TombraiderTy

You're thinking of the Kings Island Theater (not to be confused with the current Kings Island Theater, which is the indoor theater near the park entrance that used to be The Paramount Theatre). The original Kings Island Theater opened with the park in 1972 and was a big red vinyl structure supported by air pressure. It collapsed due to a December 1974 snowfall and was replaced with a new version (now blue) for the 1975 season. Its last year was 1977, and it was replaced by Tower Gardens in 1978. Theater in August 1973 (courtesy gorillasdontblog.blogspot.com): Theater collapse in December 1974 (source unknown... I think it was Cincinnati Enquirer though): Pictures of the second version (with the blue vinyl) are hard to find. Reference a few posts down for a couple pictures of it.

Cinema 180 (also referred to as Cinema 180 Theatre) opened in 1986 and had a different film every year. It appears to have last played a film in 1995, and was briefly re-purposed as an upcharge laser tag game in the early 2000s. It was then storage through its removal before the 2009 season. Here's a (I think) complete listing of its movies with brief descriptions, pulled or re-worded from old park guides, newspapers, etc. 1986 - Flight 747 - airline pilot landing a Boeing 747 when chaos ensues 1987 - Block-buster - clips from a helicopter ride around Seattle’s Space Needle, a motorcycle pursuit through downtown Atlanta, Georgia, a ride through the Kamakazi curve of the Orient Express roller coaster at Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, Missouri, and a speeding bobsled at Lake Placid 1988 - Fantastic Flights - POV from a U.S. Air Force Thunderbird stunt plane and a roller coaster POV 1989 - Impact - galactic star field and other adventures 1990 - Flight 747 - I assume the same as 1986's. Additional description included "unforgettable flight featuring Rio de Janeiro, Copacabana Beach, and Iguacu Falls" 1991 - Horizons - Unknown 1992 - Colossus - cliff diving, careening through the narrow streets of Mexican village, and flying in a jet fighter 1993 - Galaxy of Thrills - careening up the street, down the surface at Waikiki Beach and through an entire Galaxy of Thrills... the building was also used for a traveling Star Trek exhibit through June 1994 - Wild Wild West - dynamic chase scenes at breakneck speeds. Included a high-speed chase with the California Highway Patrol, flights over dizzying vistas, a corkscrewing roller coaster, and snow skiing trhough western states 1995 - Crazy Wheels - high-speed action For what it's worth, Cinema 180 was an attraction at other parks too, like Hersheypark and Kennywood. There's a brief history of it over at The Amusement Parkives here - https://amusementparkives.com/2019/03/28/omnivision-inc/ Edit - Here's a picture of it its last year, 2008.

The photos @4runneradam shared back in 2011 were uploaded to Imageshack, which unfortunately purged many users' photos a few years later. For posterity's sake, here they are re-uploaded directly to the forums. (@4runneradam if you don't want the photos re-uploaded, please let me know and I'll remove them from my post) You can see the location of the bus here: https://goo.gl/maps/Qfcz8RCS1E1GsMeG7

I agree that the one at Paramount Action FX Theater in 2005 (above, with hat in right hand) isn't the one from rehearsal (with hat on table and hand pulling rabbit out), but I'm not sure that it's in a different pose than the dressing room (to clarify, the dressing room doors near the start of the attraction)... the photo you shared makes his legs look a bit more crouched than the one later on the bandstand maybe, but that's not as noticeable in the photos I linked above and I'm wondering if it's just the angle. The best footage I've seen of the theater scene is from CoasterBob62 on YouTube, at about the 3:00 mark in this video. Unfortunately Houdelini is still pretty hard to see. For what it's worth, I wouldn't be surprised if Houdelini #1 (dressing room) and #3 (theater) were the same pose. It'd save everyone money by just making two of the same figures. I can see a resemblance (Photo 1 Source, Photo 2 Source)

