matthunterross

Thanks! Yeah, it's hard not to pull from the original Disneyland gates, but the details are really heavily weighted in the old KI Carousel. The color palette will make a big differentiation too.

A German theme would look great, but since the entrance gate is at the head of Intl St, it really should be focused toward American style in my opinion. The design of American Theater in KI is pretty basic (to apply to a front gate, at least), and so I leaned slightly Victorian - it references the foundation of KI (which essentially is Coney Island), parts of Coney Mall, and particularly the Carousel (the oldest ride in the park). It also would just lead to a warm, festive, and more visually appealing entrance, in my opinion, and be fairly easy to overlay on the existing structure. See a before and after sketch. Final draft coming soon.

A more appropriate response than I had.

^ Yeah, that's the other thing. Barkers should at the very least be banned from using microphones. The thing is that theme/amusement parks already load visitors senses, and bad audio decisions just lead to unnecessary sensory overload, and possibly unhappy guests. Balancing the sensory experience = happy guests = return visits = more money for the parks.

Theme parks should play theme music in my opinion, but Kings Island has become much more of an amusement park than a theme park over the years. Personally, if CP is driving the family experience again, I'd like to see more emphasis on the environment / themeing, more rides for families, and more ambient music that is just that - ambient background sound that supports the theme of the park area that you're traveling through, not top 40 hits. The problem with playing pop music is that its so taste specific, and then if you blast that in people's ears, that alone can drive away visitors. Why would you want to do that? I would guess another way around the speaker sound issue is installing more speakers around the park and lowering the overall volume (more speakers with smaller sound radii).

Download the report here: 2011 TEA/AECOM theme park industry attendance report via Theme Park Insider Kings Island came in at #15 in North America, with an increase in attendance from 2010 - curiously, the same amount as Cedar Point (rounded to the nearest thousand): 3,143,000. Cedar Fair also did well overall, with an increase in attendance to 23.4m (from 22.8 in 2010). Goodbye, recession.

There's a similar ride at Coney (but no dropping floor, and you're strapped in): http://www.coneyislandpark.com/imgUploader/Rides/RoundUp_Large_Web_view.jpg

Awesome!! Thanks!

If that's the case, it's a welcome change - and just in time for the anniversary, reflecting when family-oriented parks used to rule.

Would love to see those - thanks!

This looks great - I need to do this with some of my maps. You have a great gal there. Thanks so much for sharing. Any chance we could see a high-res scan?

Interesting. Anyone know who illustrated this one? It's a nice map, but upon closer view, it kind of makes each section of the park look significantly smaller than it should be and void of life/entertaining characteristics that it should have. I know it's nitpicking, but anyone else feel that way? I personally think for the 40th anniversary they should've released a hand-drawn map to reflect those initial days of the park.

I waited in Racer lines that long many times during my stint in the early/mid-80s.

Awesome! Thanks so much for sharing this!

I assume you're talking about the billboard in the last shot, and yeah, that would be cool. A lot of the old signage inside and outside of the park was really cool - great if they could bring some of that back.

thanks again man!

haha - probably. doesn't hurt to ask...

Who is the firm?

I've wondered the same thing...

Absolutely. Though, it may create an uprising against the current state of the park! Kidding. Seriously though, i would totally visit a place like that in the park - something like Disney's version would be great: http://disneyworld.d...one-mans-dream/ And sidle that building with one that showcases the current state of design, how they're making the park better, and future projects: http://disneyland.di...lue-sky-cellar/

The once fully-themed Oktoberfest and Main Street areas, Kings Mill Log Flume, Les Taxis, Flying Eagles, Enchanted Voyage, and The Beast.

Excellent! Great work as always man.

great! really dig these posts of yours - thanks for sharing.

This is fantastic! Thanks for sharing.

Do you know the year specifically? The cover reminds me of KI's first '72 brochure: http://www.themeparkbrochures.net/197x/pki197x1_1.html Anyway, this is really great. Thanks for sharing.