A MONSTER blog!!!

[KIghostguy]

18 minutes ago, Pagoda Gift Shop said:

Monster is (and probably always will be) an underrated ride.  I never knew they painted the ground in all those colors.  As for the time it was "missing", could the answer be similar to how Shake, Rattle, and Roll went missing for refurbishment? 

It is not uncommon that flat rides are stripped completely down to nothing every few off-seasons.

That doesn't explain why Butch Bush told the press it was a new ride for 1982. Shake, Rattle & Roll was never advertised as a new ride for 2015.

[disco2000]

6 hours ago, KIghostguy said:

That doesn't explain why Butch Bush told the press it was a new ride for 1982. Shake, Rattle & Roll was never advertised as a new ride for 2015.

Sometimes the press misunderstands...

You can found articles where Steel Vengeance is called the tallest roller coaster in the world...leaving out the word hybrid makes that article inaccurate...and it would be wrong to cite that article and make the claim it is the tallest coaster in the world...

Almost every new ride you can find an article that is wrong...you can find articles where Orion is called the longest coaster at KI...leaving out the word steel makes that article inaccurate....it happens... especially if the reporter knows nothing about rides...

I personally have been misquoted in the media...it happens...anyone that deals with the media has probably been misquoted or what they said was misunderstood..it happens...

Maybe that was the marketing spin KI put on it at the time as it was a complete refurb...or maybe the beat reporter didn't know anything about KI or didn't like the assignment or didn't care about getting the facts right or simply misunderstood...or maybe the reporter's first time to KI was in 1981 and the monster was gone for refurb and when the reporter returned in 1982 Monster returned but their experiences led them to believe it was a new ride...how many times have we seen someone report here a new item or something they saw at KI and someone shows an older picture that it was there long before then...Heck, go over to page 218 of the Orion construction thread and someone pointed out a new building by Viking Fury that has actually been a Churro stand for several years...

Do you know how easy it is to make a statement like "This is our new ride this year.  We took it completely apart and did a complete refurbishment on it and reinstalled it" and someone simply runs an article with just the first part "new ride"....it happens...

Some historical information we have to go by the written record, inaccuracies and all, because nobody is living that experienced it.  Sometimes we can talk to the people that were there at the time and has the records is better than what the media reported in some backpage space filler...at the end of the day it is a marketing story for the park and is just a ride and not emergency level information needing to be conveyed to the masses...

[Klabergian Empire]

53 minutes ago, Pagoda Gift Shop said:

Monster is (and probably always will be) an underrated ride.  I never knew they painted the ground in all those colors.  As for the time it was "missing", could the answer be similar to how Shake, Rattle, and Roll went missing for refurbishment? 

It is not uncommon that flat rides are stripped completely down to nothing every few off-seasons.

Zephyr and Character Carousel got that treatment this off season. If you look at the Diamondback cam, you can see Character Carousel is still not fully rebuilt yet.

On a slightly different note, I really do hope Kings Island doesn't give Monster a new LED light package. I was fine with it on Scrambler, but I felt that the package put on Shake, Rattle, and Roll took a little bit of the rides nostalgia away from it. The current bulbs on it gives it that classic feel which is what needs to stay there. 

[KIguy2004]

6 hours ago, CorkscrewMcPuke said:

The mention of Roll-O-Planes got me thinking. It'd be pretty sweet if we got a large version of the same thing one day. (I know we already did.)

But the attributes of the design still have potential for a modern flat.

What building is this?

[Oldschool75]

Then you have the Skyride. You know the gondolas that operated at Kings Island were not the same ones from Coney Island. But it was still the original ride since the towers and stations were still used from Coney.  :p

[IndyGuy4KI]

6 hours ago, Benjamin22 said:

^ What is that a picture of?

@KIguy2004  Old Flight Commander queue.

[TombraiderTy]

15 minutes ago, Oldschool75 said:

Then you have the Skyride. You know the gondolas that operated at Kings Island were not the same ones from Coney Island. But it was still the original ride since the towers and stations were still used from Coney.  :p

I never knew that the gondolas changed between Coney Island and Kings Island - do you have any more information on this?