I'm pretty confident that that Houdelini was the one behind the dressing room door (there was a light inside his hat that illuminated him... the one of him in rehearsals had him pull a demonic rabbit out of a hat siting on a table). I don't really know what the one in the theater (Pepper's Ghost) scene looked like, so I suppose there's a slim chance it could have been that one though. That photo was from 2005. There's a few other ones of the display in the KICentral photo gallery. Here are the specific shots: https://KICentral.com/photos/fearfest-2005#2399 - Audience Member #5, sitting on the balcony https://KICentral.com/photos/fearfest-2005#2405 - Display from Side B of Theater, with Maestro at Organ, swirling paper, and Usher https://KICentral.com/photos/fearfest-2005#2410 - Garbonzo's cannon... I don't believe the figure they stuffed in the cannon was actually a Phantom Theater character though https://KICentral.com/photos/fearfest-2005#2413 - Display from Side A of Theater, with Houdelini, Usher, Flash Powder barrel, Willard Warbler in barrel, and Garbonzo's cannon https://KICentral.com/photos/fearfest-2005#2414 - Display from Side A of Theater, with above plus Houdelini sign and swirling paper https://KICentral.com/photos/fearfest-2005#2417 - Lionel Burymore https://KICentral.com/photos/fearfest-2005#2418 - Maestro head... this head wasn't used in the attraction, but appears to be part of the costume for the Maestro character they had in the 20th anniversary parade https://KICentral.com/photos/fearfest-2005#2419 - Two statues that they projected faces on https://KICentral.com/photos/fearfest-2005#2424 - Furnace operator If you have any other shots of that display though, I'd love to see it! And regarding the Houdelini figure, here's the one that was on display on the Bandstand in 2008. I think that they're the same figure... if it was the rehearsal one, his hat would've been a separate prop sitting on the table. The same figure was also on display during Halloween Haunt 2007 in Coney Maul.

Has he been refurbished? Maybe it's just the photo you uploaded, but his eyes look painted on or like they're stickers. I believe that his eyes were originally separate from the skin and would pan from side-to-side. Regarding the theater scene, Shaggy had a good summation of it above. You had mentioned Lionel near the bottom - I don't remember him being in the theater scene, but I could be mistaken. Please correct me if I am! The character that Shaggy mentioned sitting on the railing, I believe that was a fifth audience member... who they later used as a FearFest prop with three of the other audience members. The four audience members who had been seated in boxes didn't have full legs (since guests would never see them), but this fifth guy did. Here's a shot I took of him from FearFest, I think 2009. And here's three of the other audience members they used as FearFest props (I think these were 2006, also from my personal collection... note the guy with the hat is the same as above): There were five audience members, so there's one that didn't appear to ever be used as a FearFest prop. I've never seen a good photo of him from when he was in the ride though.

I deleted my original account, but considering it was from May 2005 and I was only 12 years old... I'm not sure that I want to know what it was From this account, it's unsurprisingly a post about Adventure Express

@kimv1972 Thank you for sharing all those photos! I especially like the one with Fort McHale - I wish that the ride still had show scenes like that today. I don't think I've ever noticed the little white stars in the wheel hubs. I don't think those are on the cars anymore, but they look like a neat little detai.l

One of Enchanted Voyage's few dozen animatronic characters is for sale on Facebook Marketplace, with an asking price of $950. Tagg is four feet tall and about four-and-a-half feet long. His head rocks side to side and his tail wags back and forth. He used to be holding a stick in his mouth with two little characters suspended from it. In the actual ride, he was located across the trough from Gary Gulliver, the largest character in the ride. Per the description, he still works! This is at least the second time that Tagg has been listed for sale... he was on eBay back in fall 2016. If memory serves me right, his asking price there was $650... then $550... then $450... I reached out to that seller on a whim and he was willing to part with the dog for $200... I still regret not buying it then, though I have no idea where I'd store it now Here is the listing on Marketplace: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/180359263800601/ Video of Tagg in action, in the inset video at the 1:12 mark here: https://youtu.be/MV4CWEcvOec?t=70

I figured you were trying to make some joke about that and assume you're referring to Shoot-the-Rapids at Cedar Point? Not to downplay the severity of that situation and how horrible it could have been, but are there any other flume rides that have had issues? I know they had an issue on their rapids ride at Six Flags Over Texas in 1999, but I'm not familiar with anything past that.

Lots of ride manufacturers offer log flumes, including (in alphabetical order): ABC Rides Switzerland Hafema Intamin Mack Rides Ride Engineers Switzerland Sansei Technologies SBF Visa Group WhiteWater West Zamperla

I could pore over this model for hours... so many great details, and such a great tool for visualizing how expansive and intricate Phantom Theater was... especially for a regional park. One interesting piece is this knight, shortly after the big show scene. I'm fairly confident that it was never included in the actual attraction - in its place was the floating white dress, which is in the next room in the model. I wonder if the knight ever made it into production and why it was ultimately cut.

