Vortex Is Leaving After This Fall Season

[HandsUp]

My son (7) loves it-he'll be bummed. Still, it's better to look at than to ride these days. grateful for the many years but have no problem using the spot for something more rideable.

[BavarianBeatle]

They will have room to RMC The Beast and put water back around it. 

[Maverick44]

1 hour ago, Kingshaven said:

                            well there is another RIP from the promo

 

 

Collage by yours truly

I wonder if this means the days of FoF and Invertigo are numbered? Everything else is gone or will be gone.  Probs not but something to think about.

[KIghostguy]

57 minutes ago, BringBackOurEagles said:

Can we vote Cedar Fair out? 

Why? Cedar Fair has been a wonderful owner. They have made so many improvements to the park and have transformed it for the better. The park is being run by very capable people. 

[McSalsa]

31 minutes ago, ohiocoasterfan said:

Remember that last year when Firehawk was announced they told us the decision was made during the summer. Clearly that was a lie.

I also don’t think this is due to a structural issue. Why would they continue to run Vortex throughout haunt if it wasn’t structurally safe?

Vortex probably is structurally safe now, but I guess Kings Island's maintenance crews have been monitoring it and realized it's gonna need some big re-tracking or structural replacement this offseason to stay that way, which for a steel coaster is very expensive. And with declining ridership, Cedar Fair probably doesn't wanna spend millions of dollars on a aging ride that is losing popularity. Granted this could also mean some part was actually rare and expensive, and thus cost too much for Cedar Fair to justify replacing it. I do remember meeting a staff member at Holiday World who said they removed Pilgrims Plunge/Giraffica because a replacement part was gonna cost $1 million dollars by itself, and ridership for that ride was already declining even though it was a mere 5 years old.

I also fear that we are about to see a lot of coasters go defunct in the next 5-10 years. Magnum XL-200 started a coaster war in 1989, and with that war many new rides were built, but now those same rides are approaching the 30+ year old age when most parks say a ride has reached the end of their life. The still-popular ones that warrant it will get the maintenance and care needed to keep them running (to a point, sometimes repairs or parts are just too expensive even for legendary rides). But the lesser stuff (mainly Boomerangs and SLCs, etc.) is probably doomed. Heck, we have already seen this with most of this era's signature wooden coasters getting demolished or RMC'd.

 

[CedarIslander]

1 hour ago, JonahWilliamson said:

I havent been this sad since Thanos snapped his fingers.

[Rivertown Rider]

It is crazy to think with Vortex leaving there won't be a coaster built in the '80s at all in the park.

[pkiknex25]

59 minutes ago, ohiocoasterfan said:

Remember that last year when Firehawk was announced they told us the decision was made during the summer. Clearly that was a lie.

I also don’t think this is due to a structural issue. Why would they continue to run Vortex throughout haunt if it wasn’t structurally safe?

EDIT: Nevermind, McSalsa explained it nicely.

[Legofan237]

This was a sad surprise. I can't believe Kings Island would remove two coasters in two years. They probably didn't want to remove Vortex this soon, so I guess it was a hard decision to make.

[Kingshaven]

53 minutes ago, Maverick44 said:

I wonder if this means the days of FoF and Invertigo are numbered? Everything else is gone or will be gone.  Probs not but something to think about.

Well we know the days are numbered for Invertigo (granite the days are a lot longer now) but Its FoF that is in questiom

[cdubbs727]

18 minutes ago, Rivertown Rider said:

It is crazy to think with Vortex leaving there won't be a coaster built in the '80s at all in the park.

Wow, you're right. The Bat and King Cobra were the only other two roller coasters the park got that decade. That makes me sadder. 

But at least we still have Congo Falls. 

[TheRickster]

Vortex would have been fine. This just simply has to do with the bottom line. Make your own assumptions and theories on that. 

Rollercoaster companies to the best of my knowledge don't sell their own parts. They'll contract that stuff out and the parks will buy directly from the vendors or make the parts themselves. Anyone who's worked around industrial things typically knows that many machines are repaired and parts machined in house or by another company.
 

There will be a company that makes wheels, a company that makes the brake pads, and so on and so fourth.

I just don't like the way this feels, it feels like it's a "how do we just cut costs" type decision maybe even outside of the parks hands. 

[flightoffear1996]

1 hour ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

Kentucky Kingdom had to get in on the action:

 

Out of the two rides this is the one that should be torn down 

[coasterbill]

I hated this ride so this thread has been endlessly entertaining today (people are really laying on the dramatics. I get that people are nostalgic but the fact is the park will be better next year than it was this year in the eyes of 99% of park guests).

That said, I've always laughed at the enthusiast fallacy that parks spend money recklessly for anniversary years but now that their sister park decided to celebrate their 150th anniversary with literally nothing after years of enthusiast-fueled hype I was sort of hoping that people would come to their senses and realize that they don't care. They'll put something there when it makes sense to put something there, not to give themselves an expensive anniversary present.

[LovinMeSomeBanshee]

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

[SonofBaconator]

It has begun. No coaster is safe.

