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Showing content with the highest reputation on 03/05/2019 in all areas

  1. I've been slowly scanning my collection of vintage Kings Island maps and brochures for archival purposes and thought others would enjoy looking at all the old collectibles. Here's the first, the 1972 Kings Island Guide Book. Guests were handed this as they entered the park its first year and, unlike the single-page maps of today, this thing was 40 pages long. It highlighted park areas, attractions, and sponsors, using primarily custom artwork (Also, I believe KICentral previously included this specific guide in its history section, but it doesn't appear to have a live link anymore). I'll mix in some history facts and tidbits alongside the images. Feel free to share additional information if you have it, and please don't hesitate to correct me if I say anything wrong. Cover- featuring a trio of Hanna-Barbera characters on Enchanted Voyage. Note the ride's TV facade isn't finished - it wasn't until the end of the 1972 season that the ride's name was painted over-top the rainbow. 2-3 - Sherwin-Williams ad. The company sponsored Eiffel Tower 1972-1974 and included this advertisement in each of the guidebooks. Interestingly, the 4000 gallons fact jumped to 6000 gallons in the 1974 guide. 4-5 - Hosts and Hostesses and Table of Contents. The 1,500 high school and college students operating the park in 1972 were selected from a pool of 11,000 candidates. Today, the park employees approximately 5,000 seasonal associates. 6-7 - General Information. Some interesting things to highlight: Cameras could be rented from the Fotomat Camera Shop Different International Street buildings used to have mailboxes for postcards and letters Hand-stamps for re-entry has been a thing since the park's first year (anyone know if it was Hanna-Barbera character stamps back then?) 8-9 - BankAmericard Service Center and northAmerican Van Lines Storage Center, both in the main entrance building. Note that strollers used to be provided for free (albeit, if you've ever seen a photo of the old strollers, you know they're almost barbaric when compared to today's ). Also I love the incorporation of Hanna-Barbera characters into the artwork. 10-11 - International Street map. It's interesting how many sub-shops were in the five buildings, whereas today a single shop (ie, Sweet Shop) takes-up the whole building. It's also interesting how unique all the different wares were... I don't think you can still buy pottery or candles at the park today! Inset 1 - This was one of two insets in the guide. It listed park sponsors, all of which were also featured on their own pages. 12-13 - Kahn's Sausage Haus, the "world's smallest sausage kitchen". It's interesting that the guide book included such a detailed description of the sausage making process. This was located where Skyline Chili is today. 14-15 - Rainbo Mini Bakery and Fotomat Camera Shop. The former was replaced in 1975 with Magic Shop (and today is part of Starbucks' seating), the latter in 1974 with a generic camera shop. 16-17 - Oktoberfest. I bought this brochure from eBay a few years ago and it includes small notes and comments from whoever used it almost 50 years ago. They appear to have marked attractions they rode (Sky Ride), but also added-in Bayern Kurve... everything I've ever read/heard says the ride didn't open until 1973, so I'm intrigued by this being written-in. I have some theories, but does anyone know more? 18-19 - Toys Internationale and French Bauer. The 1972 guide is a little out-of-order, but this was fixed by the 1973 guide. Also, note the attention to detail with French Bauer - "The counter, back bar and mirror are for real, actually acquired from a classic Ice Cream and Candy Shoppe in the Old South." 20-21 - Park map. Very simplistic, and probably not to scale 22-23 - Old Coney, otherwise identified as Coney Island. Couple things to note... Items 18 and 19 are both "Refreshment Stand". I wonder if these had real names that just weren't used in the 1972 guide (they were identified as Thrill Burger and Antique Treats in the 1973 guide) It's interesting Something New!!, the name of a show, is listed instead of Kings Island Theater, where the show took place A small stage, Show Wagon, is not listed or depicted, but it was immediately to the right of Flying Carpet. It wasn't there opening day, but had been installed by mid-season. 24-25 - Entertainment offerings opening year. 26-27 - Rivertown. I've always found it interesting the park considered both antique cars rides (Les Taxis and Ohio Overland Auto Livery) as part of Rivertown, despite one side only being accessible from Old Coney. Also of note, check-out the original train layout. It was re-routed right before Winterfest 1988 to accommodate the new WaterWorks. 