Pay-to-play attraction in Nickelodeon area?

[MCM0313]

Does anyone recall a participatory thing, maybe for extra cost, where you would stand behind something and lob water balloons at someone maybe 20-30 feet away, and they were doing the same thing? This would have been in the kids' area shortly after the name change from Hanna-Barbera Land to Nickelodeon whatever...maybe 1994 or '95.

[Stoan]

Yeah, they used to have them at All-About-Fun or something like that as well. It was a balloon catapult. On the far side of the splash maze, near the theater if I recall.

 

Similar to this

http://www.sandiegokidspartyrentals.com/water_wars_game_water-balloon_party_rental_san-diego.html

[TombraiderTy]

You can make it out next to the food stand. I think it opened with the area (1995) and I would guess it was removed with the nearby Hanna-Barbera Land renovation in 1998.

[MCM0313]

10 hours ago, Stoan said:

Yeah, they used to have them at All-About-Fun or something like that as well. It was a balloon catapult. On the far side of the splash maze, near the theater if I recall.

 

Similar to this

http://www.sandiegokidspartyrentals.com/water_wars_game_water-balloon_party_rental_san-diego.html

 

7 hours ago, TombraiderTy said:

You can make it out next to the food stand. I think it opened with the area (1995) and I would guess it was removed with the nearby Hanna-Barbera Land renovation in 1998.

Awesome, guys, thanks to both of you! For some reason I forgot Hanna-Barbera Land and Nick Zone coexisted. 

[MCM0313]

@TombraiderTy: is that the O.G. log flume in the upper left? I loved that one.

[CoastersRZ]

Yes, that is the Kings Mills log flume as it was known then.  It was standing but not operating in 2000 before being renovated for the new Nickeloedon Central in 2001.  Today it is known as Race For Your Life Charlie Brown.  The ride originally opened at Cincinnati's Coney Island in 1968, and was located next to the Shooting Star.

[TheRickster]

1 hour ago, CoastersRZ said:

Yes, that is the Kings Mills log flume as it was known then.  It was standing but not operating in 2000 before being renovated for the new Nickeloedon Central in 2001.  Today it is known as Race For Your Life Charlie Brown.  The ride originally opened at Cincinnati's Coney Island in 1968, and was located next to the Shooting Star.

Jeeze I didn't know it was relocated... I even spent a year working on it. lol

[Shaggy]

The "water balloon" attraction being referred to was the "Double Dare Slime Shot Challenge" that premiered with the new "Nickelodeon Splat City" in 1995.  The attraction - due to it's poor interest, and ridiculous operational requirements (someone constantly filling water balloons, constantly cleaning up remnants of popped balloons etc) it only lasted 2 seasons.

 

 

[MDMC01]

I just want to thank TombRaiderTy for posting that great historical picture; it's really interesting to see that the amphitheater (now used for the Petting Farm) had seats, and different colored sections at that! Also, where was the Aerial Aerobic Climbing Maze in relation to the attractions in the picture? That was one place I remember seeing and enjoying when the area was Green Slime Zone.

[MCM0313]

2 hours ago, CoastersRZ said:

Yes, that is the Kings Mills log flume as it was known then.  It was standing but not operating in 2000 before being renovated for the new Nickeloedon Central in 2001.  Today it is known as Race For Your Life Charlie Brown.  The ride originally opened at Cincinnati's Coney Island in 1968, and was located next to the Shooting Star.

So aside from being moved, what specifically changed about the log ride? I was under the impression that Race For Your Life was a totally different ride until I rode it with my younger cousins and realized it was more or less the same track (and same track material) from the old one. I feel like maybe the drop isn't as far now?

[MCM0313]

34 minutes ago, Shaggy said:

The "water balloon" attraction being referred to was the "Double Dare Slime Shot Challenge" that premiered with the new "Nickelodeon Splat City" in 1995.  The attraction - due to it's poor interest, and ridiculous operational requirements (someone constantly filling water balloons, constantly cleaning up remnants of popped balloons etc) it only lasted 2 seasons.

 

 

Thank you. I feel like I played it once either with or against my dad. Was it two-player or four-player? I remember thinking it wasn't all that cool, really.

[MCM0313]

35 minutes ago, Shaggy said:

The "water balloon" attraction being referred to was the "Double Dare Slime Shot Challenge" that premiered with the new "Nickelodeon Splat City" in 1995.  The attraction - due to it's poor interest, and ridiculous operational requirements (someone constantly filling water balloons, constantly cleaning up remnants of popped balloons etc) it only lasted 2 seasons.

 

 

Btw, you seem plenty knowledgeable about '90s KI...you should see my post about red soft-serve ice cream. I'm pretty sure I remember getting it in the mid-'90s...it was a dark red color and either cherry or raspberry in color. It briefly either supplemented or replaced blueberry. Unless I'm thinking of another park...who knows?

[Shaggy]

14 hours ago, MCM0313 said:

Btw, you seem plenty knowledgeable about '90s KI...you should see my post about red soft-serve ice cream. I'm pretty sure I remember getting it in the mid-'90s...it was a dark red color and either cherry or raspberry in color. It briefly either supplemented or replaced blueberry. Unless I'm thinking of another park...who knows?

