Preface
I am brand-new to the coaster enthusiast community. I have always been fascinated by roller coasters, but only recently did it occur to me to delve into their history and learn how to accurately describe what makes them so special.As I reflect on my past experiences, I have realized that Arrow Dynamics played a role in some rites of passage, both in coasters and in life. My first view of a roller coaster as a child was of Shockwave dominating the skyline of Six Flags Great America. My neck craned, my jaw agape, Shockwave set off a morbid fascination. I feared and admired extreme coasters in equal measure.
A few years later, when I'd somewhat confronted my neurotic love-fear, my first inversion (and hi-five with a "big kid") came on Demon. Sadly, I never made it back to ride Shockwave. My tenth credit was Corkscrew at Cedar Point, and as I rolled over the midway, I learned to appreciate coasters not just as amusement, but as art.
My first theme park date began and ended with rides on Phantom's Revenge - a Morgan ride, but the feel of its Arrow predecessor is undeniably still there. In the summer of 2019, I shared a kiss under Cedar Point's Corkscrew with a girl who might be The One.
My point is that Arrow loopers are what come to mind first when I think, "roller coaster." My mental image is always of some massive, Shockwave-esque ride. Arrow coasters, with their bright colors, stark contrasts, and sinister sci-fi names, epitomize for me the aesthetic and zeitgeist of late-80s and early-90s consumer culture, for which I constantly feel a bizarre, nostalgic longing.
I was just acclimating myself to the idea of spending serious money on coasters as a travel and leisure expense, when Kings Island announced the closure of Vortex. Having missed out on Shockwave and Great American Scream Machine, and doubting that I will ever make it out to ride Viper barring a surprise work event, I immediately planned a destination trip specifically for Vortex. For reasons I have yet to understand, it meant a lot to me personally to hop on a big, mean Arrow mega looper. It is through that paradigm that I consider the trip - 10 hours of car time for 5 hours of park time - a complete success.
Report
At 5:30 a.m., I hopped in the car for a solo road trip to make general admission opening at Kings Island. I pulled into the lot at around 10:30 and was at the gate by 10:35. The ease of access startled me, and I think it had to do with the crowds.
The park was nearly empty. The forecast called for scattered showers, so I was lucky with my timing. This weekend sat between two busy spells at work, so it was now-or-never for me. I entered the gate at 10:58 and made my plan of action, based on my own priorities and some advice from /r/rollercoasters:
- I was at 35 credits going in. That meant I could make Vortex a "mini-milestone" as Credit 40.
- While this advice was polarizing, I opted to skip The Beast to save it for Credit 50.
- I did not purchase FastLane access, so aside from Vortex I would seek out short waits rather than top-tier rides.
As it turned out, the top-tier rides were also short waits. Kings Island's famous ride ops were on fire. All rides were running multiple trains, and crews struck a balance between filling trains and keeping them moving. I only noticed one or two stacked trains all day, and I am confident that guests caused them. In particular, the B&M coasters had stellar crews. I literally think that my first ride on Banshee dispatched in under 30 seconds. My longest wait was 12 minutes for Mystic Timbers. My first ride was at 11:25 a.m. My final ride was at 4:00 p.m. In that time, I had 17 rides, despite a rain delay, three snack breaks, and some attention-deficient meandering enjoying my first visit to Kings Island. Kudos to Cedar Fair for keeping the park clean, well-presented, and prepared, even on slow days.
Invertigo (Credit 36, 7/9 Today, 32/44 Overall)
As Invertigo sits at the front of the park and runs a single train, I figured it was best to tackle early. Unfortunately, it did not open until 11:20. It had gone down the day before, so I did not complain. My only previous experience with Vekoma came from junior coasters and Disney parks, so I was nervous about their reputation as I boarded the first train of the day. I was intrigued by the face-off trains, and I sat facing forward for the outbound trip. I had much more fun than I expected. Invertigo whips through its inversions, but the track isn't unbearably rough. The train's ear guards are not my friend, though - while I did not experience headbanging, they gave me weird sensory cues on the reverse-facing return trip. Aptly enough, I felt mild vertigo getting off the ride. I briefly considered taking a second lap facing the other way, but decided to move on.
The Bat (Credit 37, 5/9 Today, 21/44 Overall)
I found The Bat at the back of the park. The ride was a walk-on, but I still clocked a 6-minute wait time simply due to the hilariously long queue path. Coming in, my only frame of reference for the Arrow suspended model was Iron Dragon at Cedar Point. I have long loved Iron Dragon for its ability to achieve nice views despite the enclosed trains. The ride experience is nice enough, too, though it seems to end just as it starts to make use of its swinging capabilities. It turns out that I had been craving more intensity in a suspended coaster all along. The Bat offers a decent overlook as it crawls up the chain lift, before whipping through its lightly-wooded layout. I wish The Bat matched Iron Dragon's length, but the ride had me grinning throughout, and I consider it the better coaster.
