VortexBFForever

When my training day is tomorrow. And Opening Day is in just one week...

I watched Vortex yesterday on the webcam! It was cycling periodically throughout the day and of course it made me all the more excited for my training day tomorrow. Wait...TOMORROW?! And today I've been watching Delirium and Slingshot run cycles, as their crew is training today.

@King Ding Dong I don't take it personally (or at least I do my best not to ) , though I do feel sorry for that family trip of yours that was unfortunately cut short due to that bad ride on Vortex. Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion, and I have learned to listen and accept others' different opinions, especially in this past year thanks to working at a ride that has mixed opinions! -BFF, who has a somewhat unpopular opinion about The Beast (don't worry; I like it! Just not as much as a lot of other people. )

WOW. So you're basically the opposite of me then.

^Ummmm....okay. *shrugs* I also think Mystic's shed is a bit overrated. But it's still fun. -BFF, who now is curious as to how Vortex can be overrated.

Parks I've visited (first visit date): Kings Island (September 30, 2007) Darien Lake (July 25, 2011) Cedar Point (August 4, 2011) Kings Dominion (April 10, 2012) Coney Island, OH (June 19, 2012) Busch Gardens Williamsburg (June 26, 2012) Dollywood (April 3, 2013) Stricker's Grove (July 31, 2013) Universal Studios Florida/Islands of Adventure (March 6, 2018) I have since returned to Darien Lake in 2013 and to Dollywood last year, and I'm REALLY hoping I can make it back to Busch Gardens Williamsburg this summer to celebrate Loch Ness Monster's 40th anniversary!!!!

When I read all the way through my crew's Facebook page and GroupMe chat (as well as my WinterFest crew's GroupMe chat!) out of excitement that I will get to see most of them again very soon... ...and also when I repeatedly read/study Vortex's and WindSeeker's operation manuals in preparation for my on-ride training day (9 Days!!!).

Yay!! Of course I had to be in class while that was happening... [emoji14] Also, BLSC is running right now!

If any of you see Vortex testing on the cam, let me know! When it's 13 days until my Training Day! So close and yet so far. I cannot tell you how excited I am to reunite with my crew and my favorite two rides to work!

^I saw it in person! I had just finished Orientation and was leaving when I saw it!!

I didn't ride Vortex until I was 11! And while I'm at work there, I see many 48" kids who are quite younger than 11 ride it, sometimes multiple times on end! I commend them for their bravery.

I have my Orientation bright and early at 9am tomorrow, followed by my Rides General Knowledge at 2! I'm excited, though not as excited as I'll be in two weeks when I finally return for my On-Ride Training on April 8!!

When I have my eyes riveted on my job email inbox, watching for the email about which ride crews train on which days...it should be any day now when I get it! Last year’s training day email came on March 15. [emoji4]

^I didn't appreciate the delay at all on FunPix photos at Vortex. Whenever I rode, my photo didn't show up until the amount of time taken to dispatch three more trains had passed (which is often too long for many to wait). A lot of times the photos didn't load at all. In many cases, we sent inquiring guests over to The Beast to look at their photos there. I REALLY hope this year will be different. Most Vortex riders, though they don't buy their on-ride photos, just want to see them, and I have seen many a guest walk away disappointed after they couldn't see the funny face they made specially for their photo. I wish the monitors were still at the photo booth -- they could at least cycle through the photos as they come in so people can see them!!

When I find myself practicing my different spiels for when I'm driving Vortex and it has to close for weather or other various downtimes, as well as practicing WindSeeker spiels since it's quite likely that I'll finally be drive trained at WindSeeker this season.

^For that matter I have experienced LROTNOV (no surprise) a lot of times, and I have also enjoyed LROTNOWS, LROTNOMT, LROTNOZ, LROTNOET, LROTNOGC, and LROTNOBB! FROTD (First Ride of the Day) should be a thing just as much as LROTN, if you ask me. I have had many FROTD experiences as well! -BFF, who for that matter has also gotten the LROTSOV in 2015 and 2016, LROTSOWS this past year (2017), and one of the LROTSOBB during WinterFest.

How about 360 POVs for the other rides? Banshee and Beast already have POV videos in that format and I love watching them. The more rides the better!! -BFF, who would absolutely love 360 POVs of Vortex and WindSeeker!

I probably would have broken down and started crying, or at least come close to it (as I am extremely sensitive). Honestly, the only thing that scares me when I think about possibly getting trained at Mystic and Banshee is possibly having to deal with those aforementioned instances. I shouldn't let it stop me from getting trained there, though...

I had my weekly Physics lab yesterday and it involved the ballistic pendulum (where you shoot a metal ball into an attached pendulum to see how far it swings), and I found myself yelling “Clear!” every time I pulled the string to shoot the ball. I guess I’m really excited to do the real thing at KI within just eight weeks!

^I'm thinking of getting trained on Mystic Timbers this year! I just hope that greeter isn't too stressful, especially when telling guests they must put their bags in a locker...

^That reminds me...I actually have a crew-mate whom I never met. She worked the first few weeks of the season (I believe until late May) then left. Since she left before I finished the school year (and I had worked only three shifts before then) I never got to see, meet, or work with her. It saddens me a little how a lot of fellow associates leave after 3 or 4 weeks...I wonder if it's because of the novelty wearing off, or something else...

It was low — only about 40 feet up. Nothing big though. Everything was resolved in three minutes.

I believe there are other threads on this topic...the search bar is your best friend.

I had a dream last night -- not of KI though, but of KI's sister park Kings Dominion. I dreamt I was riding Anaconda to my heart's content (don't judge, I actually like it and it already receives too much hate)! My mom and I had talked a few weeks back about how an out-of-state amusement park trip would be possible this summer if I got good-enough grades this semester, and I still have not been back to Kings Dominion since April 10, 2012. I think I know where I would want to go should said trip happen... -BFF, who would love to experience Anaconda's wonderful first drop once again hopefully sometime in the near future, as well as visit Busch Gardens Williamsburg to celebrate Nessie's 40th anniversary this year.

When you reminisce about Cirque Imagine and Origins, watching YouTube videos of said shows... ...and also at some point, I watched the video my mom got of when I was one of the 60 lucky passengers who got stuck on WindSeeker for three minutes on April 19, 2014. It's still the only time I have ever been stuck on a ride. However, since I dreamed a month or so ago that I would get stuck on Vortex, who knows if that will come true this year.