A_Titanic_Mess

Thanks Interpreter, it has been a while since I participated in the forums! I still love KI, but I am downsizing a bit and trying to find good homes for some of my KI memorabilia I have collected over the years. I know there are great KI fans out there that might want some of this vintage KI stuff. Hope to be a a bit more active in the forums!

Hi...I have a Lot of 25 black and white vintage publicity photos from Kings Island for sale on ebay. All photos except for a couple measure 8"x10". Condition of photos is very good, except the photo of the Salt Water Circus has some scotch tape marks on it. These are photos that would have been used in the press releases, and many of the photos have a description of the photo at the bottom or on the back. Great item for collectors of King Island or roller coaster memorabilia. Drop me a message if you have any questions. Thx! http://www.ebay.com/itm/301702808909?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1586.l2649 These are vintage photos dating back from the 1970's and 1980's. There are 25 photos total. Below is a list of the photos. - Salt Water Circus - George Jetson and Astro - Winterfest 1985 "Winter Wonderland" show American Heritage Music Hall - Winterfest french bakery - Winterfest German Shop - Winterfest train display - Wild Animal Safarai 1978 Penguins - 1980 "That's Entertainment" show American Heritage Music Hall - 1980 Tour and Travel Center - College Football Hall of Fame - "Singin' to the World" show International Showplace - "Pickin' 'n a Grinnin'" show Wild Animal Safari - The Bat 1981 merchandising logo - The Bat ride photo - The Bat ride photo - The Bat ride photo - King Cobra ride photo - The Racer backwards ride photo - The Vortex ride photo - The Beast merchandising photo - The Beast artist drawing - The Beast construction photo - The Beast construction photo - The Beast construction photo - The Beast 1980 ride photo

Hi, I have several vintage Kings Island souvenirs for sale on eBay. Most are from the early to mid 1970s. I will be posting additional items in the next couple of days. Drop me a message if you have any questions. My user name on eBay is cincyskate. Thank you! www.ebay.com/usr/cincyskate

Interesting timing...I hear Cedar Fair has a very large payment due on the note for the purchase of Paramount Parks around February 2010. Guess there have been some concerns over this looming due date.

Hey I have an idea, why don't they put an ice rink in the fountain??? Oh wait, yeah guess that is not such a great idea after all.

It's a sure sign that when someone says "no offense to anyone" that what they are about to say is going to be offensive.

1986 Summer - Quickdraw's Cafe, Smurf Cones, and Bamm Bamm's 1986 Winterfest - Festhaus 1987 Summer - Quickdraw's Cafe, Smurf Cones, and Bamm Bamm's 1987 Winterfest - Ice Rinks 1988 Summer - Fotozines 1997 - 2002 - Resale Dept Manager I feel like I am missing a couple years in there, maybe was there in 89' also, it all kind of runs together.

I remember way back when I first worked at the park in the 80's that International Street was always open until Midnight on Saturdays. I was called the "power hour" due to the amount of revenue generated in food and merchandise in the hour between 11pm and midnight. I will agree with the post on here though that it does make for a late night for associates. If you work in food, your line will probably stay open until midnight, so close can't take place until the line is gone. I would guess most sups will not get out of the park until 1:30am or 2am, hope they are not scheduled for the early on Sunday!!! I live very close to the park in Landen, and I have to tell you that after the first couple of nights of fireworks you become pretty immune to them. Half the time I don't even know they are going on. On a side note, does anyone know if KI has a July 4th extended fireworks show planned?

I live fairly close to the park, and you can hear the roar of the train, it is great! They have been running test for quite a while today. Just was out with the dog about 15 minutes ago and watched the train crest all the hills. Can't wait to ride!

I think I will stay out of this conversation...

Spoke to a few former PKI co-workers this week who moved to Myrtle Beach to work at the Hard Rock. All former KI employees have been laid-off from Har Rock. Everyone is looking for work. Many of them have leases on homes/apartments though through the spring. Sad situation for so many folks that made the move.

Columbia Palace has some great food in the day. That placed used to be hoppin! If you worked in Food Service, and got in trouble for something, your punishment was being sent to Columbia Palace for a close shift. It took hours to close that place, and it was hard work so no one wanted to get sent to CP for a close shift. The second worse place to close IMO was the HB cotton candy stand that was outside of the old HB toy shop. There was not running water there, so you had to carry buckets of hot water from Quickdraws to clean the cotton candy machines. It seemed like it took a gazillion buckets of hot water to get those cabinets cleaned out.

