The History of Kings Island (1972-2022) - The Complete Documentary

it's the turn of the 20th century and you find yourself in cincinnati ohio you might head down to league park and catch a reds game maybe you head over to the cincinnati zoo but there was one thing you couldn't pass up a trip to coney island this got its start in 1867 when apple farmer james parker bought 20 acres of land on the ohio river and this evolved from a picnic area to a small amusement park there was a carousel a dining hall a dancing hall and a bowling alley it was deemed the coney island of the west and in 1887 coney island became its official name it was deemed america's favorite amusement park and its popularity exploded ten roller coasters came and went from 1900 to 1940. it added its own steampunk attraction called the island queen and the park thrived through the late 60s but being located on the ohio river had its downsides mainly the park was prone to flooding this caused management to look to relocate the park somewhere else they found their spot in deerfield township and the move was underway but with this new park share the success of the beloved coney island 50 years later that park has evolved into something cincinnati can be proud of a destination for parkours throughout the country and a bucket list landmark for tourists around the world [Music] [Music] this is part one of a five-part documentary celebrating kings island on its 50th anniversary come with me on this journey over the past five decades to see how this park has become what it is today coney island's 1968 season started with a lot of promise for its 82nd year the park was introducing a haunted house the olympic bombs and a 500 000 log flume covering over 1500 feet of track within 10 days of the official start of the park season an abnormal rainstorm rolled in and overflowed the ohio river flooding coney island enforcing its closure this was the latest the park had ever had to deal with flooding and it had to shut down for memorial day the river was already four feet above flood level and more rain was on the way a whole week passed and park officials were stuck waiting for the river to recede ralph walks president and general manager of coney island was hoping for a midweek opening but they were still stuck with at least a 10-day closure during their peak season flooding was nothing new back in 1964 the park was even submerged in 14 feet of water but this storm this late into the year seemed to be the final straw in addition there was limited room for expansion and parking gary walks the son of coney island president ralph walks knew the clock was ticking it was just a matter of time before this park outgrew its spot along the river and there was no time like the present to make a change that year coney island management entered talks with a taft broadcasting company looking to move the park to a new location taft had just acquired the hanna-barbera division and they were looking for a way to promote it the search was on in march of 1969 the two sides made their findings public this would be a 1200 acre amusement park 30 miles northeast of coney island 20 miles northeast of cincinnati located in deerfield township in warren county the project was expected to take two or more years taft and coney island hired consultant charles thompson for the project responsible for work on building disneyland six flags over texas and six flags over georgia despite this announcement ralph walks promised that coney island would operate as usual in fact we are going to spend more money on it this year than ever before he wasn't lying there was a 1 million expansion program set for 1969 this included a 1 000 seat theater home of the new circus 70 and that would put on eight shows every day this went along with eight new rides five for adults including the skyslide and the olympic bombs and three for kids these would go in the land of oz and included the old 99 a train ride during the week the park would offer pay one price days where you could ride everything in the park all day as many times as you want all for the price of just four dollars in april taft announced an agreement to buy coney island taft would acquire all of coney island's assets for 6.5 million dollars in stock the sale was pending approval from coney island shareholders and a favorable tax relief officials from taft stated acquisition of koni is a logical and desirable next step in the progress of the development the deal was finalized in july and coney island would operate as a division of taft the plan was to keep the park open at least through 1971. in january 1970 taft elected ralph walks as the president and general manager of the coney allen division keeping his current position but now under the taft umbrella shortly after taft announced march 15th for the groundbreaking ceremonies for the new park valued at 20 million and expected the park to be open to the public in may of 1972. this was projected to bring in 2 million people in the first year growing by a quarter million in the years to follow employing 600 to 800 people in its opening year the park would be located right off interstate 71 with an interchange to be built right by the park entrance the park was just one part of an enormous complex taft had in the cars the first phase included the park an expandable motel and a campsite along the little miami river the second phase would include a convention center right alongside the motel as well as a golf course a lodge a restaurant and a monorail or a train connecting all of this gary walks and charles flatt long time managers at coney island were devoting a full-time effort on the design and construction of the new park with flat being named project manager with all eyes on the new project coney island was still adding to its lineup in 1970 they debuted the galaxy replacing the wild mouse coaster people flocked to the park attendance and spending up over five percent from the prior year with park officials saying it could be kony's biggest year to date meanwhile the so-called new coney finally broke ground three months late in mid-june still unnamed some people were calling the complex kings mills park or twin oaks charles meacham chairman of the board of taft broadcasting said we are confident the recreational complex will be a credit to the whole area and carry on the tradition that coney island has had for years officials from coney island and taft were on hand for the ceremonies along with the mayor of cincinnati stating this will have tremendous impact for total growth in our area guests were given a tour of the site presenting the center of the track as the site of the one million dollar one-third replica of the eiffel tower this would be the largest and most expensive feature of the new park the park would also be made up of four themed areas oktoberfest old coney river town and hanna-barbera world guests would enter the park from international street made up of two parallel streets bordering a reflecting pool larger than a football field lining international street would be a variety of shops with european themes german dutch an english flea market and a french bazaar dudley taft stated even though we are building a modern park the old coney island has been so popular we want to retain some of that original concept old coney would feature the park's signature ride the racer these twin wooden coasters would operate side by side combining for 6 100 feet of track they also promised a hanna-barbera dark ride where guests travel through an enclosed storyland and boats while construction crews were busy with the new park site by the end of the summer of 1970 taft put coney island up for sale following the 1971 season per gary walks all our time talent and manpower will go into the new operation after 1971. we're not entirely sure what will happen to kony we do want to sell the grounds to some company for resort facilities the sale offer was open to anyone interested in the 155-acre park but walks noted the marina swimming pool and theater would make for a great picnic area what they do with the property is up to them we don't expect coney island to be an amusement park coney island drew interest from the city to turn it into a public park although the aerial tramway and the roller coasters would be taken out the swimming pool dance hall and theater would remain by the end of the year this idea got support from the ohio kentucky indiana planning authority the remaining attractions left behind would be enough to attract patrons and their paid admission would offset the price of the park with all these discussions going down coney island set a new attendance record drawing in more than 1.1 million guests over the summer as for the new park have told the contest to find an official name in july 15 000 entries later they chose the winner kings island this combined the name of king's mills where the new park would be located while paying homage to coney island but it was apparent that taft officials did not love the name after choosing the winner they spent five weeks trying to come up with something better taft had bigger plans beyond this park and wanted a name suitable for a series of parks across the country they already had a plan to open a sister park on the east coast in the years to come taking action on 700 acres north of richmond virginia as the debate on coney island's future continued on the park opened for its 85th and final season in april of 1971. taft made a special effort to give the park a proper send-off booking special events on the calendar along with free concerts from local high school bands and 10 nights of fireworks to end the season it is easy to imagine that these generations of cincinnatians in whose lives coney island has played so significant a role will do their bit to make coney's 85th season its greatest park officials plan on moving everything they could from coney island to kings island including all the portable rides the log flume the equipment in the land of oz and the skyride would be moved but it would receive new cars from switzerland as for the famed roller coaster shooting star walk said it would be dismantled and burned a flea market was planned to auction off everything that couldn't be moved but park officials canceled it they realized that everything would either be moved or need to be left for the new buyers in may a preview exhibit was set up at coney island to showcase the new kings island introducing the park to the coney patrons with a