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Kings Island 50th


Captain Nemo
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The golden year is almost here! When Kings Island opened in 1972 it began with a brash experiment of bringing world class excitement of a Disney like formula to a regional seasonal park. Almost 50 years later, Kings Island has grown into the Midwest's largest and one of the most successful in the US. 

For it's 50th, as enthusiasts and people who love our park, what are you most excited for and more importantly what are the things you would love to see the park do for next season?

For me, I would love to see signs around the park showing the history of each location, the rides and attractions that have been and information about what they were. I would also love to see this as the year Live Entertainment makes its grand return with showcases from some of the most beloved shows that have graced the park in its 50 year history. This would include a huge makeover of the grand finale fireworks. I'd love to see a documentary played on FUNTV and daily live trivia of the parks history for real rewards everyone can play while in the park though the KI APP.  Since it is the 50th and its stone is GOLD I would love to see that idea transform the perks for GOLD+ members. Lastly, and most grand I would see the Eiffel Tower repainted all in GOLD. 

 

What are your dreams you would love to see for the 50th season? Who knows, we know the park reads these comments and maybe they will fall in love with some of the ideas we contribute.

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Definitely would love to see a big time celebration like what Cedar Point is doing. A trivia with prizes you could win would be nice! Definitely should play a documentary on the FunTVs (I may be a minority, but I don't like the FunTVs lol). I also would love to see a new skywheel as well as Boo Blasters revamped into a modern Phantom Theater (similar to what Knott's is doing with their dark ride revamping it and basing it off an older attraction). I also would love to see an upgraded entry plaza (not year down the current entrance) but maybe give the building some TLC and new ticket booths and a new season pass processing center. This may be a big stretch, but I would also love them to try and reopen the 60 ft level of the Eiffel Tower and make it like a relaxing area with patio style seating and stuff. I do agree the ET needs a repaint, but not gold. I just would like to see fresh aqua/blue paint to make it more fresh. Obviously, they likely won't do all of these, but this is my wishlist for next year and maybe even the next few years (park improvements wise). 

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I would love to see Kings Island debut a new front entry plaza with a renovated front gate, new ticket booths, and new landscaping. Like @Hawaiian Coasters 325 said, they can just upgrade the facade of the front gate building. I would be okay if they completely redo everything else though. It would also be cool to see a legacy walk (maybe in Tower Gardens), a new ivy tunnel, some Oktoberfest love, and new live entertainment celebrating Kings Island.

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1 hour ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

I would love to see Kings Island debut a new front entry plaza with a renovated front gate, new ticket booths, and new landscaping. Like @Hawaiian Coasters 325 said, they can just upgrade the facade of the front gate building. I would be okay if they completely redo everything else though. It would also be cool to see a legacy walk (maybe in Tower Gardens), a new ivy tunnel, some Oktoberfest love, and new live entertainment celebrating Kings Island.

I definitely think the entrance building needs some kind of overhaul. This website has been posted a ton but the concept art is awesome - http://matthunterross.com/kings-island. It's not a new building, just an addition of dormers and a large centerpiece. The idea of a legacy walk in Tower Gardens sounds great! I would hope to see lots of colorful banners around the park, maybe signs at the entrance of rides explaining their installation and any records they might have broken, & specialty food booths in different parts of the park. Definitely need to sell some kind of birthday cake lol

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I've said it for a couple years now.  I would like to see a tip of the hat to the old closing.  If memory serves me correctly there was a hot air balloon launch, a bi-plane (snoopy) vs tri-plane (red baron) and skydivers.  May be a bit hard depending on the condition of the tri plane but I'm sure the last two came from warren county airport.

And of course on the show side I would love to see Celebration back.  Such a classic show.

