Action Zone Retheme

[Coney Islander]

This is the place to share ideas for an Action Zone retheme.

Both Alton Towers and Thorpe Park added "horror" themed areas and roller coasters, and both of them have reached (or are projected to reach) record attendances. So what if Kings Island rethemed Action Zone to Adventure Villiage, and added a "Horror" roller coaster?

The Steps:

1. Plant all kinds of trees and stuff in Action Zone to make it look like a deep jungle.

2. Pitch some World War 2 looking tents around Delirium and Drop Zone... call it an expedition camp.

3. Take down Son of Beast or the Go Carts and put in a Gerstlauer named "Temple of Terror", "Pitch Black", or "Witch Doctor's Revenge"... Something that will be talked about as much as "Thir3een" or "Saw: The Ride."

I'm not saying I would rather get this than a bunch of family rides in Coney Mall, but I know this would be popular.

[bkroz]

I don't know if it would work at Kings Island (or, more specifically, with our current owner). Besides, everyone is always so against Action Zone. To be honest, I like Action Zone. I think it's kind of under-appreciated. It's "themed" to a studio backlot where an action movie might be filmed - there are very few trees, very bright rides (some have faded, yes...), giant bullseyes on the ground, etc. I imagine that, standing by the water tower, it really does feel like an action movie - people dropping from 300 feet in the air, spinning on Delirium, "airplanes" whizzing around in the distance (Flight Deck), and the giant Son of Beast with people screaming as they go down the drop... Invertigo was BRIGHT yellow and red, Delirium is bright yellow, blue, and red, Drop Zone is like, fifteen awesome colors... I like it!

I would very much like a "horror" area to be added to the park, but not in place of Delirium. I like the way that Alton Towers "rethemed" their Rita roller coaster for Thirteen by having vines grow all over it, reaching up the supports, crawling across the logo, etc. But I can't see that being done with Delirium or Drop Zone...

A "new" area could easily be built connecting X-Base and the "dead end" of Coney Mall (which would make a complete circle out of the two dead-ends in the park) taking advantage of all of the woods back in that area. Thirteen had the potential to be the steel version of The Beast and hopefully, when some of those trees return it recent years it will be. Should Universal or Merlin come into ownership of the park, I can see it happening long-term. With Cedar Fair, no. And that's not just my usual grudge against them - that's just fact.

[bkroz]

Double post. Sorry!

[Shaggy]

I am sure you were just having fun fantasizing... and not to burst your bubble... buuuut...

You won't see Cedar Fair planting many trees in any of their parks. Quite the opposite actually. I expect when they bought KI, they deemed Action Zone as the area most fitting their "style."

Shaggy

[Coney Islander]

^^I meant an "Adventure" area with one horror themed ride. And the tents wouldn't be replacing Delirium and Drop Zone, they'd just be set up all over, in that general area. I do agree that it would fit better next to the dead end of Coney Mall and the land around X-Base.

^

Yeah, I know this won't happen, but we can imagine.

Edit= Sorry for the poor grammar, but my sister wanted me to get off the computer and kept hitting the delete button.

Double Edit= Fixed it.

[bkroz]

Well my answer stands true for an adventure area, too. Haha! I'd love to see it, but rather than convincing someone to crack open the concrete and place trees everywhere, I think it'd be more realistic to do it back in the woods, which would also remove the two more bottlenecked pathways from the park.

As far as an Action Zone re-theme, I think if all the rides were repainted to their original bright colors, some appropriate music, and maybe a few big comic-y explosions and some sleek sportscars and basically a generic super-hero look would be awesome.

[Thrill_Biscuit]

I like the idea...

Pretty much because the area seems so "concrete" in contrast to the surrounding woods, etc.

(Tb photoshop of original pic from Flatrides.com)

[HTCO]

If only I knew CF would do a good job. I would vote heck yes.

[CedarPointer]

I am sure you were just having fun fantasizing... and not to burst your bubble... buuuut...

You won't see Cedar Fair planting many trees in any of their parks. Quite the opposite actually. I expect when they bought KI, they deemed Action Zone as the area most fitting their "style."

Shaggy

I seem to recall them planting some trees in Diamondback's area...

(but not in Firehawk's... so we're one for one.)

[bkroz]

I seem to recall them planting about four in the Diamondback area... Not that I'm complaining about Diamondback, but my biggest complaint about it has been that Rivertown is now pretty much a big plaza with a concrete lake in the center. If they had planted more trees, than at least in a few years they would grow and create a beautiful shaded area.. But there's like, two dogwoods on each side of the splashdown. It sort of sucks up whatever image of being a forested town that Rivertown had left.