Drop Zone (Tower) does it for me. I find that to be the scariest ride I have ever been on.

I think Paramount brought a lot of great attractions to KI, but it never played out the way it was supposed too. Paramount wanted a vehicle to promote their film and television properties, much like Disney and IOA. The problem with Paramount is they would never invest the capital needed to make this work. Tomb Raider was really the first time IMO that they made an attempt and backed it with capital. Nick Universe was also well done. I think in the end you could say that Paramount did an ok job, but never lived up to it's potential. You just can't do theming half-way, and this became the legacy of Paramount. On a side note, Paramount discussed many times reopening the IR, and re-theming it as the first-class dining room from the Titanic. Another possible theme idea tossed around was of course a Star Trek theme. Both plans were put on hold as the entire front gate was to be torn down and replaced with a new entrance/exit. The plans called for a massive gift shop that guests would walk through to get to the exit. A smaller exit would be available outside of the gift shop. The capital needed for this project was never approved, so the project was shelved. This was to have happened around the 2002 - 2003 season.

Wonderland has been doing well for close to a decade now. KI has always been the leader in revenue, but Wonderland was always a close second, and in some instances surpased the Resale division revenue at KI. Kings Dominion always liked to think of themselves as second to KI, but it was really Wonderland that was in that second spot. KD was third, with Carowinds and PGA rounding out the bottom. The company I work for now has retail in both the US and Canada, and our Canadian business is on fire. The economy issues of the US do not appear to be impacting Canada as heavily at this point. Good job to the folks at Wonderland. It is a beautiful park, and I am glad to hear they are doing well.

I am talking pre-Smurfs...the original Enchanted Voyage was the best!

One of the best attractions ever at KI. Too bad they did not keep it around, it really could have become a signature attraction for them in the way that some of Disney's dark rides are today. That and Gulliver's Tubs. I think that those are the two best themed rides that the park has ever done. My favorite ride as a child was Gulliver's Tubs (or was it Gullivar's Travels, I can't remember). I loved this ride. I am not sure what it is, but for me there is just something special about water attractions that are themed such as Gullivars or Enchanted Voyage.

One of the best attractions ever at KI. Too bad they did not keep it around, it really could have become a signature attraction for them in the way that some of Disney's dark rides are today.

But it's still an improvement over the Paramount years. Remember, this is the first time in years that the park has emphasized the entertainment area. Hopefully, they will continue the efforts and get back to the Entertainment Department of old times. One of the first steps, though, should be a live band playing. That seems like such a basic? I agree, entertainment during the Paramount years was not good, and you would think that Paramount would have had some of the best entertainment around given their portfolio of movies, tv, and music.

I have seen the whole show, and I don't think it is great, it is ok. I stand by my opinion though that the vocals are not very good. KI used to have some of the best stage entertainment around, and sadly that is not the case any longer in my opinion. Even the ice shows from years ago were so much better. They used to have a budget of $250,000 for the ice show production back in the late 80's and early 90's. I heard from some of the skaters that the product budget for the ice show now is about 1/5 of the old amount. I understand times are tough, and the park has to make a decision on how to spend their capital each year, and I hope they would consider live entertainment as an important part of the budget.

So, you can sing better than them? No, he complains a lot but brings nothing to the table. Myself, and most of the KIC community, have conditioned ourselves to simply ignore him. Well for someone who "brings nothing to the table" I certainly get an awful lot of private messages from KIC members asking me questions about KI, so some on here do find my knowledge of KI helpful. I just won't sugar-coat everything like you and so many others do on this site. But hey, I understand, you have to keep in the good-graces of KI so they will feed you a bone every once in a while so you have some news to post on here for the groupies. I plan to continue to post my opinions and experiences with KI, so just keep on ignoring me. Have a great day!

So, you can sing better than them? No, I am sure I sound even worse than they do. Maybe I should have auditioned for the show, clearly being a good singer was not a job requirement to be in this show.

Did any former KI employees attend today? If so, please report on the employee reunion, curious to hear how it went!

Oh my god...she must be thinking to herself that the level of enterainment at the parks is not what it used to be! That was some of the worst singing that I have heard in a long time.

Cool pics. Looks like the track comes pretty close to the Intl. Showplace. Wonder what the noise from the coaster will be like, and if it will disrupt the shows at the Showplace?