scale model the years coney became more than a park more than just a magical fantasy land of fun and thrills and breathless wonder for anyone with a handful of tickets coney became a symbol of all that was carefree and good and fun in life problems and worries waited outside as people danced and swirled and laughed inside tommy west cincinnati inquirer [Music] on september 6 1971 20 000 people braved the rain to give coney island a final send-off the day prior the parks had an all-time record with 31 000 guests they say the park opened in the rain back in 1886. it was only appropriate it rained on the closing date as well after 85 years the lights were officially turned out on coney island [Music] less than eight hours after the park closed workers began dismantling the park it was scheduled for a six-week plan to move or scrap everything thirteen of the thirty-one rides would make their way to king's island in mid-october james figly director of maintenance said we were genuinely surprised to find how easy the rides were to tear down today we have moved most of the rides and by november 1st we plan to have the old rides installed this even includes 35 ginkgo trees transplanted to the new coney mall section of the park with coney island closed all eyes were on king's island jack nicholas announced that he would build a 1.2 million golf course adjacent to kings island featuring a main course and executive course both 18 holes this would be ready for the summer of 1972 to coincide with the park's opening the eiffel tower was complete in may and the paint job was set to begin 800 gallons of green paint 10 000 pieces on the tower all painted with a brush from the 340-foot peak on down they also had to build around an abandoned graveyard in the parking lot and bulldoze a house after a legal fight kings island now valued at 30 million dollars said its preview begins to start april 29th with the grand opening on may 27th admission would be six dollars for adults five dollars after six pm and officials claim the park could handle 75 000 people per day without excessive wait times the park announced it was taking applications for 1500 summer jobs and there was an eight-hour line of applicants the first two days the park was staffed and ready for its first preview day right on schedule but like coney island's first day and last day king's island was greeted with rain only about 4 000 people came through the gates on april 29th with no traffic jam coming off i-71 and no lines in front of the rides with the exception of the racer and eiffel tower some rides had no names in front of them and many of the ones that were open were running slow still many of the guests were impressed with a vast amusement park i had to see if it had anything on coney it does it has everything on kony blayne evan others were noticing the bad differences between kings island and coney island one guest noted that king's island did not allow picnic baskets in the park something that was an important part of coney island's culture the park used it next month to smooth things out and by may 27th it was ready for its grand opening [Music] opening ceremonies for the park kicked off at 10 am in front of 5 000 people one thousand employees paraded down international street with five marching bands two fred flintstone rockmobiles fireworks and twenty thousand balloons released at the end by the early afternoon there were twelve thousand people in the park by the end of the day 18 000 people have passed through the gates the consensus seemed to be it's almost too much to see in one day the park had 23 rides and shows for adults nine of them coming from coney island this included the sky ride the roader flying carpet monster scrambler grand carousel cuddle up flying eagles and one roller coaster the bavarian beetle this was the galaxy coaster that opened in 1970. the original rides included the king's island and miami valley railroad there spinning kegers halley's comet less taxis auto livery wheel of fortune kenton cove's canoes shawnee landing the enchanted voyage eiffel tower and the star attraction the racer there was also the royal fountain bandstand the kings island theater and the aqua arena for marine animal shows in the happy land of hanna-barbera there were 11 rides plus the hanna-barbera amphitheater the two most notable ones being the king's mills log flume relocated from coney island and scooby-doo a small family wooden coaster there would also be costumed characters from the hanna-barbera world throughout the park including scooby-doo the flintstones and most of all the banana splits king's island was popular right out of the gate and it drew some immediate attention within two weeks of its grand opening the partridge family agreed to film at least one episode at the park that summer the abc tv series would be the first network exposure for kings island the first summer was a smashing success over its first month and a half kings island had outperformed coney island's normal performance by 66 percent in attendance and doubled their earnings as task president lawrence rogers said king's island is living up to the hopes that it would be a place of laughter and joy laughter for the patrons and joy on the part of management not surprisingly taft and top value enterprises decided to proceed with the park in richmond virginia with king's island general manager gary walks taking the same role of that project he would move to richmond being replaced by edward mchale the one millionth guest passed through the turnstiles in july and she and her family were given three free days at the park motel reservations free golf at the jack nicklaus courses and 100 spending money the park capped off his first season with a fireworks spectacle moving to weekend-only operation this included senior citizens days on sundays in september where guests age 60 or older could get in for just three dollars one woman was said to blow off paying all her utilities and come to the park using the last three dollars and fifty cents to her name to get in hitchhiking the whole way there and the park employees gave her the royal treatment even giving her a ride home at the end of the night king's island was endearing itself to his new community and trying to win over the coney island diehards the ones who felt slighted that their charming little park was replaced although they cherished fond memories of kony and always will king's island is certainly the tiffany of amusement parks marywood cincinnati post by the time the park closed for the year in late october king's island had brought in at least one guest from every single one of the 50 u.s states more than 2 million people came to warren county to visit the park creating an economic boom for hotels restaurants and other shops there were as many as 1 500 people working at the park during the summer towing a payroll of 4.25 million dollars their first season of 1972 was everything everyone thought it could be and more it was time to expand during the off season the kings island inn added 80 rooms the park also signed a lease with a california-based lion country safari bringing live animals to the park this would be an upcharge for the park when it was open and would operate as a separate entity in the off season set to debut in 1974. the park also held open auditions for over 200 live performers the next season these would be singers dancers actors and musicians performing in more than 15 areas of the park as 1973 kicked off the partridge family episode filmed at the park aired on january 26th gary walks was named vice president of the kings island kings dominion family entertainment centers the new park in richmond having adopted its official name and set to open in 1975. the park reached out to the community for 1500 workers for a second season but crews were working tirelessly all winter implementing all the additions that came along with a 6 million expansion this included a restaurant over the main gate overlooking the park's international street this would be open year round there would also be three new rides the bayern curve a schwarzkopf circular bobsled the flying dutchman a swing ride with gondola shaped his wooden shoes and kenton's cove keel bowl canal a hydro flume rounding out the additions was a games and arcade building and a half mile nature trail edward mchale projected 2.2 million gas in 1973 about a 10 increase opening weekend had a host of special events including a parade a hot air balloon race a team of four skydivers the human fly climbing up the eiffel tower air force jets doing a flyover and a fireworks show every night at 10 pm the crowds poured in over the first month and a half in 1973 the park had a 30 increase in attendance and a 38 increase in net revenue kings island's three millionth visitor came to the park in july presented with a plaque by a skydiver got a ride in the hot air balloon plus other prizes the lion country safari was getting geared up to storm the park the next year with 16 zebras and a dozen rhinos arriving at the park at the end of the summer following the lead of the partridge family the brady bunch shot an episode at the park in august the year ended with kids under 12 getting free admission if they arrived in a full halloween costume with the park decked out in halloween decorations and costume characters it was a fine way to end a season to outpace their own projections pulling in 2.3 million people and earning 1 million more in profits from his opening year over at coney island taft decided to take the park off the market they wanted 3.5 million for the land a price too high for public use and private developers were scared off by the flooding issue they decided to turn the land into a pay-for-play recreational park fit for recreational vehicles and right away they looked into installing tennis corks and a mini golf course when paul ilyansky came out with his tribute to coney island goodbye coney island goodbye kings island bought 320 hardbound copies and gave them the local schools they wanted young students who visit the new park to know what the old park was like 1974 kicked off with a price hike for admission going from six to seven dollars this was also under the backdrop of an energy shortage following opec's oil embargo that started the prior october taft was confident that king's island would not suffer being within 150 miles of 10.5 million people and 83 percent of their attendance already came from that area the lion country safari was a big new draw but