[Thrill_Biscuit]

They should just paint everything black, put strobe lights on every exposed pole, wall or post, put in a 30,000-watt JBL system, with walls of speakers covering every inch of the midway, and crank out Slipknot, Drowning Pool, Rage Against the Machine, Dragon Force, Three Days Grace... serve nothing but Hair of the Dog and chocolate covered espresso beans... put skulls and pyrotechnics on every ride (yes, including Congo Falls)... what am I missing here??? Oh, yeah, and replace all the plantlife with catnip...

[DizzyEatVortex]

They should just paint everything black, put strobe lights on every exposed pole, wall or post, put in a 30,000-watt JBL system, with walls of speakers covering every inch of the midway, and crank out Slipknot, Drowning Pool, Rage Against the Machine, Dragon Force, Three Days Grace... serve nothing but Hair of the Dog and chocolate covered espresso beans... put skulls and pyrotechnics on every ride (yes, including Congo Falls)... what am I missing here??? Oh, yeah, and replace all the plantlife with catnip...

Dude. Get some sleep!

[PREMiERdrum]

In a perfect world, they never would have done away with the Adventure Village themeing.

[bkroz]

In a perfect world, they never would have done away with the Adventure Village themeing.

I tend to think that, when Action Zone first "debuted," it was a much-appreciated change. Plus, you honestly can't deny: Son of Beast, Drop Zone, and FACE/OFF in two years? That was probably the largest investment over that short of the period ever in the parks history, and certainly has changed the park's lineup of attractions by leaps and bounds.

[The Interpreter]

...and was a preemptive strike to discourage Six Flags from making Kentucky Kingdom a national level competitive park (and it worked...Six Flags moved up to Geauga Lake and started the Six Flags Ohio concept, which evolved into Worlds of Adventure).

Remember, Kentucky Kingdom was the first of the former Premier Parks to be rebranded as Six Flags...and it was long thought it would become a nationally competitive park...if only the park had owned its land...or if it had moved to south of Kings Island in Kentucky, as was once quite seriously proposed...

Paramount had allowed the Adventure Village area to become nearly as desolate as the back part of Coney Mall is today...

[PREMiERdrum]

In a perfect world, they never would have done away with the Adventure Village themeing.

I tend to think that, when Action Zone first "debuted," it was a much-appreciated change. Plus, you honestly can't deny: Son of Beast, Drop Zone, and FACE/OFF in two years? That was probably the largest investment over that short of the period ever in the parks history, and certainly has changed the park's lineup of attractions by leaps and bounds.

The investment was great, the execution was awful. Back when that was the most popular area of the park, the guest flow issues were terrible, and the heat with no shade was unbearable.

[Shaggy]

In a perfect world, they never would have done away with the Adventure Village themeing.

Actually, I disagree. The Adventure Village theming was horrible. The area just prior to the switch to Action Zone was the absolute eyesore section of the park.

However, they never should have done away with the original Wild Animal Habitat theming. There's a huge difference between those two.

Shaggy

[Shaggy]

I am sure you were just having fun fantasizing... and not to burst your bubble... buuuut...

You won't see Cedar Fair planting many trees in any of their parks. Quite the opposite actually. I expect when they bought KI, they deemed Action Zone as the area most fitting their "style."

Shaggy

I seem to recall them planting some trees in Diamondback's area...

(but not in Firehawk's... so we're one for one.)

Whoa, you're kidding right?

I mean I love Diamondback, but man o man they did a number on Rivertown. They must have removed 500 trees for it's install. My only gripe about Diamondback is the sacrificing of the pond and trees surrounding it. But then it is the most amazing coaster KI has put in since Vortex (IMO.) I suppose an omelet needs some broken eggs. ;-)

Shaggy

[PREMiERdrum]

In a perfect world, they never would have done away with the Adventure Village themeing.

Actually, I disagree. The Adventure Village theming was horrible. The area just prior to the switch to Action Zone was the absolute eyesore section of the park.

However, they never should have done away with the original Wild Animal Habitat theming. There's a huge difference between those two.

Shaggy

You might need to refresh my memory of the differences... I was just referring to "Adventure Village" meaning the WAH area but without the animals. The architecture, colors, signage, and landscaping of the area is what stands out in my mind. How much changed between the animals leaving and Action Zone's debut?

[markr]

One of the prettiest sections of the park used to be the old Oktoberfest area. It is sad how they just let it disappear.

[Shaggy]

In a perfect world, they never would have done away with the Adventure Village themeing.

Actually, I disagree. The Adventure Village theming was horrible. The area just prior to the switch to Action Zone was the absolute eyesore section of the park.

However, they never should have done away with the original Wild Animal Habitat theming. There's a huge difference between those two.

Shaggy

You might need to refresh my memory of the differences... I was just referring to "Adventure Village" meaning the WAH area but without the animals. The architecture, colors, signage, and landscaping of the area is what stands out in my mind. How much changed between the animals leaving and Action Zone's debut?

The area has had several different names.... Wild Animal Safari, Wild Animal Habitat, Adventure Village and Action Zone.

Wild Animal Safari was the name in early years. The area was pretty barren with a bird show ampitheatre, gift shop, food stand, sit down eatery, and of course the Lion Country Safari Monerail. You entered by crossing a wooden bridge over a nice flowing stream that meandered through the area.

As the years progressed, the area was expanded and included animal attractions such as an aviary, elephant walk and petting zoo. Screamin Demon was added late 1970's and a series of eleaborate ponds and waterfalls dotted the landscaping. In the early 1980s, the King Cobra took the place of the elephant walk and the ponds were expanded. The stream under the entrance bridge was extended to flow under the helix of the Cobra with a water geiser that shot everytime a train passed. At this time, the park called the area the Wild Animal Habitat... mostly because of the addition of amusement attractions and additional animal attractions outside of the monerail. There were beautiful live parrotts sitting on palm trees scattered throughout the area. Eventually Amazon Falls (now congo) took the place of the Demon, but the new ride still adhered to the landscaping and theme. From about 1984 until 1990 the area was a beautiful and complimentary section to the park. It was the best this area of the park ever looked. It was very well done.

Enter Paramount

By 1993 Top Gun was in and the animals out. (It's important to remember that the suspended coaster that became Top Gun was slated to be installed in the same area at Ki prior to the Paramount takeover. Paramount didn't design or contract the ride. The leaders under the Carl Linder ownership did. Once Paramount bought out the parks they themed the attraction to Top Gun using a Paramount Studios Set Designer to design the station queue. There's been several rumors as to it's original name over the years. I've heard "Raven", "Falcon" and other bird names tossed around but never confirmed.) The parrots and palm trees never again appeared, in their place was a model of the Starship Enterprise (no joke.) The habitat animals were given pink slips by the end of the 1993 season. The park had plans drawn up by PPD&E (Paramount Parks Design and Engineering) for a potential attraction called "Movierail." It would have used the old Safari Monerail to take guests past displays of old Paramount movie sets. Instead of Bengal Tigers, you might have passed a recreation of the Brady Bunch house or and animatronic recreation of the finale to Grease. (The idea actually manifested itself in a much smaller form... the walkthrough Paramount Gardens.) Obviously the Movierail concept was nixed in favor of the Days Of Thunder Simulator so for 1994, the Monerail station was demolished and the land it vacated was simply fenced in all season. Yep, a big wooden fence ran right down the middle of the Adventure Village midway. (The monerail trains sat in storage for years and years behind that fence. ) Also in 1994, the stream running from the Cobra's helix over to Amazon Falls was drained and filled in although the geiser still remained and operated sporadically (?!) The wooden entrance footbridge you once crossed was ripped out for an expanded entrance and one of those little Paramount themed infomation kiosks. The kiosk housed Tom Cruise's Pilot costume from Top Gun.

In 1995, the area was re-named "Adventure Village" and consisted of Cobra, Top Gun and Amazon Falls. In the early summer of 1995, the Skyflyer (originally called Drop Zone... confused yet?) was added as the centerpiece, eleminating half the wooden fence in the area and the food stand next to it closed. It sat dormant for about 3 years until it opened to sell smoothies in 1998. (The stand bit the dust the following year for Drop Zone.) I'll never forget the shock I felt when I saw the area for the first time in 1995. It was hideous. It was very much ignored for about 5 years. The buildings literally had their wooden shingles falling off and all the shrubbery was allowed to overgrow.

1999 brought Drop Zone, Face Off, a water tower and lots of concrete and bright colors as Action Zone. All those missing shingles were replaced with sheet metal, or had their buildings demolished altogether. King Cobra almost bit it when the re-theme happened but was kept at the last minute... as a result, the KC sounvenir shop was converted into a food stand. And you exited KC via a narrow fenced path behind the food stands dumpster. LOL. Cobra was again on the chopping block in 2001, and in 2002 was finally given the ax. Ironically, it was originally destined to be removed to make room for a flying coaster... that KI passed on... that went to SFWOA instead... that was bought by Cedar Point... that closed it... and then moved the flying coaster to KI. But I digress....

Action Zone is miles above the sad "Adventure Village" theming. It was a welcome change, and a nice refreshening to the most neglected part of the park. However I'll always wonder what the area it might have been like had the Paramount Days not occurred. In all reality, the park might have ceased to exist had Paramount not stepped in. The Linder days were not the best years.