28-29 - And the last area, The Happy Land of Hanna-Barbera. It seems whoever used this guide in 1972 must've had children, as they heavily focused on this area of the park. 30-31 - Marathon Turnpike, an Arrow Development turnpike ride. The attraction consisted of two intertwined tracks (like antique cars), but I don't think there were any differences in ride vehicles between the sides. The two tracks were also ultimately merged into one for the 1982 children's area overhaul. Inset 2 - The second inset, a pretend Marathon credit card. Marathon sponsored the turnpike through the late 1970s. 32-33 - Shops and stores. It's interesting to see how diverse the collection of merchandise used to be. Note that Schmuckwaren and Cristaleria both appeared to feature a glassblower. 34-35 - Food and refreshments, also pretty diverse. A few of these locations (Whistle Stop, Refreshment Stand) have been demolished over the past couple years. 36-38 - Outside of the amusement park, the entertainment center also included a campground and golf center. The campground was removed in the early 2000s, and it appears the last remnants of it are now being transformed into an employee dorm. The golf center remains to this day, albeit without the Jack Nicklaus name attached. 39-40 - Kings Island Inn, later known as the Kings Island Resort and Conference Center and closed late 2014. The $3 million inn was built by Taft Broadcasting and managed by Carrousel Motels Inc. Back - And finally, the back cover. I'll try and share the 1973 guide in the near future. There's a lot of similarities between the two, but also some interesting additions and edits. Hope you enjoyed the 1972 guide though; let me know if any questions or comments!
    7 points
  2. Guides from 1972 were used temporarily when the park re-opened in '73 until new ones were printed.
    3 points
  3. We have to give @TombraiderTy credit for the original post. The insight and knowledge @Shaggy brings is very much appreciated.
    2 points
  4. I think this is a nice addition to Sunlite Water Adventure. I actually had known for a while that this was coming. Last year, they had the diving boards closed all year, due to state regulations, and there were many people sad that they were closed. At one point in time, I think that they did have high diving boards, but those have long since been gone. This will replace the Pipeline Plunge water slide, which has been problematic the last few years. It was closed for several weeks last season. This new attraction will be popular across a wider demographic, and allows diving boards to return to Coney. Not many water parks at the major chains have diving boards, so it is definitely unique, and gives it more of a community swimming pool feel.
    2 points
  5. Question is would they place a launched wing that close to Holiday World. I think if KI got anything other then a giga. It would be a B&M flyer.
    2 points
  6. It was an issue with the cache on the server side. Should be working again now.
    1 point
  7. I want to guess that the reason why HB Land was so detailed may have had something to do with the brand standards that Taft had laid out for the characters. Same was true for Nickelodeon - people from Viacom would come in and have final say on shows, artwork, etc. It's probably far more intense with Peanuts since they aren't owned by the same company as the park. A lot has changed in nearly 50 years, but I could fathom this being the case with why the HB Land maps and details were different.
    1 point
  8. The cost to you to upgrade will actually be the current price of platinum, minus the price you actually paid for gold. So if you got the gold when they were cheaper, or on a discount buyout day, the delta between current platinum what you paid may be higher than current platinum and current gold prices. Same will apply to your dining plan... You'll need to pay current platinum dining price minus the actual gold dining price that you paid when you bought it. But yes, you can do it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    1 point
  9. Never been to Spirit Songfest, but I do have to admit that there's something special about those nights. Having the Timberwolf lit up is unique to that weekend. It makes that whole half of the park really come to life.
    1 point
  10. Awesome. Thanks for sharing!
    1 point
  11. Its a Mack Spaghetti Bowl! haha
    1 point
  12. Cannot wait for this ride! We are heading down for Friday, March 29 and Saturday, March 30. First trip to Carowinds!!!
    1 point
  13. Oh, I beg to differ. I'm 40, so probably too old to have an opinion on Boo Blasters (but I have one: I'm not a fan), but my 7-year-old son loves it. It's his favorite ride at the park. He rides it about five times each trip and talks about it all year (we live in Detroit, so Kings Island is a one year thing). He talks about it in the way I talked about Smurfs Enchanted Voyage when I was a kid or my brother talked about Phantom Theater. You eventually outgrow what's there and something else (sometimes inferior, in our eyes) takes its place, but those are the experiences that kids hold to and ultimately create lifelong fans. I'd say it's working pretty well.
