VortexBFForever

I can't wait to ride it, PERIOD!! I hope I get to go on Easter Sunday! (after I go to church, of course. )

Why doesn't Kings Island have section-specific music like Kings Dominion does? What's been keeping Kings Island from having that? I don't mind the pop music here at KI, but I loved the diversity of music I heard at Kings Dominion when I visited five years ago. I still remember it vividly.

BUMP! Sorry I'm one year and a half late to @jcgoble3's paging, but I have indeed identified 15 of WindSeeker's songs, all of which can be found here in a playlist I made on YouTube. "The High and the Mighty" - many different versions of this song exist online; the closest one I found (by Elmer Bernstein, played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra) is not the exact track that plays on 'Seeker but it is very close. There is also a really good version by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington that includes a chorus singing with the orchestra that I don't have in the playlist but I would recommend giving it a listen as well. "Superman Theme" - by John Williams. Also the track that played on my first 'Seeker flight on June 30, 2011. Need I say more, other than the fact that on 'Seeker the track stops at 2:35? "Hedwig's Theme" a.k.a. "Hedwig's Flight" - from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Not sure where this track stops on the ride but it's definitely before the three minute mark. I'll have to listen more closely next time I hear it. "Romantic Flight" - one of How to Train Your Dragon's beautiful soundtracks, composed by John Powell! Not to mention it's only three seconds shy of two minutes long, making it one of the few full-length tracks played on WindSeeker. "Test Drive" - an epic track also from How to Train Your Dragon. Also another full-length track thanks to its convenient length of two minutes and thirty-six seconds. "See You Tomorrow" - an upbeat, adventurous track, once again from How To Train Your Dragon. On 'Seeker it plays up to 2:04. "This Is Berk" - fourth and final How to Train Your Dragon track used on 'Seeker. From 0:59 to 2:57 is what plays on the ride. "Flying" - composed by James Newton Howard for a Peter Pan movie released in the early 2000's (the track was released December 26, 2003). 'Seeker riders hear the track from 0:51 to 2:58. This is also my personal favorite soundtrack. "Also Sprach Zurathustra, Op. 30"/"Theme from 2001: Space Odyssey" - another well-known theme, composed by Richard Strauss. This track played the first time I had WindSeeker to myself, just after park opening on August 14, 2013. "Life is a Dream" - one of numerous themes from the renowned Star Trek series. This track played on the very first WindSeeker cycle I witnessed in person, as I waited in a twenty-minute line to experience it for myself on June 30, 2011. "Main Title" - from Star Trek: The Motion Picture: composed by Jerry Goldsmith. The video of that song in my playlist is actually a tribute video to the Enterprise D in which the song was used; it was the first place where I found the correct version of the song. "All Systems Go/The Launch" - from Apollo 13, composed by James Horner. On 'Seeker, the track plays up until 2:08. This track is another one I highly enjoy hearing! "Harry's Wondrous World" - another track from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. From 1:59 until 4:40, riders enjoy their flight to the tune of this lovely song. "633 Squadron Theme" - Not sure who composed this, but it was composed for a movie in 1964. This particular recording in my playlist was played by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. On WindSeeker the entire track plays, at just three seconds shy of three minutes. "Ride of the Valkyries" - by Richard Wagner; another well-known song. On WindSeeker the track skips from 1:03 to 1:40 to save time. These are all the songs I have identified and documented. If I heard and remembered correctly, WindSeeker plays 18 different soundtracks. It's extremely likely there are still a few tracks that I have yet to identify, but I'm already satisfied with the fact that I, with a little of outside help, have already identified 15 songs!

I would have to agree concerning the paint's current state. I was really hoping Vortex would get new paint for its 30th anniversary, and I've been eagerly hoping since 2014. Now it looks like all that hoping is to no avail...

On one of my KI visits last year, there was a brief moment before opening where no music played. Knowing that generally isn't the norm, I savored every second of it. It was so neat hearing park noises that the music often drowns out!

Michael Franti's "Say Hey (I Love You)" is another song I associate with KI. I found myself dancing down the Coney Mall midway while it played on May 31, 2016. Also, on Closing Day 2016, One Direction's "Perfect" played as I stood in front of Vortex for the last time before heading off to ride Diamondback at the renewed passholder ERT. As I walked out of the park that night, The Script's "Superheroes" helped me start the offseason on a more confident note. Back on topic, I have listened to these songs to help reminisce about KI when I can't be there, but not as much as Adele's "Send My Love" that I mentioned a few posts back.

When you delete Pokémon Go from your phone in December to make more space available, yet re-download it in April knowing that in just a matter of days you can once again take advantage of KI's numerous PokeStops and easily walk far enough to hatch some eggs! -BFF, who re-downloaded Go two days ago for this very reason.

Beastie1980 works at Great Wolf Lodge. Did you see her at all by any chance, @Drummermattk?

When I listen to Adele's "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)" multiple times a day purely because I have associated it to Kings Island thanks to the numerous times I have heard it there. I even have it associated with a specific moment I somehow remember vividly: ~10 minutes before park closing on Labor Day 2016, when I was sipping Minute Maid lemonade from my newly refilled souvenir cup while walking past a 2-9 Vortex on the way to WindSeeker to take my last flight of the evening.

This makes me really want to go to Carowinds. My sister actually has a friend who lives only a few miles from the park. Unfortunately, she's not planning to go visit her friend in the near future, so I will have to wait a while. I really, really want to ride Fury 325 and Carolina Cyclone!

While on the topic of animals seen at the park, I have seen groundhogs around Vortex numerous times. On the evening of Opening Day 2013 as I walked through Adventure Express's queue, I could tell a skunk had been in the vicinity. I didn't see it, but I obviously smelled it. I did see a skunk by Yogurt Plus on July 2, 2015, when I was walking down International Street after closing; my mom pointed it out as several surprised guests who were closer to the skunk were backing away from it! Not as crazy as other instances, but still out of the ordinary for most.

@PKIVortex, you literally took the words right out of my mouth. I've been watching numerous Vortex videos, including my own, over the course of these past few days (especially after the day I heard it running on KI's Snapchat story!) and chances are that will continue up until Preview Night. I am still in a bit of disbelief that it's only 13 days until Preview Night!!

And there will be at least one person here who earnestly hopes you enjoy your ride on Vortex!

The reason why I said I fell faster than the rain was because during the drop on Drop Tower, the rain started going up (relative to my position, of course), so for a moment the rain didn't seem to fall as fast as Drop Tower was dropping during that particular part of the drop. On a side note, I took Physics last year, so I may be totally forgetting something I learned last year that I should know.

One of the craziest things I've seen was witnessing an evacuation on Vortex on June 12, 2015, especially since a thunderstorm was fast approaching and the ride was not operational. It was my first time seeing something like this in person, which is why I find it so interesting. The craziest experiences include being briefly stranded on WindSeeker on April 19, 2014, and experiencing a rain-filled view from 267 feet up before falling faster than said rain on Drop Tower during a downpour on August 18, 2016. My clothes were soaked for three hours but it was worth it!

