Moby Dick Ride

[gforce1994]

I have a few questions about the Moby Dick attraction proposed for Kings Island. There are pieces of concept art for a boat attraction in the spot of land that eventually became the site of Enchanted Voyage.

One of the drawings showing the layout of the proposed attraction names the ride specifically as the “Moby Dick ride” consisting of whale vehicle, sea monster, treasure ship, giant squid, ship fight, and illegible bullet points.
 

The drawing match the building and ride seen in the early Bushman paintings. Is there any more information about this ride?

[TombRaiderFTW]

Would you mind sharing some of what you've already found? I'm sure I'm not the only one who's never heard of this ride before and would enjoy learning about it. Not to mention that it might help jog some memories for folks who DO know something about it.

[gforce1994]

2 minutes ago, TombRaiderFTW said:

Would you mind sharing some of what you've already found? I'm sure I'm not the only one who's never heard of this ride before and would enjoy learning about it. Not to mention that it might help jog some memories for folks who DO know something about it.

https://www.facebook.com/206282526073323/posts/2365082886859932/?d=n

[Shaggy]

As I understand...

The "Moby Dick" ride was just a concept idea that never went farther than these drawings.  Bushman started the concept work for Kings Island around early 1969 - and he based a lot of his concept work off of HB properties at the time. He was also doing concept work for other potential "Hanna Barbera" stand-alone parks as well.  FYI, I believe Bushman was hired by Taft - not Coney Island persay - so his work *might* have started well before the Coney merger.

"Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor" was a very short lived cartoon made by HB in 1967.  It was not popular at all.   I don't know of any other "work" done using this theme other than these drawings.  I do seem to recall the original EV having a "nod" to Moby on the side of building - a large "flat" of the character that went along with all the others on the building.

There was a lot of other HB stuff that never left the drawing board.  Ironically, at the time, Scooby Doo was a new fledgling property for HB - so it was used semi-sparingly in the theming (other than things like the coaster name and Shaggy and Scooby figures in EV.)  Ironically, it became HB's most noteworthy title and that's apparent in the number of rides that eventually got added to the area and themed to SD.

FYI - when Paramount "re-did" Hanna Barbera Land, the new entry sign to the area was meant as a "nod" to the early Bushman concept. 

I believe a Hanna-Barbera park was eventually opened by KECO in Texas in the early 1980's.  It did not use the Bushman concepts, and only lasted around 4 or 5 seasons. It used a lot of the same "elements" that were included in the KI 1982 HB Land remodel as well as the themed area at Canada's Wonderland.

Frankly, out of all the parks that I visited that had a HB themed area (I went to KI, KD, Carowinds and Wonderland) - Wonderland probably made the best use of the overall HB theme and I felt it was closer to what Bushman had in mind.

But remember - Bushman was used to conceptualizing Disney attractions - and used to having deep pockets and vast resources to dive into.  Wheras Coney and Taft, were not as "unlimited" when it came to budgetary constraints.

[TombraiderTy]

16 minutes ago, Shaggy said:

He was also doing concept work for other potential "Hanna Barbera" stand-alone parks as well.  FYI, I believe Bushman was hired by Taft - not Coney Island persay - so his work *might* have started well before the Coney merger.

Bouncing off this, I’ve always been under the impression that the Bushman concept art was not necessarily for Kings Island, but for a Hanna-Barbera park... Taft saw the success that Disney had with injecting its characters into a theme park and wanted to do the same with the newly-acquired Hanna-Barbera characters. It just worked out that Coney Island wanted to partner with Taft and Kings Island ultimately replaced that stand alone park idea.

@gforce1994 Unless you have additional information and/or photos you’re not sharing, then I think it’s misleading to say that the Moby Dick ride was planned for Kings Island, or that it was set for where Enchanted Voyage ultimately went.

[coaster sally]

Linked to your own coaster nation.....

[teenageninja]

I love that there was a Space Ghost ride in there.  The Flintstones Freeway looked pretty awesome as well.

[gforce1994]

6 minutes ago, TombraiderTy said:

Bouncing off this, I’ve always been under the impression that the Bushman concept art was not necessarily for Kings Island, but for a Hanna-Barbera park... Taft saw the success that Disney had with injecting its characters into a theme park and wanted to do the same with the newly-acquired Hanna-Barbera characters. It just worked out that Coney Island wanted to partner with Taft and Kings Island ultimately replaced that stand alone park idea.

@gforce1994 Unless you have additional information and/or photos you’re not sharing, then I think it’s misleading to say that the Moby Dick ride was planned for Kings Island, or that it was set for where Enchanted Voyage ultimately went.

The early concept work done for KI was very interesting. As we all know Coney had been acquired by Taft broadcasting for $6.5 million. It seems that the earliest concepts fell within two separate parties: 1. Taft using their licenses to make their own version of Disneyland, or 2. Coney Island being relocated to Mason. These concepts were from the first party.

[TombraiderTy]

8 minutes ago, gforce1994 said:

It seems that the earliest concepts fell within two separate parties: 1. Taft using their licenses to make their own version of Disneyland, or 2. Coney Island being relocated to Mason. These concepts were from the first party.

So... you’re saying I’m right and the Bushman concept art was not for Kings Island, and it’s therefore misleading to say it was and that the Moby Dick ride was intended for Enchanted Voyage’s space?

[gforce1994]

8 minutes ago, TombraiderTy said:

So... you’re saying I’m right and the Bushman concept art was not for Kings Island, and it’s therefore misleading to say it was and that the Moby Dick ride was intended for Enchanted Voyage’s space?

I never said it wasn’t for KI. It was intended for Kings Island, as proposed by Taft’s designers. However the concept was quickly dropped.

Taft went into the agreement with the hopes of building their own version of Disneyland at KI with the knowledge Coney executives had from running it. Coney executives went into the agreement hoping to build a relocated Coney Island using Taft licensed properties. 

[coaster sally]

6 minutes ago, gforce1994 said:

I never said it wasn’t for KI. It was intended for Kings Island, as proposed by Taft’s designers. However the concept was quickly dropped.

Taft went into the agreement with the hopes of building their own version of Disneyland at KI with the knowledge Coney executives had from running it. Coney executives went into the agreement hoping to build a relocated Coney Island using Taft licensed properties. 

What is your question in the original post if you already know the information?

[TOPGUN1993]

1 hour ago, gforce1994 said:

I have a few questions about the Moby Dick attraction proposed for Kings Island. There are pieces of concept art for a boat attraction in the spot of land that eventually became the site of Enchanted Voyage.

Quite a bold statement with no proof.... here we go again..... ugh....

[BoddaH1994]

1 minute ago, TOPGUN1993 said:

Quite a bold statement with no proof.... here we go again..... ugh....

Well... in his defense, no matter what dark ride would have been built it likely would have been there.  It made logistical sense then, and I believe it still does. 

Now, was it a toss up between Moby Dick and Enchanted Voyage?  To imply that needs proof.

[gforce1994]

1 minute ago, BoddaH1994 said:

Well... in his defense, no matter what dark ride would have been built it likely would have been there.  It made logistical sense then, and I believe it still does. 

Now, was it a toss up between Moby Dick and Enchanted Voyage?  To imply that needs proof.

It sound like Moby Dick was far from being green lit. It is an interesting concept, nonetheless.

[TOPGUN1993]

2 minutes ago, BoddaH1994 said:

Well... in his defense, no matter what dark ride would have been built it likely would have been there.  It made logistical sense then, and I believe it still does. 

Now, was it a toss up between Moby Dick and Enchanted Voyage?  To imply that needs proof.

How do we know this concept was even for Kings Island? Is the point I was stating. 

[BoddaH1994]

1 minute ago, TOPGUN1993 said:

How do we know this concept was even for Kings Island? Is the point I was stating. 

Right.  There are several liberties taken here.

[gforce1994]

1 hour ago, BoddaH1994 said:

Right.  There are several liberties taken here.

Bruce Bushman died in 1972. Taft only worked on one realized park between 1969 and 1972.

[gforce1994]

Furthermore, it seems that this project was very well documented. We have the ride and scene layout, boat design, even concept art of some of the scenes.

I was curious if there was more information available to create a rough model of the ride in a modeling program. 

[Oldschool75]

There were many variations of concepts that would end up becoming enchanted voyage. All the concepts I’ve found refer to it as “Dark Ride”. There were even multiple variations of artwork for EV.

You also have to remember that during the time of conceptualizing a new park, they were also having concepts created for a new Coney Island to incorporate more Hanna Barbera property into Coney.

[IndyGuy4KI]

4 hours ago, gforce1994 said:

 

 

Dude, you can't point to your own content as your source. Where was the source for that info? That's what is behind asked. We can't learn more if our source is your content.

This is like me making a post saying Orion opened on July 2nd and pointing to the Orion page on the main site and saying here's is the source when I was the own who created the page.

[gforce1994]

8 minutes ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

Dude, you can't point to your own content as your source. Where was the source for that info? That's what is behind asked. We can't learn more if our source is your content.

This is like me making a post saying Orion opened on July 2nd and pointing to the Orion page on the main site and saying here's is the source when I was the own who created the page.

I’ve had those images for some time. I was wondering if there was more information or a backstory behind it.

[gforce1994]

43 minutes ago, Oldschool75 said:

There were many variations of concepts that would end up becoming enchanted voyage. All the concepts I’ve found refer to it as “Dark Ride”. There were even multiple variations of artwork for EV.

You also have to remember that during the time of conceptualizing a new park, they were also having concepts created for a new Coney Island to incorporate more Hanna Barbera property into Coney.

Didn’t they have Banana Splits characters roam around Coney in the late 60s early 70s?

[Oldschool75]

1 minute ago, gforce1994 said:

Didn’t they have Banana Splits characters roam around Coney in the late 60s early 70s?

There were other HB characters that were at CI at the end besides BS. 

[gforce1994]

Just now, Oldschool75 said:

There were other HB characters that were at CI at the end besides BS. 

I see. Interesting. I only have heard of Banana Splits. I’m assuming Flinstones were one?

[Joshua]

Perhaps some of the images themselves should have been posted here maybe with the link under the pretense that more images can be found there.  I know you want to promote your page. I have a site myself, so I understand the need. (Unrelated to KI so I never bother promoting it here.) But there can be such a thing as over-promotion. 

Where did you initially find these designs? Were they found on the internet or did you get your hands on them physically? If the latter, how and when? 

[SonofBaconator]

Is there away enforce source citing a little more? I get excited when these threads are made because I think I'm gonna learn something new but then it just links back to Coaster Nation. This is pretty much the forum equivalent of click-baiting. Additionally, it seems like its just a user trying to find ways to promote their own content across different media platforms.

[IndyGuy4KI]

1 hour ago, gforce1994 said:

I’ve had those images for some time. I was wondering if there was more information or a backstory behind it.

Ok, then you need to present it as I found this info at the library in this archive, this website, etc and get options of members who can look at the same content you originally researched. Then you will get meet with enthusiasm about it instead of frustration.

[Oldschool75]

Ok, then you need to present it as I found this info at the library in this archive, this website, etc and get options of members who can look at the same content you originally researched. Then you will get meet with enthusiasm about it instead of frustration.

They are on the internet.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[raggedman07]

I read the thread title and now I feel dirty.

[TombraiderTy]

There is very little information on any of Bruce Bushman's concept art, but every news story or blog post I can find suggest it was for a never-built Hanna-Barbera park... not for Kings Island. I'd imagine that some of the ideas dreamed-up for this Hanna-Barbera Land made their way into Kings Island several years later, but (based off everything I can find and that I've read) it was not made for Kings Island. And, again, saying that the Moby Dick ride was "proposed for Kings Island" or that the concept art was for "a boat attraction in the spot of land that eventually became the site of Enchanted Voyage" - unless you have additional information you're not sharing - is misleading at best.

For what it's worth, the first instance of the concept art I can find online was an April 2007 blog post. There isn't much information attached to the images there, but it notes that they were recently auctioned on eBay by Howard Lowery Gallery.

And for posterity's sake (and because the page with the images linked earlier has a habit of publishing misleading articles, not to mention Facebook itself compresses the images), here are all of Bruce Bushman's Hanna-Barbera Land concepts: