Sit On it - A nostalgic look back at KI...

[Magenta Lizard]

If I may be so forward as to make a request: do you have any pics or information about the giant card house that was in Hanna Barbera Land sometime in the late 70s or early 80s? For a long time I thought maybe I was imagining it because it was so difficult to find anything about it online. I have since run into it on the wiki page about retired attractions and a drawing on one old map. So, I know it was officially called the Fool House. 

You would think a funhouse "made" from cards the size of people would spark more people's imaginations, but I feel sometimes I'm the only one who remembers it. 

[Elizabeth19]

wow! Those are great pictures! The earliest I remember anything at Kings Island is 2009, even though my first trip was 2002. So it's cool to see pics like this compared to how the park is now.

[Shaggy]

For anyone curious about the construction of Action Zone - including Face/Off and Drop Zone - I just uploaded a bunch of photos.  (Including an ULTRA RARE look inside Drop Zone's tower!)

[CoastersRZ]

Awesome pictures!  Keep the pictures coming!

If I am not mistaken, Drop Zone didn`t open until May of 1999.  It wasn`t open for the season pass preview day in 1999.  I remember riding Face Off on that day.  That was the second year that I had a season pass to Kings Island (with 1998 being the first).  I have had a season pass to KI every year since.

[Shaggy]

To be quite honest, the details escape me.  I probably would have recalled that once upon a time,  but my KI memory is not what it used to be.  What I do recall is that the day it opened to the general public, it was misting/raining.   My goal in the FB page isn't to recollect the specifics/minutia/dates as much as it is to share the wealth of pictures and materials I have amassed over the years.  As I post, I simply type in a few comments as best I recall.

[MaestroJr]

Absolutely fantastic and nostalgic photos shaggy, thanks for posting all these!

[CoastersRZ]

Topic bump.  For those who haven`t checked out this Facebook group lately, John has added several park brochures from the early 70s.  Well worth checking out.

[Shaggy]

13 hours ago, CoastersRZ said:

Topic bump.  For those who haven`t checked out this Facebook group lately, John has added several park brochures from the early 70s.  Well worth checking out.

With much, much more to come!  Thanks for the bump

[CoastersRZ]

You are certainly welcome.  I enjoy checking out your page.  I love the content so far.  Keep it coming!

[SonofBaconator]

I have a request. Do you have any pictures from the K.I.&.M.V.R.R from the 70s-80s? I've saved a lot that I've found online but I'd love to see more!

[Shaggy]

2 minutes ago, SonofBaconator said:

I have a request. Do you have any pictures from the K.I.&.M.V.R.R from the 70s-80s? I've saved a lot that I've found online but I'd love to see more!

I'll eventually upload all that I have.  (Its a slooow process with scanning etc) Frankly, I have so much, I won't know what I have until I get to it.  As far as pictures, what I have is from the years I attended - and I first went to KiI in 1981.

[Magenta Lizard]

Fingers crossed you happened to capture the Fool House at some point, then. 1981 is the first year I really have any memories of, so chances are...

[Voicetek]

I've got a question: Back before KI opened for it's 1991 season, they mailed out some flyers advertising that new season.  Within the flyer there was an advertisement for their new ride Adventure Express, complete with concept artwork.  Just curious, by chance, would you happen to have this flyer or know what I'm talking about?  I just remember, as a 10 year old boy, looking through this at my dad's house and getting excited to ride the new ride.  Thanks!

[Shaggy]

15 minutes ago, Magenta Lizard said:

Fingers crossed you happened to capture the Fool House at some point, then. 1981 is the first year I really have any memories of, so chances are...

I'm not trying to bring you down - but you do know the house of cards was just a tiny walk through?  They were more decorative than anything - the inside just had a couple of fun house mirrors - that's it as far as I remember.  The bigger attraction in the area was actually the Puppet Tree - which was adjacent.  That seems to have escaped a lot of the pictorial history of Kings Island.  

[goettablitz]

I seem to remember from one of my first visits to Kings Island in the late 80s / early 90s that in the kids area there was a "tree" where a puppet show or some type of story would be told.  Also there was some type of farm playground with a tractor that you could climb on.  Any memory or photos of this or where this was located?