there were other reasons to visit the park in 1974. carl wilenda broke the world high wire walk record covering 1800 feet 60 feet above the ground lasting 29 minutes and even doing two headstands along the way firestone also sponsored a new airshow where the king's island hot air balloon would rise up and small planes would do aerobatics around it king's island enjoyed another record year with 2.6 million people coming to the park half believe the gas shortage would not hurt the park and they were vindicated 70 of the guests came from ohio up 12 over the prior year and profits rose over 20 they would press forward with 3.5 million dollars in park improvements highlighted by a 130 foot double ferris wheel called zodiac as well as a huss spinning ride called troika lion country safari would open a 1 500 seat amphitheater for an exotic bird show the safari would remain open during the off season charging 3 for adults and 175 for kids there was also an unexpected expense that arose in the winter on december 1st the king's island theatre collapsed under heavy snow and had to be rebuilt the 1975 season saw the first step in attendance in the park's four-year history but the small decrease was not enough to hurt the park's bottom line the price for parking was doubled from 50 cents to a dollar and with increased prices for food and merchandise gross revenues were slightly up taft officials were not worried charles meacham said it is now clear that kings island is an established successful operation and will achieve a long-term growth pattern which will continue to make it an excellent investment aside from the new rides and shows the park featured country stars conway twitty and loretta lynn but the big draw in 1975 was evil knievel he was going to cap off the year on october 25th by jumping over 14 buses in the king's island parking lot claiming this to be his final jump of his career king's island was selling tickets in advance for 12 to see the jump and visit the park eight dollars just to see the jump the jump would be televised on abc's wide world of sports blacked out in cincinnati dayton and columbus this was because the park was building the largest temporary arena in us history seating 70 thousand people once the day of the jump came around only 25 000 filled the seats it was a cold blustery day and his junk fell well short of the mark landing on the plywood that covered the last three buses needing 30 to 35 000 just to break even king's island took a loss on the event but there was one major silver lining the abc wide world of sports broadcast brought in 32 million viewers the largest audience in the show's 15-year history this gave king's island an unprecedented level of national exposure 1976 started with another hike in the admission price from seven dollars to eight dollars along with a 50 cent surcharge for the lion country safari the safari would feature some new additions 10 bengal tigers and 50 olive baboons but as exciting as new animals can be they can pose unique challenges [Music] 11 days before the park opened for the season the 50 baboons escaped their enclosure the park used food traps to lure them back in but by opening day 13 were still on the loose one of them was believed to have left the park but the others were roaming the general park area park officials said the baboons were not dangerous unless cornered and fully intended on opening the park on time it took a couple weeks but the park was able to catch the final two baboons using food laced with a tranquilizer 48 of the baboons were shipped back to the animal exchange in michigan the other two remained in their preserve the sign on their cage read here are a few of the baboons that made monkeys out of us more serious was an incident in july when a 20 year old safari ranger was mauled and killed by lions the rangers were told to never leave their cage-like jeeps but it appears he broke protocol investigators believe he left the jeep to relieve himself and was killed by lions trying to get back to his jeep osha would find the park 2400 for safety violations reduced to 800 once the park showed they were taking steps to ensure this would never happen again the park also introduced the american heritage music hall a 1.8 million theater with nine shows every day as well as the folly's marionette show but taff was always thinking outside the box and they wanted a whole new attraction for the king's island complex they made an agreement with the college football hall of fame to locate adjacent to the park with the park already bringing in 2.5 million people a year with the goal of 3.5 million in the future they figured if 10 percent of those people visited the hall of fame it would be profitable they had only developed half of the 1600 acres and felt like the park and the hall would benefit from each other instead of being a one-day pit stop the king's island complex could grow into a multi-day destination the groundbreaking ceremony took place in august slated for a 1978 opening the two-story building would cover 38 000 square feet on a plot of land spanning 10 acres and including a football field by the end of the year edward mikhail was promoted within task amusement park group leaving the general manager job to william price the director of marketing despite a tumultuous year attendance and revenue were up the park said goodbye to up a coney island original flat ride as well as shawnee landing the canoe ride but for the first time in the park's short history a new coaster was on the horizon described as a 360 degree looping roller coaster with four car 16 passenger trains along 500 feet of track at 45 miles per hour through a 56 foot high 360 degree vertical loop up a second 50-foot incline then after a pause the riders are catapulted through a loop to the starting point backwards this was screamin demon a brand new model from aerodynamics the company behind the first modern inverting coaster one year prior and now introducing a launch shuttle coaster this was one of three being introduced for 1977. there would also be a new facility called stadium of the stars for celebrity entertainers as well as a new show called hooray for hollywood a musical salute to the silver screen they opened the season with a 50s rock and roll weekend featuring dick clark and ended the season with her country music celebration in the park's final few days president jimmy carter's brother billy carter made an appearance for the so-called peanut olympics featuring six peanut-themed events the one mishap during the season happened right off the bat in april as the skyride broke down in a wind and rainstorm stranding 45 people for up to eight hours waiting for the fire department to rescue them in the end despite the new coaster attendance was down one percent but spending was up eleven percent the king's island theater that collapsed three years prior and was repaired was retired for good after the 1977 season replaced by tower gardens 1978 also brought in four new live shows as well as penguins to the freshly renamed wild animal safari the college football hall of fame was dedicated in early august drawing in almost 3 500 people over its first four days a promising sign not so promising was the future of bavarian beetle the park was being sued by an 87 year old man whose neck was broken after riding the coaster in october the case was sent to the ohio supreme court but the bavarian beetle was gone by then in the middle of the 1978 season the coaster was removed in favor for a ferris wheel king's island's first coaster to be removed while king's island was removing a coaster the rival to the north was adding one cedar point located on lake erie in northern ohio had just opened the world's tallest coaster gemini an aerodynamics dual hybrid coaster standing 125 feet tall but king's island had come this far going big every step of the way and they were about to unveil a new coaster one that was not only unprecedented for his time it remains a record holder to this day the record holder record holder to this the united states is experiencing a roller coaster boom more new coasters are being built than any time since 1920 and the best or worst is yet to come right here at king's island what is billed as the fastest highest longest coaster in the world will open next spring they said it was a roller coaster there should be another name for it but i can't think of one it is unlike anything i've ever experienced in the summer of 1978 kings island's cross state rival was raising their game cedar point was set to debut gemini a dual track coaster just like king's island's racer only the train ran on a steel track on a wooden structure and this one was 37 feet taller at 125 feet gemini was the world's tallest coaster king's island was just a euro move from opening scream and demon but with the closure of the bavarian beetle it was time for another major addition where cedar point looked at aerodynamics to build gemini king's island would stay in-house for this new project charles then had seen the construction of many of the park's major rides from the start and in 1973 he was named the manager of maintenance and construction he was tasked with this new coaster in the summer of 1978 the park announced the new project would reach record-breaking speeds of 68 miles per hour then it was revealed to have an astounding 7 400 feet of track this was about 2 000 feet longer than the current record holder then the park revealed the first drop would stand 141 feet topping gemini's first drop at 23 feet as roller coaster enthusiast and author gary carriazzi said this is the ultimate by november the 3.2 million dollar coaster was 60 complete kings island enjoyed a record year of attendance topping 2.6 million people and bringing in a record amount of revenue taf was looking to expand once again they initially set out a park north of chicago but would end up agreeing on a deal in canada this new park would be called canada's wonderland located in vaughan just northwest of toronto and was slated for a 1981 opening 1979 started off on a bad note as a barn caught fire in the wild animal safari five antelopes perished in the blaze in february the park gave a name to the world's tallest longest and fastest coaster covering 35 acres in the southeast corner of the park the beast the buzz around the beast empowered the park to raise the admission price 75 cents to 950 and for the first time ever they would offer a season pass this would cost 34.95 before the season started and 39.95 