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Question about Kings Island's Monster


MisterSG1
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I rode the Monster at Kings Island on my only visit to the park in 2004. Anyways, I think I remember reading once that KI's Monster actually originated from Cincy's Coney Island....is this true? I was just curious.

 

Speaking of this ride, I hope you guys never lose it, it was my favorite ride at Wonderland until it disappeared at the end of 2003 for the dumbest roller coaster ever called Tomb Raider (now Time Warp), there are days I wish that the Shiva's Fury (our name for the Monster) would fall from the sky along with its neighbor (The Great Whale of China which has now moved to Carowinds) and crush Time Warp to pieces.

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Yep. It was a transplant from Coney Island. That’s a very unique thing about KI. To think: it’s a park that essentially moved! 

It was manufactured by the Everly Aircraft Company- as were other “monster-style” rides. Can someone help me out on the year?

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13 minutes ago, BoddaH1994 said:

Yep. It was a transplant from Coney Island. That’s a very unique thing about KI. To think: it’s a park that essentially moved! 

It was manufactured by the Everly Aircraft Company- as were other “monster-style” rides. Can someone help me out on the year?

And then you have Canada's Wonderland, which is essentially a "daughter park" to Kings Island which can trace its roots back to Cincy's Coney Island, it's all great. Two of Wonderland's original coasters were based on, albeit on basic layout, on Coney Island's roller coasters as we all know. As an aside, I always thought that The Racer is based on the Shooting Star. The Racer reminded me of the Minebuster but without the helix tunnel at the end, seeing ride video POVs, the Shooting Star looked more intense than either ride.

 

Speaking of which, with how Wonderland is pretty much in suburbia now, I kind of wish Wonderland would move up further north. I remember back when I was really young in the early 90s when Wonderland was pretty much out in the boonies like how Kings Island is (or at least it still feels like it is).

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10 minutes ago, MisterSG1 said:

And then you have Canada's Wonderland, which is essentially a "daughter park" to Kings Island which can trace its roots back to Cincy's Coney Island, it's all great. Two of Wonderland's original coasters were based on, albeit on basic layout, on Coney Island's roller coasters as we all know. As an aside, I always thought that The Racer is based on the Shooting Star. The Racer reminded me of the Minebuster but without the helix tunnel at the end, seeing ride video POVs, the Shooting Star looked more intense than either ride.

 

Speaking of which, with how Wonderland is pretty much in suburbia now, I kind of wish Wonderland would move up further north. I remember back when I was really young in the early 90s when Wonderland was pretty much out in the boonies like how Kings Island is (or at least it still feels like it is).

I don’t think the situations are very different. My parents always told me that people thought they were crazy for putting the new park “in the middle of nowhere.” Maybe someone can confirm, but I believe that the exit we take to get to the park wasn’t even there yet upon park opening. Now the park has been annexed by the city of Mason, which has a booming population and several large businesses. This includes everything from the North American headquarters of Luxotiica to one of the largest high schools in Ohio.

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8 minutes ago, BoddaH1994 said:

I don’t think the situations are very different. My parents always told me that people thought they were crazy for putting the new park “in the middle of nowhere.” Maybe someone can confirm, but I believe that the exit we take to get to the park wasn’t even there yet upon park opening. Now the park has been annexed by the city of Mason, which has a booming population and several large businesses. This includes everything from the North American headquarters of Luxotiica to one of the largest high schools in Ohio.

I believe you would be right, I'm somewhat of a roadgeek as well.....if you want to know what one is, go on AARoads. Considering that the exit to OH-741 is pretty much a mile away, it only makes sense that the exit to Kings Island Dr was added later on, also this exit as we know is a half interchange, meaning you can only get off north and re-enter going south.

While Kings Island has had growth around it, it's not to the same extent as to what has happened in the area surrounding Canada's Wonderland. After 4PM, driving north on Jane Street between Rutherford and Major Mackenzie can take you a good 15 minutes, that's roughly the footprint that Wonderland falls under. Traffic is that serious in the area now, what we know as the Greater Toronto Area has around 6.5 million people, possibly more depending on how you define the area. Vaughan, ON, the city that Wonderland is in, had only 30,000 people when the park opened, now there's 330,000 people living in Vaughan. The metro area has probably grown by over 2 million (possibly 3 million) since 1980. This is how isolated the drive up Hwy 400 looked way back in the 80s (before my time).

2015522-ROAD-SIGN.jpg

I mean nowadays, Wonderland for instance is fairly accessible by public transit. In the sense that bus routes commonly serve Wonderland, and with the subway extension that opened last year, roughly 4km or 2 and a half miles away from the Wonderland entrance now is the northernmost station of the Toronto subway. I don't want to go off on a tangent, but I think the situation surrounding the two parks is quite different in my opinion.

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51 minutes ago, BoddaH1994 said:

Maybe someone can confirm, but I believe that the exit we take to get to the park wasn’t even there yet upon park opening.

Looking at my ODOT map collection, the exit is not there on the 69 map, but appears in the 74 map.

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Yep. It was a transplant from Coney Island. That’s a very unique thing about KI. To think: it’s a park that essentially moved! 

It was manufactured by the Everly Aircraft Company- as were other “monster-style” rides. Can someone help me out on the year?

I believe it was 1967 or 68.

Edit: Sorry, it was 1969

 

 

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On 7/27/2018 at 12:54 AM, BoddaH1994 said:

I don’t think the situations are very different. My parents always told me that people thought they were crazy for putting the new park “in the middle of nowhere.” Maybe someone can confirm, but I believe that the exit we take to get to the park wasn’t even there yet upon park opening. Now the park has been annexed by the city of Mason, which has a booming population and several large businesses. This includes everything from the North American headquarters of Luxotiica to one of the largest high schools in Ohio.

My family moved to the area near the turn of the millenium, and even then, the biggest thing out here was (P)KI. Now we have Deerfield Towne Center, a Kroger off of Mason Montgomery and the strip mall where Blaze and Piada is (which was just farmland/green space when I was a kid). Time flies...

EDIT: Also, Fields Ertel was where all the action was back in the day, with Kroger and HH Gregg (both of which are gone now). Also, there used to be a golf course on Western Row/Mason Montgomery that is no longer around.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've heard that the Monster that we have now isn't actually the original one that opened at the park. Unless I misheard and what actually happened was that we got another monster from a park which is used for spare parts. I believe the Monster I'm talking about was actually painted white. Please correct me if I'm wrong though!

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3 hours ago, TOPGUN1993 said:

The old Canada's Wonderland Monster was shipped to KI after it closed to be used for spare parts. 

Common thing to happen once rides close among the same company. :)

See also: the Togo Frankenstein that was Shockwave at Kings Dominion.

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On 8/13/2018 at 2:02 PM, JCJTheHurricane said:

I've heard that the Monster that we have now isn't actually the original one that opened at the park. Unless I misheard and what actually happened was that we got another monster from a park which is used for spare parts. I believe the Monster I'm talking about was actually painted white. Please correct me if I'm wrong though!

The general rumor has always been that KI's original Monster - that came from Coney - went to Wonderland when it opened.  KI got a re-furbished replacement.  What warranted this rumor is that for the better part of the season Wonderland opened, 1981, KI's monster was MIA...  Pics from that season seem to confirm that.

However I have never had it verified, only speculated.

At Wonderland, the ride (called "Shiva's Fury") operated until 2003.  As far as I know, the parts were not sent to KI.  I've been told the ride sits in pieces in a back-stage area of Wonderland to this day.

 

 

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The general rumor has always been that KI's original Monster - that came from Coney - went to Wonderland when it opened.  KI got a re-furbished replacement.  What warranted this rumor is that for the better part of the season Wonderland opened, 1981, KI's monster was MIA...  Pics from that season seem to confirm that.
However I have never had it verified, only speculated.
At Wonderland, the ride (called "Shiva's Fury") operated until 2003.  As far as I know, the parts were not sent to KI.  I've been told the ride sits in pieces in a back-stage area of Wonderland to this day.
 
 



If there was any truth to it... why would a park ship a working ride to another park and then Replace the ride with an exact copy?


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4 hours ago, Shaggy said:

At Wonderland, the ride (called "Shiva's Fury") operated until 2003.  As far as I know, the parts were not sent to KI.  I've been told the ride sits in pieces in a back-stage area of Wonderland to this day.

The ride was relocated to Kings Island and its tubs are visible on Google Earth from 2010 through 2016.

smByfUb.jpg

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