[Shaggy]

12 minutes ago, goettablitz said:

I seem to remember from one of my first visits to Kings Island in the late 80s / early 90s that in the kids area there was a "tree" where a puppet show or some type of story would be told.  Also there was some type of farm playground with a tractor that you could climb on.  Any memory or photos of this or where this was located?

The tree was the Puppet Tree I mentioned above.  The "farm" was McScrappy's Farm.  The "Farm" actually resembled one of those Fisher Price Little People Farms.

[Voicetek]

I loved, loved, loved the puppet tree! When I was a kid, one thing I looked forward to every season was the new puppet show in the puppet tree.  Each season they would have new puppet characters and a new set of songs those characters would sings and dance to.  I would always have one character and song that was my favorite every year.  I absolutely hated to see the puppet tree get torn out.  I'm glad there are still pictures and videos that exist online. 

[Gordon Bombay]

Hi @Shaggy, 

I noticed as you posted the 1979 brochure, one of the features of it showcased pictures of the Reds/Riverfront Stadium/the city, but the text below it is even more interesting: 

It encourages guests to visit Carowinds and Kings Dominion while also encouraging them to visit Mainland in Los Angeles. Was Taft/KI once affiliated with that park?

Edit: Apparently you can tag people on the forums now and including a link to Facebook, embeds the post? Technology, wow. 

[Magenta Lizard]

I seem to remember a turning barrel room (like the one they have in Carnevil now) and possibly a shaky floor were also in there. It was very exciting for a five-or-so-year-old, what can I say?

I loved the life-size toy barn and animals, too, since I had that toy. Still do, come to think of it!

I don't remember the puppet tree at all, but I might if I saw it again. 

[Spectrum91]

On 2/2/2017 at 7:24 AM, Magenta Lizard said:

If I may be so forward as to make a request: do you have any pics or information about the giant card house that was in Hanna Barbera Land sometime in the late 70s or early 80s? For a long time I thought maybe I was imagining it because it was so difficult to find anything about it online. I have since run into it on the wiki page about retired attractions and a drawing on one old map. So, I know it was officially called the Fool House. 

You would think a funhouse "made" from cards the size of people would spark more people's imaginations, but I feel sometimes I'm the only one who remembers it. 

 

The card house (and nearby Shaggy's Silly Sticks) were created by Bruce D. Robinson Design Group. Here are a couple pictures pulled straight from their website (brdesign.com):

 

[Magenta Lizard]

^I love you! I didn't remember the cards had Hanna Barbera characters dressed as the royalty on face cards! Even cooler than I thought!

OMG if only I could find one of those in an antique store somewhere....

[Shaggy]

1 hour ago, Gordon Bombay said:

Hi @Shaggy, 

I noticed as you posted the 1979 brochure, one of the features of it showcased pictures of the Reds/Riverfront Stadium/the city, but the text below it is even more interesting: 

It encourages guests to visit Carowinds and Kings Dominion while also encouraging them to visit Mainland in Los Angeles. Was Taft/KI once affiliated with that park?

Edit: Apparently you can tag people on the forums now and including a link to Facebook, embeds the post? Technology, wow. 

Yes... Taft was involved in Marineland for a while.  Marineland in CA got tossed around a lot - and eventually ended up SBNO.  Here's a snippet about Taft's involvement from this website:  http://blogs.dailybreeze.com/history/2014/08/23/marinelands-tumultuous-final-days/

In October 1977, Marineland was sold again, this time to the Kroger Company and Taft Broadcasting for $5 million. Taft also owned the Hanna-Barbera animation studio, and decided to remake the park using the studio’s familiar characters Yogi Bear, Scooby Doo, Huckleberry Hound and others.

The park was closed on October 31, 1977, for remodeling, and many employees were laid off. It reopened on May 27, 1978 as Hanna Barbera’s Marineland. In addition to the various cartoon-themed renovations, the refurbishments included the Marine Animal Care Center, whose mission was to treat wounded marine animals. The park had been doing just that since its inception, but the Center established a special facility for sea animal care.

Taft did invest a considerable sum in Marineland, adding participatory attractions such as the Family Adventure Swim, followed by Baja Reef, where swimmers could swim and snorkel through a custom-built aquarium. Attendance began rising back towards the 1 million mark, after dipping as low as 700,000 during its lean years.

