LovinMeSomeBanshee

Sure, it does, but Orion’s going to be about 200 feet off the ground and about 100 feet away from The Beast’s brake shed at closest approach. So, far and high enough away to not even be noticeable while on The Beast.

We need our own Maverick or Copperhead Strike. A multi-launch blitz coaster is the only glaring gap in our lineup.

Kentucky Kingdom is trash compared to Kings Island. The fact that they even chimed in is comical.

By the way, this explains the appearance of the funeral scene for Haunt. RIP, Vortex.

If they put something comparable to Maverick or Copperhead Strike in there, I’d welcome a return of Intamin if they could get their stuff together.

There are some here that just can’t admit to themselves that there are far more people who skip Vortex because it’s too rough than those who still find it enjoyable. It’s a maintenance nightmare because it has issues frequently and Arrow is not even an operating company anymore to get parts from. It’s nearly always a walk-on ride during the season, so even it’s popularity is in question. Is it popular, or is that nostalgia coming into play?

Vortex is old. Probably a maintenance nightmare. And a good 8 out of 10 people probably choose not to ride it due to its roughness. Look at Kings Island’s Facebook post about the removal - nearly everyone concurs that Vortex is just too rough. It’s time, and you can bet that space won’t sit vacant for too long.

But probably 2 of the least ridden coasters in the park. Firehawk was always down, and Vortex is so rough that people chose not to ride it.

Agreed. A lot of good terrain back there to work with a coaster like these. It’s the only thing the park is truly missing. And a perfect spot for it, too.

Just woke up to the news. What a guy punch. But I guess we all knew it was coming. She’s up there in age.

Does anyone know how the chain is installed on a lift? I'm assuming the whole chain is installed after the lift hill is constructed, but how?

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It's possible they start working on the drop side, and when the big boy cranes get here, then can continue the work to the top. Or they could do the brake run, but even the beginning of it is really high off the ground. Also, this isn't just one section. It's two sections of track bolted together and lifted as one piece. They'll probably do this several more times as they pretty much have to (the supports are spaced too far apart not to)

Niiiiiice. I was late to the party, just brought up the cam for the first time this morning and saw it up. It's glorious.

The white crane is moving right now, but activity is a lot lower today compared to yesterday. The catwalk is being installed now.

Yep, they're making steady progress on the catwalk and fencing. Hopefully they get it done this afternoon and we get these pieces of track in the air.

I believe the coaster will go quite a bit further back. The clearing goes well beyond what’s in the cam’s field of view. The coaster will not fit in the cam’s current field of view.

I see a lift bringing over catwalk to the track being worked on.

I've devoted one of my three work monitors to the construction cam, and I constantly get heckled by my close group of coworkers on it. They say that in addition to watching the cam, I'm also listening to "ambient construction sounds" on Youtube of jackhammers, dozers in reverse, etc.

This couldn't be further from the truth. Maybe a very small group of enthusiasts, sure. The general public is excited for it. Don't let the loud minority fool you.

I mean, wouldn't you do it if you were in his position?

They'll definitely need T-bone for that. Both cranes will be needed.

Anyone close enough to the park with a decent two-way radio? I'm sure they use open channels. lol Here comes the big piece. I'm curious to see how these two pieces get installed..

Not all of them ship track-side up. If you notice, some of the track pieces have the "nodes" (not sure if this is a correct term for track) where the supports join at the spine of the track. I doubt these can support all the weight of the track, and that's why all of those pieces are being stored track-side down.

They also don't have anyone up on the lift and ready to attach. I think this is just to unload. The piece that is still on the trailer in the background is what attaches to the support (you can see where the support attaches to the spine). The piece being offloaded now goes between that piece and the first lift hill piece.