And fun fact, Coney Island only had three Sky Ride towers. A fourth was added when it was relocated to Kings Island.

[gforce1994]

[KIghostguy]

13 minutes ago, TombraiderTy said:

I never knew that the gondolas changed between Coney Island and Kings Island - do you have any more information on this?

From the 9-1-1971 Cincinnati Enquirer.

 

[gforce1994]

Looks like cars for flying scooters were changed as well.

[Shaggy]

45 minutes ago, Oldschool75 said:

Then you have the Skyride. You know the gondolas that operated at Kings Island were not the same ones from Coney Island. But it was still the original ride since the towers and stations were still used from Coney.  :p

AFAIK Kings Island's Flying Eagles, while located at at Coney (called Flying Skooters), had their their original tubs scrapped/overhauled/rebuilt and replaced.  The KI attraction had already received a major alteration before it was ever transplanted.

Heck, even Kings Island's Grand Carousel has horses that are not original to it.  I was also once "told" (you know how that goes) that the Scrambler has had more than one major overhaul - including seat/car replacement.

It could be (and has been) argued that the Post article didn't exactly describe the ride in question here.  Sounds like it, but also not.  An Octopus and Monster are two entirely different rides, and neither IMO have gondolas "suspended" from the arms.  The other oddity is that it ran in a paper at the end of the season... and just a few weeks later the park announced the HB overhaul for '82.  None of it really "adds" up.  That's why I've never particularly given it much merit - because it doesn't make sense.  

Maybe the writer asked why the ride was missing, and was given that info?  Maybe the intention was to replace it?  Maybe the intention was to add a similar ride in addition to it?   Maybe the person(s) they spoke to were incorrect, or said something entirely different.  Maybe the writer didn't pay attention, or got information confused.  Who knows?  Hence my earlier response - couldn't tell ya. 

I appreciate Ty's clarification of the timeline of events regarding Fury - very thorough.  I personally always appreciate Ty's posts.

My particular sentiments about the blog were stated because I very much appreciate that the Park - in this case, Chad - is taking the time to invest in the history.  They are doing a great job of it.  Prior Administration at the park actually strove to ignore, hide and destroy that history.  I'm always personally very happy that they are taking the time to care.

 

[TombraiderTy]

43 minutes ago, KIghostguy said:

From the 9-1-1971 Cincinnati Enquirer.

Interesting... and also odd. Sky Ride was added to Coney in 1964 1965, so replacing all the cars only eight seven years later seems strange. Is it possible that maybe just additional cars were purchased, considering the ride would be longer at Kings Island?

41 minutes ago, gforce1994 said:

[Image]

Looks like cars for flying scooters were changed as well.

 

37 minutes ago, Shaggy said:

AFAIK Kings Island's Flying Eagles, while located at at Coney (called Flying Skooters), had their their original tubs scrapped/overhauled/rebuilt and replaced.  The KI attraction had already received a major alteration before it was ever transplanted.

@Shaggy is correct - from Charles J. Jacques, Jr.'s Cincinnati's Coney Island (a wonderful resource on the old park), "New ships were added to the Flying Scooter [in 1960], which made the ride more maneuverable."

Here's a shot of the ride at Coney in June 1968, shared in some Facebook groups by Mark Bengel:

You can see that the bases of the cars are more angular than they are in the photo @gforce1994 shared.

[KIghostguy]

25 minutes ago, Shaggy said:

It could be (and has been) argued that the Post article didn't exactly describe the ride in question here.  Sounds like it, but also not.  The other oddity is that it ran in a paper at the end of the season... and just a few weeks later the park announced the HB overhaul for '82.  None of it really "adds" up.  That's why I've never particularly given it much merit - because it doesn't make sense. 

There isn't any other ride in the park's history called the Monster, though. As far as your questions on the timing, the article was written about Kings Island's impact in the area--Mike Agin, who wrote it, was the Warren County Bureau chief for the Post. He was probably asked to write a piece for that date and turned to Kings Island. It's not like Warren County had much else going on in 1981. The article does mention changes for 1982, including Hanna-Barbera Land and the "new" Monster. In the context of the full article, it makes sense. 