In 1981, Taft sold Marineland to Far East Hotels and Entertainment Ltd., a Hong Kong company that ran hotels and amusement parks. The company, a division of Warwick International, promised to invest in refurbishing the aging park, but did little more than give it superficial touch ups, such as a fresh coat of paint

[kingsislandfan1972]

I absolutely love your page, I am also suprised by the fact you have pictures of The Beast paw-prints which I have been looking everywhere for. 

[Spectrum91]

On 2/15/2017 at 11:30 AM, Magenta Lizard said:

Fingers crossed you happened to capture the Fool House at some point, then. 1981 is the first year I really have any memories of, so chances are...

I think your memory may be a little fuzzy... Fool House was added as part of a $2.1 renovation of Hanna-Barbera Land in 1982. The expansion also included Scooby-Choo (now Snoopy's Junction), Hanna-Barbera Carousel (now Character Carousel), the puppet tree, another amphitheater, two fountains, Gumball Alley, and more. Most of these additions were at the expense of the Turnpike's west track - the ride was originally two separate but intertwined tracks. The western half of both tracks was removed and the remnants were merged into a single track, which retained the east track's station.

[Magenta Lizard]

Oh, my memory is total crap, make no mistake. I was just saying that since I don't really have any memories before '81, and Shaggy's pics went back to '81, maybe this house I remembered would be in his pics somewhere. I certainly would make no claim as to what year specifically my memory of the Fool House came from: my brain just doesn't work that way. Unless there was a major difference in my life at the time (like my earliest memories that mainly center around being in the hospital for open heart surgery at 4 1/2 years old) they all kind of run together into a hazy ball. 

I barely have been able to find the name of the place on previous web searches, so your added background info (along with the actual pic upthread) are extremely valuable to me. 

[TombRaiderFTW]

5 hours ago, Spectrum91 said:

I think your memory may be a little fuzzy... Fool House was added as part of a $2.1 renovation of Hanna-Barbera Land in 1982. The expansion also included Scooby-Choo (now Snoopy's Junction), Hanna-Barbera Carousel (now Character Carousel), the puppet tree, another amphitheater, two fountains, Gumball Alley, and more. Most of these additions were at the expense of the Turnpike's west track - the ride was originally two separate but intertwined tracks. The western half of both tracks was removed and the remnants were merged into a single track, which retained the east track's station.

All that for $2.10, huh?  (Just teasin'.)

[Spectrum91]

On 2/15/2017 at 11:41 AM, Voicetek said:

I've got a question: Back before KI opened for it's 1991 season, they mailed out some flyers advertising that new season.  Within the flyer there was an advertisement for their new ride Adventure Express, complete with concept artwork.  Just curious, by chance, would you happen to have this flyer or know what I'm talking about?  I just remember, as a 10 year old boy, looking through this at my dad's house and getting excited to ride the new ride.  Thanks!

I think this is what you're talking about.

[Voicetek]

^Yep, that's it!  I remember staring at this image and imagining what the ride would be like once I finally got to ride it.  Gosh, this picture doesn't at all represent the ride we actually ended up with lol.

[Shaggy]

It does and it doesn't...

I rode Adventure Express in it's first season and it was actually extremely well done.  It was the 2nd half of a 2-part deal KI had made with R&R Creative (the folks that came up with Phantom Theater's theming.)  They first designed Phantom Theater, and then moved on to the theming of Kings Islands new "Runaway mine train coaster" the park had in the works with Arrow Dynamics.  Obviously the picture dramatizes some elements, but when it opened the theming was pretty over-the top.  All the tunnels had fog, lighting effects, water splashes, animatronics etc.

What exists now is, well, about 20% of it's original effects.

*Side note*  Did you know in Adventure Express' first couple of seasons of operation, the Wild Animal Safari Monorail actually passed through the ride area?

[TombRaiderFTW]

Wow, I really love that picture. That's some really neat concept art.

^^ To be fair, we did kiiiiiiiinda get all the stuff in that picture--just not all in the same tunnel. The snakes and spiders are supposed to be in the first tunnel (although it's been years since the lights in there were actually functional), the lantern (I think) is right at the end of the tunnel before the lift, beside, the speared skeleton, the third tunnel is supposed to be lava with the red lights... Somewhere around here, there is a thread (I think by TombraiderTy?) that goes into detail about how Adventure Express was designed. I'll do some looking later to see if I can find it.

EDIT: What Shaggy said.