Flashback Till Opening Day 2013

[Creed Bratton]

Guys, as Nemo said. Paul is fine, I talked to him earlier, stop worrying about where he is. He'll be back on here when he's ready.

[DontWantToWait42mar0]

Guys, as Nemo said. Paul is fine, I talked to him earlier, stop worrying about where he is. He'll be back on here when he's ready.

Thank you.

[kblanken]

Are there any existing rides like that?

Fly-O-Plane at Lake Winnie is similar.

http://www.lakewinnie.com/home/attractions/thrillrides/flyoplane/

[Rc1111]

If you don't mind, could you make your whole collection avalible for download? I would LOVE to have these.

[BavarianBeatle]

I wish I was around for that ride! It looks like so much fun!

Flight Commander was fun, unless the rider happened to be very, very drunk.

[Guest Department47]

^Alongside being rather tasteless, that comment isn't necessarily true (assuming you're referencing a certain 1991 accident on Flight Commander that involved an intoxicated park patron). The victim's intoxication was a very minor problem when compared to the facts she was riding alone, there was no seat divider in the vehicles, etc.

[TTD-120-420]

The people who were not drunk didn't seem to have a problem with the ride. Did they?

[SupremoSteveo]

I just want to say as a new member to this forum, going through these pictures have brought back great memories and provided me a little peek at history as well. Keep up the awesome work!

[Guest Department47]

The people who were not drunk didn't seem to have a problem with the ride. Did they?

The woman's intoxication played a small role, yes - it made her body more limp and enabled it to more easily slide out from under the restraint. However, it was not the primary cause by any means. Lack of seat divider, the woman riding by herself, and the empty restraint next to her being unlocked all played a much bigger role. The following year, the ride reopened with multiple modifications: new seat dividers, lengthened lapbars, relocated joystick, and inoperable joysticks if restraints were left unlocked.

[TTD-120-420]

I wasn't being a smart aleck, just to clear things up. I wasn't alive then so I really did not know, that's why I asked. Thanks for giving the facts.

[DontWantToWait42mar0]

If she had lost consciousness from something different than alcohol, the result would have likely been the same?

Inadequate design sadly.

[jandyb79]

Safety investigation demonstrating the inadequate design:

[Guest Department47]

No intention of hijacking the thread, but just some information on Flight Commander and the accident...

Flight Commander was the country's fourth Intamin Flight Trainer when it opened in Coney Mall on the former spot of Zodiac in April of 1990. It was part of $4.5-million in expansions that year ($2-million for just it) and it simulated flying a jet. Riders used a small joystick to raise, lower, and flip their ride capsules at a height of up to 62-feet. The attraction was designed by Steven Van Velson of Zurich, Switzerland.

The minute-and-a-half ride had twenty two-person ride vehicles. The pods were equipped with a padded u-shaped harness and hip bar, the harness including a double spring-loaded dog-and-ratchet system, while the lap bar had three different backup features. The harness was not initially planned, but only added after it was discovered lateral forces would be experienced on the ride. Additional safety features included a crew of five operators who could emergency stop the ride at any point, vehicles that returned to an upright position after only a few seconds of being inverted, and returning to an upright position prior to the ride returning to the loading position.

The ride had a minimum height requirement of 48-inches and was inspected twice daily, with these inspections lasting up to three hours. The attraction was also inspected by Ohio Agriculture Department on April 12, 1990, two days prior to its debut.

On June 9, 1991, at approximately 9:45pm, an intoxicated 32-year-old Candy Taylor from Toledo, Ohio boarded the ride. She was visiting the park with two friends, and the trio planned on finishing their day at Flight Commander. The Taylor's two friends boarded the attraction and rode while she finished her beer. She boarded the next cycle, one of the last ones of the night.

Taylor was in capsule number four. During the ride's fifth revolution, she slipped out from underneath the harness. She grabbed onto the restraint with her right hand, but was still flung from the ride, landing in nearby shrubbery.

The ride was immediately stopped and the park's paramedics were quickly called. A doctor visiting the park with her family performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Taylor until paramedics arrived, which took approximately 30 minutes (they were preoccupied with a separate accident in Oktoberfest). She was eventually airlifted to Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio, where she was declared dead an hour after the accident.

The ride and surrounding area was closed off the following day, and similar rides at Great America, Knott's Berry Farm, and Kings Dominion all voluntarily shut-down. Representatives of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Warren County Sheriff's Department, and Ohio Department of Agriculture all arrived at the park for inspections of the attraction, and the ride's creator, Steven Van Velson, arrived in Cincinnati on June 11.

The park requested that both employees and guests who had witnessed the accident call a toll free number to be interviewed. Over 50 witnesses from both accidents were interviewed. The park also offered assistance to employees suffering from distress.

On June 12, the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced plans to investigate. It was operated for the first time since the accident that day. Afterwards, capsule four was removed and disassembled for investigation. Additional capsules were also removed and disassembled the following day. They were all stored in a room on Kings Island property.

The investigation lasted six weeks before the cause of the accident was determined. The lack of a seat divider, the woman riding alone, and the adjacent restraint being left unlocked were all factors that resulted in the woman's death. Taylor had a blood alcohol level at 0.30 percent when thrown from the ride, which also played a role.

Modifications made before the ride reopened the following year included the addition of a seat divider, a lengthened lap bar, a relocated joystick, and an inoperable joystick if both restraints were left unlocked.