after opening day this helped pay for the six billion dollars in off-season improvements more than half of that going towards the beast and this included a new country show as well as the yabba-dabba-doo k-peru a 500 000 show that required a new wing on the american heritage music hall the season pass was meant to encourage locals to come back to the park multiple times during the year something that became very important during the second energy crisis of the decade park officials thought the gas shortage could help their business as people tried to stay close to home but a federal proposal to limit weekend gasoline sales was protested by the park gary walks testified in person in front of the energy subcommittee explaining how this would hurt the amusement park industry and every business around it the shortage was evident early in the summer as attendance was down and employee hours were having to be cut but the park did what they could to help including installing gas availability boards showing out of town guests where they can get enough gas to make it home taft even considered installing its own pumps but they had to give up on that idea once they realized it wasn't legal the park may have suffered mid-season as the gas supply dried up but it was the place to be when it opened for the season in april the beast opened to rave reviews ordinary folk would call it a roller coaster but to the cincinnati chic it's already simply the beast period william r burley cincinnati post in may the beast threw a three and a half hour line it boosted the park to record preseason attendance however the coaster wasn't for everyone when the first man on the moon neil armstrong was asked if he rode the beast he said i may be brave but i'm not a dummy there was also some concern about roller coaster safety as a few months prior a woman fell to her death on the world's tallest coaster at the time colossus at magic mountain charles then was adamant they used every precaution testing with sandbags and measuring g-forces he mentioned that john allen the designer of the racer was involved in the planning along with a civil engineer and other consultants with electric configuration they could tell where every car was at all times in the spring taft came out with a 10-year 50 million expansion plan including three major rides expansion of the international showcase theater and maybe a huge mountain ride that kings dominion had just received although general manager william price said he didn't think that anything could top the beast for a while he said construction for another roller coaster would begin after the park closed in the fall all he said is it would be different and it would have no loops it was a roller coaster with different characteristics the beast was making everyone optimistic and the park was being heaped with praise there was a survey conducted by amusement park annual and they named kings island the top seasonal park in the u.s and canada ranking third overall just behind the disney parks in california and florida in the end the park overcame the gas shortage and drew in 2.4 million people up about 100 000 from 1978. by the end of the 1979 season halley's comet and the sky ride gave their final rides and the park started construction on a three acre expansion to the conference center and the kings island inn the beast also got some upgrades over the off season including some steeper banking and a 371-foot tunnel at the end of the ride scooby-doo the family wooden coaster was renamed beasty the park would also start offering live elephant rides with an up-charge meanwhile riding the way from the popularity of the beast the park was hyping up their next big ride william price called it a totally new concept there is nothing like it in the whole world admission prices would also rise once again from 9 50 to 10 50. with the economy in recession amusement parks across the country had to be careful with their prices but still have enough income to build the next big attraction to keep drawing in the crowds some were more dedicated than others in august of 1980 carl eichelman boasted his 1 000th ride on the beast but the recession and high inflation was too much to overcome and taff blamed that on the attendance dropping 10 but king's island had something up its sleeve to get back on their feet and it turns out that much disgust new attraction would live up to the hype in the shadows of falling darkness wings of the night creature await their silent signal from the moon darting madly through a starless sky the frenzy flight of the bat takes you by surprise and leaves you breathless hanging in midair captured alive by the bat fly the bat at king's island it's a non-stop fright the bat would be the world's only suspended roller coaster a design attempted in germany five years prior but it had design issues and the project was scrapped the cars would hang under the track and swing out when they hit the curves park engineer walt davis said the coaster had a safety design factor of 300 making it three times stronger and safer than needed unlike the beast the park would dole out this project to aero development the same company that built gemini two years prior and this would come with a 3.8 million dollar price tag despite this expense king's island dropped their season pass price by 15 for the 1981 season selling them for only 24.95 before the season even started they had sold two-thirds as many passes as they sold in 1980. as the 1981 season approached walt davis took his first ride on the bat being one of the first riders to ever experience a one of a kind coaster he didn't know exactly how to describe it the coaster goes into a god knows what happens next segment with several twists and impending collisions at one point it appears the cars are heading toward a solid mess of steel beams and you're going to smear it up against the wall that really got me initial testing proved there was too much speed and the ride was too wild the speed had to be reduced and the rails adjusted the bat opened with the park for the season but such is the case for any prototype it experienced a lot of downtime king's island was hoping their other new addition for 1981 would help improve guest morale and that was their team of 18 street performers roaming the park and entertaining small groups of guests at a time this included magicians ventriloquists and mimes but the bat would be up and down all season by august the park estimated it was down about 30 percent of the time one of the initial problems was misaligned parts on the lift chain causing abnormal wear on some parts and the computer automatically shutting the ride down in late august tensions started to mount the park once said they were pleased with the amount of downtime given the circumstances now the new general manager f r bush said it had accelerated to the point that is unacceptable and the inconsistent operation had inconvenienced guests arrow development was called out during a week and a half shut down right before the summer season ended while battling the bats ongoing problems kings island had their best attendance yet in 1981 and looked ahead to 1982 their 10th year in operation after adding three new thrilling coasters over the last five seasons they spent 2.1 million dollars on an expansion for hanna-barbera land this would include 20 new and renovated rides along with a new kids admission price of 5.95 for those 4 to 6 years old they would continue the success of their discount season passes charging 27.50 the whole king's island complex was expanding also a football stadium was being built next to the college hall of fame this was to be used by local high schools as well as a 7 500 seat tennis stadium and a factory outlet mall inside the park there was even more to offer and this was despite the rotor having been closed after the prior season but they did add the world's largest swinging ship viking fury for its 10th anniversary the racer turned one of his trains around offering the world's first full-length backward coaster they closed the stadium of the stars the year prior and replaced it with a 10 000 seat 500 000 amphitheater right behind scream and demon when taft conducted a survey back in 1981 asking guests what they value most in the park it wasn't the rides it was the entertainment when the director of marketing tom nolan was asked about the new amphitheater he said live shows have developed into a major reason why people come to kings island and we can enhance that effect by bringing name acts to the amphitheater it was to be called timberwolves and it opened on july 9th this included axe from air supply livingston taylor with the oakridge voice being booked shortly after the initial price for a concert was 13 and 50 cents and that included park admission throughout the rest of the 1982 season timberwolf would sell out with acts like the beach boys the go-go's joan jett and the steve miller band at the end of the year king's island prepared for his first annual winterfest a first among the nation's theme parks keeping the park open through the end of december the royal fountain would be turned into an ice skating rink the eiffel tower decorated like a giant christmas tree there would be other activities for kids and holiday items to buy and eat and construction would start on the 2.5 million dollar fest house a 1 500 seat indoor dining hall this would cost 2.50 cents per person with passovers getting in free the park noted the turnout for winterfest was beyond their expectations in fact it was double their expectations ending up with 271 000 people and guaranteeing a return the next year it wasn't all fun and games in 1982. in may another park ranger was mauled by a lion luckily he was saved by another ranger who ran the lion with a shotgun but still required emergency surgery after being bitten on the neck and the head meanwhile the bat's problems continued the ride malfunctioned on may 21st and the park decided to suspend operation indefinitely aero huss was called out and told the park they could have it ready to open in a month only citing the failure of a weld is a problem it ended up being closed for the majority of the year by the time the summer season ended attendance was down four percent to 2.5 million the bayern curve was removed after the season and the park wasted no time announcing his replacement in february 1983 a deal was struck with togo japan incorporated for the country's first stand-up looping coaster a pair of king's island