Adventure Express (Credit 38, 8/9 Today, 34/44 Overall)
I had not explicitly planned to ride Adventure Express on this trip, but it was a walk-on, and I had not yet realized that everything was. I was again pleasantly surprised by this later Arrow mine train. Like The Bat, Adventure Express is much more intense than its Cedar Point cousin (Cedar Creek Mine Ride). It is also a better ride in every conceivable way. It generates a good mix of forces that do just enough to be taken seriously, but the forces are mild enough that it is easy to look around and enjoy the track, the terrain, and the (very) light theming. I was completely unmoved by the final chain lift. The animatronics looked like something from RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, a proxy for "real" props that allows us at least to suspend our disbelief and enjoy the POV camera a little more. One final note: while I enjoyed the laterals, they caused the seat to press into my back. I am fairly slender, so I imagine that most adults would be uncomfortable on this ride.
The Racer (Credit 39, 9/9 Today, 42/44 Overall)
I couldn't help but wander in the direction of Vortex, and found my way to The Racer, a classic that I boarded with high hopes. I do not know what happened. I may have just caught it on a bad day, or perhaps the 55-degree weather was not ideal, or perhaps the mostly-empty trains affected its performance... but I had a dreadful time. I hopped on Red, on the front bench in the back car, and got jackhammered from the moment we left the chain lift. There was a sizable pothole on the final dip that stuck out even from the general roughness. I had read that one track was running more roughly than the other, but I could not remember which was which, so I gave Blue a chance. I got in the front seat, turned around, and saw that I was getting a zen ride! As it turns out, Red was the "smooth" one. As I cleared the anti-rollbacks onto the turnaround, I was genuinely worried that I would injure my back and be unable to complete my Vortex pilgrimage. Having ridden and genuinely enjoyed Mean Streak, I have a fair tolerance for rough track, but The Racer reached a new extreme. Worse yet, it is a from-the-template out-and-back, and with Blue running substantially faster (and rougher), the illusion of a "race" vanished and left the ride as a lifeless husk of teeth-chattering, airless hills. Still, I plan to give The Racer another chance on a full train in the summer.
The Racer left me a little nauseous and I decided to grab a small snack on my way to Vortex, so that I wouldn't "leave anything behind." I grabbed an order of French fries from Skyline Chili. They tasted fine, they were properly cooked, and the portion was hearty for the $6 price. I noticed, though, several wasps throughout the serving area - a recurring theme throughout the day, both at food stands and on coasters. While I ate, I made my way to my destination, riding a naïve mental cocktail of confirmation bias, nostalgia-for-nostalgia's sake, sunk-cost fallacy, and the fresh memory of an awful lead-in coaster to make my first lap on Vortex seem like a triumph. As I approached the queue, it dawned on me that I should temper my expectations. After all, I had come all this way for a typical Arrow mega looper that had grown rough and was being retired in three weeks. Because this was the farewell tour, I expected an inflated wait time, but in fact I arrived to find a station wait. I started with Row 5, thinking that a ride from the middle would limit the intensity and give a balanced ride. This was it - me avenging a childhood spent fearing Shockwave, only to lose it before I could love it. Would Vortex be what I wanted it to be, or would it live up to its jaw-banging reputation? The following description is completely unironic, and was confirmed by multiple re-rides:
Vortex (Credit 40, 1/9 Today, 4/44 Overall)
I loved Vortex. I adored everything about it - the iconic color scheme, the mix of tall inversions and terrain elements, the tornadic rumble of the trains across the track, and its glorious first drop. Either the park gave Vortex extra attention in its final month, or enthusiasts are too harsh on Arrows. Either way, nearly the entire ride was smooth and carefree. The only truly rough moment, consistent across all four of my rides, was the transition into the batwing. Even the infamous final brake run, which slammed us to a stop on my second ride, was not as rough as advertised. As of this writing, Vortex's batwing stands as my favorite inversion on any ride. All six inversions, though, were mean. They were all smooth from at least one part of the train, but they were forceful. The second vertical loop gave me the strongest gray-out I've felt. I love quick bursts of positives just as much as pops of airtime, so I was in Hog Heaven on Vortex.
Thrilled that the ride was so good, and in disbelief that I actually felt like the trip was worth the time and money, I immediately got back on. I rode in Row 14, the back of the train. The first drop utterly ripped me out of my seat, and Vortex cemented its place in my Top 5. On this lap, though, I learned about Vortex's headbanging problem. Unlike many rides with OTSRs, which jostle riders side-to-side, Vortex seemed to jostle us front-to-back. Moments of intense positives forced my head into the headrest. In particular, I took a firm punch heading into the batwing on this second lap.
I made my way back toward the front of the park for Banshee. When I had walked by it on my way to Adventure Express, there was some kind of delay, but there were trains running, so I opted to try my luck. I was rewarded with a station wait for a premier B&M invert.