Given all the options, if I could choose, I go with #2. ;-)

[PREMiERdrum]

Wild Animal Safari was the name in early years. The area was pretty barren with a bird show ampitheatre, gift shop, food stand, sit down eatery, and of course the Lion Country Safari Monerail. You entered by crossing a wooden bridge over a nice flowing stream that meandered through the area.

As the years progressed, the area was expanded and included animal attractions such as an aviary, elephant walk and petting zoo. Screamin Demon was added late 1970's and a series of eleaborate ponds and waterfalls were added to the landscaping. In the early 1980s, the King Cobra took the place of the elephant walk and the ponds were expanded, with the stream under the bridge extending under they Cobra. At this time, the park called the area the Wild Animal Habitat... mostly because of the addition of amusement attractions and additional animal attractions outside of the monerail. There were literally live parrotts sitting on palm trees scattered throughout the area. Eventually Amazon Falls (now congo) took the place of the Demon, but still adhered to the landscaping and theme. From about 1984 until 1990 the area was a beautiful and complimentary section to the park. It was the best this area of the park ever looked. It was very well done.

Well done sir! The portion that I quoted is how I remember the area. Everything about it (landscaping, materials, architecture) supported the theme.

[The Interpreter]

Wonderfully detailed post! I am glad to see Shaggy express his opinion about Carl Lindner's days of owning the park. I, too, share that opinion. For quite some time, we had a former food cart supervisor here who hated Paramount Parks with a purple passion. He often expressed the opinion that Carl Lindner ran the park extremely well, particularly when compared to Paramount Parks. I still think Mr. Lindner's ownership was the second worst the park ever had...with CBS winning that particular undesirable title...

[Shaggy]

Wonderfully detailed post! I am glad to see Shaggy express his opinion about Carl Lindner's days of owning the park. I, too, share that opinion. For quite some time, we had a former food cart supervisor here who hated Paramount Parks with a purple passion. He often expressed the opinion that Carl Lindner ran the park extremely well, particularly when compared to Paramount Parks. I still think Mr. Lindner's ownership was the second worst the park ever had...with CBS winning that particular undesirable title...

What I recall about the Linder days is that both KI and KD lost a lot of their original charm. MANY, MANY, MANY rides were removed and the parks fell into a general state of disrepair and uncleanliness.

[bkroz]

If anything, though, we can be very grateful that we can look back on those days knowing that they have passed, and that the parks are in the process of recovery! I've always said that if any one of the parks past owners hadn't happened, the park would be very different, or not even exist at all! So while some dislike Paramount (and CBS's) decisions, there's no telling if there would be a park at all today if it weren't for them. And yes, the same can be said of Cedar Fair.

[alluna]

If anything, though, we can be very grateful that we can look back on those days knowing that they have passed, and that the parks are in the process of recovery! I've always said that if any one of the parks past owners hadn't happened, the park would be very different, or not even exist at all! So while some dislike Paramount (and CBS's) decisions, there's no telling if there would be a park at all today if it weren't for them. And yes, the same can be said of Cedar Fair.

I'm with you on this one. Remember Fantasy Farm? Or...Americana? Wow, Americana. Where I first rode the eagles...and the Screechin Eagle. Thought we were going to fly off of that thing every time.

[CedarPointer]

Whoa, you're kidding right?

I mean I love Diamondback, but man o man they did a number on Rivertown. They must have removed 500 trees for it's install. My only gripe about Diamondback is the sacrificing of the pond and trees surrounding it. But then it is the most amazing coaster KI has put in since Vortex (IMO.) I suppose an omelet needs some broken eggs. ;-)

Shaggy

I wasn't saying that they didn't remove anything, but they did install some landscaping. Some of it is in a bizzare spot (the two strips around the splashdown), but it's better than how the Firehawk area looks.

[The Interpreter]

Just today, I was thinking of the parks I have been to that are no more. In just a couple of minutes, I came up with a list of 13...and I honestly believe that Mr. Lindner could easily have added Kings Island to that list had his ownership continued. As it was, he retained much of the park's original land, not selling it to Paramount...The park once owned far, far more acreage than it does now...and we can 'thank' Mr. Lindner for much of that...

[CoastersRZ]

Yep. The park used to own 1,600 acres on BOTH sides of 71. The Tennis Center, was originally part of the Kings Island complex, as was the Kings Island Resort and the Golf Center at Kings Island. Today, Kings Island`s owns less than half of the original acreage that it had in 1972. Not to mention the land that was "sold" for a stake in the Great Wolf Lodge, a stake that Cedar Fair declined ownership of, and CBS later sold its stake (I believe it was around a 16% share) to Great Wolf, giving them full ownership of the property. Speaking of that property, did their loan issues ever get resolved with the Kings Island property?

[The Interpreter]

As a matter of fact, just today there was news Great Wolf is selling notes to take care of that:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2010/03/22/daily15.html