Vortex • Kings Island

First Drop Headbanging

I first rode this in 1989 when it was the "tallest full-circuit coaster in the world." It was pretty intimidating back then, and I was the only one of my group of six college friends who was brave enough to go on it. I remember being pretty scared going up the lift hill, and the first drop took my breath away. It was a smooth and thrilling ride. 30 years later in 2019, I rode it again in its last season. It had gotten pretty shaky, but it brought back a lot of good memories of a fun day at KI with my college buddies.

If you were to look up 80's looper in the dictionary, this ride should come up. This was the quintessential and ultimately the culmination of this type of coaster. It has the most of everything. It was one if not the longest, tallest, fastest and most inversions of this type all in one ride. Most from this era were 1 or 2 trick acts, but not Vortex. It had many up its sleeve. This one seemed to age better than the vast majority as well. Even in its final years it very re-ridable. I wouldn't go quite as far as to say it was liquid smooth by today's standards, but you could somewhat comfortably ride this several times in a day without getting beat up too much. Again this was probably the best genre. Sorry to see it go.

First Drop Inversions Location Discomfort Dead spots

Solid arrow looper overall. The straight first drop was pretty good and the inversions were fun however ride really didn’t give that many forces and it had a lot of dead spots. The ride also had some bad transitions and the seat mold is terrible which is a weird complaint I have but the pain was manageable. Overall it’s just a solid mid tier arrow looper for me and I’m just glad I got to ride it before it went defunct.

First Drop Inversions Hangtime

I was sad when this ride closed. I got some rides in 2019 and I really liked this ride. The first drop gave great airtime and the inverisons were suprisingly very good. Those corkscrews gave great hangtime and the vertical loops were pretty forceful. Overall a very solid looping coaster. RIP Vortex

Location Layout Rattle Headbanging

This is definitely one of my least favorite Arrow loopers out there but even so I didn’t find this ride to be as bad as people say. It’s in a great location and is a very picturesque coaster and has a fantastic long layout. There is definitely headbanging throughout however I didn’t think it was too severe and I wasn’t expecting there to be more painful moments. A pleasant surprise but still not a coaster I would ride all day.

Inversions Intensity Headbanging Discomfort

The layout would be great if it wasn't built by a pre-CAD Arrow. As such, the transitions are horrendous - the observation area on the pathway gives a few great views of riders getting their necks snapped by the unsmoothed banking changes. The park needs a good, intense sit-down looper, but this one ain't it. I wouldn't be disappointed if this was the next ride to leave the park, especially if it was to make way for a ground-up RMC, Mack launcher, or Intamin blitz.

First Drop Inversions Location Headbanging

A great first drop and fun inversions, but it suffers the same unfortunate problems as most Arrow loopers.

Discomfort Tear it down!

First Drop Inversions Intensity

First Drop Inversions Intensity Headbanging

Headbanging Disappointing! Discomfort

Inversions Fun Headbanging

First Drop Capacity Intensity

Headbanging

Inversions

Rattle Headbanging Tear it down!

Intensity Duration Headbanging

Tear it down!

Fun Rattle Inversions Discomfort

Rattle Headbanging Discomfort