There's an excellent article on Coffey in the August 1977 issue of Cincinnati Magazine. It references a lot of the things he had created up until that point. The article starts on page 64. https://books.google.com/books?id=jR0DAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA64&ots=Jj22UkFj2t&dq=cincinnati magazine farrell coffey&pg=PA64#v=onepage&q&f=false Regarding the puppet tree, that was created in 1982 and near-identical versions were added to other parks around the same time (including California's Great America and Wonderland Sydney). I don't know how long Coffey stayed with Kings Island and his involvement in other parks, but a lot of the 1980s Hanna-Barbera pieces were duplicated across the chain (like the Hanna-Barbera Carousel figures). It's possible Coffey could have worked on it... hopefully someone else knows more and can share.

Coaster Cutouts is a really cool concept and I hope to see more Kings Island rides added. I wonder if we'll get an Orion one soon - there's already the Hersheypark equivalent with Candymonium: https://www.instagram.com/p/CG_YfZ-hqNc/

Unfortunately, I definitely think that this will be the case. Six Flags already announced that they're removing 15 rides across the chain, Disney has permanently shuttered some of their attractions, and now Kennywood announced this... I expect that the next few years in the theme park industry will be grim.

Sad news out of Pittsburgh today - Kennywood is retiring the following four ride: Bayern Kurve (Schwarzkopf Bayern Kurve) Kangaroo (Bartlett Flying Coaster) Paratrooper (Hrubetz Paratrooper) Volcano (HUSS Enterprise) Details: https://www.instagram.com/p/CHI7m1SF9Y6/?igshid=1i0qg7ixpkg0p Especially sad considering Bayern Kurve was one of only two of its kind in the country (albeit Knoebels appears to possibly be opening one next season) and Kangaroo was the last of its kind. Edit - @TombRaiderFTW beat me to the punch -

Brass Ring was a really cool concept - it was themed to look like a merry-go-round, and all the food was originally on a large revolving platform, akin to a carousel. No indoor seating, just a covered open-air patio to the side (similar to today's Juke Box Diner). Here's a better picture of it, from KICentral's photo gallery / Reggie Zippo: Based off park guides, articles, and photos, it was added with the Coney Island expansion in 1975 and its last year was 1981. In 1982 it became Cafe Mexicana, though it retained its carousel appearance.

I don't think it's unreasonable for users to ask for evidence and more information, especially when there's been a lot of content created without any evidence / sources provided whatsoever. I also don't see any benefits for users to be coy or super secretive with the information they share. Regarding what @Oldschool75 is referencing, there are blueprints for the original Bat tucked into the Orion queue. You can see them in the below screenshot, from this video. It's a little hard to tell, but there are are corkscrews overlaid where the two helices are.

@KI Master It's two years later, but I think this is what you're looking for: Source As an aside, the ride was previously Motor Mouse and located near the center of the area. Based off photos and videos, looks like the vehicles between it and the other Hampton were interchangeable... including motorcycles at some point (absent from the above photo).

The bridge over Oktoberfest's lake was added 1983 and the one over Swan Lake was present when the park opened in 1972. I believe that they were both removed after the 1994 season (at least that's the last time they were depicted on park guides). Regarding @gforce1994's recreation, I think it's important to show what he seems to be modeling it off of. Some of the earlier Kings Island concept art released to the public / Taft shareholders featured some minor changes in park layout. As scanned and shared by Steve Frazier, the 1970 Taft Broadcasting annual report:

I'm not really familiar with the cemetery, but from the Warren County Genealogical Society:

Oh I wasn't questioning any of the story. I'm sure it was overgrown and the markers were difficult to find. I was just surprised that the cemetery as a whole was difficult to find (or at least it was reported that way in Cincinnati Enquirer). I guess they didn't have Google Maps or whatever at their disposal though to help pinpoint its location Here's a 1964 aerial, also from ODOT (cemetery on right). It does look like the little square is grown in a bit more: The next photo from ODOT is 1972, where it's been nicely cleaned up. And here's a 1970 photo from ground level, as included in the Cincinnati Enquirer article "Graves Cause Puzzle" from October 18, 1970. You can see how overgrown it was here:

I was surprised to see that the cemetery was initially hard to find (quoting Woolsey from the 1970 Cincinnati Enquirer article referenced in the blog post: "We had some difficulty finding it, though, because it is so overgrown.") Before Kings Island, the cemetery was literally at a corner of a field and wasn't buried deep in the woods or anything. Seems clear that the landowner had to grow his field around it. The cemetery is the square at center. For reference, the big "corner" in the trees at the upper right is where Timberwolf is now today. Photo courtesy Ohio Department of Transportation, 1960.

A few months ago I was actually trying to figure out when it was added... it appears to have been installed mid-1975. 1975, from KICentral/Reggie Zippo (notice it missing at bottom right): August 27, 1975, from an eBay auction (it's present on the right): I was talking with another KICentral user about it back in June and he speculated that it may have been a Farrell Coffey addition. Coffey created a lot of fiberglass figures and props around the park in the mid- to late-1970s, and this stein looks right up his alley.

A week ago Cincinnati's Coney Island held a memorabilia sale and sold off a lot of the former amusement park's old pictures, artwork, ride vehicles, signage, etc. There wasn't too much posted about the sale ahead of time, but I recognized an old Kings Island map in one of the pictures shared on their Facebook about a week before the sale. After a little consideration, I booked a flight up to Cincinnati for a long weekend to visit family and hopefully score that map. And after an early Saturday morning (and a lot of stressing about getting to the sale early enough and finding the map before someone else got to it), I found myself the new owner of this cool vintage piece. It's a little faded and worn, but it's also nearly five decades old. I believe that it would've been displayed in the preview center for Kings Island at the old park (hence why it was being sold at the Coney Island memorabilia sale and didn't end up at the new park). The map was created by Ron Riegler, who would later serve as the chief art director for Kings Productions. It was one of several park maps created ahead of the new park's opening to show future visitors what Kings Island would look like. Whereas other maps had a lot of differences compared to what was ultimately built, this one seems to have been one of the final iterations and matches up with the as-built Kings Island really well. There's a few minor discrepancies between the artwork and what was actually built... I assume some were just artistic liberties, whereas others may have been actual adjustments. I think one of the most fun parts of Kings Island history is sharing it with others, so I took some pictures of the map's details to share here... with a sprinkling of commentary (especially with regards to what was painted and what was actually built). Description of the five themed areas and Ron's signature... note number five is the "Happy Kingdom of Hanna-Barbera", whereas the real section was known as the Happy Land of Hanna-Barbera. It also refers to the "Happy Kingdom Ride", which I assume would ultimately become Enchanted Voyage. The entrance plaza is one of the biggest changes between concept art and real life. The tram circle in the drawing is skewed to the side, whereas the real life variation was directly in front of the park entrance. There was also a line of flags here that I don't believe ever existed in real life, plus the International Restaurant appears to be included (in reality it didn't open until 1973). The concept of International Street here appears very similar to what was built, pardon a few small things. There is a floral clock and date in front of the tower, whereas the real life floral clock was behind it to the right (before being relocated to directly behind the tower in 1977) and the floral date wasn't added until 1973 to the left. Note that there's also flags on top of the carousel, which I don't believe were ever a thing. Oktoberfest and Coney Island. I'm not sure what's depicted between Sky Ride and Rotor (bottom left of the "2"), but I don't believe anything was ever built there. The Racer station and lift hill also show some flags that were never a real thing. Top of the map, with Racer, the antique car rides, and Rivertown. I think that Rivertown ended up being the most accurate to what was actually built. I can't pinpoint any changes. The railroad and picnic grove. It looks like a series of teepees at the railroad's turn-around... there were teepees in the real ride, but I think that specific location was home to the Fort McHale show scene. And finally, the Happy Kingdom of Hanna-Barbera... pretty close to the as-built, sans the big canvas tent structure over the center and the huge compass atop Enchanted Voyage's building (though the real one wasn't added till mid-1972). The map is a cool piece and I'm sure it made a lot of Coney Island visitors excited for the new park opening in 1972. It's cool to compare it to what was built, and I'm excited to (hopefully soon) get it hung up to properly display. If anyone has any additional comments on the history of the map or its contents (or if you think I erred anything), please feel free to share!