representatives went to japan to ride the model and they were pleased with it so they ordered one for the 1984 season but as for 1983 there were no new rides but the park invested 5 million into new entertainment adding 2 000 more entertainment hours compared to 1982 fr bush stated that it was now possible for someone to spend the entire day just watching shows fest house was built for winterfest and would now be repurposed for live stage shows during the summer this was called world cabaret as for timberwolves it would more than double its concert schedule this was headlined by mikhail bershnikov part of the american ballet theater in new york as well as cool in the gang and men at work during grad night in may a 17 year old guest was killed after falling down the elevator shaft of the eiffel tower it was determined that he entered a restricted area and attempted to climb a section of the tower when he fell the bat was entering his third season and despite a week-long closure due to a hairline crack on a wheel the park said the ride was up 95 of the time the second annual winterfest was even bigger than the first year featuring a new marionette show showing movies in the american heritage music hall and stretching into the rivertown area where kids can visit mr and mrs claus there was also a display advertising the still unnamed stand-up coaster coming the next spring without any new rides to boast attendance was down five percent but taft was still seeing record revenues across his three parks in the closing days of 1983 taft decided to sell their parks to an investor group for over 167 million dollars this group included members of his own management team and the new general manager would be t lewis hooper taft was anticipating the fcc would loosen up the rules on how many stations they were allowed to own and wanted to free up some cash to acquire more they would still own the other entities within the king's island complex and the parks could still use the hanna-barbera branding the new company would be called the king's entertainment company led by nelson schwab iii headquartered at king's island now this cobra at king's island isn't exactly what you'd expect it's a new 3 million roller coaster the only stand-up looping coaster in this country folks at kings island say it will be ready for local daredevils by april they traveled to japan and tried it out before they decided to bring it here and yes even after they got on looped the loop and lost their sake they bought it anyway this newest in a line of hair-raising fun rides got its name democratically visitors to the park voted to name it the king cobra when the calendar turned over to 1984 the park's newest throw ride had a name king cobra with a price tag of 3 million over 2034 feet of track and a signature 360 degree loop for the kids the smurfs had a new show at the international showplace and the enchanted voyage was re-themed as a smurf village as a tie-in with a new smurf theme the park debuted blue ice cream this temporary gimmick turned into the park's most popular tree to this day before the season even started the park announced the bat was being reviewed by management its status for opening day was in question after its best year of operation yet the park was still trying to find a solution to its problems with the rest of the coasters being operational for the park's opening day plus the brand new king cobra they figured it was a good time to try and fix his long-term problems still kings island officials said the shutdown should only be temporary king cobra opened without a hitch but it was another ride in another park in another state that caused the park headaches in july a woman was killed on railblazer at six flags over mid-america a mine train coaster that was just fitted for stand-up trains that year king's island stressed the same type of accident would not happen on their new stand-up poster and they did not notice a line for king cobra diminished from larry gas however the next month eight people were injured when a wheel assembly fell off the train mid-ride the train started shaking when it was heading around a curve and then it came to a halt this accident came shortly after the state of ohio signed a bill into law to inspect all permanent amusement rides and that was to take effect january first of the following year king cobra was set to be closed for two weeks as representatives from togo flew out to help diagnose the problem a faulty spindle in the wheel assembly turned out to be the culprit the park would face a 2.5 million lawsuit from three members of a family that were on the ride while king cobra was having his mid-season problems the bat remained closed for the whole season by november the park confirmed the inevitable the bat would soar no more the park released the official line for its permanent closure and that was it did not operate up to the standards guaranteed by the manufacturer more candidly park spokeswoman ruth foss said the ride was just too fast we put on different breaks we did a lot of things to slow it down none of them worked right kings island took this opportunity to announce plans for a replacement for the 1986 season but for the 1985 season work started in the early summer for the brand new 4 million river raft ride this was a big success at king's dominion in 1983 and the king's entertainment company hoped to capitalize on it the park didn't need much help as 1984 turned out to be the biggest year ever hitting the 3 million guest mark for the first time the record-breaking guests coming through the gates during winterfest the lucky guest and his family were treated to lunch at fest house dinner at the international restaurant passes for 1985 a kodak camera and a 100 shopping spree at kroger t lewis super attributed the rise of course to king cobra but also an improved economy and more season passes sold they also brought in marquis of timberwolf including moody blues cindy lopper huey lewis and the news and the oakridge boys as the 1985 season kicked off kings island said goodbye to a park original the wheel of fortune the future of the bat was already determined but shortly before the season started it was finally dismantled on a brighter note whitewater canyon was testing by january the park's marquee edition for 1985 but there was also new waves a place for people to record themselves singing in a sound booth and that tape would be for sale for 9.95 the park also unveiled a first of its kind message center at the eiffel tower this is where guests could leave messages for each other helping lost parties get back together timberwolves schedule was packed once again featuring jimmy buffett kenny loggins weird al yankovic among others this would cost 15.95 to see the concert and enter the park or five dollars for season pass holders in addition the park featured 12 live shows throughout the summer one of the more bizarre incidents of the year happened in september when a fire started underneath the beast singing some riders and sending 16 people to the first aid station causing 5 000 of damage to the ride still the park set a summer record falling just short of the 3 million guest mark like with kings dominion king's island white water canyon ride was a big draw 243 000 people attended winterfest bringing the years total to over 3.2 million the tumblebug was retired after the 1985 season a park original that had a history at coney island going back to 1925 but the park was planning three new rides one was called skylab a huss enterprise zephyr a zero wave swinger and dodgem the bumper cars they also opened the cinema 180 theater a 60 by 30 foot screen designed to immerse his viewers into the action in february the king's entertainment company announced the big move their headquarters would be leaving kings island and heading over to charlotte north carolina putting it close to the park they acquired 11 years prior carowinds without a major new ride kings island was looking for ways to boost their attendance with the price of gas falling they started advertising in other cities like pittsburgh for only 63 cents a gallon projected to go down as low as 50 cents by summer the 12-hour round-trip between pittsburgh and king's island was said to cost half of what it did the year prior cheap gas good weather and the three new flat rides led to early season success by june park officials said they were on pace for another record-setting year and as promised by 1986 they were also ready to announce what was going to replace the bat the vortex is waiting waiting to take you for a spin to send you head over heels upside down six breathtaking times but i wouldn't keep him waiting if i'm with you [Music] feel the grip of vortex before it's too late vortex was said to be a one-of-a-kind coaster a ride designed exclusively for kings island the only coaster to combine two loops two core screws and a boomerang at one time making for six inversions a new world record at the price of four million dollars this would be built by aerodynamics the same company that tried and failed with the bat it would be ready for the 1987 season meanwhile in 1986 timberwolves continued to be a popular venue for big name acts the park's goal was to put 12 new shows concentrating on the sure hits but also mixing in some new acts jimmy buffett was the biggest draw selling out the venue two nights in a row and other acts included the pointer sisters and james taylor summer attendants fell just short of their 1985 mark but everyone was optimistic going into 1987 with their groundbreaking new coaster at king's island amusement park the racer is a whoopee cushion compared to this the demon is well mere training wheels for vortex blue moors cincinnati post when vortex opened it drew lines of three hours though once they started operating with all three trains it went down to about an hour the high capacity ride would chew through its line going through over 130 000 riders in less than a month with the debut of one era coaster king's island was ready to part with another they put the demon up for sale that summer with the park initially saying it was to make room for expansion to the wild animal habitat a month later the park announced the demon would be replaced by amazon falls and intimate shoot the shoots water ride the demon appeared to have a buyer the owner of fun spot in angola indiana he put in a down payment and expected the sale to be complete by summer however this would end up being sold to west virginia's camden park