Outdoor Man

don't you suppose that in some attic corner at Channel 12 (near to the old Kings Productions office) thdere is a stash of moth-balled memorabilia. I say Channel 12- because weren't they part of the old Kings company back until sometime in the late-80's? My sister worked for WKRC until about 1987 and remember the Kings next door.

may not be "yours" - but "you" found it. That's something that according to his post, Boddah hadn't even come across.... and with KI History- that would be a tough feat to accomplish (then again I could be wrong on that). But from what I've surmized- if it has anything to do with KI- Ryan (i think that is his name) probably knows (and has) more KI knowlege than 99% of the KI staff- probably including administration.

I've organized and participated in events with entities along that exit quite a bit in the last few years. And from those experiences, stories of those who have been around... and now viewing that video (and this isn't a knock on what Kings Island currently is)- I think that Kings Island was meant to be much different than it has become. ie- more of a Mid-Western Disney Land. I think that entire exit was supposed to be the Ohio version of Lake Buena Vista in Florida.... and that the park was to be more about Fred Flintstone and Scooby Doo than record-breaking roller coasters. Good, bad, or indifferent- the park is what is today, and for that part we have nothing but reality to compare it to. It would have been VERY interesting to see what Kings Island would have looked had the US not slumped into a 2-year recession in 1973 (through 1975)- right after opening. Plus all of the fallout from Vietnam at the time.... Kings Island could have look A LOT different had the time period of 1973-1976 not existed.

i think for the members of this site- that video was likely the equivalent of Christmas, Easter, 5 birthdays, all the green beer one could consume on St. Patricks Day all rolled into one- WITH a cherry on top. You don't have a ton of posts to your name- but pretty much are a "lock" to receive icon status now!

according to the concept picture, apparently you ride the water slide fully clothed.

went to a "sister" park in Australia (Australia's Wonderland) prior to that parks closing (in 2004, i think)- from there I think it either got scrapped or sent to Malaysia or Turkey to another park. http://wonderland.octiva.net/ http://wonderland.octiva.net/zodiac/

those rides about gave me heart failure just watching them in action.... didn't even have to ride.

that was good. now, I'm from the days of the 5 1/4 "true" floppy. how many on this board have actually never seen one of those.

whats a floppy drive?

Kings Island should actually get a huge THANK YOU for doing their part in keeping the economy rolling. granted it may be a few years before anything large comes about, but they've done their part to pump money into the economy.

of all the things they could bring back- i guess i'm stumped by that one. bring back a copyrighted name that you're going to have to change in a few years again. hey, lay off Flight Deck's color scheme- I for one, enjoy the rust/lets see deteriorated metal look. I say black supports, red rails- bring back something relaly old and call it The Bat.

also- CF likely made the investment in Diamondback well before the economy tanked. This is a scary time- but also a VERY opportunistic time. the seeds of the next "bull-run" are always sown at this time..... I'm very "glass-is-half-full."

for what it's worth- and sorry if already stated- but this board has been unofficially stated as one of the best in the world! The KIC guys have a quality product that they can be proud of.

this isn't a new ride, but an idea for the upcoming season. Since BB closes after Labor Day, move Halloween Haunt over to the large and unused parcel so it can open late September and not interfere with "normal" park operations on the ride side. We like to take family to the park in October- but being chased out 6pm on a Saturday is unfortunate. Not that we are being chased out literally, but it isn't something that we want our <4 year old daughters exposed to..... like at all. It could also avail the park to experiment with another certain season-themed celebration.

meanwhile this isn't necessarily a thread about Kings Island (I'll let the moderators determine the relevancy of this thread to it's location)- but I wanted to give props to Ryan, Dane, and any of the other individuals who started this site- as well as all of the long-term members. I just got an eNewsletter from Kings Island, which I assume most on this board receive and in Article #2- the opening paragraph identifies KI Central as "one of the top amusement and theme park fan sites in the world." That's HUGE! Congratulations! just curious... did you ever think that this would turn out as big as it has?

according to Kings Island eLetter just received... the TRACK IS COMPLETE!

Hey Helbig. Next time angle that lense down a little bit. There are a few that want a glimpse of the new Beast "plaza."

I organized a block of rooms the weekend before (Jan. 10). i recommend the 4th floor- cathedral ceilings in each room. The cool part about having a group as large as ours was is bumping into people you know all weekend. glad you had a great weekend. We have had fun EVERY time we've went. We went in Nov. and Dec.... and I wish that they kept some of the lobby show (for the kids) that they have leading up to Christmas. It is REAL festive and the kids love the falling snow in the lobby. And lets face it- traditional "Christmas songs" like Frosty the Snowman, Let it Snow, Jingle Bells... are pretty much valid through at least the first half of February. High marks to GWL- they host a great weekend!

hey, if "adult" companies can make their plea for funds, why not another entertainment industry.

every now and again someone will pull out a picture I have never seen before. Another winner; where did that one come from?

I never had the chance to go to GL, but have seen pictures of it through it's boom and subsequent bust. I 2005, anyone who didn't see this day coming down the pike was seriously diluted. All of the park brochures featured an overwhelming presence of a water park over rides and coasters... and the last couple of years the park really looked terrible. Meanwhile CF to a large extent cleaned up KI- it really let parts of GL go... in a bad way. parts of the park were just fenced off and left to rot. RWB was broken and never fixed, their space needle was broken and not fixed (its actually in the same position it has been in for several years now)... and the place where their smaller waterpark used to be, just got fenced off and left. I'm not sure I buy into the thoughts that CF just bought GL to close it, but if you look at some of the pictures you have to wonder.

It is really sad what happened to GL. First Six Flags over develops the park to a point that it can't cash flow, the CF buys, parcels it out, then closes it. Unfortunately when they removed the Wild Life side of the park- it was just another small park trying to compete with other larger and established places. I mean, what successful park doesn't have a ride/water park. But the Wildlife side gave them something that none of the others had. There is another blog site dedicated to GL, which some of you may have seen/been on that they think it has always been a Dick Kinzel conspiracy to close the park. I can't find that real plausible. You don't spend millions of dollars of investors money on personal agendas. I just think that the loss of the wildlife side killed it and CF knew that you can't take a "thrill park" and bring it back down to "family park" without alienating too many of your core attenders, and figured- if we can't make it successful on our terms, no one is. Some wonder why they wouldn't sell it to Busch or another amusement company; two reasons... other companies saw the same thing in it's downside potential in year 5 of an economic expansion and why would they want to sell to another company who might make it successful and cut into their bottom line. It sucks that they closed a once great park- but I completely understand the reasoning. Plus, they then had a number of virtually new rides and coasters to part out to their number of parks to keep "new" rides coming in a down economy. NOW, as a side note. I wonder how long it will be before we see parks contracting. As in, a new ride comes- but an old ride leaves... or two. Personnel costs will cause this to happen. Minimum wage changes in a few hours here in Ohio. $0.33 an hour may not seem like much, but as an employer myself- we are going to have to offset that by reducing an employee to cover the loss.

newly carpeted, eh? any signal that something may come of this once-forgotten location?

no you didn't offend me at all... i thought I offended you. The terrible part of computer screens is that the message is devoid of facial expression. This is what I know about GWL situation, not being employed or really in the know... and this could all be proven incorrect. I could open up a file of info and not pull "rank" or be in check with PR regulations with a company... because I am the Marketing/PR department of my company and all I have is what I am being told... which I have every reason to think is plausible. My company held 4 events in the conference center last year and have 3 on the docket for 2009, including one in January. We also sponsors corporate discounts to our clients through our website for the resort. When the news started to break regarding their financial situation, I got a little nervous about our January event (obviously) since a lot of time and promotion and advertising dollars had been sent out. My first conversations with them included proliferation of corporate press releases... which I write those all the time and know that regulation and compliance is "black and white" information and doesn't always reflect what is going on behind the scenes. I went through a few position people to express to them that I could care less about press releases or corporate responses.... all I wanted to know was did I need to prepare "Plan B" to take over "Plan A".... right away. The response I got was that if GE was going to take over the place they would have done so already... not that they wouldn't do it in the future- but to the moment GWL has not defaulted on any of the financing (a hallmark trait of a loan in jeopardy). I'm not going to get into the semantics of what was discussed or disclosed but their response gave me enough confidence to keep our scheduled events for 2009 at the Conference Center.... and the pending events to be there as planned as well. NOW, something may happen next month to the Lodge and nullify all of this. I do know that the news from GE Cap has hurt their conference business a bit.

whoa... not trying to pick fights over fact/fiction or SEC filings. Could care less about that to be honest. I have just been in regular conversation numerous staff people (beyond the Critter Bar attendee) to make sure that our 2009 events are secure and there is news regarding their financial situation out there that haven't been reported on. That's all. I'm not going to get into their requirements by law to report- it's none of my business beyond, are my events going to take place or do I have to go elsewhere.