With a lot of talk of expansion and ride removal. I was looking up how much land PKI had. They have around 630 Acres (not including the campground) total, which does include the parking lot and water park.

I forget what they say they have used up, but I see room for expansion without the need to remove rides...

I also was wondering what the (appears to be) building is WAY BACK behind The Racers???

That's the fireworks launch site and King Cobra graveyard.

Yup, firework launch area.

You can see the grave yard too.

Those are cool pics where did you get them from?

I got those pictures from the County Auditor, only because it has the property information and borders and stuff...

However, Google has better imagery and its in color...

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=mason,+ohio&...58545&t=k&hl=en

I used the map to go to my house . It is so COOL

Their is alot of room for another big coaster next to SOB and Top Gun.

The only problem with that is getting people to it. That area is so congested as it is.

What are those 2 little squares inside the other boundaries that they dont own? Seems kinda dumb to me.. It's kinda like RCT...

One of them is the graveyard at the north edge of the parking lot, not sure what the other is.

The other, from google, looks to be just a plot of land by FOF's bowl and SOB's big helixs.

That one from google is pretty cool you can even see the colors and what not on some of the rides too bad that isnt live then you could see if it was packed or not from all the cars in the parking lot.

That one from google is pretty cool you can even see the colors and what not on some of the rides too bad that isnt live then you could see if it was packed or not from all the cars in the parking lot.

If they would just put a webcam on the top of the tower, like the one at aroundcinci.com we wouldnt have that problem. But maybe thats why they dont have one, so we will come out anyways, and instead of wasting the drive, go in and waste time, and THEN drive back home.

Anyways, about that spot in the middle that they dont own, It belongs to "Warren County Comissioners" and it is .9 acres.

FYI, If I am reading this info correctly... On paper, Kings Island is worth $54,000,000 dollars.

Also, I dont know what to make of this, but...

04-0762, SUPPORT BLDGS/STRUCTURE FOR 

NEW 'ITALIAN JOB', C/C $3,000,000 

Kings Island owns all the land up to the river.

I think that IJST was a little more than 3 million LOL! Anyway that 54,000,000 might be the value of the land its on not the rides and what not cause PKI is worth way more than that.

54 Million is the value of the park. The land and all improvements on the land. Sidewalks and roads, buildings, rides, plumbing, electric etc. Business wise, the park is worth a lot more because of its money making potential. That is just the value of the stuff on the park property.

54 Million is the value of the park. The land and all improvements on the land. Sidewalks and roads, buildings, rides, plumbing, electric etc. Business wise, the park is worth a lot more because of its money making potential. That is just the value of the stuff on the park property.

Thats why I said "On Paper"

You are right though, I mean, look how much they make on just parking at 9 bucks a car. As well as admission and everything else. One thing I always kinda look at, even though I know its not a good way to judge, is the gold pass parking area. It kinda gives you an idea of how many pass holders you have in the park that day. The rest had probably bought tickets. Although, as a passholder, I never park in the vip parking...

While $54 million may be the value of the park, that estimate is low. Why? Well Son of Beast cost around $17 million to build, Delirium was reported around $4.5 million, granted things depreciate over time. It just seems lilke $54 million for all the expenive rides and building they have, seems to be a little on the low side. Even the $3 million for IJST that was listed on the site. Most of us will agress that the park spent more than $3 million dollars on the ride itself and all the theming, but it is valued at $3 million.

The 3 mil was just for SUPPORT BUILDINGS/STRUCTURE. Therefor, thats not the total dollar amount.

The .9 acres is a nature preserve.

And the building is the launch point for the fireworks, and was the barn for the elephants. The park tore down the building and left the pad. So now its referred to as the Elephant Pad.

Great info, Tom

Thanks for clearing that info up!

Ok, that makes sense. I knew there was a nature preserve on PKI property, but I thought it was farther back by the Little Miami River. The .9 acres is not far from the large rosebowl on Son of Beast. Kind of odd to have a nature preserve just in the middle of the woods, and not by the river. I wonder when it became a nature preserve, because I`m assuming it was originally owned by (P)KI at one point in time.

What would be really cool is a hypercoaster that is out-and-back and extends all the way to the back of the prak and comes back. it does a helix over the river.

What would be even better would be a coaster at PKI that gives us more than 1 second of airtime.

If I remember correctly, back when KI had the monorail, that entire area was considered a nature preserve. Once that was removed, the preserve was downgraded to what it is now.

Basically KI's way of getting a tax break or 10.

I know it covers 35 acres, but I'm always amazed to see how much land The Beast covers on arial views.

Isn't most of the open land east of The Vortex hillside ?

it be tuff building rides on a hillside, could build one big mega coaster that goes all the way down to the river that reaches speeds of 387mph and and has a 3007 foot drop to within inches of the river, ( pray there isn't a flood in progress, or hope, it's your life:>)

387mph - yeah, right

3007-foot drop - don't be ridiculous. The current record for highest drop is 418 feet (Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey).

I do agree that PKI needs a good high-thrill steel coaster. Something like Cedar Point's Millennium Force or PKD's Hypersonic XLC. Italian Job is fun, but not all that thrilling. Flight of Fear is still a really fun roller coaster, but PKI still dosen't have anything to match up to the latest and greatest coasters.

PKI doesn't seem to have coasters that go through other coasters, or over/under established areas of the park (the path to FOF was built after Racer). Why use undeveloped land, when a ride can wind its way through the existing park?

Because some people might actually like the rides that they have to tear out to build new ones (such as the Antique Cars and Flying Eagles).