Could This Be The Vortex Replacement At Kings Island?
In 2019, Kings Island retired one of their historic coasters — Vortex. The ride, built in 1987, was the first complete circuit coaster to invert riders six times. With the ride’s removal, questions soon emerged about what would replace the gap left by Vortex.
Kings Island has vastly expanded over the course of the past decade. Son of Beast was replaced by the record-breaking Banshee, Mystic Timbers re-invented the excitement of a wooden roller coaster, and Orion wowed the world as the park’s first Giga coaster. All of these coasters have been high capacity and high intensity rides.
Given that the park’s latest trend is installing high capacity rides, the burning question is, what type of coaster would they add next? There’s a few avenues they could take, but right now, it’s very possible that Kings Island follows the Cedar Fair trend and adds a record breaking Dive Coaster similar to Yukon Striker at Canada’s Wonderland.
After analyzing the terrain and available land, we have mocked up a record breaking dive machine in the former Vortex site to see how it fits. The ride Z246, would be themed to the resurrection of the Zoomer Project, with riders encountering the mayhem of a record breaking drop from 246 feet up. The ride would hit speeds of 85 MPH and would feature four inversions, and a unique fly-through element featuring the surviving sections of Vortex track!
Once the coaster climbed 246ft up the lift hill, it would make a right turn before making a pause at the top allowing guests to see the entire park from the back all the way over international street. Like the idea or not, this sure would make an incredible view! Check out the video below of this wicked concept!
Cedar Fair loves B&M for ride stability and through-put, so it fits their current mold. What do you think about this concept? Would you rather see a multi-launch coaster similar to Copperhead Strike? Or perhaps something more next-gen like a new Vekoma ride? Join the facebook discussion and let us know your thoughts!
For tickets and more information, visit the official Kings Island website by clicking here.
Visit the Amusement Park Community FB Group HERE and JOIN THE DISCUSSIONS!
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