Gordon Bombay
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Posts posted by Gordon Bombay
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Both Jungle Jims locations are known for repurposing many things, particularly from the amusement industry. In addition to relics from Americana and Coney Island, the eclectic stores have also made use of Kings Island remnants over time (in addition to the monorail, of course).
I grew up with the original location in Fairfield, but never made it out to the newer Eastgate location until this past weekend. While there, I came across these two 1990s style stock cars on display:
If memory serves (and there’s no guarantee that it does), these vehicles (or similar ones) were once on display in Fairfield…and I’d heard that these vehicles might’ve been purchased from/relocated from Kings Island not long after the Days of Thunder attraction closed.
Before “Action Theatre” was discarded as a haphazard haunted house and dinosaur cash grab, the attraction had some really cool stuff back there. Debuting as “Days of Thunder” at then-Paramount’s Kings Island, the ride’s queue featured several stock cars of the era on display and painted up to look like the vehicles in the film. They *may* have even been used in the film, but given that Paramount built three of these attractions, I don’t think that was necessarily the case.
Anyways, the notion that those display cars were relocated to Jungle Jim’s and slapped with new paint was something I always heard about in KI lore, but not something anyone had ever really “confirmed” or “proven.” I.E. I don’t doubt that’s where these cars are from, but I don’t know for sure.
So, I figured it might be fun to ask here: anyone know for certain?
Only other bit of info I got is that when I was nearing the end of my time at the park circa 2011-2013, another similar stock car was always wheeled out for the haunt. It had been re-painted to look a destroyed police car and was used as a thematic element in some sort of zombie apocalypse attraction (Translation: supposedly one of the old Days of Thunder display cars had been quickly covered in spray paint and then dinged up to look like garbage).
And as a bonus question (since I don’t hail from the Eastside), can anyone tell me if this beautiful sign now on display at Jungle Jim’s Eastgate is formerly from the short-lived “Cheeseburger in Paradise” restaurant that existed out that way?
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56 minutes ago, rexpostal said:
I’m 45. I don’t give a **** about Bruce Springsteen. My wife is 45 and she doesn’t give a **** about Bruce Springsteen. My friends are in their 40s and don’t give a **** about Bruce Springsteen. I would be shocked if my kids in their 20s had even heard of Bruce Springsteen. He was popular amongst teenagers in the 80s, who are all now well into their 60s. He had no true draw amongst people under that age. He’s basically an utter nobody to my kids.
We can make one side Insane Clown Posse for you.
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18 minutes ago, brenthodge said:
You know he’s telling the truth.
Rather, I know him.
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27 minutes ago, DonHelbig said:
This is how it looks for brands when your social media person isn’t far removed from their last group project being for extra credit.
Grow up, Don.
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Looks like AI nonsense quickly thrown together in hopes of getting investors.
Would love to be wrong, but nothing about that website screams specifics or invites confidence.
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9 hours ago, DJSkyFoxx said:
That also provides part time jobs for folks too which is also a good thing.
When @teenageninja and I worked at the park, we did a study which found that roaming scareactors had an overall positive economic impact on both the park and the region.
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Maybe I missed it in one of the threads, but did anyone ever figure out what the teaser (at the end of the teaser) was about? The scene with the guy walking through The Crypt.
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12 hours ago, Orion-XL200 said:
A hoodie at KI that was shared with me was $77.
You just know that some LinkedIN Premium user in Charlotte took their kids to Disney, saw their merch, and said “we should be charging more” without any sense of irony for how poorly comparable the SF product is.
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6 hours ago, Browntggrr said:
SoB was crazy spectacular structure to look at.
I enjoyed your whole post, but wanted to highlight this specific sentence. It really, really was—but, having been able to see it from every angle as an employee: it was even more impressive from the other side. The loop itself was massive, but even that was dwarfed by the rest of the amazing (in-appearance) structure. I never understood (I mean, logistically, I get why) how the most impressive parts of that ride were faced in a direction no guest could see them even from the tower (outside of special access).
Everything about that ride really was disappointing.
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I get that there’s a ton of nostalgia for this ride now, but take it from someone who rode it in every iteration and version: it always sucked.
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3 hours ago, IBEW_Sparky said:
As much as I dislike the guy, the ultimate flex would be for some wild ALT World circumstance to occur, CP go on the market and Kinzel swoop in with a group and buy it then hand it to Bart to run.