and fun spot would have to wait three more years to buy the same model once florida's boardwalk and baseball closed and the zoomer and coaster was looking for a new home but it was another sale that would make waves in august the american financial corporation owned by cincinnati-based businessman carl lindner agreed to buy kings island the king's entertainment company would continue to operate the park and would retain ownership of his other properties lindner had just purchased taft broadcasting as well bringing the two companies back under the same ownership once again for the first time in kings island's history its summer attendance topped the 3 million mark coming in at over 3.1 million the first year under carl lindner started with the admission going up a dollar up to 16.95 now for adults but guests were treated to the 1.8 million dollar amazon falls this would lift riders up 45 feet turn around and plunge into the 800 000 gallons of water at the bottom soaking everyone from head to toe both on the boat and on the two observation decks the new ride was right next to timberwolf who had another big time slate of performances queued up for 1988 including james taylor gloria estefan tiffany with new kids on the block the jets the beach boys and richard marks who grope that park management wouldn't let him stay to ride the rides in june a drought forced the park to cancel their nightly fireworks display this returned after the area was drenched with rain a month later and it was an appropriate time to announce their big addition for 1989 waterworks this was the first time in the park's history that it added a whole new themed area this 4.2 million expansion would be included with park admission being located behind the railroad cover 12 acres and feature a lazy river and over a dozen water slides given the popularity of whitewater canyon and the new amazon falls plus their own internal research kings island and other parks across the chain were doubling down on water attractions but across the state cedar point was going in a different direction i guess you could say that direction was up [Music] king's island's racer has been credited with sparking acoustic renaissance but cedar point's magnum xl200 would thrust the coaster world into overdrive and kings island would find themselves right in the middle of it in the decades to come [Music] the midwest is on the fast track of roller coaster activity including the golden triangle of roller coasters cedar point kennywood and kings island together they represent the best of the coaster genre [Music] [Applause] 200 feet [Applause] [Music] get to them magnum xl200 was announced for cedar point in the summer of 1988 maybe it wasn't apparent the effect it would have on the industry there were other signs six flags great adventure announced the great american screen machine at the same time and the year prior six flags great america opened the world's first seven inversion coaster in shockwave this meant king's island's vortex only held the inversion record for one year meanwhile at the park waterworks was gearing up for his grand opening with the park having to reroute the railroad to accommodate the new water park it was slated to open with the park on april 8th heating the water to 80 degrees to make up for the cold weather but a rainy spring delayed construction pr manager ruth foss said it was the first time in 18 years they hadn't been able to open a major attraction with the park rain wasn't their only problem going into 1989 animal rights activists accused the park of mistreating the animals in the wild animal habitat their main charge around the chaining of elephants one of which died their allegations came in part from a zookeeper who was fired from the park king's island responded claiming they weren't doing anything out of the ordinary confirming an elephant did die but the autopsy showed it was from natural causes the u.s department of agriculture launched an investigation shortly after waterworks opened two weeks into the season included with a 1995 admission to the park timberwolves played host at dick clark's american bandstand tour rick astley the bengals jefferson airplane and many more the ninja turtles made an appearance at the international showplace along with five new stage shows for the season 1989 would also be the last season for their spinning cagers one of the park's original rides for the next season they announced a new million dollar inner tube ride for water works later named giant rushing river and for kings island a 2 million flat ride called flight commander this would be a 20-pod spinning ride taking two passengers 60 feet up in the air and the pod can be maneuvered to dip rise and perform barrel rolls the park was hoping to capitalize on an amazing year bringing in 3.16 million guests waterworks was only expected to bring in 300 000 in his first year they ended up with over 1 million kings island was flying high going into the 90s booking concerts like tears for fear the eisley brothers and tommy page raising a mission to 2095 and parking to 350 but they were met with an extended spell of bad weather and that kept the crowds away into the early summer but the weather improved people flocked in to ride the new additions in the water park and the dry park and by the end of summer they were approaching yet another record when asked what the secret was behind these record-setting years carolyn boos replied new thrills kings island plan on keeping that train rolling right into the next year announcing adventure express a 4 million coaster designed to resemble a runaway train at an old mining camp built by aerodynamics this would travel over 3000 feet of track go through tunnels and encounter characters and special effects it was a ride aimed at families and younger kids and it was a stark contrast to the new coasters being added around them two years after opening the world's tallest coaster cedar point was going for another record the world's tallest wooden coaster the company behind the 7.5 million monstrosity was the den corporation led by charles din kings island's former director of construction maintenance and engineering left the park in 1983 to start his own firm and the man behind the beast was now going even bigger across the state other kings entertainment parks were building major thrill rides including anaconda at king's dominion and vortex at canada's wonderland both also coming from aerodynamics many parks already had these runaway mine train coasters from arrow going back to the 60s and 70s in august 19 people were injured when their huss enterprise skylab came to an unexpected halt nobody was seriously hurt but the ride was closed for inspection nothing would happen to skylab but the ferris wheel and flying dutchman were retired after the season 1991 presented a slew of challenges for kings island some of which were out of their control first the economy started to weaken so people had less money to spend at the park at the same time the market for live performances was hot with performers asking for top dollar to make appearances kings island once again raised up prices to accommodate this now 22.95 and in park concert tickets were now eight dollars adventure express opened on time its signature element being the tunnel full of animatronic drummers beating away at their drums on either side of the train if indiana jones ever settles down and has kids he could take them on king's island's new adventure express and not worry about nightmares haunting their sleep connie yeager cincinnati post right when king's island opened full time for the 1991 season the park had a day so tragic it was impossible to forget something so surreal it could only come out of a nightmare [Music] on the evening of june 9th tim benning fell into a pond near the beer garden he recalls something pulling him down into the water and then he hit a metal bar that shocked him several times this would burn his arm and his neck his friend william heathco saw what happened and dove and after him park employee daryl roberson was soon to follow the three were pulled out of the water bidding survived hathcoat and roberson did not heathcote died instantly from cardiac arrest from the electrical shocks robertson's official cause of death was drowning having been knocked unconscious by the shock inhaling and ingesting water before his death less than one hour later a woman fell from the new flight commander right and was killed witnesses saw her capsule rotate and she slid to the empty seat and entirely out of the capsule falling 30 feet into the tree-lined area two unspeakable accidents three deaths all within one hour investigators found four electrical hazards that caused the pond to be dangerous they found the pond aerator was installed with the park back in 1971 and that predated some stricter regulations passed in 1981 the park didn't violate any laws but the device was not up to modern codes osha found seven safety violations and fined the park 23 500 kings island reconciled this issue by installing circuit interrupters all over the park designed to shut off power if they detect electricity escaping into undesignated areas these devices only cost between fifteen and fifty dollars as osha's william murphy said they could have spent the price of a discount ticket and the people would be alive today a simple device could have saved some lives in this case the 32 year old victim of the flight commander accident was found to have an alcohol level of 0.30 three times the level set by the state of ohio to consider a person legally drunk this launched an investigation into the park's alcohol service practice but they couldn't prove any laws regarding overserving a person were broken her condition was ruled a factor in her death but in the end the accident was blamed on a design flaw in the restraints writers were able to move horizontally and out of the restraints a problem made worse without a second person in the capsule flight commander was partially dismantled as the park entered talks with intimate to modify it and by the end of the summer it was clear they were aiming to reopen the ride by the opening of the 1992 season the ride added a dividing wall between the seats lengthen the sides of the lap bar so it came closer to the dividing wall and the side of the capsule and the write-ups would start closing the restraints of the empty seats there would be an 8 million lawsuit filed against intimate in 1993 and king's island settled with a family