Coney Island Permanently Closing

[Oldiesmann]

Coney Island and Sunlite Pool will be no more after the end of the year. The land is being sold to the company that owns Riverbend apparently.

https://www.fox19.com/app/2023/12/14/coney-island-permanently-closing-end-year/

[BoddaH1994]

Will be redeveloped.

https://www.fox19.com/2023/12/14/coney-island-permanently-closing-end-year/?outputType=amp

[disco2000]

Is anyone surprised at this point?

I said this back in 2020 in this post and it is showing to probably be what was happening behind the scenes:

I have said this before to people back when Coney made the announcement - I think the ownership believes that the land is/will be worth more as something else and that was the first step towards that goal.

Could you imagine the immediate outrage if they had said they were eliminating the rides and building a second concert venue...or a casino...or make it a parking lot.

This allows them to gracefully move to that transition.  Then they will use the ole "Our market research showed that we could survive on just the water park and that rides were not a big attraction.  Unfortunately consumer spending habits have changed and we have had to make the unfortunate decision to ...."  

At some point, the highest use value of land makes it more valuable as something else...look at several golf courses surrounding KI - as populations grew up there, the land became more valuable as something else than a golf course...

I think there were other motivations for the closure...

 

In other words, I think we all saw this coming once they removed the rides.

[BoddaH1994]

The development will be a new music venue that will be added to the two already there.

[Sixflags82]

Any word on what will happen to the pool and moonlight gardens?

[CoastersRZ]

I don`t know how to feel.  I still miss the rides and was hopeful that one day the rides would make a come back.  I feared that this day would come where it would cease to exist.  It is really sad.

[beastfan11]

Mods, can we have a day to ignore the no profanity rule? 

[disco2000]

11 minutes ago, Sixflags82 said:

Any word on what will happen to the pool and moonlight gardens?

Filled in and bulldozed over I would expect.

[Taylor.B03]

Deserved 100%, I do not feel bad at all. They screwed up but time removing the rides. They betrayed Anderson Township and the historical nature of the site by doing so. As a local, it Coney was the family park that you'd go to since KI was far away and was a bit intimidating. The mix of small and unique and classic rides was really fun. When they added their last set of new rides the mini bumper cars and top spin, I truly thought they would invest more and maybe even add a new roller coaster, I personally believe they were 1 major ride addition away to greatness. 2019 season rolls around and the park was looking beautiful, new ride signs, paint, and everything else had me excited. But come late 2019, the last thing I expected happens... No more rides. So no, I do not feel bad. Yes the site is historic, but it was already dead regardless. I'm confused slightly by the new site use however. It's strange to build another concert venue there. But hey, this is America!

[Sixflags82]

11 minutes ago, disco2000 said:

Filled in and bulldozed over I would expect.

That's so sad, My grandpa always tells me stories of the dances at moonlight Gardens in its Hay Day

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

So another concert venue in an area already stacked with concert venues. Imo I think this along with the potential for the Linder Family Tennis Center to host concerts down the line should be the final nail in the coffin for Timberwolf.

I hate this for those who go to Coney in the summer to swim/go to the water park as they never got a chance to say goodbye. This feels like Opryland/Geauga Lake all over again where the park closed without people having the chance to say goodbye. 

 

[jbeast]

What a sad day. Living on the east side of Cincy for a long time, Coney was a nice change of pace if we wanted a closer option to KI for a day. My family so enjoyed the assortment of rides and enjoyed a much shorter ride home afterward too. it is a slap in the face to all the people like my family that they got rid of the rides. Now it's the ultimate 'we could care less about the history and especially the east side of Cincy" with another music venue right next to the two others. Grrrr!

[RollerColt]

RIP Coney Island. I agree with @disco2000, it was inevitable. Still sad to see a historic site go but it was a shell of itself for most of my life. 

[RollerColt]

I wonder if this means Riverbend is on its way out. Seems very strange to have so many venues all in a line. 

[RollerColt]

57 minutes ago, CoastersRZ said:

I don`t know how to feel.  I still miss the rides and was hopeful that one day the rides would make a come back.  I feared that this day would come where it would cease to exist.  It is really sad.

I immediately thought of you when I saw the news break… I feel like a piece of me has died today. That was my very first park as a little kid back in 1992. I was only 4 but I remember that summer. 

[KI Guy]

On 12/14/2023 at 1:32 PM, disco2000 said:

I have said this before to people back when Coney made the announcement - I think the ownership believes that the land is/will be worth more as something else and that was the first step towards that goal.

Could you imagine the immediate outrage if they had said they were eliminating the rides and building a second concert venue...or a casino...or make it a parking lot.

This allows them to gracefully move to that transition.  Then they will use the ole "Our market research showed that we could survive on just the water park and that rides were not a big attraction.  Unfortunately consumer spending habits have changed and we have had to make the unfortunate decision to ...."  

At some point, the highest use value of land makes it more valuable as something else...look at several golf courses surrounding KI - as populations grew up there, the land became more valuable as something else than a golf course...

I think there were other motivations for the closure...

Compared to profitability they would hardly give a rat's "hat" about blowback from fans. I think that the closing of the rides was a drastic attempt to cut costs to make (what was still called) Coney Island profitable.