Be warned: I wrote A LOT. If you don't have more than five minutes on your hands, I would suggest reading this at a later time. You have been warned. My Kings Island story began in 2006. My brother used to go with his friends All. The. Time. I remember him mentioning this place called "Kings Island" many, many times between his bouts of motion sickness, yet I had no idea what "Kings Island" was. I obviously knew it was a place, but what kind of place? 2007 came, and the start of my curiosity came with it. Early in the year, I discovered RollerCoaster Tycoon, as it was one of many games available to play on the computers at my daycare. I later discovered that my brother had his own copy of RollerCoaster Tycoon, which launched me into endless hours of building and managing my virtual amusement parks...all while my fascination of roller coasters grew. At the time, I was eight years old, and had never ridden a single roller coaster in my entire life except for the mini coasters found at the county fairs. Around August/September of '07, my mom (a frequent blood donor at the time) had entered a drawing for two Kings Island tickets...and she WON! By this time I grew more and more curious about Kings Island to the point where I wanted to explore it for myself. On the morning of Sunday, September 30, 2007, she revealed to me the two Kings Island tickets she won and asked me if I wanted to go to Kings Island later that day. Of course I said yes! While we got ready to go, I danced and jumped around the living room, excitedly exclaiming, "WE'RE GOING TO Kings Island!!!!" Around 3:00 p.m., my mom and I set out on my first ever Kings Island trip. I remember lying down in the backseat of the car, as the fifty-minute trip felt like an eternity. Finally, we headed down Interstate 71 and I spotted the very top of Son of Beast's lift hill, exclaiming, "Hey! I see roller coaster supports!" As more and more of Kings Island came into view, more and more of my excitement showed as I pointed out every ride that I saw. At long last, I was now seeing Kings Island for myself, the place that my brother knew so much about and where he had even ridden every ride! I still remember my mom seeing the $12 parking and saying how expensive it was. At the Front Gate, our tickets were scanned and I stepped through the turnstiles, awed at the majestic Royal Fountains. I still have both ticket stubs to this day. Long(er) story short, that afternoon/evening consisted of riding my first ride, the Grand Carousel, five times before we took a walk around Coney Mall and Rivertown. I got in line for Dodgems but I decided not to ride it, and for some reason I wasn't interested in many of the rides, if any, because they looked intimidating. Even rides like Scrambler and Zephyr I turned my nose up at because I was fearful of even those rides. I was interested in looking at the big rides, but not riding them. This rang true when I came face-to-face with the iconic, well-known view of Vortex. Vortex stuck out from the other rides I saw, purely because it was/is basically a real-life rendition of the "Steel Corkscrew Roller Coaster" design in RollerCoaster Tycoon, with which I was well acquainted from my hours of playing. From the track to the trains, Vortex matched its RollerCoaster Tycoon design counterpart. Alongside that, just watching the trains grace each inversion with ease brought amazement and wonder to my eight-year-old eyes and imagination. My inner Aspie (short for someone who has Asperger's Syndrome, which I have) accepted Vortex without hesitation – visually, of course. I told my mom, "Someday I'm going to ride this...but not today" once my ten minutes of oogling over Vortex had lapsed. And yes, the area I did favor was Nickelodeon Universe. There, I took a few rides on my official first coaster -- Little Bill's Giggle Coaster -- and bravely conquered the Fairly Odd Coaster ten times, each with my mom riding beside me. The line was getting shorter as the sun was starting to go down, which made a great opportunity to get that many rides in! I also played in the suds at the SpongeBob SquarePants Bikini Bottom Bash, took a swing on Backyardigans' Swing Along, and watched most of the other rides, including the Rugrats Runaway Reptar that I would ride the following season. When it came time to leave, I burst into tears. The slices of LaRosa's pizza that we enjoyed by the fountains cheered me up a little bit, though, as I asked my mom if we could go up in the Eiffel Tower the next time we visited (we actually wouldn't until 2009). It may sound cliche, but yes, I had already fallen in love with Kings Island. It was just so...happy! Of course, if I described my other trips like this (which I can), I would be up all night (I've been to KI a total of 80 times so far!). But I will briefly describe the most memorable trips and first rides. 