VortexBFForever

You pretty much took the words out of my mouth! Except I think of Vortex as my very very best friend, and not the true-lovey type. I mean, Vortex is 11 years, 11 months, and 2 weeks OLDER than me! xD

I started riding Flight of Fear not very long after I started riding Vortex. My first ride on it was during a KI trip on Tuesday, August 17, 2010. I was wanting to ride Firehawk, but it was having a technical delay, so I opted to ride FoF and then Firehawk. I still remember watching the pre-show while waiting in a 20-25 minute line. I was riding in the front seat. When I heard the "All clear!" I was getting anxious, but I knew it wouldn't be as scary as I thought. When the train launched, I screamed all the way up until the cobra roll; I even forgot all about the ride photo being taken in the launch tunnel! Throughout the first part I was saying "Oh my goodness gracious!!" as the train was twirling through near total darkness with only a few lights lighting part of the way. The ride was really exciting, and at the end, the left corkscrew caught me off guard. FoF obviously goes through its single corkscrew at a faster speed than Vortex does when traveling through its double corkscrew. After that exciting adventure on FoF, I joined the 20 minute long line for Firehawk and rode it for the first time, in the fourth row in the far right. Had another great ride....

Last night I had another dream that it was Opening Day. It was ERT; I looked at my watch and it said 9:17 a.m. I was so focused on being the first, if not, one of the first riders on Vortex when it opened. There were ropes blocking off the other sections of the park at first, but later on they just disappeared and it was magically 10:00 (or close to there). I saw that WindSeeker was operating as normal, and I wanted to ride it, but I was already headed to Vortex first. When I got to Vortex, it Looked. So. Different!! . I was watching the ride test, and I suddenly see this red and white train ascend the lift hil. The chain sounded so much more quieter and less Arrow-like. Shake, Rattle & Roll and the Juke Box Diner didn't exist. The path I had been walking and Vortex's queue were going straight through where SR&R and the JBD are in real life. Vortex's station building was in this "L" shape. I began walking through the queue and on the other side of the station building I saw transfer tracks bearing FIVE (yes, five) other trains that looked just like the ride's original trains! I noticed that two of the five trains were a more dull version of the normal blue and orange color scheme, but the other three were more vibrant. I immediately knew that the three vibrantly colored ones were the original Vortex trains! But why weren't they on the main track circuit like they were always destined to be? This was turning out to be a really weird dream. Before the dream ended, I was reminded of another Vortex-related dream that I had last spring. Once I had thought the word "dream," I woke up in bed. I then immediately thought, "THANK GOODNESS that this was all just a dream! I never want Vortex to change like that! Never ever ever!" The dream looked so lifelike, but The Vortex part of it was totally unrealistic. Now I can't wait to go to the park on Opening Day and see Vortex as what it's always been for the past 26 years! Vortex Dreams I've had During This Offseason: 7

Don, will WindSeeker be ready to open with the other rides when Opening Day comes? Call me crazy, but it is actually one of my favorite flat rides at the park. I just love the exhilarating experience!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/85200936@N03/7854489620/'> Diamondback, in Rivertown. a shot of the big Kings Island sign, one of the good amount of pics I took on Closing Day. Easy: Anything on International Street Hard: Pic taken from inside a ride's queue Expert: Any Coney Mall ride's entrance sign

Sorry for the double post, but I just had another one. This dream was a bit more monotonous, and it didn't have Vortex in it (for once!). I dreamt that I was riding Flight of Fear. That's it. No watching the pre-show, no (half) saucer, no spiels, no launching, no exiting to the park outside. Just riding a train around in near total darkness with a few lights. It was fun, but nothing else occured in the dream. I guess that's why the dream itself was short

http://www.flickr.com/photos/85200936@N03/7869029404/'> Easy: Any plant life Hard: Any flat ride at night Expert: Pic inside of any restaurant

What happened to "Run Kings Island"? I noticed the event hasn't been held since 2010.

Last night I had a dream that it was the actual Opening Day. It was 10 am, I was running through Coney Mall to Vortex and ended up being one of the first, if not, the first rider of the season and I was power-riding/marathoning it as much as I could while the line was still short. The weird thing was, Vortex's station was in this dark room (kind of like Flight of Fear's station, but without the theming) with dimly lit reddish-pink lights. When I actually "rode" it, the parts that stuck out to me were the lift hill, the first drop, and the two loops. Other than those two parts and the weird-looking station, everything else was much more vague. Vortex Dreams I've Had During the 2012-2013 Offseason: 6

I know I've already used this, but it's sort of a combination of the "Easy" and "Hard." Easy: Any shot of the Eiffel Tower Hard: Coney Mall at night Expert: Any ride's storage bin(s) or shelves

http://www.flickr.com/photos/85200936@N03/8110445806/'> Easy: Any building in the park Hard: a pic taken from underneath the Eiffel Tower Expert: the Eiffel Tower's elevator(s) (it can either be the door or the elevator car itself; it doesn't matter )

I totally agree with you! Even better, I was listening to this (what I think is inspirational) soundtrack from Madagascar 3. It sounds so...inspirational! Vortex is truly an iconic coaster filled with history.

