As I mentioned in another thread, I've come into possession of two Kings Island employee yearbooks. One is from 1978: Kings Jester and the other is A View from the Tower from 1987 (the year Vortex premiered).

Almost the instant I saw these on eBay, I bought them, even though I hadn't been aware KI made employee yearbooks and wasn't sure exactly what they were going to be. I was hoping to get a bit of a look at the Kings Island I loved so much in my childhood.

I have an unusual memory. I know all kinds of strange facts, but I never remember how I learned them. My own personal memories are few and far between, often vague, and I don't remember much of it at all without outside prompts like other people, pictures, diaries, etc. For an example, around the first time I found out my memory was different was at the end of 5th grade when classmates were talking about very specific memories of events from our years in elementary school, which I should have remembered too (because I was there for many of them), while I couldn't have told them my second grade teacher's name without looking in my yearbook from that year.

So far, a cursory look through the employee yearbooks have jogged a lot of memories, as I had hoped. What I hadn't considered was the ability to look behind the scenes, which is giving special insight about the people who helped make those days so special, and by extension are continuing to help make my days at the park pleasurable.

Kings Jester in particular focuses on this aspect of being a Kings Island employee, and that is what I want to make my first installment of several posts I hope to write about these yearbooks.

If anyone has any questions about the yearbooks and/or would like me to show/talk about something in particular that may be contained within, please let me know.

I wonder what year they stopped doing this

They were apparently doing it as late as 2006:

http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php/topic/9173-06-yearbooks/

There is also a mention elsewhere online of yearbooks as prizes for an employee reunion in 2009, but those may or may not have been yearbooks from that year.

I think that the 2006 season was the last year that the park had the yearbook, when it was still Paramount Kings Island. Human Resources used to have some copies in a rack that job applicants could browse while applying for a job. I wonder if the Park might consider bringing them back again?

I had heard Mr. Kinzel didn't think they were very FUN.

I had heard Mr. Kinzel didn't think they were very FUN.

They were probably more nickels than he cared to spend. haha

Year books are too much time and money.

Aha! Are you Dick Kinzel?

To me, it sounds like cheap encouragement to stay through the end of the season.

I believe the employees had to pay at least a part of the cost of a yearbook, if they wanted one.

I would assume. That's how high school yearbooks were, at least when I was in high school.

Aha! Are you Dick Kinzel?

I wish. Lol. It's just all of the stuff you have to go though by getting the staff, photos taken(hiring people to do it) and finding a company to make the books itself.

I have some...these two I actually appear in (back when I was fat....eww)

IMG_4393 by ki_faerie_wench, on Flickr

But yeah...as far as I am aware 2006 was the last one.

I would assume. That's how high school yearbooks were, at least when I was in high school.

My college yearbooks were free!

(or more accurately, included with tuition whether you wanted one or not)

In the late 70's at UK, they were nearly $100. Virtually no one got one. Which made them more expensive. Which meant fewer customers. Which meant higher prices. In the early 80's, the yearbook died. The student newspaper had divorced itself from the University long before, over political disagreements about the draft and the Vietnam war.

I don't remember but I think we had to pay for yearbooks when I was in high school.

But then again I hated my high school and haven't thought much about the stupid place in 10 years....to this day I don't find it deserving a dime. lol. Probably why I don't have hardly any yearbooks from it but I have a yearbook from every year when I was in elementary school.

Our high school yearbooks were at least $60/ea. and not distributed until the following fall. Which meant graduating seniors had to come back to pick theirs up.

Yes, we had to purchase the yearbook and it was deducted from our paychecks if we wanted one. I forgot how much that they cost, but it was that much. I have the yearbooks from my years at Kings High School and it was worth the cost (for our parents).

My parents certainly did not pay for my yearbooks. I worked 50-60 hours a week during school and more in the summer. Though even then it was not legal, it was one of the best things I ever did. It kept me sane, and that job in any given week taught me more about life than high school did in three long, boring, monotonous years.

The yearbooks have been a sometimes reminder of how life has a way of producing unexpected results. There was no Facebook, no Twitter, no social media. These yearbooks survive more than 40 years later. Will any of those things? At least the yearbooks had editors!