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On 5/15/2021 at 7:57 AM, robintodd said:

I've said it for a couple years now.  I would like to see a tip of the hat to the old closing.  If memory serves me correctly there was a hot air balloon launch, a bi-plane (snoopy) vs tri-plane (red baron) and skydivers.  May be a bit hard depending on the condition of the tri plane but I'm sure the last two came from warren county airport.

And of course on the show side I would love to see Celebration back.  Such a classic show.

The ballon, bi planes and skydiving were the Firestone Air Show.   They had it around 6 PM each day.  

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I made a concept of a front gate upgrade for if they were to do that as part of the anniversary next year. What I did was, I painted the front of the building a light brown color, added 3 new ads for the 2022 season (Nothing is official by the park and I have no inside knowledge on what the park is doing or planning on doing next year. It is all speculation). I then put a ribbon board that would display some ads similar to Cedar Point's entrance (black line at the bottom). I then added a few fake windows with awnings and flags on top of the building.

Source for photo: https://www.google.com/maps/uv?pb=!1s0x88405801b48c9003%3A0x64f9f426e5e19765!3m1!7e115!4shttps%3A%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPX4k2dJBDDMiOhRofQsaztZxXAhzr_DBUV_IsK%3Dw284-h160-k-no!5sKings Island - Google Search!15sCgIgARICGAI&imagekey=!1e10!2sAF1QipPG6zelB1bVxpQXo_GKQhr7gzkrRL0e9JL8iSoQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiVsZersubwAhVlEFkFHTazBUYQoiowN3oFCKUBEAM

 

 

KI entrance update concept (1).jpg

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10 hours ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

Getting ride of the brown shingles there now would be nice. Not sure what would look nice that could serve the same purpose, but sure they could come up with something. No need to buy banners anymore. Make the electronic ribbon you added and make it take up the size of the banners. 

The only downside to that would be the Haunt and Winferfest structure they add there during that time of year.

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^The shingles were supposed to be European, but just don't do well on a 70's "modern" roofline.  The addition of the International Restaurant accomplished the "wow" component when entering the park.  When the park opened, there was a display of flags all along the building which softened the look.  The adds need to go and the flags need to come back.

They also should restore the graphics on the berm on the right side.  That was always fun to see back in the day.  I do remember the giant Kings Island Logo with the HB characters, The Beast, Vortex, Adventure Express (basically whatever was new that year).

A video ribbon board, if done well, would be a nice addition.

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On 5/14/2021 at 9:08 PM, Benjamin22 said:

I’d love to see a flat ride be added to Oktoberfest for the 50th season. In terms of merchandise I’d really love to see the return of souvenir maps!

Yes both of those.   Oktoberfest is the most neglected part of the park   

 

  

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For the 50th, KI should add a drone show in addition to the Royal Fountain fireworks (similar to what Dollywood is doing this year).  It also would be nice to see the strobe lights back on the Eiffel Tower (like they were for the Peanuts starlight spectacular years ago).

Parton and the Dollywood team are constantly coming up with new experiences for guests, including the new Intel Drone Light Shows during Dollywood's Sweet Summer Nights and the new upcoming resort. The show will include nearly 400 drones and fireworks for a spectacular event during the park's Summer Celebration.

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For the 50th, I think a year-long celebration of the park's history would be great. KI has really leaned into nostalgia in recent years (bringing back Antique Cars, redoing International Street). The recommendation about small exhibits commemorating old rides and attractions would be a great addition -- or, transform Tower Gardens into a walk-through Kings Island museum (similar to the exhibits when it had the Paramount Story, but KI-centric). I remember there was talk about a KI documentary (not produced by the park) being in the works and debuting about the same time -- it would be great to have that playing somewhere, maybe in the Kings Island Theater at certain times or just on a loop in Festhaus (and if that doc isn't produced, maybe that's something for KI to do). A really spectacular evening show would be great to close the park with. And maybe the theme is that 2022 is all about celebrating the park's past, and if there IS some big project coming in 2023, maybe build up to that announcement all summer long, teasing the park's future. 

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