KI history photos - Merry Christmas!

[KIfan73]

Mmmm....these are as yummy as a piece of leftover pumpkin pie!

Was at my aunt's house for Christmas dinner and was browsing through some old photo albums when I came across these photos.

These are from August 21, 1972, a trip with my mom, aunt, and uncle (I wasn't born yet!):

Behind the "new" Kings Island Inn:

I believe this is where The Beast is now:

In front of the KI Inn (my mom's new 1970 GTO Judge that she really wishes she still had):

These are a year later, August, 1973:

I hope you enjoyed these!

[ahank]

Very nice find! Thanks for sharing!

[The Retro Kid]

Great photos, thanks for sharing! Too bad there wasn't any pictures taken in the Happy Land of Hanna Barbera section.

[Jasper]

Merry Christmas KIFan and thank you for sharing those amazing pictures. I love the compass on top of the building too. Is that the building where the Enchanted Voyage was at one point?

[KIfan73]

Merry Christmas KIFan and thank you for sharing those amazing pictures. I love the compass on top of the building too. Is that the building where the Enchanted Voyage was at one point?

Yes, as far as I know, that's the Enchanted Voyage building.

[The Retro Kid]

Merry Christmas KIFan and thank you for sharing those amazing pictures. I love the compass on top of the building too. Is that the building where the Enchanted Voyage was at one point?

Yes, as far as I know, that's the Enchanted Voyage building.

Yes, it's the same building.

[thekidd33]

Wow these are awesome! Thanks for sharing these!

[CedarPointer]

And next on the list of things that KI needs to bring back (along with The Beastprints and the Action Zone sign) is that compass. It's awesome. Even if they replaced the Eiffel Tower silhouette with that CF flag thingy.

[standbyme]

Thank you SO much for sharing these!

Everytime I see photos of the canoe "ride" it blows my mind that anything like that ever existed at an amusement park...nowadays I think it would be called "Lawsuit Waiting To Happen".

[Tomkatt7]

I must say, as much as I enjoyed the pictures of the park, I really liked seeing the old "Judge"! The 70 is one of my favorite cars of all time. Your momma has great taste!!! LOL

[CoastersRZ]

Really?

You know that Coney Island has had canoes on Lake Como for two years now. They are a very popular addition to the Pedal Boats on Lake Como, although there are many people who do not quite understand how to steer them, or keep them from tipping over. Fortunately, any one who goes out in a canoe MUST wear a life jacket, and Lake Como is only three to four feet deep all the way across anyway. So most people that do tip their canoes can end up walking them back to the dock!

And thanks a whole bunch for sharing those photos. I love seeing photos of the park in the early 70s when the sky ride was around, and all the trees within the park were just saplings. Its amazing how the vegetation and trees have filled in the park over the years.

[Diamondback FOF]

...These are a year later, August, 1973:

...

The first picture reminds me of the Blue Horizons show at Sea World (which was fantastic, by the way!!)

For the second picture, are those the same green houses than are way out behind SOB that I believe you can see while riding Flight Deck?

[CoastersRZ]

Yes, those green houses on the left in that picture are the ones that you can see from Flight Deck`s lift hill. Naturally, they are used by the landscaping department at Kings Island.

[KIfan73]

I don't think I'd ever seen the conoes before. Also, the buildings on IS look so intricate in the photos.

[CincyMan98]

I think it's so funny how tiny it was, and look at what it is now!

[markr]

Thanks for sharing the memories. I saw the Bavarian Beetle and The Rotor among the photos. An unfortunate reminder of too many rides now gone.

[windshawne]

I had forgotten about the compass on the enchanted voyage building-and honestly, I think that is the only pic I have seen of rotor-I dont think we ever took a pic on any of our family trips.

[TopThrill]

Great Pictures.

[Plankton]

Seeing the canoes makes me want to watch the Brady Bunch's "Cincinnati Kids"!

"The floating bucket ride" (my nickname; aka Sky Ride at CP) looks likes it's about to break any minute.

[IndyGuy4KI]

Thanks for sharing. Very nice!

[flightoffear1996]

Great photos. Hard to think of all the people that poured in just for those few rides!

[The Interpreter]

Attendance was actually much higher back then than it has been in recent years...

[Shaggy]

I had forgotten about the compass on the enchanted voyage building-and honestly, I think that is the only pic I have seen of rotor-I dont think we ever took a pic on any of our family trips.

The two least photographed rides that have ever existed at KI are the Rotor and Bavarian Beetle. It's worth noting also that in this picture, the Rotor is shown to the right of the Bavarian Beetle. When the Wild Animal Habitat opened in 1974, the Rotor was relocated to the left of the Beetle so a path to Coney could be placed from WAH.

Re attendance: KI's largest attendance year was, if memory serves me correctly, 1996 (Outer Lmits year.)

Shaggy

[KIfan73]

^ I had never seen either one of those rides, so when we came across these pics on Christmas night, I couldn't believe it!

That is hard to believe that attendance is lower now than back then. The lines/crowds had to have been huge!

[brick52]

Those pictures were very nice.

[KIfan73]

Thanks!

And thanks to everyone else for the comments. My aunt probably won't believe how many people like those photos!

[Avatar]

Wow and thank-you for sharing, those pictures really showed how Kings Island looked and with the old grand atmosphere. I know everybody loves the trees on international street but for me I liked the more wide open feel back in the day of your pictures.