2008 was when I dared to try some larger rides, including Delirium, Drop Tower, Flight Deck, Adventure Express, Zephyr, Blue Racer, The Beast, and Shake Rattle and Roll. Shake Rattle and Roll and Zephyr were my favorite out of those rides, as I was still antsy about the big coasters. Then August 14, 2009 came - I nervously stepped into Row 10 of Diamondback's green train for the ride that conquered my fear of tall, fast coasters. From that one ride forward, Diamondback was my new favorite ride. HOWEVER... ...my main reason for riding Diamondback was because it did not go upside down. Inversions still deterred me...then I remembered Vortex and that first encounter back in 2007. Every time I rode Diamondback I would watch Vortex on the way up the lift hill. This would continue through the early 2010 season, when I had commented on KICentral's old Vortex information page, saying word for word, "I WANT TO RIDE IT AND I WILL!!!" In other words, I promised myself that I would ride Vortex on a near-future visit. Consider it a pre-Koaster Kids "Be Brave Challenge," if you must. May 23, 2010 came and went, complete with one “warm-up” ride on Reptar/Flying ACE, nine rides on Diamondback and my bravery to ride Vortex falling just shy of the desired level. The next visit (which was actually an impromptu stop at the park after heading to downtown Cincinnati only to find that the event we were there for was actually scheduled for the next Friday (July 30)) happened on the evening of Friday, July 23, 2010, which would become one of the most pivotal nights of my life. We were Gold passholders for the first time in the 2010 season, which furthered my cause for visiting the park on the way home from an otherwise fruitless Cincinnati trip. I felt rather weird wearing a nice blouse and gaucho pants to an amusement park, but that didn't stop me from having fun! I still remember walking onto Diamondback wearing those gaucho pants, while all the other riders wore jeans and shorts. After a few rides on Diamondback, park closing was drawing near. Still unsure about riding Vortex, I decided to ride my still-favorite flat ride Shake, Rattle and Roll which bought me more time to think. Finally, I declared I was going to try Vortex. I took my first steps into its queue line, cautiously climbing up and down the stairs and into the station. The non-existent line brought me to the front row, where a train was getting ready to dispatch. As my train arrived, I thought, "When I get off, I will have gone upside down six times..." When the gates opened, I climbed over the side of the train and stepped down into the lead car, where I took my seat in the left of the front row, slowly pulling the harness down in the process. The attendant checked the harness, and moments later “All Clear” rang in my ears. As my train departed, I heard “Enjoy your ride on Vortex…at night…” and thought “I sure hope I do” in response. I could not turn back now; I was going to go upside down whether I liked it or not! I listened to the chain and anti-rollback which comforted me slightly, smelled the already-familiar chain grease smell, and watched the chasing lights, saying, “At least the lights are going faster than me” as the train got closer to the 148-foot summit. When I finally got there, I then said “Here goes nothing…” as the train dipped into the turn and into the drop. The drop was fun! All too soon, the loops stood in front of me. I braced myself for my first inversion as the train sped right toward it. The forces in the loops jerked me forward unexpectedly, as I obviously did not know what to expect. Even though I ended up staring at the train’s floor for the duration of my first two inversions, I felt great! “Going upside down isn’t too bad after all!” I said as the train slowed at the mid-course brakes and twisted into the corkscrews, in which the hang time officially had me won over. Going into the batwing, I was all smiles and white knuckles, as in the meantime I was gripping the harness so tightly that my hands went numb. And of course, the batwing was amazing, along with the bright flash of the on-ride photo camera briefly disorienting me. Minutes later, my train arrived back at home base, where just earlier I had left, wary and nervous of what was to come. I came back as a brave, newly-blossomed thrill seeker whose last fears of coasters and thrill rides had just been vanquished. When I exited, I ran to my mom and told her “That was fun! I can’t believe I just went upside down SIX TIMES!!” After that, I rode Vortex again. This time, I wasn’t as nervous, and I found that I didn’t jerk forward in the loops if I leaned forward slightly, which is a technique I still use to this day. This momentous visit ended with my very first viewing of the nightly fireworks, although my mom and I were already walking back out to the car ahead of the crowds, so my viewing experience mostly consisted of looking back constantly. Wow, what a lot of detail. If you’re still reading my novel, I’ll only give brief descriptions of