fbama73

Time will certainly tell, yet in the two years since CF's acquisition of Kings Island, their actions have borne out my contentions. Clearly, the addition of Diamondback is strong evidence that they are not planning to do to KI what they did to GL, which is good. They have also improved maintenance at KI, which was desperately needed. They still have more improvements to make, but I see huge steps in the last two years. They obviously see (correctly) the ability of the two parks to coexist. I still say that for the foreseeable future, CP will be their flagship park, and will get more attention than KI. And if you look back to before the Paramount years, you can see how these two parks in direct competition can be great for the parks and their guests.

I never said they were neglecting it- I said it would never get the attention it deserves. It will never be at the leading edge with records and firsts as long as it is owned by Cedar Fair. Cedar Fair has already made great improvements in KI, even if they had NOT built Diamondback. They won't neglect it, but it won't be doing anything before Cedar Point does, and it won't be taking any more records from Cedar Point

Man, oh man! There are some great memories in that video!!! The Bat was just SO superior to the suspended coasters that followed it. Sure, what made it great is also what killed it- but it was FUN while it lasted! Nice to see some clips of some other gone and very missed favorites, too: Zodiac, Flying Dutchman, The Racer with paint, The Beast with water and without the satanic trim brakes... sigh

OK, this has been said before, but what do I miss about Paramount? Nothing! Plenty of things I DO miss about KI from the past, but when Paramount bought the park was when it dropped off of the leading edge of amusement parks. Other than SoB, what records or firsts did KI have during the Paramount years? Things I miss from the Pre- Paramount years: records and firsts: First Standup coaster in the US, first 6 inversion coaster, first suspended coaster (and the best ever- what made it the best is also what made it so short-lived) All of the records that Beast had when it opened. I miss The Beast being a great coaster. Heck, I miss The Beast even being a good coaster. It's so neutrered with the trim brakes, it is pitiful. They ought to change the name. I did take an after dark ride on Saturday, and there were a few places where you could get a taste of the "old Beast." I waited 4 hours in line for The Beast the first time I rode it, and didn't regret it(1979) I miss when the park had good maintenance! I went just after Cedar Fair took over in 2007. It had been 8 years since I'd been, and I was appalled at how run down the place had become. And, on that day, most coasters were down for some or all of the day. I can't remember a ride ever being down for a whole day during the Taft years, except for the years that The Bat was SNBO. I miss plenty of good flat rides. I remember when Oktoberfest had 5-6 decent flat rides AND a coaster. Is there anything left besides Viking Fury? I'm glad to see Paramount gone, but with Cedar Fair in charge, it's never going to get the attention it deserves because it's too close to Cedar Point, which will always get the best of everything. Heck, Cedar Fair shut down Geauga Lake instead of revitalizing it- hopefully KI is far enough away to avoid that fate.

Jo, what is it with us always being at the park on the same days? We were at KI yesterday, too.

I think when I get a few more of them scanned, I will do that. I talked to Ryan at Holiwood Nights 2006 about it. I'd like to see Dad get credited for the pics, even if he wouldn;t have cared less.

Ok, I've been threatening to do this for a while, now. My dad took about a bazillion slides over his lifetime. I'm going to scan them in, which in all honesty, will probably take years. Anyway, I'll post the KI ones to my photo site, and let you guys know when I do. Here's the link to the first few- mostly learning how to scan the slides. These are from August, 1980, and you can see preliminary Bat construction going in some of them- Mostly just the station and footers. enjoy, and feel free to tell me to stop if these are a PITA http://public.fotki.com/fbama73/amusement-...sland-oldskool/

I remember waiting 4 hours for The Beast in '79 when it opened. I still don't regret that. I also remember very long waits for The Bat and Vortex in their opening years. Though I hadn't thought of it in years, I Do remember "Whack a Bat" Hank, it's nice to see you over here on this site, too- you bet your Perogi you know me from another site!

