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I think you guys are SEVERELY over analyzing a cartoon map version that is rarely accurate for how that area is going to look.

We've got the time. You can't open the door and then not walk through.

official POV

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!

I mean if we take every little artistic difference as gospel to what's happening at the park, that clearly means Delirium is going back to it's original paint scheme, Shake Rattle & Roll will have Green, Red & Yellow cars, they're adding supports above the track for the train as it crosses over WWC, Kite Eating Tree is going down to 1 side, Woodstock WhirlyBirds is going to have rocket shaped vehicles vs the helicopters from years prior, Scrambler will go back to the yellow color scheme, etc.

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/entertainment/2019/03/05/tallest-drop-tower-rides-disney-world-six-flags-busch-gardens-marineland/3065065002/ The tangled web of this article is fascinating. Cincinnati.com is owned by the Cincinnati Enquirer, which in turn is owned by Gannett who also is the parent company to USA Today. This article is clearly from USA Today, but it appears as though they allowed the Enquirer to change the title to be relevant to their market even though Drop Tower clearly isn't the focus of the article.

A couple thoughts: Apple turnover must have the dessert of choice in the 70s. It would also be nice to see a Fried Chicken house come back in some form. KD's Country Kitchen was very good last year.

That could work as well. They would say that Vekoma sold all boomerang models to B&M for $65.00. So moved Invertigo and redesigned it and gave it a new name.

I thought it was more of getting guests to talk, "hey look it's Invertigo!" "Didn't it used to be smaller" "Yeah, but 12 people died on it, so they rebuilt it"

Hey sweet! They removed the HR buildings/etc and planted grass there. Maybe that's where the IS trees are going? It's still fun to guess things that may or may not happen.

Invertigo Colors!!!!

Double Post! I went with a B&M Flyer this time since I do not this a launched wing is an option for KI. Sorry @Hawaiian Coasters 325. I do however think a B&M flyer could be it if it is not a giga. So I created one. I give to you...….Space Beast

In case you have not seen the tweet.

I THINK you can. I know that they hold games prizes for $5, although I’m not 100% certain if that service is extended to merchandise or not.

I find it interesting that you used to be able to make your purchases and pick them up later....honestly would love for this to come back, I'd even pay a little fee for it.

Yes, They will paint the coaster these colors due to Invertigo's Removal lol

I dunno if Vortex will actually have a new entrance sign...they made a big deal out of the sign getting refurbished last year or the year before.....can't remember when specifically lol. I don't know if it'll be too crazy of a pinch point. We have had the exit of Vortex combining with Urgent Scare traffic (to and from) and WindSeeker Fast Lane entrance. It may be more of a pinch point if they have the Urgent Scare Van where they had it last year.

I would rather gave a giga from anyone or an Intamin Blitz. But If B&M is on the forms and its not a giga. I see a flyer before a wing imo.

Any reason why? I wouldn't either in the near future.

Sorry to hear that @McSalsa!

That has kind of been my fear all along. If they keep a Haunt back there, it will be even worse

I have family that lives in North Carolina, so I'm hoping I can go down with them to Carowinds. Tried to last year, but didn't work out. This year would be perfect with Copperhead Strike. I haven't had the chance to ride Fury since the last time I was there was in 2014.

Definitely looking forward to riding this opening weekend.

Very Awesome

I think a neat idea would be to bring back a Skeleton-key like upcharge, but instead of getting access to one room in select houses, have a parkwide scavenger hunt where guests have to find certain specified scareactors for the next clue or item. At a designated entrance, one Scareactor could act as the "Greeter" and explain the rules, etc. and then give different clues to each guest/group of guests. If this was implemented, this upcharge experience would probably last the whole night (or at least a good part of the night), due to the possible difficulty of tracking down specific scareactors at certain time. The reward at the end could be a Fright Lane pass to use for the next visit of something to that extent. Thoughts?

So awesome...I love old-school copywriting. What an amazing place it must have seemed.

I agree with you. Atmosphere is everything.

We have to give @TombraiderTy credit for the original post. The insight and knowledge @Shaggy brings is very much appreciated.

I got ya.....I think whatever coaster KI gets that will have inversions should have double loops and we can get the record for park with most loops lol.

FYI also, all early KI park guides can be found at Sit on It on FB. ;-)

Guides from 1972 were used temporarily when the park re-opened in '73 until new ones were printed.

The most needed improvement, in my opinion, is the revamp of the theming of the themed attractions such as FOF, AE, Backlot, and Boo Blasters. With age, these rides lost quality and functionality in the animatronics alike. It feels that little to no matinence goes to maintaining the theme and it is a shame.

I feel that haunt was the second priority to Winterfest for the past 2 years, but now that it seems that park has Winterfest all figured out they can bring back some more focus on Haunt. The public love haunt and it shows because it seems that every Saturday night is extremely packed. I agree that rides and mazes need to come together and bring a more interactive haunting experience like Tombstone Terrortory was. Maybe some haunted antique cars of 2019?

2nd launch. Not filmed on park property, but across the street. Go follow him.

I would think we would see a ground up RMC before would ever see a RMC Beast. RMC conversions are for coasters that need fixed and having problems. Beast does not fall in those categories.

And to this very day if you listen closely you can still hear his screams echoing through the back of Rivertown. Although, that could also be screams of disbelief when people see the price of beer at Potato Works.

Paging @Shaggy — after reading this topic, I ended up going to watch that old Discovery Channel POV and all of that got me thinking about things I had heard over the years. Thought maybe you would be able to shed some light and dispel truth from fiction: - There's a pinch break on the straight piece of track shortly after you leave the station. I don't believe that was one of the ride's block sections, but once heard that the original station was supposed to be longer with zones for loading and unloading, thus allowing the ride to accommodate 3-4 trains. I also seem to recall seeing a third train Premeir train in storage and that the ride was originally supposed to have three. Any truth to that? - There was a kicker wheel just before trains crested the hill into the drop after the post-lift hill dip. I'd heard from many folks over the years state that the first train ever tested valleyed in that dip with all the park executives watching from the Eifel Tower. Did that happen? - Any idea why they never built tunnels into the ride ala its predecessor? - Also remember reading that SOB was the world's largest wooden structure and that it held a record for crossing over and under itself more times than any coaster. Did they ever promote it with those records? If you have any insight, I'd love to hear it! What an aesthetically pleasing ride it was. I originally thought it was odd that the lift hill was the only thing you could see, like it was just a massive wooden blob. Then you boarded the train and pulled out to see that loop in the distance. So darn cool. And at the top of the hill—everything out in the distance looked insane. And it was. Because the ride was never all that fun. But darn it looked good. Also enjoyed how the first drop ran parallel to the loop, making people think that the loop would happen first.

That could work, or a Dive Machine named the Demon in the Timber Wolf area

I say bring back the Adventure Village name to Action Zone; most of the rides in that area could somehow fit under that umbrella. This new area could also include that little strip of land with Slingshot, Adventure Express, the Coke stand, and perhaps even Hank’s. Festhaus and Viking Fury could either be what’s left of Oktoberfest or absorbed into International Street.