2 hours ago, disco2000 said:

Some historical information we have to go by the written record, inaccuracies and all, because nobody is living that experienced it.  Sometimes we can talk to the people that were there at the time and has the records is better than what the media reported in some backpage space filler...at the end of the day it is a marketing story for the park and is just a ride and not emergency level information needing to be conveyed to the masses...

Correct, which is why I've reached out to Walt Davis to see if he remembers anything about this. If anybody living would know more, it would be him.

[gforce1994]

20 minutes ago, Shaggy said:

AFAIK Kings Island's Flying Eagles, while located at at Coney (called Flying Skooters), had their their original tubs scrapped/overhauled/rebuilt and replaced.  The KI attraction had already received a major alteration before it was ever transplanted.

Heck, even Kings Island's Grand Carousel has horses that are not original to it.  I was also once "told" (you know how that goes) that the Scrambler has had more than one major overhaul - including seat/car replacement.

It could be (and has been) argued that the Post article didn't exactly describe the ride in question here.  Sounds like it, but also not.  An Octopus and Monster are two entirely different rides, and neither IMO have gondolas "suspended" from the arms.  The other oddity is that it ran in a paper at the end of the season... and just a few weeks later the park announced the HB overhaul for '82.  None of it really "adds" up.  That's why I've never particularly given it much merit - because it doesn't make sense.  

Maybe the writer asked why the ride was missing, and was given that info?  Maybe the intention was to replace it?  Maybe the intention was to add a similar ride in addition to it?   Maybe the person(s) they spoke to were incorrect, or said something entirely different.  Maybe the writer didn't pay attention, or got information confused.  Who knows?  Hence my earlier response - couldn't tell ya. 

I appreciate Ty's clarification of the timeline of events regarding Fury - very thorough.  I personally always appreciate Ty's posts.

My particular sentiments about the blog were stated because I very much appreciate that the Park - in this case, Chad - is taking the time to invest in the history.  They are doing a great job of it.  Prior Administration at the park actually strove to ignore, hide and destroy that history.  I'm always personally very happy that they are taking the time to care.

 

The Scrambler had it’s 50th anniversary  season last year or the one before that.

[super7]

On 4/3/2020 at 11:23 AM, Klabergian Empire said:

Zephyr and Character Carousel got that treatment this off season. If you look at the Diamondback cam, you can see Character Carousel is still not fully rebuilt yet.

On a slightly different note, I really do hope Kings Island doesn't give Monster a new LED light package. I was fine with it on Scrambler, but I felt that the package put on Shake, Rattle, and Roll took a little bit of the rides nostalgia away from it. The current bulbs on it gives it that classic feel which is what needs to stay there. 

I think the current lighting on it looks great.  

 

The thing about the LED lights is that all the lighting ends up looking the same because they program  the lights to constantly change in different patterns Using all colors.     It really doesn’t matter if the patterns are different the use of all the colors make just about all the LED lighting on flat roads look the same.
 

 

[CorkscrewMcPuke]

4 hours ago, KIguy2004 said:

What building is this?

The old queue for Flight Commander. It sat abandoned in the park for a very long time up until it was leveled for the new antique cars.

[Oldschool75]

6 hours ago, TombraiderTy said:

Interesting... and also odd. Sky Ride was added to Coney in 1964 1965, so replacing all the cars only eight seven years later seems strange. Is it possible that maybe just additional cars were purchased, considering the ride would be longer at Kings Island?

 

 

Winner, Winner, Chicken diner. From my research so far for my project, yes there were new gondolas that arrived at Kings Island for the Skyride, but they were just additional gondolas to help increase capacity of the ride.  

[CoastersRZ]

And to add some context for those that visited Coney Island recently.  The image that TombraiderTy shared of the Monster, the building to the right of the Monster was the LaRosa`s building (Across from the mini-golf course).  Wipeout stood on part of the area that the Monster used to occupy.