Kings Island Removing Vortex Coaster

Kings Island confirmed this morning that Vortex, the park’s six inversion roller coaster would be removed. The announcement was made over a blog post.

Final rides on Vortex will begin tonight when Halloween Haunt opens at 6 p.m. The ride’s final day of operation will be October 27th.

Both 2019 and 2020 Gold and Platinum season pass holders may use their pass for early rides on Vortex 30 minutes before Kings Island opens to the public every Saturday and Sunday through the end of the fall season.

The $4 million steel coaster set a new world’s record when it opened as the tallest, full-circuit roller coaster with the highest drop in the world and the first to send riders upside down a total of six times. The Vortex was designed exclusively for Kings Island by Arrow Dynamics, one of the leading manufacturers in the industry at the time. Construction began in the fall of 1986 in the former location of The Bat, which had been the world’s first suspended roller coaster and was removed after the 1984 season. The ride queue and load station from The Bat were repurposed for the Vortex.

The Vortex included the following succession of thrills that had never been incorporated into one steel coaster before:

•  a 148-foot high lift and drop of 138 feet at a 55-degree angle
•  speeds of up to 55 m.p.h
• two vertical loops
• two corkscrews
• one boomerang turn
• a 360-degree helix turn at the end

The Vortex debuted on April 11, 1987 and helped Kings Island surpass 3 million visitors in one season for the first time in its history. Since its debut, more than 45 million guests have ridden Vortex, the seventh-most on Kings Island’s all-time rides given list. Its record year was 1987 when 2.2 million riders were given. Only The Racer (3.2 million in 1972) has given more rides in a debut season in Kings Island’s history.

With the removal, one has to wonder what will replace the ride? Nobody knows for sure. The Coaster Nation team was playing around with a design concept of a ride on a similar sized plot of land.