    1 point
  14. Possible, but doubtful. They were likely at the end of their serviceable life. In my previous career, we transplanted trees. Older, larger trees like these had about a 50% percent chance of survival after 5 years and that was if they were moved from ideal conditions (wide open areas with no prior root constraints.) It was very expensive and disruptive to infrastructure. As much as I loved those linden trees on IS, I hope they weren't transplanted.
    1 point
  15. It has been released via Education Days flyers. I feel like they are just showing the seating areas as they are...wouldn't necessarily call it a balcony.
    1 point
  16. I would love to see the return of PT because I am not a fan of the mass production of Boo Blasters that Cedar Fair has across the chain and PT was a unique experience and certainly memorable. Sadly, I think that the park is going to choose to stay with Boo Blasters because it is a more interactive experience. It goes without saying that KI is low on dark rides and themed rides entirely. AE has lost a lot of it's theming and most of the animatronics do not work anymore. FOF lost the launch theming and the immersion throughout the ride. Lastly, we lost Tomb Raider: The Ride! I would not be surprised if we see a new dark ride in the old Tomb Raider building in the next 5 years or so!
    1 point
  17. If we look at the KI 2019 map it looks like there is some sort of balcony here that will allow us to get a closer view to the fountain! Very cool!
    1 point
  18. I could see an argument for that like 10 years ago but honestly I feel like it has had some good years recently.
    1 point
  19. Yes, I would love a giga and I think that it's the most likely option, but what if they got a launched wing instead? I made this concept of a launched wing in the old Firehawk plot of land.
    1 point
  20. Also, I believe Paramount has distribution rights for the four existing Indiana Jones films while Lucasfilm controls licensing and legitimate ownership of the actual IP. George Lucas hated studio interference on the films he produced/directed, so starting with The Empire Strikes Back, this is how he went about things.
    1 point
  21. That is a serious pinch point between The Vortex entrance and the edge of the Antique Autos. I also think what you are seeing on the left of that photo Rick is the maintenance road that ran along that side of Racer and back behind the Bunge.
    1 point
  22. There is about a 0% chance within the next few years for that to happen.
    1 point
  23. I really wish that Kings Island would allow Phantom Theater to return but if it doesn't the most I can see Kings Island doing is a Haunt attraction themed to the Phantom Theater.
    1 point
  24. This exactly is part of the reason why I could see it going pack to Planet Snoopy area. Up until Scooby Doo the ride building was classified as part of the kids area. The Scooby Doo licensing and theming necessitated the change to International Street. The boat rides prior to Phantom were part of Hanna Barbara Land and even on the maps it shows Phantom Theater as being part of it too. So the theming of the ride not fitting the theme of Nickelodeon/Peanuts seems to be the only real reason it's an International Street attraction. They could easily change it to Peanuts and make it a new addition to the land. To me it makes sense as the entrance is in the land itself pretty much. This would also help to solidify again the park's hold on best kid's area. It has a strong line up as is with many great rides for both kids and families, multiple coasters, shows, petting zoo, and a log flume. Add a dark ride into the mix and no other regional park comes close to beating it.
    1 point
  25. What if the new coaster isn't a giga? I could see a new flat ride package, maybe a different B&M model, but the recent giga rumors from the past few years have been wrong. I'm not trying to be contrary, just reminding people to keep an open mind. Wow, this is such a huge giga! I can't wait to see this record breaker when I go to KI next spring!
    1 point
  26. I'd say about 20%. I fully expect on opening day there to be signs of construction and a wall with teasers up. At that point the "decoding 2020" thread will get opened on the main KI subforum and this thread will get pretty silent. Only a couple months till that point, so another 60 pages wouldn't be likely without spamming. The last two months have only had 18 pages for comparison.
    1 point
  27. I can’t see those low percentage drops being more than the ebb and flow of the business. If it was something like a 5-10% drop, then that might be indicative or a larger problem. Let’s also note that when the economy was down, people elected to stay closer to home which provided KI with gains. When the economy is good, people have extra money and travel further for entertainment and vacations. I just don’t see a big swing here. Some years are better than others, especially when new rides and attractions are added and for a season or two after. They may not be spending $30M on KI for 2019, but based upon a new attraction and the redoing of IS, I’m betting they’re easily spending $5M on improvements. The IS reconstruction can’t be cheap, especially with the fountain improvements. On the financial reports, the listing of improving those parks doesn’t give a timeline. That could be for the next year or the next ten. We really don’t know.