I just had another Kings Island dream last night. I dreamt that I was in the Coney Mall area, around by where WindSeeker and Vortex are. The catch was that it was NOT Opening Day (April 27), but the day BEFORE Opening Day (April 26)! So the park was not ready, and I mean NOT READY, to open, yet there were still guests inside! WindSeeker was still testing, but it had a Black Friday-type line (like a line waiting for it to open...on the day before it actually does!) I then got up really close to Vortex's last brake run. There was a train there, but it was still taken apart from when it was in the maintenance building. Also, there were only 1.5 trains actually on the ride, as the other train cars were about to be brought to the ride from the maintenance buildings. Also, there were people's coats all around the disassembled train, (it was as if it were a coat closet with no walls, racks or hangers so all the "coats" had been thrown all over the place). At that time I decided to see which number train I was looking at, so I looked at the lead car and saw the number 2. My favorite Vortex train, Train #2, was featured in this dream! After I realized that, it was "time to go," although it wasn't evening yet. Then the dream ended with me waking up at precisely 8:30 a.m. This was actually the first KI dream I've had this year, in 2013.

Here's a YouTube video of what it sounds like, for those of you who have no idea...

I was at KD this past spring, in 2012. -Anaconda, actually, can be a very fun ride. Just make sure you relax and stay open-minded during the ride - it really helps lessen the chance of a so-called "headache." (the ride is going on 22 years old this year; so, out of common sense, you should expect it to be "bumpy." ) If you want some Arrow ejector air, ride in the last car. You'll literally be whipped over the top of the first hill - it's an awesome feeling! -Shockwave has incredible ejector air on every single hilltop and good-feeling positive G-forces in the loop. (In my opinion, I actually like it better than Mantis @ CP) -FoF is very similar to KI's. A fun ride it is, indeed. -I305 has A LOT of positive Gs on the turn at the bottom of the first drop. Relax and try not to gray out! -Volcano has incredible hangtime (as Terp said) in it's three in-line twists. The launch out of the volcano is really fun! Another note: Quite a few of the rides had fairly long dispatch times (about 5 minutes) when I was there last year, on April 10, 2012 (only its fifth operating day of the season...). Try not to be surprised if you discover that that is the case when you go. Hope this advice helps!

The waterglobe that I got of the on-ride photo of my 100th Vortex ride on Labor Day? I was playing with it last night That turned out to be one of my simplest ways of keeping me amused...

I look at all the photos and videos I've taken of KI in past seasons. I've been watching one of my Grand Carousel videos a whole lot lately because the carousel music playing in that video is very cheerful and uplifting! I've also looked at my growing collection of on-ride photos from Vortex and also ones from Magnum @ CP, Anaconda @ KD, and Viper @ Darien Lake. Also, doing fun WINTER stuff (like sledding) seems to help me as well.

A few rides in Planet Snoopy and a little bit of Rivertown. Taken from Eiffel Tower. July 10, after park closing A little of the stream can be seen at the bottom of this image. Easy: Any ride's queue Hard: Any ride in Coney Mall, at night Expert: Any set of park lockers

Photo of KI from outside the park on the night of Closing Day Lighting in Coney Mall that was still on at the moment after the park closed, also taken on Closing Day (yes, I know the pics are blurry. Whenever my camera's flash was off, it took pictures at a slower speed than needed ) Easy: A shot of the park on a cloudy day Hard: WindSeeker at night with its lights on Expert: Any set(s) of lockers that are within the park

This silence really is deafening... ...at least for me, anyway

I went sledding on December 28th. The hill I went to was pretty steep. The first time I went down it, there was this small hump of land in the middle of the slope, and I was speeding straight for it! When I went over it, I caught air for the next couple of feet after that, and never fell off the sled once I landed. It. Was. Awesome! Sledding is probably my favorite thing to do in winter. I also like ice skating. I REALLY want to go skiing sometime, it sounds as fun as sledding!

1,021 rides on The Vortex. Single-day high was 36 rides in 1987 on media day. Wow! That's way more than my total of 135 rides! My single day high was 18 rides, on October 14, 2012.

Don, how many times have you rode Vortex?

No, I meant 3-1. Sorry about that!

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/547/img1604z.jpg/'> Taken on Labor Day when I rode in row 3-1 on Vortex as part of an "experiment" I was doing that day. The drizzle can be seen in the foreground. Easy: A shot taken anywhere in the park on a sunny day Hard: WindSeeker's light package, at night Expert: Stream under Flight Deck (MF2000CMH)