Vortex is a

stand-up roller coaster A stand-up roller coaster is a roller coaster designed to have the passengers stand through the course of the ride. History The first stand-up roller coasters in the world were originally built as sit-down roller coasters. Japanese manufacturer ...

located at

Carowinds Carowinds is a amusement park located adjacent to Interstate 77 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The park straddles the North Carolina-South Carolina state line, with a portion of the park located in Fort Mill, South Carolina. However, it has an of ...

amusement park in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

. Manufactured by

Bolliger & Mabillard Bolliger & Mabillard, officially Bolliger & Mabillard Consulting Engineers, Inc. and often abbreviated B&M, is a roller coaster design consultancy based in Monthey, Switzerland. The company was founded in 1988 by Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabil ...

(B&M), the ride opened to the public on March 14, 1992. Vortex was built a year before

Paramount Parks Paramount Parks was the operator of Paramount's Kings Island, Paramount's Kings Dominion, Paramount's Great America, Paramount's Carowinds, and Paramount Canada's Wonderland, which annually attracted about 13 million patrons. National Amuseme ...

purchased Carowinds and is situated on the former site of the Carolina Speedway miniature car attraction. It was B&M's third coaster and features a

loop Loop or LOOP may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Loop (mobile), a Bulgarian virtual network operator and co-founder of Loop Live * Loop, clothing, a company founded by Carlos Vasquez in the 1990s and worn by Digable Planets * Loop Mobile, an ...

and a corkscrew element in its relatively short track layout. Vortex represented a new era of stand-up coasters at the time, which were more advanced than the previous generation introduced in the 1980s.

History

On August 15, 1991, Carowinds announced that a new

would be added to the park in 1992 called Vortex. It was the first coaster built at Carowinds since

Carolina Cyclone Carolina Cyclone is an Arrow Dynamics roller coaster located at Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina. The coaster is located in the Carolina Boardwalk area of the park. Built in 1980 by world-renowned (and now defunct) coaster manufacturer Arrow ...

in 1980, and also became the park's most expensive ride to date at $5.5 million. Built by

, Vortex was the sixth stand-up coaster to open in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Construction began in September 1991, and officials believed it would be completed by January 1992. Vortex officially opened on March 14, 1992. It was repainted for the 2011 season with red track and gray supports, similar to the park's Intimidator coaster.

Ride Layout

Riders depart from the station in a standing position, then ascend a small lift. A pre-drop, characteristic of early

coasters, follows the lift hill, preceding the curved right drop. A

vertical loop The generic roller coaster vertical loop, where a section of track causes the riders to complete a 360 degree turn, is the most basic of roller coaster inversions. At the top of the loop, riders are completely inverted. History The vertical ...

follows the drop and is followed-up by an upward right and downward banked turn. An upward helix follows the downward turn and is followed by a corkscrew to the right. After another upward helix and a wide turnaround, the train enters the final brake run before entering the station.

Construction Data

* 109 columns and foundations * 411,000 pounds of steel * 931 cubic yards of concrete

Ride Elements

Loop Loop or LOOP may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Loop (mobile), a Bulgarian virtual network operator and co-founder of Loop Live * Loop, clothing, a company founded by Carlos Vasquez in the 1990s and worn by Digable Planets * Loop Mobile, an ...

* Corkscrew * Banked Turn Image:Vortex (Carowinds) 01.JPG, Vortex's drop Image:Vortex (Carowinds) 02.JPG, Vortex's loop Image:Vortex (Carowinds) 03.JPG, Vortex's drop directly before the corkscrew Image:Vortex (Carowinds) 04.JPG, Vortex's corkscrew

References

External links

Official Page
{{PCW Coasters Steel roller coasters Roller coasters manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard Roller coasters in North Carolina Roller coasters in South Carolina Roller coasters operated by Cedar Fair Roller coasters introduced in 1992 Carowinds Stand-up roller coasters manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard