Can anyone identify this building?

[Bansheeback]

There is a building that I couldn't identify based on these photos and its' location. I assume that it has something to do with Lion Country Safari based on its location in that area, however, I can't tell exactly what it is.

Here is the building itself:

As you can see it doesn't look like it is still used or kept up.

Here is the building from a different perspective:

You can see the high fences surrounding the building, presumably there to keep the animals out.

Here is the location of the building relative to the main park, circled in red:

Heres a closer satellite view of the building:

Does anybody know what this building is and what it was used for?

 

[SonofBaconator]

I think it was used to be either a shaded shelter for animals or an animal holding house back when LCS existed.

[KI Master]

I have no clue.

 

[BoddaH1994]

That used to be either the lion barn or the elephant barn. I’m not sure which. It also has a (now grown over) clearing where the security guards used to practice shooting their firearms from when they used to carry.

[BlondyRidesOn]

That's so crazy to think about that there are still a lot of Lion Country Safari structures still standing after 25 years. Almost easy to forget that it existed. I wonder how much is all left back there, like foundations for the monorail track and fencing, etc. 

[BoddaH1994]

19 minutes ago, BlondyRidesOn said:

That's so crazy to think about that there are still a lot of Lion Country Safari structures still standing after 25 years. Almost easy to forget that it existed. I wonder how much is all left back there, like foundations for the monorail track and fencing, etc. 

Just a few buildings and some oddities. I don’t know if any foundations or anything like that for the monorail. Their service station is still there and is used by another department now.

[KIfan73]

Wow, good find.  That kind of stuff fascinates me.

[Stoan]

I'd pay good money to go tour old abandoned parts of fairly well established places. The museum center, music hall, KI. I did the old brewery tour downtown where you go into an ancient looking aging cellar, love that stuff.

[Bansheeback]

I have more pictures of the old pond, the high fences that are still there, and the clearing in the trees where the monorail used to go, if anyone’s interested.


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[CoastersRZ]

Of course we are interested!

[Gannersdaddy]

Isn't that where they feed The Beast?  

[Bansheeback]

Here is a different perspective of the Kings Island skyline:

Here you can see a portion of where the monorail track was, along with the pond where the animals grazed:

Here you can see the pond closer, as well as more of the former location of the monorail track:

Here is the view of the safari looking northwest, towards Great Wolf Lodge:

Here is a view of the safari looking north, notice Kings High School in the background:

Sorry for the low resolution, the video the pictures were taken from was shot in 4K but they are compressed when uploaded onto the forums. Hope you all enjoy!

 

[Fye Coasters]

8 hours ago, Bansheeback said:

Here is a different perspective of the Kings Island skyline:

Here you can see a portion of where the monorail track was, along with the pond where the animals grazed:

Here you can see the pond closer, as well as more of the former location of the monorail track:

Here is the view of the safari looking northwest, towards Great Wolf Lodge:

Here is a view of the safari looking north, notice Kings High School in the background:

Sorry for the low resolution, the video the pictures were taken from was shot in 4K but they are compressed when uploaded onto the forums. Hope you all enjoy!

 

those are killer shots!! So cool! @DonHelbig you guys should do a tour back there sometime. That would be so cool for Coaster Stock maybe on a sunday afternoon. Make it s 3 day event. Hmmm Just an idea 

-Josh 

[Gordon Bombay]

12 hours ago, BoddaH1994 said:

Just a few buildings and some oddities. I don’t know if any foundations or anything like that for the monorail. Their service station is still there and is used by another department now.

I'm not sure which particular animals the building in question housed, but as far as I know - there were still two animal keeps still standing (along with a few other random structures) as of a few years ago. The building in these photographs was mainly used as storage and accessible via a very eroded and overgrown pathway. For years after the first Winterfest revival was cancelled, it was used to store a ton of WF decorations that never made it into that crappy haunt thing with mean Santa. It also had several of those classic HB benches that were installed circa 2001 and removed for Nickelodeon Universe. The heaters for the animals were still hanging from the rafters the last time I was in there. 

A second pen, known as "The Bolt Barn," was just up the hill from Son of Beast and had most of the surrounding brush and trees removed. It was also somewhat renovated. Inside were aisles upon aisles of tools and parts specifically used to maintain Son of Beast. 

The pond itself is very random to see in person, but still cool, and behind Adventure Express on the hillside there were (was, maybe with Banshee now there) some other structures. I think they may have been some sort of stations with phones. 

The former monorail maintenance shed (which could house one train indoors on special track and allow maintenance staff to work underneath) eventually became part of the facilities for Steel Coaster Maintenance. In the yard out front, that once was the switch track for the monorail, several things were stored there such as FoF's original OTSR trains (at least one of them). Underneath all the random stuff you could still find a monorail footing or two. 

Hope that helps @Bansheeback, I've got photographs somewhere. 

[Bansheeback]

I'm not sure which particular animals the building in question housed, but as far as I know - there were still two animal keeps still standing (along with a few other random structures) as of a few years ago. The building in these photographs was mainly used as storage and accessible via a very eroded and overgrown pathway. For years after the first Winterfest revival was cancelled, it was used to store a ton of WF decorations that never made it into that crappy haunt thing with mean Santa. It also had several of those classic HB benches that were installed circa 2001 and removed for Nickelodeon Universe. The heaters for the animals were still hanging from the rafters the last time I was in there. 

A second pen, known as "The Bolt Barn," was just up the hill from Son of Beast and had most of the surrounding brush and trees removed. It was also somewhat renovated. Inside were aisles upon aisles of tools and parts specifically used to maintain Son of Beast. 

The pond itself is very random to see in person, but still cool, and behind Adventure Express on the hillside there were (was, maybe with Banshee now there) some other structures. I think they may have been some sort of stations with phones. 

The former monorail maintenance shed (which could house one train indoors on special track and allow maintenance staff to work underneath) eventually became part of the facilities for Steel Coaster Maintenance. In the yard out front, that once was the switch track for the monorail, several things were stored there such as FoF's original OTSR trains (at least one of them). Underneath all the random stuff you could still find a monorail footing or two. 

Hope that helps [mention=9458]Bansheeback[/mention], I've got photographs somewhere. 

Very interesting. I’d love to see the photos if you can find them!


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[TheRickster]

It was a house for the animals. Each side lead into a different pen, with some rather large doors. This way vets could look at them and things of that nature.

[Oldschool75]

Here is a different perspective of the Kings Island skyline:

Here you can see a portion of where the monorail track was, along with the pond where the animals grazed:

Here you can see the pond closer, as well as more of the former location of the monorail track:

Here is the view of the safari looking northwest, towards Great Wolf Lodge:

Here is a view of the safari looking north, notice Kings High School in the background:

Sorry for the low resolution, the video the pictures were taken from was shot in 4K but they are compressed when uploaded onto the forums. Hope you all enjoy!
 

Pretty Cool. I’m curious on the source of the footage which appears to be drone footage over Kings Island property.


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[sixohdieselrage]

Correct me if I am wrong, but Kings Island does not own the airspace above the park, and even if they did, they only "owned" a certain height up. So, I'm not sure why a drone wouldn't be allowed back there. I can definitely understand above "guest inhabited" areas, for safety. 

 

Still pretty cool pictures though! I'm going to follow this thread.

[Bansheeback]

Pretty Cool. I’m curious on the source of the footage which appears to be drone footage over Kings Island property.


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Good question! They were taken from my drone, with the pictures coming from above the Little Miami River with a high power zoomed camera lens. It was launched from the bike path behind the river and I was very careful not to intrude onto KI property as I didn’t want to break any rules, if there are any.


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[jimbo t]

12 minutes ago, Bansheeback said:

Good question! They were taken from my drone, with the pictures coming from above the Little Miami River with a high power zoomed camera lens. It was launched from the bike path behind the river and I was very careful not to intrude onto KI property as I didn’t want to break any rules, if there are any.


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I think its awesome would love to see more !

[Oldschool75]

23 hours ago, sixohdieselrage said:

Correct me if I am wrong, but Kings Island does not own the airspace above the park, and even if they did, they only "owned" a certain height up. So, I'm not sure why a drone wouldn't be allowed back there. I can definitely understand above "guest inhabited" areas, for safety. 

 

Still pretty cool pictures though! I'm going to follow this thread.

I think this should clear it up for you. Kings Island owns the land all the way down to the river. I would highly advise not to fly a drone over their property.

[sixohdieselrage]

They might own that land, but I still dont think they own the airspace. It's no different than flying a plane over the park. As long as you are a certain height up, the park cannot tell you that you cannot do it. Now what that height is, I dont know. 

Sounds like I need to call the FAA and see what they say. I'll report back on my findings. 

[BoddaH1994]

17 hours ago, sixohdieselrage said:

They might own that land, but I still dont think they own the airspace. It's no different than flying a plane over the park. As long as you are a certain height up, the park cannot tell you that you cannot do it. Now what that height is, I dont know. 

Sounds like I need to call the FAA and see what they say. I'll report back on my findings. 

I did a quick Google search to find out the rules and essentially this is how I interpreted them:

It's not a federal or local no fly zone, so they couldn't really press charges.  Some may make the argument that flying a drone over private property is trespassing but no court in the world would convict you of that.   It's against FAA rules to fly it over crowds of people, so flying it over the actual park itself, especially while it's operating, would likely be a crime.

Just remember that they have the right to their policies.  They may not be able to do anything, but they're a private business so they can ban you or suspend your pass or whatever if they think their policies were violated.  

It's really just not the best idea to do.

[Bansheeback]

I did a quick Google search to find out the rules and essentially this is how I interpreted them:

It's not a federal or local no fly zone, so they couldn't really press charges.  Some may make the argument that flying a drone over private property is trespassing but no court in the world would convict you of that.   It's against FAA rules to fly it over crowds of people, so flying it over the actual park itself, especially while it's operating, would likely be a crime.

Just remember that they have the right to their policies.  They may not be able to do anything, but they're a private business so they can ban you or suspend your pass or whatever if they think their policies were violated.  

It's really just not the best idea to do.

Exactly. This is exactly why I never left the airspace over the Little Miami River. I understand how important it is to follow Kings Island’s rules no matter whether it is against the law or not.

 

 

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[AZ Kinda Guy]

I can confirm the building in question was for the lions. Many years ago I worked on a weekday cleanup crew and we ventured out to that lake. We made a flag out of an old wooden height stick and a rag and put all our names on the flag and planted said flag in the ground. I wonder whatever happened to that thing.

[sixohdieselrage]

19 hours ago, BoddaH1994 said:

I did a quick Google search to find out the rules and essentially this is how I interpreted them:

It's not a federal or local no fly zone, so they couldn't really press charges.  Some may make the argument that flying a drone over private property is trespassing but no court in the world would convict you of that.   It's against FAA rules to fly it over crowds of people, so flying it over the actual park itself, especially while it's operating, would likely be a crime.

Just remember that they have the right to their policies.  They may not be able to do anything, but they're a private business so they can ban you or suspend your pass or whatever if they think their policies were violated.  

It's really just not the best idea to do.

That's what I was thinking also. I personally wouldn't fly directly over the park, just for safety reasons. 

[Ke^in]

Isn’t that pond right near where John McCann was mauled by tigers in 1976?

[Ke^in]