The ride reopened on April 11 of 1992. That December, the Taylor's family and Kings Island agreed to a settlement of $336,500. In February of 1993, the family sued Intamin Inc. for $8.8-million.

The park restricted alcohol sales to only the International Restaurant and Picnic Grove in 1993, although the park said the June 9, 1991 accident did not affect this decision. This restriction has since been lifted.

The ride last operated in 1995 before being dismantled. In the years since, attractions that have taken the same spot are Launch Pad, EuroBobbles, and now the Dinosaurs Alive! party pavilion. The attraction's former queue structure still exist and is currently used for storage. Other features of the ride, including blue lights placed around the platform, also remain.

[TheCrypt]

What good does it serve to have inoperable joysticks if there are no riding passengers in a capsule?

[Guest Department47]

^Inoperable joysticks if a restraint was left unlocked, as in if an employee didn't check the restraint and a person's restraint was left open during the ride, they would be unable to inverse the capsule.

[RD Reynolds]

Hoping to steer back to the original happy discussion originally on this thread...

So hey, place sure looks different 41 years later, doesn't it?

[KIfan73]

The ride reopened on April 11 of 1992.

I can still remember vividly seeing FC operating on my first visit to Kings Island in July of '92. I remember thinking that there was no way I was getting on that. Looked really intimidating. I had no idea of the very sad situation that happened on it the year earlier. I didn't know anything about that until I learned it on here just a few years ago. Thanks for sharing all those details.

July '92:

[coasterfanatic83]

The first thing I noticed when I looked at that old map was that the area where Antique Cars stood (now BSLC) was not entirely encircled by a footpath. When was the pathway connecting Rivertown and Coney Mall around the eastern side of Antique Cars added? Was it when The Bat was built?

[Guest Department47]

^The pathway was added in 1975, alongside Troika (Shake, Rattle, and Roll) and Zodiac.

[SonofBaconator]

A return of the 'tiques would be nice. One of the many things I'd like to see return to the park.

[coasterfanatic83]

Thanks Depatment47! I love learning about how the park looked and operated before I was around

[jandyb79]

Along the same lines as the pic posted above and statements thereafter, here is a shot of the Mall area as The Bat was being constructed:

[TheCrypt]

Thanks for posting. I did not know the circular island in Coney did not originally have pathways going through the center. I also noticed the building presently known as Jukebox Diner has a facade closely resembling the carousel structure. What was the name of that building during the given time period?

[RD Reynolds]

Would love to see the return of the giant slide. Just a stupid fun little ride!

[CoastersRZ]

I want to say that the name of it was "Coney Cafeteria" or something with the name of Coney in it. I believe it was renovated after Paramount took over, and was briefly called Tucker`s before getting the Happy Days Diner treatment, which only lasted a few seasons until Cedar Fair took over and renamed it Jukebox Diner.

[PKIVortex]

It was called Coney Cafe.

[Jr for Birdy]

Would love to see the return of the giant slide. Just a stupid fun little ride!

My kids go crazy over the giant slide at the Ohio State Fair,I even love it still myself. It would be cool to see one back in the Snoopy area.They are trying to get back to there roots right?

[medford]

I'd love to see that come back, and I'd bet my soon to be 5 year old would love it as well. I remember the giant slide fondly as a kid myself.

one problem, I'm not sure there is a good spot in the current Planet Snoopy for such a structure. At least not without taking something out currently there or removing a good amount of vegitation. Planet Snoopy is kind of landlocked at the moment. You've got the mainenance area (or whatever all those buildings are used for) to the west of Woodstock express, you've got the theater/picnic grove/and a lot of trees to the sout-west (snoopy junciont is kind of useless in my opinion, not a ton of ridership, but I'd hate to see them lose all those trees for a slide), Flying Ace arial chase and race for your life to the southeast, all of the food stations to the east side, and international street/great pumpkin coaster/boo blasters to the north.

With the allegedly Action Zone reboot in the next couple of seasons, I'm expecting a 2nd kids area as part of the future expansion. A giant slide would make for a relatively low cost, alternative attraction for the park if a 2nd kids zone ever opened up. A witch's cauldron, "giant" kids swing, an additional rollercoaster for kids 40" and above, bumper boats, bounce house would all be good additions, plus lots of other things.

[TheBEASTunchained]

^ A second kids area? Or an expansion of our already nice, "Best Kids Area In The World"?............ Just curious....

[medford]

a 2nd kids area, Unless they make some sizeable changes to the maintenance shed area in front of woodstock express, or get rid of the picnic area, there's not a ton of room left for expansion. I don't envision that area being as big as Planet Snoopy, more like 4-5 attractions designed for the 36" - 42" and above range that the family can ride together, intermingled w/ larger attractions for the 48" and above crowd.

Something similar to how coney/xbase is laid out. You've got the dinos, scrambler, monster, shake rattle & roll, and carousel (along w/ the bumper cars, and swings for the 48" and above crowd, plus all the games) intermixed with Vortex, The Racer, Flight of Fear, and Firehawk. With the exception of rides intended for the typical 2-4 year old, that part of the park offers a little bit of everything for everyone in the family.

That is what I'd invision in the expanded part of the park/Action Zone reboot. A mix of rides the family can ride together from ages 5-80 as well as your thrill rides intended for the 10-40+ age group.