Whether they saw the writing on the wall the whole time is another thing, but the change would never have been motivated by avoiding media/customer backlash.

Think of the crappy motel you see with next to no one at it. They operate because they are profitable, but if any money were to put in the place, it would no longer be profitable, so they run with no improvements until all remaining profit potential is gone and they start to lose money. Then they close.

This may have been a case similar to that, or perhaps it's been losing money for many years and these changes didn't reverse that. Once the rides left, the company picnics left and that was a big part of what kept the place around over the last 20 years. Few people want to see or be seen by the boss in a bathing suit.

[Snowball]

Sad, but definitely not unexpected. Once they removed the rides, I had a feeling Coney Island wouldn’t last much longer.

I am excited to see this new venue and how that plays out, and also wonder what will happen with Riverbend / PNC Pavilion with the new venue being built. It seems strange to me that they would keep 3 venues operating so close together. Could Riverbend or PNC Pavilion be on the way out too?

[disco2000]

22 hours ago, KI Guy said:

Compared to profitability they would hardly give a rat's "hat" about blowback from fans. I think that the closing of the rides was a drastic attempt to cut costs to make (what was still called) Coney Island profitable.

Whether they saw the writing on the wall the whole time is another thing, but the change would never have been motivated by avoiding media/customer backlash.

Think of the crappy motel you see with next to no one at it. They operate because they are profitable, but if any money were to put in the place, it would no longer be profitable, so they run with no improvements until all remaining profit potential is gone and they start to lose money. Then they close.

This may have been a case similar to that like that, or perhaps it's been losing money for many years and these changes didn't reverse that. Once the rides left, the company picnics left and that was a big part what kept the place around over the last 20 years. Few people want to see or be seen by the boss in a bathing suit.

True, and yet people on FB are saying they will boycott the new facility for eliminating the historic venue.

These voices would have been multiplied many times over had they simply went this route in 2019.  Could the backlash and uproar back then been large enough to cause a buyer to back out of the purchase?  Things like that happen all the time.  So I think they simply went down a path to help clear the way for a future sale.

I am not saying that my reasoning was the sole factor, but I think they saw that this land was going to be more valuable in the future as something else, so similar to your crappy motel analogy, they started cutting back to make that happen and make it attractive to the future buyer, all the while probably able to put a few more bucks in their pockets.  The land is a lot more attractive to the buyer now than it would have been with all the rides...Sure the new buyers could offload it, but they don't want to deal with that.  The same reason why a house flipper can go in and do $30,000 in improvements and sell the house for $100,000 more.

Now whether these "boycotters" amount to anything significant is slim to none.

So either this was the plan, or the owners were that stupid to think that eliminating the rides wouldn't impact company picnics.  Like you said, not many want to see their co-workers in a bathing suit LOL

[beastfan11]

At least we’re getting a music venue in the area. Definitely need another one of those. 

[Taylor.B03]

19 minutes ago, Snowball said:

Sad, but definitely not unexpected. Once they removed the rides, I had a feeling Coney Island wouldn’t last much longer.

I am excited to see this new venue and how that plays out, and also wonder what will happen with Riverbend / PNC Pavilion with the new venue being built. It seems strange to me that they would keep 3 venues operating so close together. Could Riverbend or PNC Pavilion be on the way out too?

Plot twist, Riverbend closes and an amusement park takes it's place

[westcoaster]

A closure of the Park that started it all. 

To next chapter, sure its closing but atleast it was around for a while after Kings Island. 

[disco2000]

14 minutes ago, westcoaster said:

A closure of the Park that started it all. 

To next chapter, sure its closing but atleast it was around for a while after Kings Island. 

True.  Many didn't expect it to last this long once the "move" was made to KI.

[BoddaH1994]

Don and I dropped our first ever breaking news edition of the Attractions Group Podcast about this: https://linktr.ee/attractions_group

 

 

[Taylor.B03]

I would love to see something to pay homage to the site. Something small like plaques, references, or a museum to even having a small ride or attraction at the site such as a carousel or ferris wheel. These little touches would be at least something to keep the legendary site remembered and honored for generations to come. There is a TON of land to work with and lots of opportunities. If nothing else however, we will still have lake como 

[rlentless]

Keep part of the pool and make a VIP swim lounge for watching concerts.

[DonHelbig]

Wrote a piece on my new Theme Parks By Don blog (Story #50) about Coney Island closing. It won’t win a Pulitzer, but I think it captures the spirit of the thing. 

https://themeparksbydon.com/goodbye-coney-island-this-time-for-good/

 

[disco2000]

9 minutes ago, rlentless said:

Keep part of the pool and make a VIP swim lounge for watching concerts.

Just don't contract it out to CF to manage the VIP 

[Taylor.B03]

For visual reference, in yellow is Coney's property. in purple is Riverbend's property. (Property lines can be found using the website called *Regrid*) 

[Vortex]

Wounded if they could move anything to Coney Mall at Kings Island. Someone said the light house and maybe the Moon Light Gardens sign. It’s not the same but at least with some of the old park. 

[burlguy41005]

Dig into MEMI and watch the money trail.