City Beat shows you what Kings Island was like in the 70’s and one fun fact will shock you

[BoddaH1994]

https://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/these-vintage-photos-show-what-kings-island-used-to-look-like-back-in-the-day/Slideshow/12844222/12844235
 

Can you spot the breakthrough fact?

Spoiler

 

 

[CoastersRZ]

Oy!  Somebody needed to do a quick fact check on those captions!

[MDMC01]

Looks like they fixed the caption for the Dick Van Dyke picture; it now says "Dick Van Dyke in a 1978 commercial for the park".

Interesting photos, though. It's weird how bare Coney Mall seems with fewer trees and Racer being the major thing in that particular photo.

[beastfan11]

Gah. Unpopular opinion. But I hate what’s happened to Rivertown. The park was stunningly beautiful. 

[brenthodge]

2 hours ago, beastfan11 said:

Gah. Unpopular opinion. But I hate what’s happened to Rivertown. The park was stunningly beautiful. 

Why is that unpopular? various owners and decision makers have destroyed it over time.  From paramounts “ride in a box” themed to a jungle… in the western frontier… in a very visible PDQ metal warehouse, to Cedar Fair’s faded glory ride themed to… sunshades? Repurposed buildings? Snakes?  It’s a mess. It doesn’t know if it’s “old west historical period” with freshly painted buildings, old west abandoned with the rickety station of The Beast, old west eighties with Mystic Dance shed, or amusement park modern with the mess that is Diamondback queue. 

[beastfan11]

35 minutes ago, brenthodge said:

Why is that unpopular? various owners and decision makers have destroyed it over time.  From paramounts “ride in a box” themed to a jungle… in the western frontier… in a very visible PDQ metal warehouse, to Cedar Fair’s faded glory ride themed to… sunshades? Repurposed buildings? Snakes?  It’s a mess. It doesn’t know if it’s “old west historical period” with freshly painted buildings, old west abandoned with the rickety station of The Beast, old west eighties with Mystic Dance shed, or amusement park modern with the mess that is Diamondback queue. 

I think a lot of people love the area because of Diamondback and Mystic Timbers, and would prefer Rivertown now vs. how it was because of those coasters. Don’t get me wrong. They’re both great coasters, but they destroyed that area of the park. Easily could’ve been placed elsewhere. Between all over Rivertown and the destruction of the OG antique cars, arguably the most beautiful area of the park has been altered beyond repair. It’s a shame. 
 

Oh well. At least we can play soccer for cheap prizes in front of an empty warehouse. 

[BoddaH1994]

10 hours ago, beastfan11 said:

I think a lot of people love the area because of Diamondback and Mystic Timbers, and would prefer Rivertown now vs. how it was because of those coasters. Don’t get me wrong. They’re both great coasters, but they destroyed that area of the park. Easily could’ve been placed elsewhere. Between all over Rivertown and the destruction of the OG antique cars, arguably the most beautiful area of the park has been altered beyond repair. It’s a shame. 
 

Oh well. At least we can play soccer for cheap prizes in front of an empty warehouse. 

I think what’s he saying was that he wished it had the look and feel of the 70’s. A lot of that had to be sacrificed by adding new rides. Unfortunately you cannot have both. 

[BeeastFarmer]

Rivertown was originally intended to be a "Frontier World" type of experience, but was altered before the park opened to incorporate Cincy's river heritage.  Therefore, RT was not a Wild West destination.  Starting with Taft, the decay slowly took over.

Diamondback could be updated by replacing the sun screens with a roofed structure.  The log flume could go back into Rivertown as originally intended.  To me, Mystic Timbers is fine even with a 1980's theme vs an 1880's theme.  Crypt building could be removed or painted to look less generic (but the paint would likely be an issue of upkeep budget and would spur complaints here).  Then there is the Junkyard Coaster and surrounding area.  This ride needs to either get removed/relocated or extensively rethemed.  I would love to see a defined new area that ties International Street in.  KD has a large, wooded promenade that leads to CAG. For us, I could see a center promenade with smaller flat rides that would appeal to the grandparent population with pathways to stroll and rich landscaping.  That would solve so many problems.  But with AZ, PS and SS and The Crypt needing attention, I dont see much happening here.

 

[DoomPlague]

DB and MT are my favorite rides at the park, but yeah they could have gone elsewhere. Rivertown definitely needs some attention in terms of scenery. Then again, much of the park does.

Have you all seen videos of Jungle X-Pedition at KD? Makes me a little jealous. They even painted and rethemed Avalanche and it looks great. Action Zone could use that kind of attention.

[rlentless]

I also miss the Rivertown look and feel we had in the 70's and 80's.  But like BoddaH1994 said, we cannot have both if want rides like Diamondback built.  Even Tomb Raider, it was an amazing ride with the theming when it was first built but came at the expense of one my favorite rides back then - Kenton Cove's Keelboat Canal. 

I know Diamondback could have been built somewhere else farther away.  But the early years under CF they focused on "Amusement Park" look and feel.  I can remember 7-8 years ago walking down Coney Mall one night and in every direction I looked, it just seemed I can see a roller coasters/rides lit up and running seeming all on top of each other.  The sounds, lights, laughter, screams and action just hit you and it was an amazing experience.

So I can see how someone planning would go for a more "Amusement Park" feel . . maybe even "Carnival Feel" could be a the term.  But I still prefer the theming of park areas.

[brenthodge]

11 hours ago, BoddaH1994 said:

I think what’s he saying was that he wished it had the look and feel of the 70’s. A lot of that had to be sacrificed by adding new rides. Unfortunately you cannot have both. 

That’s not a valid justification. With good planning and good follow up, the look and feel COULD have been kept similar. Adding Diamond back did not make it mandatory to put crappy modern sunshades over a concrete wasteland with metal poles, the budget made them go that route. Mystic shows what can be done to add a major ride the right way. I’m not sure how it fits the overall “ story” of the area, but it integrates well into the area. 

[beastfan11]

12 hours ago, brenthodge said:

That’s not a valid justification. With good planning and good follow up, the look and feel COULD have been kept similar. Adding Diamond back did not make it mandatory to put crappy modern sunshades over a concrete wasteland with metal poles, the budget made them go that route. Mystic shows what can be done to add a major ride the right way. I’m not sure how it fits the overall “ story” of the area, but it integrates well into the area. 

Agree and disagree with that. The final result of Diamondback is lacking in the theming department in the ways you mentioned. While Mystic did a lot right, it is still a bit out of place. Which is a shame because it’s arguably the best coaster in the park. 
 

For me, both rides ruined the original feel and concept of Rivertown because of the deforestation of the area surrounding both coasters. In turn, it severely affects the ride experience of White Water Canyon and the train (which is totally neglected theming wise anyway). The isolation of both of those rides where part of the experience. Same can be said for The Beast. Both Diamondback and Orion are creeping in on The Beast now. 
 

I do miss the original Swan Lake too. Not worth losing that for what replaced it. I loved the splashdown idea initially, but don’t love the execution. 
 

That’s nothing compared to Paramount dropping Tomb Raider where they did. Stupid move. 
 

I’m not trying to be super negative, because I really really love the ride experience of Mystic Timbers. Including the shed. But they seemed to have lost their way when it comes to Rivertown as a whole. 

 

Totally different discussion, but those pictures included a shot of the pre- International Restaurant entrance building! Never seen that before. 

[brenthodge]

I don’t think you are being negative at all. My comment about mystic was more to the thought they put into the queue, the way the switchbacks are “hidden” behind the meandering path, and the way they preserved “some” of the old growth tree cover. If they used that idea of “reclaiming an old river side town” for industry and extreme adventure sports, then I’d buy it. I even like the idea of a single rail coaster replacing Vortex and using the idea they did at CaAdv with the dirt bike, explore the abandoned “beast woods”. Develop an underlying story of why this whole town was abandoned. Who found it and realized it would be a great outpost for camping, white water rafting, dirt bike tours and other outdoor adventure, and why being there has angered the “sleeping beast”. As it is, it’s a mess of stuff with vague “western” architecture that we aren’t sure if it’s new or old. 

[Browntggrr]

On 3/23/2022 at 9:05 AM, BoddaH1994 said:

I think what’s he saying was that he wished it had the look and feel of the 70’s. A lot of that had to be sacrificed by adding new rides. Unfortunately you cannot have both. 

This is really spot on.

Parks have to decide what to cater to and spend a great chunk of change: the guest that will enjoy their once a year trip and want a ride or the enthusiast who looks for anything to complain about. 

It's no surprise for all the visual upgrades for the anniversary.  It's also not a surprise that some are bummed about a new coat of paint at the cost of a new ride.

[brenthodge]

That’s not spot on. You can have both with sound planning and creativity. The first few years of Cedar Fair ownership they demonstrated none of that. They were more focused on cramming the biggest thing they could in spots irregards to theme or appropriateness (much like their predecessors) They’ve shown in later years with Mystic and Orion you can have both modern thrill ride and cohesive queue and sighting that integrate into an area. I don’t think this is just “an enthusiast looking for anything to complain about” that’s a lazy place to put the blame. I think a “once a year” attendee would want the best, most immersive experience possible, and a huge steel coaster craned into a “riverfront pioneer town” with a horrible queue and crappy carnival games in its helix is hardly attractive to a “once in a lifetime” guest. 

[BoddaH1994]

On 3/29/2022 at 5:57 PM, brenthodge said:

That’s not spot on. You can have both with sound planning and creativity. The first few years of Cedar Fair ownership they demonstrated none of that. They were more focused on cramming the biggest thing they could in spots irregards to theme or appropriateness (much like their predecessors) They’ve shown in later years with Mystic and Orion you can have both modern thrill ride and cohesive queue and sighting that integrate into an area. I don’t think this is just “an enthusiast looking for anything to complain about” that’s a lazy place to put the blame. I think a “once a year” attendee would want the best, most immersive experience possible, and a huge steel coaster craned into a “riverfront pioneer town” with a horrible queue and crappy carnival games in its helix is hardly attractive to a “once in a lifetime” guest. 

You are correct. Remember Kinzel stated in many interviews that a coaster was it’s own theme. He didn’t see the value (at least as much) in creating themed areas as the current administration and park leadership does. 
 

While you are correct in saying that with the proper funding and planning you can preserve the pristine-ness of an area, there are also sacrifices that must be made. Even if Rivertown looked the way it did in ‘72, there would still be a space-themed giga coaster in the distance. Disney makes these kinds of decisions all the time. It actually limits the scope of their ideas more than you can imagine. At WDW, they even have to account for what you can see from one park to another. Couple that with the fact that Cedar Fair and Disney don’t sit on the same shelf and you have your arms pretty tied when it comes to keeping the theme of a general area.   

[brenthodge]

I wasn’t implying that things had to be kept “pristine” or never changed, more that with proper planning, a general theme can be maintained. Even Disney is (sadly) much less diligent about their careful sight line planning theses days, but at least at “ground level” there should be more thought out into things. I’m not asking them to play at the same level, but to at least respect some of the thought that went into the original development and design.