TheBEASTunchained

A new car?

Truly a downgrade for Viking Fury. While it is nice to see attention being given to the ride, it was not done properly.

There were other additions as well that added up to the $5 million. And yes, the ride had, to my knowledge, 2 different color schemes while at the park. However, I'm not quite sure if the ride was painted before installation or after. Also a fun tidbit is that the ride was very commonly referred to, even by the park, as just "The Demon".

Based on the pictures, there appears to be two led strips on the bottom of the railing and a blue strip on the top directly under the handrail.

This is exciting! Would be great to see your shots

^ That doesn't really answer the question that was asked. Obviously almost all wood coasters get some form of work done in the off-season. To answer your question @FUN&ONLY! , don't quote me on this but I believe that GCI was listed on one of the work commencement documents, which could potentially mean that they're being contracted for some of that work. There have also been plastic tunnels over sections of Racer lately for crews to stay warm during some of their jobs, however I'm not sure whether those are KI crews or GCI crews.

I'm pretty sure that the Diamondback cam of today is a completely different camera than the original one that was installed. If I recall correctly, the Diamondback construction cam was not a live camera and was a cam that only updated every few minutes or so.

This is where we draw a line, sir. Terp was one of the most well-informed, if not the most, members of our forums. He never claimed to necessarily have inside knowledge or anything but his knowings of the inside of the industry were deep. A truly missed part of the action here on KICentral!

Personally always been a fan of I-305's supports. They just make the ride look so massive and intimidating (pun partially intended).

The park said in an interview that it’s a 50 degree lift hill. You realize how steep that is, right?

While enthusiasts make up a very very tiny percent of customers, they are a very vocal set of customers, a set that it is usually not wise to mishandle.

Not that Kings Island or Cedar Fair particularly care about preservation and historical legacies of rides when making decisions but.... You guys should take a look at how Efteling retracked most of Python, their Arrow looper, a few years back. KI could've done something similar to the Python transformation with leaving the lift, drop, and brake run while retracking the rest of the ride. By all accounts, Python's retrack was a success and the ride is much smoother now. https://www.efteling.com/en/press/eftelings-python-roller-coaster-with-loops-re-opens-to-visitors/ The park went with a company called CSM Manufacturing, but I've also heard that Vekoma was willing to do the job (presumably with their new track design) but at a much higher cost.

^ Thanks for the info!

I’ve ridden it quite a bit this season but honestly can’t seem to remember paying attention to whether or not Vortex still has on-ride photos? Was wanting to get a few Sunday. Can anyone clarify?

^ I have not yet seen the park state anywhere that they plan on “demolishing” or “tearing down” Vortex. If anything, they’ve specifically stuck with the use of the word “Retiring”.