Shaggy

I disagree. As a matter of fact, I have always found KD's International Street paled in comparison to KI's. The KD tree canopy obscures the grandness of the fountains and Eiffel Tower. I've never understood why they allowed those trees to grow so big - when the park opened - like KI, there weren't any trees at all and it looked so much better! The trees make it hard to get a good photo. Also, overall KD's International Street is a tad shorter and more narrow than KI's - that's because when it was built, attendance rates were not predicted as high as KI's, so they shrank the dimensions and gave it a more "intimate' feel - which with the large trees only makes it feel small and congested. Finally, the KD fountain base is painted dark - like green or such and the fountains are low to the water table... I much prefer the "blue" of KI's fountains and the raised pedestals. Overall, KI's looks much "cleaner." KD's from above Ki's from above

The awe of International Street is by far what makes Winterfest the standout to me... but it doesnt stop there. I'm old school KI - as most everyone knows - and I measure today's KI by the standards the park set 30+ years ago... I can honestly say, when I attended last year's Winterfest, it had every single bit of the old school feel. I nearly cried because it was the first time I felt like the original charm of KI was back. It made my year. That having been said... there was one big dissapointment. I saw the absolute MESS of a show in the KI Theater during last year's Winterfest with the Peanuts characters. Frankly - as much as it pains me to say this - that was the worst show I've ever seen at a theme park - hands down. (And LOUDEST.... PLEASE SOMEONE TELL THE SOUND TECHNICIAN THAT LOUDER DOESNT MAKE IT BETTER. I swear my ears were bleeding when I left the theater.) I couldn't believe they used the best show facility to host such a ramshackle, thin show. Tsk tsk... The show in the KI Theatre should be as over-the-top as it can get... it should be so well produced that people would come to Winterfest just to see it. That stage has at least a 30' fly space... spend the coin and make it all about the spectacle.... costumes, rent every holiday back-drop imaginable, use a live orchestra, add a turntable to the stage deck, make it snow, sing every holiday song known to man etc etc etc... Cut those &%#) Peanuts characters to a 5 minute segment for the kiddos (or preferably get rid of them from the show completely...) and make it literally puke Christmas all over the audience. Trust me, they'd LOVE it. As a side note - I recently attended Busch Gardens Williamsburg Christmastown. They utilize their "Broadway-style" theater to house a nativity themed show called "Gloria." It was terrific - a full live orchestra - professional singers, great visuals. It was standing room only - I swear half that park's guests were crammed into that theater with us. KI- take note - and pay a visit. Although it doesnt do the show justice (recorded versions of live shows never do..) here's a video of the show from 2 years ago (they update it every year)... remember - every bit of it is played and sung live...

Really, Holiday in the park at Discovery Kingdom is winning? Talk about stacking the votes! Everyone needs to give KI a nod... it's a stellar event. Yes, Dollywood and SDC are deserving too... but I can tell you I attended Busch Garden's Christmastown just last week - and KI's Winterfest is superior BY A LONG SHOT! VOTE!

I've been in the house - a couple of times. Its nothing of note... just an old ranch style house in ruins - full of litter and grafitti... oh, and an old couch. It had a basement and there were lots of old used oil cans in there. This was probably 15 years ago or so... FYI, it was the only house left from several that originally existed in the area. All but the one were demolished in the early 1980s for the construction of a KECO corporate office building. (Later it was called PKIU and was used for employee re-hire weekends/training seminars etc. Not sure what its used for today.) I believe it was when the train was re-routed for the waterpark that the lone remaining house was covered with the "Fort" facade. I think it served as a break area for employees at some point.

Back in the day, this (or a version of) was hung on the wall in the Admin conference room at KI (Same one used in the Brady episode - which often gets confused for the conference room in the old International Restaurant - not the same.) There were also aerial shots of other KECO parks (KD, Canada's Wonderland, Australia's Wonderland) - a holdover from the early 1980's massive KECO expansion period. Later they were replaced (during Paramount days) with updated aerials of Paramount Parks - PKD, PGA etc. I know personally that all pre-Paramount files, photos, press releases etc etc etc were not kept by the park. They were all discarded during a sweeping "cleansing" of the parks in the 1990s/2000's. You'd be shocked at how much documentation was destroyed by the park during the Paramount Tenure. I know because I personally saw it happen and many of my most prized KI historical items were "salvaged" during the purge...