Flight Commander was one of the scariest rides in the park. Those pods rotated kind of slowly, so you always had the feeling you were going to fall out. Of course after the accident, it had even more of a scare factor when riding. darn noisy ride though. You could hear that thing all the way down Coney Mall. I remember when they announced it- I thought it was going to be the coolest thing ever. I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed by it. Not disappointed enough to not reride, though If my aging memory serves me, didn't they open it, Zephyr and Skylab all at the same time? Wow, opening three flats in one year- what a concept. Not like the Paramount years where they tried to close three flats per year.

^ Yes, you're right. I saw a couple of pictures that showed what you're saying, and I also figured out why I was thinking the location was a bit different from where it actually is. As far as noise and concerts, I can say this from painful experience- when there are no rides running, you can sure hear the concert from outside the amphitheater. The problems I saw Saturday were not due to a concert. The problems I saw were breakdowns, pure and simple. I don't think I've ever seen more than one ride broken down in any given day at KI ever until Saturday. Sure, with no doubt- today's rides are more complex, but I still think they need some tweaking in their preventive maintenance program. And I still love the place- that's probably why I was so disappointed with Saturday- I know it can and should be better than that.

Ok, I see it now. I also know why I was mistakenly thinking it was further North than that. Thanks for the help, everyone!.

Thanks for the pics, guys, they clear up a couple of things, and make a couple even more muddy. The EuroBungy is a bit further North than where Zodiac and FC were. The Eurobungy is located right next to the point on The Racer right after the small bunny after the first drop (where the return bunny is higher than the outbound low spot) But, these pics clearly show the abandoned queue and the eurobungy platform not there. So, this must have been for something more recent. In addition, the platform seems to have what was once an operator's station. This platform has older concrete around the edges, but newer concrete in the middle (like a hole was filled) So, there's no way it could have been for Halley's Comet, and its' position isn't quite right for FC or Zodiac. It's not that big of a deal, I was just wondering. There may have been something that came and went during my KI absence. Add Beast to the list of things that were broken down at some point on Saturday. That wasn't a long period of downtime at all, though. As it happens, this was my first visit to KI in almost ten years, and it actually WAS my family's one trip to KI for the year. I work factory maintenance, so I know that things break. One or two major attractions with problems?- hey that sucks, but nobody knows ebtter than I do that things happen. But, if you have problems with 6 or 7 major attractions, you have a maintenance issue. Add to that the serious need for paint on things like Top Gun, Vortex, Racer, and Zephyr, and it just gave me a bit of a bad taste. We still had a good time. No, we had a great time. It could (and should) have been better, though. The two major things I wanted to ride were Firehawk and SoB. We got our ride on Firehawk (beyond awesome) but every time we went to try SoB, it was down. I'm not bashing the park- I LOVE the park. I made my first trip there at 5 years old, and I was in my late twenties before I could bring myself to go somewhere else. (KI was so good, why mess with any other place?) There's no need for anyone to get defensive, I'm not bashing, just reporting on the facts. I love KI, and Always will. I'd have to say that I believe i qualify as an oldskool KIer myself- With the exception of Face off and SoB, I've ridden every adult coaster they've ever had. I'm going to (someday) go through all of my father's old pictures of KI in the 70's and early 80's. When I get them scanned, I'll share them. He's even got a couple of pics of the Bavarian Beetle- my first coaster ever. And, we'll come back next year (or maybe for Frightfest) and I'll get my chance with Face Off and (most importantly) SoB

Zodiac was not even a glimmer in a designers eye when the park opened. I'm pretty sure that Zodiac and Flight Commander were further down than this pad. I'm also pretty sure they had a bigger footprint than this. One wheel of Zodiac would have been about the size of this pad.

I was at the park on Saturday, August 19th (when everything was broken down) We took my daughter on the Eurobungy waste of too much time and money. It's the bungy trampoline deal in Coney mall up against The Racer (just after the first drop). It is on a raised round concrete platform, and just to the left (North) of it is a covered queue line that looks like it hasn't been used in decades (queue bars are in various states of disassembly) My question is what was this concrete pad (and the queue) originally used for? I'm sure it was some sort of flat ride from back before they ripped out all of the flats. I've racked my brain's inventory of 32 years of KI memories. The most likely thing that I can come up with is Halley's Comet. Can anyone substantiate or correct me?

They did. It was removed in the late 70's after a fatal accident on one at a Six Flags park.