for about 336 thousand dollars adding to the park's problems in 1991 a funnel cloud hit the park in august causing some damage to waterworks nobody was in the area of the water park when it happened and the rest of the park remained open by the end of the year the park gave a farewell to the smurf's enchanted voyage set to replace it with the phantom theater a 3.5 million dollar haunted dark ride the area would also be home to a new 500c indoor children's theater called enchanted theater there would also be three new kids rides including a small miler coaster called scooby zoom for kings island's 20th anniversary the park was looking for a rebound attendant stepped well below the 3 million mark down 11 from 1990 with the help of mean streak it was the first time in three years that cedar point beat king's island in attendance one aspect of the king's island complex that would not rebound was the college football hall of fame when taft brought the facility to warren county back in 1978 they were hoping for 300 000 visitors every year they wound up with about 10 of that number in january the hall closed for good and sought to reopen in south bend indiana once the park opened for the 1992 season the phantom theater got rave reviews it was rated as one of the top new rides of the year by family fun magazine described as a disneyland style attraction four and a half minutes long with 38 animated figures and other sensory effects timberwolf also booked major acts like marky mark and the funky bunch hammer the beach boys and others right as the parks seem to be getting back on track a shockwave was sent through the industry for over 80 years paramount has taken you on a roller coaster of action adventure and entertainment now paramount is about to take you beyond the limits of the motion picture screen to the next generation of excitement where the magic of the movies meets the thrills of a lifetime get ready for paramount's kings island opening april 9th weekends beginning april 10th in late july 1992 paramount communications agreed to acquire kings island and the king's entertainment parks for 400 million dollars kings island's owner karl linder was set to receive 200 million dollars in the deal he agreed to the sale once paramount agreed to make no major changes in operations that would affect current management this was coming on the heels of linder ending the contract with king's entertainment to manage the park lindner denied the explanations that the sale was due to the 11 attendance slide rather they were investors and this was a deal that was too good to pass up nelson schwab iii of the king's entertainment company saw things a little different he believed the industry was turning towards lower cost rides with theme-oriented material he felt like paramount had the branding to make this happen with products like indiana jones star trek and more he said this was needed for the park to take that next quantum leap after the sale they would be in position to update our long-range plans for the parks with paramount products schwab was able to get paramount to acquire the king's entertainment company first and then suggested they go after king's island as well paramount agreed with the sale paramount became the fourth largest park operator in the nation just behind disney anheuser-busch and time warner who owned six flags at the time paramount would bring schwab on board as a chairman and ceo of their brand new theme park subsidiary paramount parks kings island would also name a new executive vice president and general manager alexander weber jr he was coming over from great america in santa clara california where he held the same position following the sale paramount was granted right to the hanna-barbera characters through 2009 but they were still expected to do a massive rebranding promoting their more popular products this was expected to be done before any new major rides were added but right away paramount proved they could do both [Music] in november kings island announced top gun a 5 million suspended coaster from aerodynamics themed to the tom cruise film from 1986 the arrow suspended coaster was making a comeback to kings island 10 years after the bat closed because of design flaws the park emphasized the technology around this model had been tried and improved since then including vortex at their sister park canada's wonderland having been open since 1991 alexander webber said top gun is the first of many movie themed products that paramount will add to the park but paramount gibbeth and paramount taketh away winterfest 1992 was announced to be the park's last ending an 11-year run as paramount wanted to concentrate on the park's primary operating season adding weekends in october to the calendar as guests entered the turnstiles for the 1993 season they were entering a whole new king's island the american heritage music hall was now called the paramount theater paramount on ice was a new skating show featuring music from movies like an officer and a gentleman star trek greece and footloose the tower gardens was turned into the paramount story highlighting the studio's popular films characters from paramount movies like star trek and the coneheads would join the hanna-barbera characters there would also be an exhibit of star trek memorabilia for two weeks in june a new ad campaign was launched paramount's kings island where the magic of the movies meets the thrills of a lifetime admission was bumped up a dollar to 23.95 top gun opened with the park for the 1993 season and got great reviews the only complaint seemed to be that it was too short lasting about a minute and a half and covering 2 352 feet of track however king's island veteran don helbig making the news for riding the racer 10 000 times and having ridden suspended coasters all over the country said this was the best one he's been on far and away while paramount clearly had their sights on new rides and shows they had little interest in maintaining wildlife at the end of the 1993 season the park announced the wild animal habitat would be shut down immediately they would work on finding new homes for the exotic animals that were not native to ohio having 300 animals total meanwhile paramount was planning the next big ride days of thunder a motion simulator ride featuring scenes from the 1990 tom cruise film of the same name this was a new theater that could be repurposed for other shows in the future later in the year paramount announced a deal to merge with viacom the parent of nickelodeon and mtv viacom would pay 10 billion to buy paramount and this would open up even more branding opportunities for the paramount parks and viacom assured the public the paramount parks would not be sold with everything changing the acts rolling into timberwolves remained 1993 featured the beach boys the doobie brothers and ex-eagles glen fry and joe walsh in 1994 former kings island seasonal employee jane cooper was named president of paramount parks taking the spot of nelson schwab iii having concocted the paramount takeover and looking for a new challenge days of thunder was a big hit as the major new ride and there were several new shows including game on a new interactive game show in the fest house where guests could take part in slapstick contests and win prizes timberwolf introduced a new tiered pricing system where the kids shows cost three dollars acts like the b-52s and hank williams jr were five dollars and the blues fest featuring bb king and natalie cole would run you ten dollars paramount parks did not waste any time taking advantage of the viacom branding announcing the nickelodeon splat city for 1995 a new themed area with fountains of green slime this would include all kinds of games and activities most of which coded its participant in slime they would also use their mtv brand to bring two of the network's most popular shows to kings island singled out and the grind more interactive entertainment for the guests the crowd responded to kings allen's new identity bringing in a record 3.3 million guests nickelodeon splat city was not the only thing new for 1995 kings island also introduced drop zone inspired by the 1994 film starring wesley snipes this would be a 170 foot sky coaster this would not be included with the price of admission with guests having to pay between 1495 to 24.95 depending if they were running solo or running with one or two others riders are strapped into full body flight harnesses lifted to the max height then pulls on the ripcord and into a free fall swooping over the ground at 60 miles per hour timberwolf also brought in some new acts one being the highwayman this was a group made up of willie nelson wayland jennings chris christopherson and johnny cash they also mix it up with tlc reo speedwagon pat benatar and fleetwood mac in the summer of 1995 kings allen asked to be annex into the city of mason currently part of deerfield township officials thought it was in the best interest of the park to be part of mason being able to take advantage of all the services they offer this would spark a long battle between the park the city of mason and deerfield township that will last for years including masons deceding from deerfield township kings island trying to change sides to remain in deerfield township the ohio supreme court rejecting deerfield township's appeal followed by mason annexing most of the park in 1997 except for a small park to appease deerfield township and by 1999 the park was entirely in mason 1995 would be the final season for flight commander serving four more seasons after his fatal accident as well as scrappy slides a coney island original that opened in the coney mullet's flying carpet but was moved to hannah by barrel land in 1986 by the end of the summer paramount was ready to roll out the next big coaster for the park this one with a dark twist remember years ago when you were afraid frightened terrified in the dark welcome back prepare yourself for the outer limits flight of fear the scariest darkest most twisted roller coaster ever face your fears only at paramount kings island themed after the 1960s science fiction tv series the new premier rides coaster would be called the outer limits flight of fear located entirely indoors and mostly in the dark with some special effects the coaster would be the first to use linear induction motors to launch the train reaching speeds of 53 miles per hour and traversing four inversions the ride building would only take up one acre of land so the track would