LOL! Aint that the truth! Its sometimes like sharks waiting for bait to be thrown... Ha ha! When I wrote the blogs for KI, I had to develop a thick skin very quickly... people can be brutal when they are hiding behind a computer.

A blog I wrote for KI's website a year ago shed's some light on the KIMVRR https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2017/june/what-in-the-world-is-losantivlle

Have they actually started removal/demolition? I haven't seen any pics, but then I've been off the board for a week, so I could have missed them.

The bump and support is much appreciated. I took a sabbatical for a while, life got in the way, but I have been posting some new stuff lately. There's plenty more to come... stay tuned - as I dig through my totes I find more, and more and more... LOL!

Sorry - yes, typo... thinking "until 2005", typed "until 1995."

Just the taxis went to MS... the Cadillacs, AFAIK moved to the Coney side and operated until 1995. The Cadillacs then sat in storage near Racer for at least a period of time before disappearing from KI completely. The rumor has always been that the Cadillacs went to another CF park, but I've never had it confirmed. Of note - WOF's LeTaxi originally opened with French Taxis - but it now appears to operate with Cadillacs. So perhaps those might just be replacements sent from KI.

After "Antiques" were closed at KI, many of the "Taxis" were purchased by Ed Hart and re-located to Magic Springs in AK. They operate today as the Ozark Mountain Taxi Company.

Agreed.... and by original, I meant that they were indeed genuine - used in the construction of the coaster - as opposed to, say someone taking them to Kinkos (is that still a thing?) and making copies to sell.

...but in SOB's case... there were no hand-drawn sheets.... it was all CAD... so bottom line, I still define that as "original." They're certainly not fake.

Well, there's an old saying... "Things are worth what someone is willing to pay for them." As far as challenging my calling the SOB that sold blueprints "original"... Oh brother.... minutia. LOL! Actually, it appeared to me they were the ones used to re-profile the ride shortly after it opened - I noticed in the listing pics that the curve/drop before the rosebowl had been re-engineered in pencil with builder notes/equations on the side. In the listing, the seller confirmed that the blueprints were obtained from an estate sale of a 'man' who was one of the leads on the KI wood coaster-maintenance team at KI. They listed several lots of signage/banners, logs etc from years of KI operations. They even had what appeared to be KI Safari helmets for auction. For a while, there was a listing of The Racer sign from one of the trains (Paramount Days) but I'm not sure if it sold - it got re-listed a number of times. Back when the KI Bat-Head was offered, I did not bid - and wish that I had... that's something I would have loved to own. I wonder what happened to it... There were several - at least 3 were sold at auction by the park.... and at least two entrance signs are out there in collectors hands as well. *Sigh* Maybe someday ;-)

It rivals some extremely rare items that sold on eBay about a month ago. The original blueprints for SOB, and the maintenance manuals for Beast, Racer and Beastie all appeared for auction. Those sold for a collective total well over $3,000. I have a feeling the person that made the purchase is a pretty die-hard KI fan. It will be interesting to see what happens to it.

Just to add specifics, after the Skyride was closed, the (North) Octoberfest station was used as a "Wine & Cheese/Salad Bar for the 1980, '81, & '82 seasons. It was demolished in 1983 in preparation for King Cobra. The Octoberfest Skyride station was located exactly where the entrance to the KC loop was... and is currently where the base of the first drop of Banshee is located.

