Hurler is not great, but not bad. I ride it most days I go to Carowinds (I ususally spend less than 4 hours when I go). Sometimes I ride it more than once. It's fine. But Carowinds really would benefit from a really high quality wood coaster.
Vortex I haven't ridden in a long time. It's worth less than nothing to me as a paying customer. It doesn't make riders happy. It makes them sore and irritable. So something should be done.
All the work to remove it is going to cost money. I don't know how much. I'd guess hundreds of thousands of dollars. That's a lot of work and money to create a tiny little empty space (and the additional cost of putting in something new ). If they can make a decent little coaster out of it by converting it, then do it. A nice riding little floorless (if it is NICE riding) would be the best thing they could do for the money and the limited space. It might not be great, but at least I'd ride it.
If they can't make a nice little coaster out of vortex ( quite possible) wait until they've had enough of nighthawk too... and get rid of both at the same time. Then put in an attraction that will really bring people to the park (and be able to move them through the line at a reasonable rate).
No more removing rides. Build, build, build up elsewhere. For the record, Vortex may almost be the best and smoothest floorless conversion. The GP will notice, I'm sure, that it's the same ride, with different trains. Making this attraction a new experience will go over well in the Carolinas.
I agree with Kirkgun. Vortex doesn't really do anything for me either. Neither does Nighthawk. I say take both Vortex and Nighthawk out and replace them with another top-notch, worthy of the front of the park attraction.
However, I do NOT think that should be next.
Do something with Hurler first, then add a world class woody. (I don't think a woody in the place of Nighthawk and Vortex would be a good spot as the wood would kill the sight lines around the park. So, make that 2 different things). Put the new woody back in the WWF area or in dinos (OR BOTH!!?).
Maybe then they can replace NH and Vortex with a launch or something else that will be worthy.
They would never remove two roller coasters at the same time just for one attraction, especially when one of the coasters is one of the park's major attractions. However, they are both low capacity in comparison to the other coasters in the park. New trains would help immensely. But I don't see the park removing either one, especially Nighthawk, anytime soon.
Maybe I've just gotten lucky the few times I've ridden it, but I don't get all the hate for Nighthawk. My last ride was in the 5th row maybe, on a wheel seat? It's not gonna crack anyone's top ten lists but I think it's a fun, relatively intense coaster. If they could increase the capacity, I'd probably ride it every visit like I do with the big B&M's.
