Limited number of Vortex track slices go on sale tonight online

UPDATE: THE VORTEX TRACK SLICES ARE SOLD OUT!

A limited number of track slices from the retired Vortex roller coaster will go on sale tonight at 8 p.m. online.

For $198.70 (plus shipping), the Vortex kit includes a 1.5 inch slice of track capped with metal plates and mounted in a display stand, a certificate of authenticity signed by Kings Island’s executive vice president and general manager Mike Koontz and a limited edition Vortex postcard set. Limit one per person.

The Vortex operated at Kings Island for 33 seasons from 1987 to 2019, giving 46 million rides. It was the tallest, full-circuit roller coaster with the highest drop in the world when it opened, and the first in the world to send riders upside down a total of six times.

The Vortex was designed exclusively for Kings Island by Arrow Dynamics and included the following succession of thrills that had never been incorporated into one steel roller coaster before:

• a 148-foot high lift and drop of 138 feet at a 55-degree angle
• two vertical loops
• one corkscrew
• one boomerang turn
• a 360-degree helix turn at the end
• a top speed of 55 mph

After giving its last rides, crews demolished the Vortex prior to the opening of Kings Island’s 2020 season.