The reason these pop up is because back in the 1980's and very early 1990's, Kings Island held clearance auctions. Many props, signs, memorabilia along with things like benches, trash cans, supplies etc etc etc were all auctioned for mere pennies on the dollar. Many of the Smurfs were purchased by a local Cincinnati man who, for years, displayed them in his yard at Christmas, until - well - he stopped. That's how the iconic "Bat Heads" from the front of the cars ended up in collector's hands. They park simply threw them in bins that were auctioned off. It's how Jungle Jim got most of his props from KI... he went to the auctions. I heard... a rumor of course... the original (There was more than one in the three years) Bat entrance sign was sold at the park auction for $10. It has never been seen since. When Paramount took over the park, the auctions were discontinued. Mostly due to the fact that copyrights/trademarks required items with any licensed property be destroyed. Re-selling them for profit would have been a violation of the agreements.

Frankly, although I’ve never been a fan of KK, this makes me a big fan of Ed Hart. He is absolutely correct when he says that the State Fair Board is doing nothing but playing childish games. However Hart just made a master chess move... he pulled out a 10 incher, plopped it on the table and said “top that.” I guarantee the Fair Board has no idea what hit ‘em. I’m loving every minute of this... pass the popcorn. Bravo Mr Hart!

If I could rewind time, I'd go back to the 1980's/early 1990's when Kings Island used to hold annual auctions. So much KI history was basically given away back then - the original signage, rides/parts, character props etc etc were literally sold for mere pennies on the dollar. At one particular auction, virtually every Smurf animated character was purchased for less than $1000 by an individual that displayed them in his yard at Christmas for years.

Screamin' Demon was removed from Wild Animal Habitat after 1987 and the next coaster was added.... to Octoberfest... Bavarian Beetle was removed after 1978 and the next coasters were added... to Rivertown and then the end of Coney Mall... King Cobra was removed after 2001 and the next coaster was built.... on the site of the antique cars... ;-)

It was going where King Cobra was. It wasn’t going to be installed by FOF or behind the Eiffel Tower as rumors suggest. I specifically asked Jeff Seibert this a few years back and he confirmed it was spec’d for Action Zone.

The GP doest understand "Service Life" essentially means the product is no longer financially viable to operate and has little-to-no marketability. It has nothing to do with safety, everything to due to the cost of keeping it operational. Be it parts, repair, upkeep, electrical costs or manufacturer guarantees. There's a term used in the industry called "viable real-estate." FH obviously occupies real-estate that CF likely feels would be better used if re-purposed. Frankly, I never felt Firehawk was a ride "worthy" of KI. It was a second-hand, "reproduction" foot-print coaster who's novelty was short lived even at it's original park. When KI announced it, I was not impressed... a relocation was "beneath" the park IMO. As far as the ride experience - I literally only rode it twice at KI. It had the same effect each time - uncomfortable when hanging, arduous loading process, not really thrilling, and raised my head's blood pressure level to the point that it was hard to recover. It's placement at the park was awful, and wreaked of a knee-jerk "Hey, KI needs a coaster and we are going to unload GL - so lets just ship it there and stick it over by FOF" mentality. I'll not miss it... as i would not miss Invertigo either.

The Arrow Shuttle-Loop coaster at KI - Screamin Demon - was only located at Kings Island, then at Camden Park as Thunderbolt Express. The owner of Fun Spot originally attempted to buy Screamin Demon from KI in 1987 when they announced it's removal, but the deal fell through for unspecified reasons - but more than likely because he revealed to the press why KI was removing it (for "a flume ride" which ultimately was Amazon Falls) The park opted to sell to Camden instead. Arrow's original prototype Shuttle-Loop coaster was opened at Circus World in Florida (after KI's opened - Screamin Demon was the first Arrow Shuttle Loop to operate for the public) where it ran from 1977 until the park (later named Boardwalk and Baseball) closed abruptly in 1990. The coaster was then purchased and relocated to Fun Spot in 1991 where it operated at AfterburnER until 2008.

Re: Those curious about Screamin Demon - here's the blog I write detailing it's entire history... https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2017/august/thrown-for-a-loop Re: The KD Flying coaster... I cannot speak to the details of the KD side of things, as I wasn't privy to specifics of that park - just KI... I will say, I would question KD ever being slated to get an RCCA wooden looping coaster because: RCCA didnt even finish the SOB project - they were fired before it was completed & KI was hellbent on being the only park in the chain with a looping wooden coaster.