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1996 park map from blueprint with key index


jandyb79
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I was going through some items in preparation to move this spring and located one of my old employee manuals. In the back there is a park map rendering along with the key index sheet referencing buildings and attractions. I thought some of you would enjoy this since there has been some talk about park history and placement of old rides and attractions. Enjoy :)

KI1996parkmap.jpg

KImapindexkey.jpg

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Thank you for posting that, I might have to save it so I can zoom in more and actually read the numbers on the buildings and attractions. Nice find though!

Tomorrow I'll scan it to one page rather than combine the 2 pages so the image is not compressed. Unfortunately this is the only training booklet I have since they did not require you to go through orientation, if you were on rehire status, 2 years in a row. This image actually came out of my sisters manual when she was hired on in 1996. My 1995 booklet has since been lost. I believe it came with a foldout map as well.

~Josh

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Why is Drop Zone Listed if the image from 1996?

Because it was installed in 1995.*

(* Xtreme Skyflyer was known as Drop Zone from 1995 to 1999)

I know this isn't reflected on the map (remember this map was not used by the general public), but I'm fairly confident that they renamed Drop Zone to Xtreme Skyflyer in 1996. The reason I say that is the games department ran the video cameras and registers for that ride and we were asked not to refer to Skyflyer as Drop Zone. This was in preparation for the new ride Drop Zone that was to be placed in the Coney Mall - initially. I may be off one year (either 96 or 97), but I know it was no later than 97 (which was the last full season I worked at the park in the 90's).

~Josh

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I have a ticket stub for a flight I purchased on Drop Zone...in 1998...

BUT, the timeline for this very site says it was Drop Zone ONLY the first season:

http://www.KICentral...ry/timeline.php

See 1995.

KIE, on the other hand, says it was renamed in 1997:

http://www.kiextreme.com/history_timeline.php

And still...this ticket...

Go figure.

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Well, I do not have any records as to when exactly the name was changed. I do know that in 1998, the ride was referred to as Xtreme Skyflyer on the park map. I only have park maps dating back to 1998.

As an aside, the height requirements for The Racer and Adventure Express that year were six inches lower than they are today. Yep, you could ride either ride if you were 42" tall. And, there was only one ride in the park with a minimum height requirement of 54" (Flight of Fear, which is listed simply as Outer Limits). My how times have changed now. There are now five rides with a minimum height requirement of 54" (Diamondback, Flight of Fear, The Crypt, Firehawk, and Invertigo), and one with a height requirement of 52" (Delirium, which originally had a 54" height requirement).

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Trust me, I know that exact situation. The Ferris Wheel at Coney used to not have a minimum height requirement the first year I operated it. Then in 2004, they installed new signs, and along with it came a new 36" minimum height requirement. We had to deal with several situations about which you mentioned above. It often got ugly rather quickly. And of course, Coney has another situation that parks like Kings Island do not have to worry about. If a kid is 40" and needs to ride with a chaperon, the chaperon needs to have a rides wristband as well. Believe it or not, that is a very hard concept for most guests to understand (and I was even called a rather descriminatory name this year at Wheel, for not letting the parents (who had no rides wristbands) chaperon their kids (who were 40" tall) on the Ferris Wheel.

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Just wanted to note that I much prefer the simple line maps that the park used to have, like that shown in the original post - you know, the ones that actually showed where rides were and what the layout looked like.

Thanks for sharing, I love seeing this kind of stuff.

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Just wanted to note that I much prefer the simple line maps that the park used to have, like that shown in the original post - you know, the ones that actually showed where rides were and what the layout looked like.

Thanks for sharing, I love seeing this kind of stuff.

I have several park maps (for guests) dating back as far as 1973 when they were full sized posters. I kept one each year that I worked at the park, in addition to the ones I saved from earlier trips. I believe I have 1991, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96 and 97. I will scan those as well when I pull them from storage.

~Josh

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There were some difficult years for ride ops in the late 90's. Kids would ride Racer one year, grow an inch or so over the off-season, then be too short to ride the next year! Many times, the parents were far more difficult to deal with than the kids!

The same thing happened at Beastie in 2001. It was not a fun time.

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