You should write horror scripts because that's terrifying.
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They’re gonna remove the ride scenes, put down a floor, and make it a “premium” Haunt maze. Maybe two. Sure the track components will remain (and the hope will always linger), but most of the vehicles will rot outside with a few others used as Halloween decorations.
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Just show highlights from one of the season pass holder Facebook pages. Lots of good information from normal people can be found there.
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8 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:
I think the reason why so many people are upset about sponsoring rides because it’s not something that has really been done prior to the merger for CF parks
To be fair, it was done before the merger and under all other operators—it was always just always a bit more tasteful, clever, or creative. The example here is just a pure, lazy cash grab.
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Check out Dipster's Hollow up near Grover Springs.
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Not sure why anyone is surprised that this would be discussed— the company has had a poor reputation since the merger and Cedar Point specifically has a reputation for rides that feature maintenance issues. If you’re an ACEr, maybe you’re prepared for that, but to the general public who actually spend money: it’s annoying.
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1 hour ago, PKIDelirium said:
The Core is what I had heard rumors of in the past, but it wasn't released until after the ride opened if I recall correctly.
I thought it was "Mr. 3000," but that was apparently slated for Action Theatre at one point:
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18 hours ago, KIghostguy said:
They were always headquartered in Charlotte. KECO moved their headquarters from Kings Island to Charlotte in 1986. When they were bought by Paramount, that office building remained the Paramount Parks corporate headquarters.
Folks, if you haven’t already, you really should read @KIghostguy’s fantastic book: https://rivershorepress.com/kings-island-a-ride-through-time
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47 minutes ago, beastfan11 said:
Maybe the mergers going to my head, but I feel like I remember there being rumors about it being themed to this Paramount “classic.”
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0120461/
I could be making this up. But the timing would kind of make sense.
That beautiful film, however, is not a Paramount one. "Volcano the Blast Coaster" at Kings Dominion was just themed to a... volcano, apparently? This always threw me off until I watched Volcano one time and saw the 20th Century Fox logo.
@TOPGUN1993 - As for your question, this is just hearsay I've been told over time, but my understanding was that as Paramount and Viacom kept getting shaken up over the years (even before the CBS dealings), the focus and strategy of the parks kept shifting. I.E. Someone new would come in on high and say: "we gotta make it a movie theme park" and then that person would get shuffled out just for someone else would come along and say "nah, let's just focus on making an amusement park" (still an incredibly profitable venture at the time, even without movie promotion). I don't think "Paramount Parks" was ever really strategically linked with the Paramount movie studio to any kind of large degree. I.E. when the studio side was cooking up films and marketing plans, most of them probably weren't aware that Paramount even had "theme parks" and those that ran the parks were focused on (and only paid to) run a seasonal/regional park, not necessarily elevate the overall "brand" if that makes sense? That's why you'd see "Tomb Raider: The Ride" cobbled together one minute and then just "Delirium" the next.@silver2005 - agree with you about Star Trek. Those characters/that brand were all over the park when Paramount first took over, but that focus fell away rather quickly. Flight of Fear would've been better as a "Borg" ride to promote Star Trek: First Contact (came out the same year), but something had to be done to promote the Outer Limits reboot on the United Paramount Network (UPN) I guess?
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8 hours ago, DonHelbig said:
As a fan of seasonal events
Big seasonal events enthusiast over here as well and I gotta say: if this event is half as good as it looks, it’ll really give their competition something to WINE about!
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7 hours ago, TOPGUN1993 said:
Why was this video created haha
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On 6/5/2025 at 12:50 PM, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:
Imo looking back they honestly could've kept that building and used it as Diamondback's queue house similar to how Maverick uses White Water Landing's old station for its queue.
I could be incorrect here, but my understanding has always been that, that was the original plan. However, there ended up being a complication with using that building.
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21 hours ago, DonHelbig said:
They would not have been cut from the event if I was still at the park.
Sure, Jan.
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2 hours ago, DonHelbig said:
They are not. Someone who’s never attended an event in the industry thought they were unnecessary.
Let's be real, Don—if you were still at the park and forced to cut lanyards from the budget, you'd be telling us all how it's the greatest move ever seen in the history of enthusiast events.
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Fixing the "Just Okay" Orion
in Kings Island
Posted
Biggest fanny pack measuring contest this forum has seen in a long time.