Banshee (Credit 41, 3/9 Today, 11/44 Overall)
My first ride on Banshee was from near the middle. As with most enthusiasts, I vastly prefer the front row of inverts, but I thought that I could get a good sense of a "typical" lap from the middle. I liked the sweeping sense the ride gave, but despite the sustained low-level Gs, the ride felt so much milder than other inverts that nothing felt like a "signature" element. There are B&Ms that I dislike because they are too intense, but I think that Banshee is not intense enough. I took a second lap from the front row (another station wait), which helped me appreciate the amazing sense of soaring that Banshee creates. I could not help but compare Banshee to Raptor at Cedar Point, which is more compact and also more intense. From the front row, I consider Banshee the slightly better ride, but from anywhere else, Raptor is the substantially better ride.
As I left the station from my second ride, a few raindrops began to fall. This became a twenty-minute shower that sent most people to seek cover. In a rare moment of preparation, I had packed a poncho and an umbrella that morning, so I enjoyed an early-afternoon stroll. I found some food trucks, of which only one was open. It was selling delicious grilled cheese sandwiches on Texas garlic toast for $4.
Backlot Stunt Coaster (Credit 42, 6/9 Today, 29/44 Overall)
I tried to catch a rain ride on Vortex, but they had closed the ride and suggested I check again about a half hour after the rain stopped. So, I took a rain ride on Backlot Stunt Coaster, instead. I went in with no expectations and was pleasantly surprised, just as I had been on every ride except The Racer. The ride begins with a launch into a tight upward helix, which is an intense start to a family coaster. The rest of the track is secondary to the special effects, which were far more effective than the ones on Adventure Express. The flames were a convenient source of warmth in the cold rain. I will gladly hop back on when I return to Kings Island.
Diamondback (Credit 43, 4/9 Today, 14/44 Overall)
I was surprised to see trains still running on Diamondback, and it seemed like the rain was letting up, so I headed that way. It was a station wait, continuing a run of absurd luck on this trip. I took my first lap in Row 2, the front-most "outside" seat on Diamondback's V-shaped trains. I was underwhelmed, which was a surprise to me. The floater airtime was lovely, and being pelted with raindrops at 80 mph was a unique experience, but after a while, each successive airtime hill felt more like length padding than an effective ride experience. As with Banshee, I also just found that the ride's mildness undercut its massive scope. To be clear, this is a fine ride that I will always gladly re-ride, but as of this writing, I am hoping that Orion offers a substantially different experience.
Mystic Timbers (Credit 44, 2/9 Today, 7/44 Overall)
As the rain began to subside, I made my way to Mystic Timbers. It was not yet two o'clock, and I had already exceeded my ride expectations, so I figured that I was due for a little waiting. No such luck - my first ride had a five-minute wait. I chose the second row from the back. With that much train in my field of view, I could not see when we crested the lift hill, and the first drop came out of nowhere. From that point, I was grinning like an idiot, unable to feel adequately overwhelmed by one element because the next would blindside me so soon. My phone, in a zipped-up hoodie pocket, hovered next to me for the entire ride. It was surreal. While I enjoy new-wave as much as anybody, I found the shed to be ineffective, but it did not detract from a top-tier wooden coaster layout. I got right back in line, finally cracking the 10-minute wait time mark. I rode in Row 2, so that I could see the track in its glory. I couldn't believe how much of the intensity remained even from the front. Mystic Timbers is a fantastic ride.
The rest of the day consisted of meandering between Diamondback and Vortex, just to make sure that my opinions were what I thought they were. I got a back-row ride on Diamondback, which was substantially better, but still didn't do for me what Magnum XL-200 or Phantom's Revenge do. I closed out my Vortex experience with two more laps. The ride ops were assigning trains at this point, though the queue barely spilled out of the station. My first lap was from Row 13, but I prepared and braced my head forward, and I did not get slammed into my headrest once. For my final lap, I asked if I could wait an extra train for Row 1. No other single rider joined me, so I was alone in the row. It may as well have been a zen ride. My self-consciousness about going to a theme park alone had finally evaporated, and I grinned, laughed, and took in the sights from atop Vortex for my first and last time.
That ride would have been the perfect end to the day, but Diamondback was on my way to the entrance gate and was still a station wait, so I pressed my luck and gave it one last comparison. I rode in the middle. It shuffled and rattled, and on one valley it even jackhammered us slightly. I was surprised and disappointed, but I at least felt that I could defend my unorthodox opinion at this point.
I grabbed one more grilled cheese from the food truck for the road - this time with bacon - and left the park. OH-63 Westbound was running trimless, and had some nice pops of floater airtime that exceeded my last ride on Diamondback. As I drove home, I said to myself aloud, "I cannot believe that this trip was worth it. I cannot believe that I do not feel like an idiot right now." As I said it, I was smiling, for long-running personal reasons. I had a fulfilling experience on an icon of another era in amusement rides. RIP Vortex; I wish they closed The Racer instead. 
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