There was no Facebook, but a yearbook is a book of faces!

All of my friends are always checking out all of the pictures in the yearbooks from our school that were published decades ago. We like to look at our pictures from the years when we were just starting 1st grade and our progress through high school. We look up pictures of our parents, our sisters and brothers, all family members, teachers, all of our friends, everyone one that we know and see all of the pictures of our distant relatives and parents when they were kids from decades ago. We share all of our memories and upload pages of our yearbooks from decades ago for our friends that don't have access to. We even share if any of our teachers have a famous son that went on to be an All Pro wide receiver in the NFL and to become one of the top rated sports broadcaster on NBC. Chris Collinsworth's father, Abe, started his coaching and teaching career at Kings Mills High School back in 1959. But most of all, we use our yearbooks to look up the pictures of our dear classmates that have passed on and share all the good times we all shared with them.

I was not aware that this was a common practice when I worked at the park.

On 2/15/2015 at 6:55 PM, Magenta Lizard said:

As I mentioned in another thread, I've come into possession of two Kings Island employee yearbooks. One is from 1978: Kings Jester and the other is A View from the Tower from 1987 (the year Vortex premiered).

Almost the instant I saw these on eBay, I bought them, even though I hadn't been aware KI made employee yearbooks and wasn't sure exactly what they were going to be. I was hoping to get a bit of a look at the Kings Island I loved so much in my childhood.

I have an unusual memory. I know all kinds of strange facts, but I never remember how I learned them. My own personal memories are few and far between, often vague, and I don't remember much of it at all without outside prompts like other people, pictures, diaries, etc. For an example, around the first time I found out my memory was different was at the end of 5th grade when classmates were talking about very specific memories of events from our years in elementary school, which I should have remembered too (because I was there for many of them), while I couldn't have told them my second grade teacher's name without looking in my yearbook from that year.

So far, a cursory look through the employee yearbooks have jogged a lot of memories, as I had hoped. What I hadn't considered was the ability to look behind the scenes, which is giving special insight about the people who helped make those days so special, and by extension are continuing to help make my days at the park pleasurable.

Kings Jester in particular focuses on this aspect of being a Kings Island employee, and that is what I want to make my first installment of several posts I hope to write about these yearbooks.

If anyone has any questions about the yearbooks and/or would like me to show/talk about something in particular that may be contained within, please let me know.

Hello, I would love to see some pages from the King’s Jester yearbook! My parents both work at KI every summer from the late 70’s through the late 80’s. My dad was especially involved in rides and managed the crew for the slide. If there are any pictures of the slide crew, I’d really appreciate seeing them!

I would like to find out what was the first year that Kings Island had employee yearbooks. I am interested in buying.  I worked there from 73 to 80.

I have my dad's two yearbooks from Kings Island. Both are Kings Jesters from 1977 and 1978.

I have all 3 scanned. Still working on getting them cleaned up. Hopefully I’ll get them hosted online someday.


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On 11/20/2020 at 12:05 AM, Oldschool75 said:

I have all 3 scanned. Still working on getting them cleaned up. Hopefully I’ll get them hosted online someday.


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Would you be able to share the scan of these? My dad is looking foe the 1978 one.

 

On 11/15/2019 at 10:47 AM, Braddavis2012 said:

Hello, I would love to see some pages from the King’s Jester yearbook! My parents both work at KI every summer from the late 70’s through the late 80’s. My dad was especially involved in rides and managed the crew for the slide. If there are any pictures of the slide crew, I’d really appreciate seeing them!

I'm on the hunt for the 1978 yearbook for my dad. He has the 1977. Would love to make copies and share!

I'm on the hunt for the 1978 yearbook for my dad. He has the 1977. Would love to make copies and share!

Send me a private message. I have it scanned.


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On 8/20/2022 at 1:07 PM, Oldschool75 said:

Send me a private message. I have it scanned.


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I sent you a message!

Does anyone have scans of 1983 - 1985 ?  Myy wife worked then and looking for those