 

[ThrillKingsFitzy]

1 minute ago, LovinMeSomeBanshee said:

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

Well, you could argue because all the roller coaster there besides T3 and Roller Skater are elite coasters.

[pkiknex25]

9 minutes ago, TheRickster said:

Vortex would have been fine. This just simply has to do with the bottom line. Make your own assumptions and theories on that. 

I just don't like the way this feels, it feels like it's a "how do we just cut costs" type decision maybe even outside of the parks hands. 

Do you have any non-emotional logic to back that claim up?

[cdubbs727]

4 minutes ago, coasterbill said:

I hated this ride so this thread has been endlessly entertaining today (people are really laying on the dramatics. I get that people are nostalgic but the fact is the park will be better next year than it was this year in the eyes of 99% of park guests).

That said, I've always laughed at the enthusiast fallacy that parks spend money recklessly for anniversary years but now that their sister park decided to celebrate their 150th anniversary with literally nothing after years of enthusiast-fueled hype I was sort of hoping that people would come to their senses and realize that they don't care. lol

That's quite a contrarian post. 

I highly doubt 99% of park guests will see The Vortex leaving as an improvement. Just the reaction here shows how beloved it is, even if it wasn't in its prime. 

I mean, if you hate the ride, why chime in just to trash other people's love? Seems rude. Let people love what they love, dude. 

Crap, did I just feed a troll? 

[coasterbill]

1 minute ago, LovinMeSomeBanshee said:

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

How dare an amusement park have fun and make people laugh...

[Benjamin22]

5 minutes ago, LovinMeSomeBanshee said:

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

No need too bash an entire park for poking fun at their competitor. 

[coasterbill]

Just now, cdubbs727 said:

I highly doubt 99% of park guests will see The Vortex leaving as an improvement.

I didn't say that. I said that the park will be better next year than it was this year in the eyes of 99% of park guests since they're removing an old rough Arrow but building a huge giga coaster. I understand that people are upset about this but... perspective.

[flightoffear1996]

2 minutes ago, coasterbill said:

I didn't say that. I said that the park will be better next year than it was this year in the eyes of 99% of park guests since they're removing an old rough Arrow but building a huge giga coaster. I understand that people are upset about this but... perspective.

However they removed two coasters and added one. 

[coasterbill]

5 minutes ago, cdubbs727 said:

Just the reaction here shows how beloved it is

I don't believe that an enthusiast message board is even slightly representative of how beloved a ride is. I believe that it's ridership numbers are and (while they were probably decent given it's capacity) they likely weren't where the park wanted them either or they would probably be willing to invest some money into it.

[Benjamin22]

2 minutes ago, coasterbill said:

I don't believe that an enthusiast message board is even slightly representative of how beloved a ride is. I believe that it's ridership numbers are and (while they were probably decent given it's capacity) they likely weren't where the park wanted them either or they would probably be willing to invest some money into it.

The blog post said the ride was still popular, ridership is not this rides issue.

[KIghostguy]

People at my school were celebrating the news today. It’s easy for older members to get nostalgic, but I don’t think people on here understand that the general public largely has a profound hatred for Vortex.

[Kingshaven]

Do they need a removal/demolition permit to tear Vortex  down (pretty sure they do) and if so someone could go find out if it has indeed been filed and see if it possibly has a timeline

[coasterbill]

27 minutes ago, Ben43065 said:

The blog post said the ride was still popular, ridership is not this rides issue.

Maintenance costs are always going to be weighed against ridership and popularity. Again, it's a capacity monster so I assume that the numbers are decent but if the ride was more popular they would be willing to dump more money into it so it's clearly not at the level where they want it to be to justify doing that. Parks always say that rides are "at the end of their service lives" but in reality that's a pretty meaningless statement and it's not really a thing in 99% of cases. If it made financial sense for them to keep a ride running based on it's popularity they would spend the money to do it (see Python at Eftling as an example or even how much money Cedar Point dumps into Top Thrill Dragster on a regular basis).

[PatchesC]

26 minutes ago, LovinMeSomeBanshee said:

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

I personally liked KK when the kid was too small for coasters only because the kiddie area layout meant I could let her run to multiple rides and still see her. Definitely not for the thrill seekers.

Anyways hopefully if they replace The Vortex it will be with a looper at the 48" height requirement. It's been so many families first upside down experience it would be nice to be able to continue that tradition. 

[Bansheelover]

21 minutes ago, coasterbill said:

Maintenance costs are always going to be weighed against ridership and popularity. Again, it's a capacity monster so I assume that the numbers are decent but if the ride was more popular they would be willing to dump more money into it so it's clearly not at the level where they want it to be to justify doing that. Parks always say that rides are "at the end of their service lives" but in reality that's a pretty meaningless statement and it's not really a thing in 99% of cases. If it made financial sense for them to keep a ride running based on it's popularity they would spend the money to do it (see Python at Eftling as an example or even how much money Cedar Point dumps into Top Thrill Dragster on a regular basis).

I  expect Top Thrill and Magnum to get a real hard look for removal in the next couple of years by Cedar Fair.