 Welcome back to another video. Since we have had some time now to get used to the fact that Vortex is leaving Kings Island after this season, I want to discuss a few options for what I think could potentially replace Vortex in the future. Before I jump into this, I just want to mention that I am in no way expecting a huge roller coaster to come to Kings Island for 2021 or even 2022. I think the absolute earliest we could say new roller coaster for the park is 2023, seeing as they are receiving Orion for the 2020 season and that will be about a $30 million investment. Even still, we might not actually see a new coaster here until 2024, but I would say 2023 at the earliest. Kings Island has been adding a new coaster every three years starting with Banshee in 2014, but since Orion is such a large investment, I won't be surprised if it's another four years until the next one following Orion. Getting into the good stuff, what do I think Kings Island will receive to replace Vortex? Vortex takes up quite a large plot of land right next to the beast. It is very picturesque and built onto a sort of valley. It is absolutely gorgeous. This is a prime location and the park isn't going to just leave this area abandoned. It would be a huge eyesore to leave it vacant. I believe something will definitely be placed in Vortex's spot. Will it be a coaster though? In my opinion, I believe that Kings Island will eventually put a coaster in the spot. They could maybe do something temporarily with the land until a new coaster would come, but I think the coaster will happen by 2025. I'm going to discuss a few different coaster models that I think could come to Kings Island in place of Vortex, and I will talk about them in order from what I think is least likely to most likely. The first coaster model I want to talk about that I think could potentially fill Vortex's plot of land is a Bolliger and Mabillard flying coaster. Now, I don't think this is extremely likely, as Cedar Fair has not built a single BNM flyer to date, and of course Kings Island just got rid of a flying coaster in the form of Firehawk, the Vekoma Flying Dutchman. It just doesn't seem like that something Cedar Fair would want to do, as you replace a type of coaster with a very similar type of model. Of course, as enthusiasts, we realize that the Vekomas and BNM flyers are pretty different, but that doesn't really matter to the general public. I think a BNM flying coaster would fit into Kings Island's lineup great, but I don't think it is the big coaster that Kings Island will want to draw in the crowds. One type of coaster that Kings Island is missing in their lineup is a Rocky Mountain construction coaster of some sort. The reason I am talking about RMC in an umbrella and not just one specific model of RMC is I don't have any idea what Kings Island would end up going with. I believe their classic Woody's Racer and Beast are safe from getting the iBox conversion, but I could not see the park getting yet another wooden coaster, so Topper Track is out as well. That leaves a ground up hybrid, a Raptor, or a T-Rex. I don't think Cedar Fair would bring a Raptor to Kings Island as the capacity would be too low for a park like Kings Island that gets over 3.5 million visitors annually. We have not seen a T-Rex built yet, and Kings Island has never been a park known for being a testing ground for new types of coasters under Cedar Fair management. And honestly, it is hard for me to think about Cedar Fair actually investing in a ground up hybrid too. Add to this that I believe Cedar Fair has had a somewhat rocky start with RMC, no pun intended, with the three coasters they bought from the company for the 2018 season. I don't know how likely it is that Cedar Fair will work with RMC again in the next couple years, and I struggle to find a good model from RMC that Kings Island would realistically add to their lineup as much as I would love to see one at Kings Island. One thing going for RMC is that this would be the cheapest option by far out of all the models I am discussing here. For the third model, I will talk about a B&M wind coaster. It seems like there is always a rumor of a Cedar Fair part getting a wind coaster, but I think one would work great in this plot of land. They are very beautiful looking rides, which would be great for this area, and of course would also feature many large inversions. There is also the time that Kings Island made fake leaks for a wind coaster before the announcement of Banshee, which they were teasing as the Bat, which they of course ended up using the name for Flight Deck, and the Bat-Pace tribute to the original Arrow suspended at the park, which sat right where Vortex does. Funny how it all ties together. But anyways, I personally love wind coasters and wouldn't mind seeing one here. I imagine this one would be much more compact than Gatekeeper, but they could easily fit a very good-sized wind coaster in this piece of land. This is just a similar thing to the B&M Flyer though in regards to drawing in guests. I don't think this model would really give Kings Island the desired results they are looking for in terms of return on investment, although I do see a wind coaster as being much more likely than a Flyer or RMC. The next model I will discuss is a Mock Rides multi-launch coaster. Kerowins opened Copperhead Strike this year and it has done great for them. I personally got to experience Copperhead Strike several times for myself and I absolutely loved it. Kerowins and Mock Rides really knocked it out of the park with that ride. I would not be surprised to see Cedar Fair add at least a couple more of these in the coming years. I would love to see one of these come to Kings Island, but I'm not so sure it would be the most likely candidate for Kings Island's next coaster. However, they really could use a modern, thrilling launch coaster. Backlot Stunt Coaster is 14 years old and is a very family-oriented ride with no inversions. While Flight of Fear is a pretty intense launch coaster, but opened 20 years ago, I think a Copperhead Strike-esque multi-launch could bring something new to Kings Island's lineup that they could really use. In Vortex and Firehawk, they have also lost two inversion-focused coasters as well, and this could help to fill that void a bit. Based on the history and recent years of Kings Island's new coasters not bringing very big attendance increases though, I don't know if Cedar Fair would be willing to invest $26 million, which was the cost of Copperhead Strike into Kings Island after they invested $30 million into Orion. I suppose it could depend on how well Orion does for the park and if it brings in the crowds that they want. Next up on our itinerary is the model that I personally would be the least excited for, but I think could also make a lot of sense from a business perspective, a BNM dive coaster. In the last few years, Cedar Fair has invested in both Valraven and Yukon Striker, and both of these massive dive coasters have done very well for their respective parks, Cedar Point and Canada's Wonderland. Though these dive coasters are also very expensive, and this would probably cost almost as much as Orion, these dive coasters are general public magnets and have proven to be very popular, increasing attendance at both parks and boasting great ridership, as well as being very reliable in terms of maintenance and having great capacity. I have also thought for quite some time that the plot of land where Vortex sits would be a perfect spot for a dive coaster. I could just see a menacing dive drop towering over the midway where you walk up to where Vortex's Batwing currently is. It seems like a perfect location to me, and dive coasters are also very picturesque as well. This model really would make a lot of sense for Kings Island in my opinion from a business standpoint, but at the same time, I just feel like a dive coaster would feel out of place in Kings Island's lineup for some reason that I honestly just can't explain. I thought almost a year ago that they were possibly going to get a dive coaster rather than a giga because of the same reasons actually. In any case, I think that a B&M dive is in Kings Island's future at some point, even if it is not the next coaster, but for right now, I'm going to say that a dive coaster is the most likely candidate for the next coaster that would replace Vortex. What do you guys think about Vortex being replaced in the next few years? Do you think a new coaster will be put in its spot? Do you think the next coaster after Orion will be one of these models I discussed, or am I missing something that you could really see coming to the park over all of these models? Maybe they won't replace Vortex with a coaster at all, but expand that area and add new flat rides or something along those lines. Of course, everything I discussed here is complete speculation, and obviously we will not know what is next for Kings Island for quite some time. Be sure to leave your comments about what you think about all of this, and if you enjoyed this video, liking it and subscribing to my channel would really help me out a lot. Be sure to like my page Coaster Daddy on Facebook, and follow me at Coaster Daddy Official on Instagram where I post pictures for my trips, and post updates on new videos and interact with all of you as well. Thank you all so much for watching. This is Coaster Daddy. Bye.