KIBOB Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 I found this video on youtube and thought it was very interesting. The video is a KI T.V. ad from 1993, the year that Paramount took over, and the year Top Gun opened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 So much potential. So sad Viacom ended up with Paramount Communications. I will always wonder what the future of Kings Island would have been had that not happened. Universal of the Midwest? Quite possibly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjkjkj Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 We may see what the Paramount parks could have looked like,if the new Paramount Parks overseas are ever built. The concept work for those parks looked awesome! Concept artwork can be seen here http://seoulplay.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/para1.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKIVortex Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 I remember this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markr Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 I think the steel coaster in the ad is not Vortex but Anaconda at Kings Diminion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Browntggrr Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 At 0.42 you can clearly see the "water tunnel" of Anaconda at KD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKIVortex Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 And Top Gun is an Inverted Coaster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIBOB Posted February 4, 2010 Author Share Posted February 4, 2010 And Top Gun is an Inverted Coaster. Yes, but from 0.17-0.22 it is the Arrow suspended coaster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooby_Doo Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 That's so cool! 1993 was a great year for me! Wait when did Nickelodeon Splat City Open? 1994? 1995? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIBOB Posted February 4, 2010 Author Share Posted February 4, 2010 That's so cool! 1993 was a great year for me! Wait when did Nickelodeon Splat City Open? 1994? 1995? I am pretty sure it was in 1995 after Viacom bought Paramount. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coaster_junky Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 We may see what the Paramount parks could have looked like,if the new Paramount Parks overseas are ever built. The concept work for those parks looked awesome! Concept artwork can be seen here http://seoulplay.fil...09/01/para1.jpg in the bottom left hand corner (guessing a water park?), do those two body slides have 90* drops? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark6495 Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 yup^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coney Islander Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 ^ Its likely the 'Cliff' typed slide at The Beach Waterpark, exaggerated on the map. I'm sure some company sells 90 degree slides today, but this was 1997. My own estimation, I'd say the Cliff has a 70* drop, which can be easily manipulated to look steeper (especially on a map) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coaster_junky Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 ^i kinda figured that the map wasn't accurate, especially when you can see the pull out to those slides, anyway that park looks awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaggy Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 And Top Gun is an Inverted Coaster. Yes, but from 0.17-0.22 it is the Arrow suspended coaster. The commercial was a conglomeration of B-roll footage from 3 parks... Kings Dominion, Great America and Kings Island. The coaster is obviously Anaconda at Dominion as is the flume, the invert is Top Gun at Great America, and the ice show/waterpark/around park footage is from KI. The footage of the riders on the suspended is green screen. They used a suspended car that had already been produced and edited in the "moving" effects. FYI, the ice show footage is a give-away because of the skater being able to turn a back-flip. He was a featured skater at KI, and had quite a fan following. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasper Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 I saw this commercial and I immediatley thought about how much I loved the park when I first visited 3 years later in 1996 when I was but a wee 4 years of age. I love the park now and I loved the park back then. I wish Top Gun...er Flight Deck, looked the way today it did when it opened in 1993. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzarley Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 This post reminded me of an old Cincinnati Magazine article back from April 1993 right after Paramount bought KI. (I've been looking for a reprint of this for a while, and luckily Google's scanning project has finally caught up with it.) Hopefully this link works (I've had mixed success posting long links here lately for some reason): http://books.google.com/books?id=fx4DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA80&lpg=PA80&dq=%22cincinnati+magazine%22%2B%22Kings+Island%22%2B1993&source=bl&ots=inMlXnqXzB&sig=rNIeAhTEWi81suZZY3f9JCZewhM&hl=en&ei=DsluS4iZCNCn8AbGnfSPBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CA0Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22cincinnati%20magazine%22%2B%22Kings%20Island%22%2B1993&f=false If the link doesn't work, just do a Google search using: "Cincinnati Magazine"+"Kings Island"+"1993" (that's how I found it). It's very interesting to read about the kind of plans Paramount Studios had for their new parks back then. I agree with 'Terp--it would have been very interesting to see how the "studio" parks would have panned out if not for the acquisition of Paramount Studios by Viacom a year later. BTW...notice from the article that there were even rumors about removal of the fountains 17 years ago! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 Thank you! Among the very first things I read in that great article is that the HB contract allowed the HB characters to be seen until 2009. Interesting.... And Carolyn Boos insisted that Winterfest had seen its best attendance nearly a decade before and that Kings Island, not Paramount, had already decided to end it and extend the season... Her predictions about The Beastie name being safe were about half not right. And as the article ends, it notes that the studios and a beer company owned the major park operators at the time...how that has changed since... And we will never know if Dennis Speigel's predictions would have come true...since Viacom did lurk in the distance and took over Paramount. Oh, the author? He's now Director of Editorial Services at Xavier University: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/skip-tate/8/62b/b31 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzarley Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 ^ Glad you enjoyed it...I did too. (The last time I read that article, it WAS 1993 ) I got a laugh out of The Beastie comments, too. I also liked the part about how they wouldn't just randomly name/theme a ride to a movie franchise--it would have to make sense. Obviously, that was a long time before "Face Off"! I really have to give Dennis Speigel props for real staying power...he was the expert called on by the media in 1993, and he still is today! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 And the same for Tim O'Brien... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkroz Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 I also liked the part about how they wouldn't just randomly name/theme a ride to a movie franchise--it would have to make sense. Obviously, that was a long time before "Face Off"! In their defense, I for one, never knew of the movies "FACE/OFF" or "Drop Zone." To me (and, so far, to every friend I've ever taken to Kings Island), they were just really clever, fitting names. And neither really tried to advertise the movie on which it was named (except for the poster in the Action Zone plaza). I think that "FACE/OFF" is really one of the better names I've ever heard for a roller coaster - it's unique, it's interesting (love that slash-for-no-reason!) and it fits the ride's seating incredibly well. Same with Drop Zone. It's just a cool name that no one else ever would've though to use for a Drop Tower, and it was very cool. Especially that spiral Haha. But my point was, it's not like they were "randomly themeing a ride to a movie franchise." It was just a name they had in their catalog that fit really well and did make sense with the ride. I liked them a lot, and I feel like (this may be me projecting) a lot of people were completely clueless that they were movies. FACE/OFF, maybe, but I expect that those who were big fans of the movie Drop Zone probably didn't make a connection between the ride's name and movie's title. And when you think about it, what did Top Gun really have to do with the movie after a few years? The only real rides connected to their movies in in a noticeable and essential way were the Italian Jobs, Tomb Raiders, and Outer Limits. The rest of the rides could be (and have been) slapped with any old name without changing the ride experience in the least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzarley Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 The rest of the rides could be (and have been) slapped with any old name without changing the ride experience in the least. Agreed...and Cedar Fair has definitely proved your point Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 And then there is the prior management before Paramount, who didn't theme things after movies or attractions they had the rights to. See Phantom Theater and Adventure Express...neither of which has anything to do with Phantom of the Opera or Indiana Jones...no sirreee...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkroz Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 See Phantom Theater and Adventure Express...neither of which has anything to do with Phantom of the Opera or Indiana Jones...no sirreee...... Pay no attention to the riveting John Williams score behind the curtain! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coaster_junky Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 so, was flight deck/top gun, supposed to be opened as "thunder express" pre-paramount? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vortex Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 I wonder why Cedar Fair can not use Thunder Express for Flight Deck? Does Dollywood still own the name? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coaster_junky Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 ^i kinda like flight deck better than thunder express. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasper Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 ^^Instead of Thunder Express, do you mean Thunderhead? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coaster_junky Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 ^no they used to have a mine train style coaster named thunder express. see here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooby_Doo Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 Nice Concept artwork I noticed a lot of unused concepts in that like... The Addams Family:Shriek House, Mission:Impossible and Tomb Raider among others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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