I personally am unfamiliar with the red ice cream in the 1990s.  They did have red/puple/fuscia colored ice cream when Banshee opened... so perhaps they have had several colors through the years.  However, I've never known the park to not have some incarnation of the blue ice cream - ever since it was introduced, it was one of the park's biggest sellers.

[TheRickster]

On 8/24/2017 at 9:57 PM, MCM0313 said:

So aside from being moved, what specifically changed about the log ride? I was under the impression that Race For Your Life was a totally different ride until I rode it with my younger cousins and realized it was more or less the same track (and same track material) from the old one. I feel like maybe the drop isn't as far now?

Very little... The bigger renovation was from the original theme to The Wild Thornberries, but the ride its self didn't change, other than when they added the water spraying elephant at the end of the ride. Basically the only thing they added for the Charlie Brown conversion was removing the giant RV/Congvy and the Nick themeing, then adding peanuts decorations. Like the trees and snoopy at the end. All of the colorful cartoony looking things on the buildings were all done for Wild Thornberries.

 

[MCM0313]

So even the drop is the same?

[Shaggy]

On 8/24/2017 at 9:57 PM, MCM0313 said:

So aside from being moved, what specifically changed about the log ride? I was under the impression that Race For Your Life was a totally different ride until I rode it with my younger cousins and realized it was more or less the same track (and same track material) from the old one. I feel like maybe the drop isn't as far now?

Wait... just to clarify... the Kings Mill Log Flume was moved from Cincinnati's Coney Island before Kings Island opened in 1972 - it was not moved within Kings Island.  (Not sure if that's what you thought.)  Within Kings Island, it has always existed in it's current location.  However, for the 2001 renovation, the flume trough (the metal gutter/gulley the boats float in) was completely replaced.  Originally, the ride was designed and built by Arrow Development, in 1968 for Coney... but by 2000 the ride had nearly worn through.  So the park contracted O.D. Hopkins to completely renovate the workings of the ride.  I also believe many of the flumes circulatory pumps were replaced as well.  

So... it's the same ride... in the same place... but not really.

BTW, the ride was *thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssss* close to being demolished.  In 1999, the park made the decision to rip it down prior to the 2000 season, but several people internally fought for it. It then sat empty for 1 year with a wall around it - causing many KI enthusiasts to freak out (including me!)  The year it re-opened (2001 - Now themed to Nickelodeon) the adjacent Kenton's Cove Keelboat Canal was demolished for the installation of Tomb Raider:The Ride.  Ultimately, what saved the flume's life was Tomb Raider - the park didn't want to lose both flumes.

[MCM0313]

2 hours ago, Shaggy said:

Wait... just to clarify... the Kings Mill Log Flume was moved from Cincinnati's Coney Island before Kings Island opened in 1972 - it was not moved within Kings Island.  (Not sure if that's what you thought.)  Within Kings Island, it has always existed in it's current location.  However, for the 2001 renovation, the flume trough (the metal gutter/gulley the boats float in) was completely replaced.  Originally, the ride was designed and built by Arrow Development, in 1968 for Coney... but by 2000 the ride had nearly worn through.  So the park contracted O.D. Hopkins to completely renovate the workings of the ride.  I also believe many of the flumes circulatory pumps were replaced as well.  

So... it's the same ride... in the same place... but not really.

BTW, the ride was *thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssss* close to being demolished.  In 1999, the park made the decision to rip it down prior to the 2000 season, but several people internally fought for it. It then sat empty for 1 year with a wall around it - causing many KI enthusiasts to freak out (including me!)  The year it re-opened (2001 - Now themed to Nickelodeon) the adjacent Kenton's Cove Keelboat Canal was demolished for the installation of Tomb Raider:The Ride.  Ultimately, what saved the flume's life was Tomb Raider - the park didn't want to lose both flumes.

Thank you for the details. That makes a lot of sense. I didn't realize the metal thing was replaced - it seems the same! They did a great job there. Also, I might have been thinking primarily of Kenton's Cove because I remember it in a slightly different spot in the park.

 

EDIT: I was primarily thinking of Kenton's Cove! The rotating platform...the gondola...the really tall drop at the end. Seeing photos brought it back. I'm not sure I even knew at the time that the other flume existed.

I had remembered a water ride in the main park that had a rotating platform, but I had thought it was just the whitewater-rafting ride. Guess there were two. I remember that when I went there in 2001, something felt a little...off in that part of the park. Guess now I know why.

[PKIVortex]

While most of the ride was replaced prior to reopening in 2001, they are still original parts on the flume.

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[TombraiderTy]

^Not many though... I believe it's limited to the concrete trough in the station and maybe parts of the station building. I've heard all the trough and supports throughout the rest of the ride were replaced.

[PKIVortex]

The lifts, drops and station are original.

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[TombraiderTy]

From the original question in this thread, here's a clearer picture of the Double Dare Slime Shot Challenge. Pulled from the park's oldest website, January 1997.

[upstop]

I also believe it (or one very similar) was located in Rivertown at one time.