my other memorable trips, so don’t you worry! September 26, 2010: Rode Vortex 13 times in a row, including two double rides I took after being told “You can stay if you want.” This also made for two rides where I had my very own train! October 23, 2010: We thought the park opened at 10 but we got there to find the gates still closed and a line gathered outside. As it turned out, we had arrived early for the 11:00 ERT, which inadvertently made it my first ERT visit, complete with my first marathon on Diamondback followed by a quadruple ride on Vortex once the rest of the park opened! October 31 (Closing Day), 2010: My mom rode Adventure Express for her first (and currently only) time. It was wild to say the least. I still remember welling up while taking my last Vortex ride of the season. A few tears fell while going up the lift hill. But I still had a great last ride of the season and was ever so excited to return on May 20, 2011! In late 2010 and 2011, I returned to the rides I first rode in 2008 and began riding them again. Flight Deck, Drop Tower and Adventure Express were my most “What have I been missing?!” rides. I also ride Invertigo for the first time on June 4, 2011, and loved it! June 30, 2011: My first ride on WindSeeker, taken in Seat 13 and to the tune of the Superman Theme. Strangely, I haven’t ridden in Seat 13 since, nor have I ridden in Seat 7, which I rode in a lot in 2011. May 24, 2012: My first race against time. I was riding WindSeeker and I got off at 7:59, and raced to Vortex still in bare feet with my sandals in my hands. I made it just in time! Since I stepped through the train before putting my sandals back on (with the attendant reminding me to do so just in case) it would be the only time my bare feet have ever touched the floor of a Vortex train. Yes, I know that a coaster train floor isn’t clean, which is why I’ve only done this once. Have a good day. August 4, 2012: My first all-day visit and first midnight closing visit, complete with Soak City, summer crowds, my very first fireworks ride on Adventure Express, and many rides to go around including a ride on Racer right after the fireworks. Unbeknownst to us, my soon-to-be-fellow KICers were having a ball at their “KIC Day” at the park. August 15, 2012: I join KIC, while somehow mysteriously escaping being welcomed by fellow members in the process. I guess I'm sneaky. September 3 (Labor Day), 2012: First Dollar Days weekend, and also the day I took my 100th ride on Vortex! Also, my mom rode WindSeeker with me a couple of times, and she sort of liked it but not really since she doesn’t like heights. With the drizzle in the air, I LOVED my ‘Seeker flights that included a 30 mph mist in my face! October 14, 2012: A big storm was supposed to hit Kings Island but missed the area completely; the park got a rain shower instead. The lack of lines enabled me to take a whopping eighteen (18) rides in a row on Vortex, most of which were WITHOUT even having to exit! October 28 (Closing Day), 2012: My first time riding with KICers, including riding Sling Shot with Lucas (ohiocolts). Also 2012 was the only year that FunPerks existed. April 27 (Opening Day), 2013: My first Opening Day visit, and also our first season as Platinum passholders! The lines were shorter than I expected, probably due to the rain that had hit just prior to my arrival. Plus I enjoyed a fireworks ride on Vortex for the first time! May 26, 2013: Spectacular night ride on WindSeeker was enjoyed to the tune of How To Train Your Dragon’s “Romantic Flight.” I could not have asked for a better way to end any night. September 8, 2013 (a.k.a. Dollar Day Sunday): KIC’s 10th Birthday Bash including behind-the-scenes tours of Banshee and Diamondback, plus some Q&A with Don. Fun evening to spend with my KIC buddies, and thank you to Kings Island for hosting the event!! September 22, 2013: 200th ride on Vortex! April 17 (Media Day), 2014: Thanks to Coaster Crew membership for my mom and I, we got to see and ride Banshee one day before Opening Day. I of course loved Banshee, my fifteen-ride marathon on The Bat, my three-ride marathon on Delirium (my first marathon on a flat ride!), and the free Banshee Twist ice cream cones and Chicken Shack meals! Plus I was interviewed on one of the live news channels, which was cool. April 19, 2014: First and currently only “stuck-on-a-ride” instance happened during my ride on WindSeeker, when it stopped roughly 40 feet above ground for several minutes in the midst of its Opening Weekend hiccups. It was interesting to say the least! May 16, 2014: First train to myself on Vortex since 9/26/2010, which was just one of the many things that happened on a trip which included riding Banshee, Express and Racer with Beastie1980, Princess Sparkles, and ohiocolts plus a few other fellow KICers on this day plus the following Friday, May 23! May 29, 2015: Starting off my 2015 season with another train of my own on Vortex! What