Discussing Land and Space in and around Vortex

[RollerColt]

53 minutes ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

I don't want anything with the letters B&M associated with The Vortex plot. Give me a Vekoma, Mack, Intamin, or HECK give Zamperla a shot but please no B&M! 

Vekoma has really upped their game. All of their recent designs and track layouts have been stunning. 

[Rivertown Rider]

On 1/21/2026 at 5:17 PM, Losantiville Mining Co. said:

I believe all of this could be done without leveling any of The Vortex plot. Instead of an entirely new themed area, it might be easier to bring back the "Old Coney" name and realign the midway. That frees up space for a larger indoor dining location, fixes the kink in the midway brought on by KMAA, and could still allow for a new flat ride to go back there depending on how everything is placed. Jukebox is replaced by the new indoor restaurant and Coney Potato Works could make a comeback to give purpose to that seating area (and provide another dining location). This all could probably happen for much less money while killing a few birds with one big boulder.

Here's a mock-up I've been working on for another topic thread to better show the idea. It does include the removal of WindSeeker and the addition of a new dark ride in Action Theater, but that would come at a later time.

Instead of them tearing down Jukebox, I would love to see them enclose the main seating area and figure out a way to rework the line where you exit out into the seating area. 

Basically put the registers on the right hand side when you enter and move the food to the left.  From the registers you would go to the right and enter the indoor seating area.  They would have to extend the building into the midway slightly to make a hallway to the now enclosed seating area.  This would solve the issue of your food immediately getting cold during those colder nights of Winterfest.

If you did that you could put a small indoor flat where Killmart currently is.

I do love your idea of a dark ride in the Action Theater space and removing WindSeeker.

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

I once saw a comment (a while ago) that said "Only poor parks buy from B&M. You never see Disney, Universal, or even Herschend installing them these days: just Cedar Fair, Six Flags, and SeaWorld". While it's true that those chains don't buy much from that manufacturer, I don't think it's just because those chains are "rich" while the others are "poor". It doesn't plague whoever installs their coasters, rather, the parks with a lot of B&Ms tend to be more amusement-focused and generally need more variety. That variety is filled by B&Ms in addition to manufacturers like Mack, Vekoma, and Intamin.

Either way, I agree that I'd rather not see The Vortex plot filled by another B&M. A wing coaster would be nice and a looping sit-down coaster would fill the hole left by Vortex, but I'd much rather see KI's next coaster be something that doesn't have a direct comparison at Cedar Point. The park also has three B&Ms with one of those being compared to another on public forums.

2 hours ago, Rivertown Rider said:

Instead of them tearing down Jukebox, I would love to see them enclose the main seating area and figure out a way to rework the line where you exit out into the seating area. 

As much as I like this idea, I think that area of Coney Mall needs a major re-imagining that could only really work well with a midway realignment. It would certainly be cheaper to permanently enclose the covered seating area. With what's there right now you can tell that the midway — which has two "lanes" along the rest of its length — is abruptly stopped and cut off by KMAA, leading to a choke point and a dead zone from Zephyr up to Jukebox Diner. Aside from the cost of a new indoor restaurant akin to the Brewhouse and to a lesser extent the Grand Pavilion, the rest of the realignment would occupy already existing midway space. A new flat ride could also fit into the space with the Associate break area (with that being moved). Hopefully y'all can understand my issue with that specific chokepoint.