    1 point
  28. ^Its honestly a bit creepy with how obsessed you are with Intamin that you can't even go without looking at an obviously tongue and cheek inside joke without clamoring for a new Intamin to be real. You take the obsession to a whole new level.
    1 point
  29. Currently there are HUGE DEEP holes dug all down the sides of the fountains. They are installing hydraulic lift tables that will automatically lift pre-lit trees into place for Winterfest - thus expediting the labor intensive set up. Also, all the "windows" on International Street are being replaced with dual-pane glass that will allow them to randomly select "fog/ice/frost/tint" setting with the touch of wireless connection. Finally, several of the shops have had their false "forced perspective" second stories removed and they are building viewing platforms on the tops for the new light/water show on the fountains. Access to these platforms will be granted via a "VIP Diamond/Emerald & Ruby Pass" the park will begin selling next season for an additional $300 per pass. Its a massive undertaking- and the place is a mess right now - that's why there's no pictures. Had ya for a second didnt I? (and for the more... ummm gullible readers... that was all fake. I have no earthly idea what all they are doing... LOL)
    1 point
  30. Phantom Theater was a great ride. But I still remember riding the Smurf`s Enchanted Voyage when I was really young. I remember being super mad that Kings Island decided to remove the ride and replace it with a "dumb" haunted house. Funny that now I would love to have that "dumb" haunted house back.
    1 point
  31. The park owes the enthusiast community absolutely nothing.
    1 point
  32. It's funny that people think they deserve updates on progress just because they visit a park. They do not have to communicate with anyone outside of putting information on the website. So, I'm not sure how you think they are lacking in communication. They are constantly updating social media with information on different projects, their big focus on The Beast and of course Antique Autos. Why is it such a bad thing that they aren't releasing photos of the International Street project? Why can't they just let people see for themselves? Why should they cave to entitled enthusiasts who think they deserve whatever they want at the park?
    1 point
  33. I might be the minority but I would like to see something added to Coney Mall in some form or another. Whether it be a little stage in the Skyline pavilion, a traveling band or Peanuts appearances down the midway, or something of a similar caliber would be a cool addition to the area- especially since that section is going to have a lot of traffic these next few years.
    1 point
  34. There was a completely different feel to last years haunt It just didn't seem alive. I honestly think that since winterfest has come back that haunt has been put on the back burner. Maybe the problem does lie in the fact that they are trying to have so much going on, at haunt, that everything is spread so thin that it lacks the quality that is really there. I was so sad to see freak street gone. They should definitely have something in that area as it felt incomplete. Wall of monsters needs to come back, and also where were all the roamers? I hardly saw any. I love haunt and I know how it can be. A few tweaks and it will be perfect.
    1 point
  35. a real glockenspiel with projected seasonal projections would be better.
    1 point
  36. Maybe this is a possibility if the trees are removed?
    1 point
  37. Today I have revamped Action Zone into - The Dark Forest. Removed - Invertigo and Drop Tower. Added - New Drop Tower from Intamin ( like falcons fury at BGT) named Demon Drop ( since they have the trademark already). - Tea cup ride called Dark River Cups - Music express ride called "Enchanted Express" - New Blitz coaster by Intamin called "Windigo". Park's first and only beyond vertical drop. Speeds of up to 75mph. Launch tunnel out over the water (thank you Maverick). Cobra Roll & Heart Line roll. The brown is rock formation the coaster will pas through. (The brown over the water where the walking path is.... is a bridge). - Renamed Congo Falls into "Forgotten Falls" - Added as many trees that I could - Added "Dark Forest food Hut" - Other food carts along the path ( marked in black). - I wanted to connect a path from tear Demon Drop over to near Forgotten Falls to add passage easier to a from The Bat. I forgot to place it on there haha. This is fun. I like to recreate whole sections of the park
    1 point
  38. Thanks for the heads up! We're going through logs so that we can identify and report the offending ad to Google.
    1 point
  39. BLSC to Planet Snoopy... to the south of Surf Dog. Theme it to a soap box derby. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    1 point
  40. I've know they encourage flying the glider as high as one can achieve, and applauding 'great flying', but do they actually encourage snapping?Yes. They say stuff such as "great snaps" over the mic, to supposedly rerides for the best snap.
    1 point
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