a nice surprise... June 12, 2015: My first trip without a Vortex ride since July 23, 2010. Also the first Kings Island ride evacuation I’ve witnessed. In a nutshell, it was a very interesting trip thanks to an impending storm… November 1 (Closing Day), 2015: Due to the change in the re-ride policy effective the middle of the season, my rides had slowed down in count. Nevertheless, with the help of my complimentary Fast Lane Plus, I binge-rode Vortex ten rides before a technical delay sent it 2-9 (operation suspended) just a mere half-hour before park closing, during which the crew on duty found out my mission and volunteered to help me accomplish it. Once Vortex reopened roughly fifteen to twenty minutes before park closing, the crew went full speed ahead to help me get the number of rides I needed prior to stepping into the front seat for Ride #300 just mere minutes after closing. With the crew and the other KICers who joined my celebration (including Beastie1980 who sat with me in the front row of a ride she normally avoids), 11/01/2015 was most definitely the best Closing Day I’ve ever had so far! And it didn’t end at Vortex; I also had a blast taking my first ever Diamondback night ride and my first Banshee front seat night ride at the park's inaugural Renewed Passholder ERT! July 5 and August 11, 2016: First trips with two of my friends from school. On the latter of which, I took them on Firehawk for the first time. According to their account, they were traumatized at first but ended up loving the ride. Mission accomplished. That night was also the first of hopefully many Exclusive Ride Nights that I would attend, which came in handy since the park closed at 8 when we thought it closed at 10, Ooops. August 18, 2016: Another friend from school and I enjoyed both parks, while only staying dry for 10% of the time! Nothing like riding Drop Tower in a downpour, having our own train on Adventure Express, and of course experiencing my 315th ride on Vortex. This trip is definitely my favorite to talk about!! October 22, 2016: Longest wait for Vortex to date at a length of roughly 90 minutes, all but 15 of which were spent with the ride 2-9 for the most part, testing on and off. My dad was about to literally drag me out of line when at the last second they announced “Vortex is operational!” as the gates opened. I was so close to not taking my 316th ride on Vortex that day! October 30 (Closing Day), 2016: Shortest trip ever made during public operating hours, with a length of only five minutes. With my newly renewed 2017 Platinum Pass in hand, I speed-walked through the Front Gate and did not stop until I reached Vortex just in time, at 6:57. After taking a breather in the station, I was ready to take the last ride on the last train of the season the moment they announced the last train. I took row 3-1 as I and the other riders scrambled to claim our seats on the last train of the season, after which no more riders would be accepted. Of course, I made the trip more complete with three thrilling night rides on Diamondback during the renewal ERT to help say goodbye to the 2016 season. December 12, 2016: With my parents' approval and encouragement, I applied for a Ride Operator job at Kings Island, unaware of the grand adventure on which I would embark simply by typing this and clicking that. Sit upright and hold on tight, indeed... January 25, 2017: I attended a group interview in the Rides Department. I walked into the Operations Office as an applicant, and came out as a newly hired Rides associate!! All that happened with a cool view of a dormant Kings Island on the side. 9.5 years, 10-going-on-11 seasons, 80 trips and 317 Vortex rides later, and just mere days before the 2017 season begins, the curious 8-year-old who first wandered Kings Island on September 30, 2007 is now 18 years old, with a job in Kings Island’s Rides department as a member of her favorite ride’s crew, with said ride turning 30 on April 11! Maybe she’ll end up as driver on Vortex someday, which is something she’s dreamed about since taking that first ride that changed everything at age 11... …and to think this all started with my mom winning a ticket drawing! It’s amazing how things work out in interesting and often seemingly coincidental ways. Not to mention, it sounded pretty much as if Vortex really was meant to be my special ride right from the get-go, as I appreciated it differently from the other rides even on my first visit! I can’t be more thankful that I live just fifty minutes from this wonderful place we call Kings Island! Now that I am an associate this season, I just know 2017 will have a lot up its sleeve for this season, especially now that I will have to ride Mystic Timbers if I still want to say that I have ridden every coaster at Kings Island! To more memorable memories, for every person who steps through the gates! There, my novel is done for this time being. I hope you didn’t fall asleep.

