California's Great America will convert Vortex to floorless Patriot

I anticipate this will improve the ride, but I'm a little surprised. Vortex is not as rough as other stand-ups (maybe due to being so small), so this seems a little like fixing a problem that doesn't exist, while also not being very exciting as a stand-alone announcement. I wonder how many more years they'll get out of this ride. Should help capacity I suppose... And I'll take it over VR any day.

I think people just don't like standups in general. I find them uncomfortable and awkward, but that;s just me.

I also disagree about smaller meaning "not as rough." I typically find the opposite to be true. In fact, Riddler's Revenge is the only standup that I actually enjoy, and AFAIK, it's still the largest.

I'm also sure, though, that there are many more factors at play than just size.

I see this coming to Vortex at Carowinds as well in the coming years. Rougarou proved you can get a second life out of these coasters.

Funny enough, Riddler is the only stand up I didn't like at all. I may have just hit it on a bad day, but the headbanging and ear boxing was the worst I have ever experienced on any coaster in my life. By contrast, Mantis was always one of my favorites at CP.

For what it's worth I had good experiences on both Riddler and Georgia Scorcher.

The rest of them... well, not so much :)

Agreed

I knew this was talked about in a conference call last year and there are slides that have a bit if the companies roadmap sketched out. They mentioned this for 2917 and another (Bortex at Carowinds) in 2018 or 19.

Tekwardo said:

Agreed

They mentioned this for 2917

Damn, 901 years in advance. That's planning ahead.

Tekwardo said:

(Bortex at Carowinds) in 2018 or 19.

I just hope the gift shops don't run out of Bortex license plates.

The ride will be sponsored, I presume, by... Gore-Tex?

Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuper excited for this. As possibly the only ultra-CGA fan on these forums I feel I must chime in haha. There has been rumors of this being announced for the last few weeks but I didn't think there was any merit to it... quite surprised to read this today! I have to disagree with someone saying it's not as rough as other standups.... I really think Vortex is the roughest piece of ****e that you can find. I haven't been on many other standups.. just the ones on the west coast. But Riddler's Revenge I found ultra-smooth compared to Vortex (rode them both this year too). Vortex is a head-banging shaky mess, and it is always almost walk-on even when the park is super crowded; Most people really dislike it.

I'm still worried about shaking though. Definitely new floorless trains can fix the head-slamming problem, but what can they do to fix the track shakiness without rebuilding? Is there a retrofitting process that has been used before?

Either way I'm glad. It's a nice way to announce a new ride in a lesser park where they don't want to invest in a whole new ride. The Mass Effect 3d conversion this year was awesome, but I'm sure Patriot will not disappoint. Go Cedar Fair!!

I hated Mantis, the only stand-up I've ever been on. Down with them! Floorlesses are enjoyable experiences though, so good on this park.

I understand the repeat name thing, but now Cedar Fair will have B&M Floorless Patriot at California's Great America, and B&M Invert Patriot at Worlds of Fun. If both were a Floorless or both were an invert this would be ok. Does this bother anyone else?

I would be pretty alarmed if it did.

cmingdayton said:
I understand the repeat name thing, but now Cedar Fair will have B&M Floorless Patriot at California's Great America, and B&M Invert Patriot at Worlds of Fun. If both were a Floorless or both were an invert this would be ok. Does this bother anyone else?

No.

Thunderhawk is a wooden coaster at Dorney and a Vekoma SLC at Michigans Adventure. Dominator is a drop tower somewhere (Dorney again?) and the floorless at Kings Dominion. It is just the way these things go sometimes.

Why would that bother anyone?

Because we need something to post about. :)

You are correct, Sir :-)

Well ya know, it's nothing new. Back in the day coasters were named after animals or weather events. There's only so many, hence the proliferation of Wildcats and Cyclones.

I think the worst offender is Shockwave. The name Vortex also belongs to a bunch of different coasters and flat rides.

cmingdayton said:

Does this bother anyone else?

You must really hate Six Flags then: https://rcdb.com/qs.htm?qs=goliath

Vortex is already shut down, and the blue paint has begun! I was in the park today, and the new blue color is a cerulian dream come true. I guess we can't post pics here, but if you check out @insidecga on IG he has a good pic of the track, some pre-paint and some post-paint. Love it.