carousel. I still remember my very first zen ride on Vortex on September 26, 2010. The op said we had the option of staying on, and everyone else left except I; this happened twice! My first zen ride ever was actually at the Greene County Fair in 2006 or 2007, where I was the only one aboard my then-favorite ride, called “The Spring” (which was a smaller version of “The Scream Machine” at Coney Island).

Having worked at Vortex for a season and a half now, I have been curious to know some nitty-gritty details, namely about how much a single Vortex train weighs, how much is its upkeep, how many rides it gave last year (as I still don't know but would love to find out!), and if it will get a new coat of blue and orange paint in the near future. Also I want to know for sure what the record for most rides on Vortex is (and who holds that record, because it's definitely not me) if possible! I don't know how much "in-depth" the questions can be. I guess I (or we?) will find out.

I had a "dang she mad" moment at WindSeeker on Sunday. I was driving and two people dropped shoes as the ride was coming down, one of which landed on one of the shade covers over the queue. Now imagine me saying "Please DO NOT drop ANYTHING off of WindSeeker, or ANY ride here at Kings Island. It's against Ohio state law! If you dropped something off of this ride, PLEASE do NOT do it again!!" in a stern, somewhat angry voice. Not many people have heard my stern/angry/authoritative side, as I am generally a friendly person. Unfortunately, a nearly full WindSeeker cycle, the guests in the queue, and two of my crewmates saw that side for a moment on Sunday evening. Back to interesting things: last night while I was at Unload, my crewmate who was spieling sometimes had us play Simon Says where we said different kinds of pasta such as spaghetti, meatballs, garlic bread, etc. As the train left he would say "Pasta-la-vista!" to the riders. Now that was fun.

@lifetimecoaster I'll be running around...at WindSeeker and Vortex! I work a Close (3:45-close) shift today! Have fun!

Yesterday evening at Vortex, a few of my crewmates decided to start the "water is/is not wet" debate among ourselves and the riders. It sure worked in engaging the riders, as nearly everyone was talking about it!