Thank you so much for sharing! I too have a deep Kings Island story, though it doesn't span over as many years as yours. But it's still just as long. I'm currently typing it and saving it in a Word Document so I don't lose sleep tonight and that it'll be guaranteed that I won't lose any of it in the process. I'm currently in the middle of describing the pivotal events of my July 23, 2010 trip.

I heard Vortex running in the background on KI's Snapchat Story. If you thought I was excited enough even on Saturday, multiply that by a lot of times and you have my current excitement level.

When you hear Vortex running in the background on Kings Island's Snapchat story and spazz out. Not kidding; that just happened with me. *excitedly yet impatiently groans over the fact that the 18 days until Preview Night now feels a lot longer than I want*

Ever since I first visited in 2007, Kings Island holds more memories than I can count! One of my favorite memories from my first visit is, surprise surprise, when I saw Vortex for the first time. I remember the awed, intrigued 8-year-old I was, standing in front of the world's first six-inversion coaster, watching for at least ten minutes straight. And if course, I can't forget my first rides on my first ride, the Grand Carousel, as well as riding Fairly Odd Coaster for ten times in a row. I love the many friends/acquaintances I have met there, whether they are fellow guests or associates. That rang true on Closing Day 2015, when the crew at Vortex that helped me count down to my 300th ride became my newest group of Kings Island friends! Kings Island as a whole has helped me become the brave, adventurous thrill seeker I am today. I am a very sentimental person, and one of my favorite things about Kings Island is that many things still remain that proved valuable in the first memories I ever made at this wonderful happy place. And these memories will continue to multiply with the many experiences that will come my way this season as both a guest and an associate. Little did that 8-year-old know that ten years later she would work her first job on that same six-inversion coaster that would take her upside-down for the first time...

Vortex's lift chain broke on July 2, 2011, and it reopened by/on July 30 if I remember correctly. And yes, ridership was below 1 million that season because of that. Edit: Why didn't I refresh the page? Either way, question answered.

^In 2015 and 2016 Vortex's count was in the upper 900,000's, just below 1 million. As uncomfortable as I feel to admit it, its yearly ridership has been decreasing. 2014 is so far the last season that Vortex gave over 1 million rides.

Within the past month I had three more dreams: The first was of Vortex receiving a new paint job (which I still eagerly hope it does soon), except its supports had stripes with different shades of blue instead of the one shade of dark blue seen in real life. I think this had something to do with my reading of fellow KICers' posts on agreeing that Vortex should be repainted at some point or another for its 30th anniversary. I must be that excited... The second had the most unlikely/unrealistic storyline. This dream consisted of Vortex having an "accident" during its testing which would throw its future into limbo, and it was broadcast on the news in the form of helicopter footage showing one of the trains laying in pieces below the bottom of the first drop. Again, this was all a dream and in real life this would never happen; otherwise, Vortex wouldn't have made it to 30. The third, which I just had last night, had me greatly relieved when I woke up. I dreamed that the 2017 season had just started and news had been spread that Vortex was closing permanently and its last day would be June 9th. I was thinking "So I only get to work on Vortex for a WEEK?!" (since I plan to start working in the first week of June) and "Well, so much for its 30th anniversary season..." and could hardly process all the "details" as they had hit me like a bag of bricks... I believe this dream had something to do with a KICer's post I read a month or two ago which predicted that Vortex would close in August of 2018, and my earnest hope that Vortex would still be around past 2018 (of course barring any unforeseen circumstances), and hopefully around long enough for me to take my 1,000th Vortex ride. My, what a celebration that would be! If I do visit Kings Island on Friday, June 9, 2017, I will remember this dream and be very thankful that it was only a dream as I go to ride Vortex for the nowhere-near-last time on that day. 2016-2017 Offseason Vortex Dreams: 5

I have Orientation tomorrow and Rides General Knowledge a week from tomorrow! I can't make it to my scheduled On-Ride Training day though, but since I plan to start in June, my training would be on another day.

3 days until Orientation!!! I hope it's not nearly as cold on Saturday as it is today.