be very compact the vp of construction and maintenance called this the most ambitious undertaking in the history of the park as the ride was under construction 20 year old worker john ruiz fell off the roof plunging 110 feet amazingly he survived and he even tried to stand up before someone told him to stay down he broke his hip pelvic bone both heels his left femur and crushed his right foot flight of fear would not be ready to open with the park in april but the other new attraction would be this was excess raceway a 665-foot oval bank go-kart track just like drop zone renamed xtreme skyflyer for the 1996 season xs raceway was not included in the price of admission it would cost five dollars per driver 250 per passenger the park initially thought flight of fear could open in late may and that quickly turned into mid-june park officials said it was the longest and most complicated project they've ever done and blamed the unprecedented technology on the delay on june 18th it finally rolled out to the park's biggest thrill seekers one early writer said the launch was something you can experience only if you're a fighter pilot it plasters your jaws against the back of the seat another said it's that initial pop that launch then it never lets up general manager alexander weber jr added it's more than just a new ride it's the most innovative themed ride experience available anywhere today adding to the right experience was the brand new qtv a set of tv screens located inside the ride's queue telling the writers they were part of a government teleconference and an alien spacecraft is landed and was being studied by scientists the writers enter a hangar with a glowing saucer and when they prepare to enter the spaceship the aliens take over it's a 15 minute setup meant not only to pass the long queue times but also to provide the most integrated ride experience in the park qtv was a big part of the new outer limits flight of fear but it was incorporated into the rest of the park also about 200 video monitors were placed in ride lines picnic groves and restaurants providing everything from entertainment to advertisements to general park information following a year with one of the world's most innovative coasters kings island focused on their water park for the 1997 season waterworks would receive a massive expansion doubling its 15 acres to 30 including a children's water area and a 31 000 square foot 600 000 gallon heated wave pool the park's 25th season would open with the emission price topping 30 a price that people would be willing to pay given its lofty status the national amusement park historical association held a survey and king's island ranked fourth in the list of best parks trailing disneyland busch gardens williamsburg and walt disney world and it was also voted the third most beautiful park just behind busch gardens williamsburg and alton towers alexander webber would be promoted to ceo of paramount parks and his position as general manager would be filled by tim fisher the park would throw a kids halo fast for halloween with special activities in the fest house and hanna-barbera land which was also announced for an expansion the next season the major addition would be scooby's ghoster coaster a suspended kids ride unique to america described as a cross between hang gliding and a traditional coaster with two riders per car sitting one in front of the other rising up a 40-foot elevator lift and then swooping through a 450-foot course for water works the park announced wipeout beach a bodyboard surfing attraction the park had to say goodbye to their antique cars the ohio overland auto library this closed after the 1997 season but it wouldn't be removed for several more years the park also bid farewell to their huss enterprise skylab days of thunder also ran its course being reprogrammed at james bond double 07 a license the thrill this would be joined by the new backlot stunt show and a new rock wall called the edge another upcharge attraction two years removed from the last major thriller coaster king's island is ready for their next this would be themed to the 1997 john travolta nicholas cage film face-off of akoma inverted boomerang true to its name it would have riders facing each other as the train rises up 131 feet forward and backward with three inversions in between they would also install a 315 foot intamin gyro drop ride this would be called drop zone stunt tower using the same theme the extreme skyflyer opened with in 1995. 1999 would also bring a new name for the xs raceway the park again reusing a former theme and going with days of thunder amazon falls would now be called congo falls themed to the 1995 film this would be part of an expansion and re-theme of the adventure village formerly the wild animal habitat now to be known as the action zone this transformed the former safari area into a hollywood backlot there would be a 40-foot replica of the paramount studio's water tower with new shows from the paramount action stunt team also bringing the entertainment would be teenage superstar britney spears coming to timberwolf in august as well as star trek earth tour another two-week exhibit of models costumes and memorabilia kings island said 1999 was the year with the most capital investments ever but there were nothing but problems that arose that were out of the park's control first dropzone was hit by lightning closing the ride for about a day less than a month later the ride was shut down following an accident at paramount's great america in california a boy fell to his death on a similar ride there having slipped out of his harness and kings island decided to install a seat belt to connect the seat with the restraint the same week as the drop zone closure king cobra had to shut down following a fatality on shockwave at paramount's kings dominion both stand-up coasters manufactured by togo once it was determined the victim was not following safety rules both parks reopened their coasters after just a couple days although neither of these accidents occurred at king's island it sparked the conversation once again about theme park safety state senator mark mallory announced his plans to review laws governing inspection of riots ohio and florida were the only states to employ full-time inspectors giving licenses and conducting twice a year inspections this also sparked the push for federal oversight and that started to gain steam near the end of 1999. the questions over ride safety only intensified as the rights continued to get bigger and faster the coaster revolution that magnum xl 200 started 10 years prior had reached a whole new level on july 22nd 1999 cedar point would stun the coaster world with the announcement of millennium force the world's first 300-foot coaster but king's island would not be left behind paramount has something big in store for the park and in many ways it was more extreme and ambitious than the 300-footer and it was without a doubt the worst decision in kings island's 50-year history with 34 new roller coasters looming on the horizon across the united states there is a veritable buffet of roller coaster treats that's the most new roller coasters to appear in a single year since the depression in the u.s we're in the midst of a full-blown coaster renaissance unleash on the world something that we can call the sequel to the beast this is the son a beast there was no doubt about it as the 20th century was coming to an end the coaster wars were as hot as they've ever been six flags was adding not one not two not three but four new coasters to the former jiaga lake in upstate ohio freshly rebranded at six flags ohio six flags was adding over 20 new coasters chain-wide for the year 2000 echoing what they did in 1999. this included the 255-foot goliath at six flags magic mountain and that would hold the record for the world's tallest drop for a grand total of three months before cedar point opened up the 300 foot millennium force that record would fall three months later thanks to steel dragon 2000 in japan kings island wasn't aiming for the world's tallest coaster but they were aiming to destroy all the major wooden coaster records they did it once before with the beast 20 years prior and the beast's progeny as the cincinnati post connie yeager put it was paramount's kings island's year 2000 offensive in the high stakes coaster wars its father spread pandemonium throughout the midwest its arrival will thrill a nation its legacy is destined to change the world presenting son of the beast the world's tallest fastest only looping wooden roller coaster son of beast only at kings island the son of beast would not only be the world's tallest wooden coaster standing 218 feet with a 214 foot drop and not only would it be the world's fastest wooden coaster topping out at 78 miles per hour it would be the first wooden coaster to go upside down with a massive 118 foot vertical loop there was one record that the sun wouldn't take and that was the record for length still owned by the father it wouldn't be that far off though it would clear 7000 feet sprawling over 12 acres of land upon its announcement general manager tim fisher said son of beast will be the millennium coaster it will stand as a monumental symbol of paramount's king's island's commitment to quality and world-class rides and entertainment this 20 million dollar coaster would be located near top gun heading out into an undeveloped area of the park formerly the wild animal habitat it would be manufactured by the roller coaster corporation of america a company that built its first coaster at fiesta texas in 1992 with a rattler and they had a few projects opening around the world in 1999 and 2000 for such a massive project track was already vertical by the spring of 1999 by the dawn of the new millennium son of beast had its first problem in january a 50 by 100 foot part of the structure fell over blamed on high winds some workers had also complained about the safety conditions on the project and that got osha to come out to investigate they slapped a 110 000 fine for 18 violations mainly around the lack of fall protection systems and the failure to determine if temporary bracing was strong enough to withstand high winds the park was cooperative in addressing these measures implementing new site-specific rules due to the complexity of building son of beast when the park opened in mid-april there was a lot to be excited about there was a new upcharge attraction flight team this was a helicopter ride taking riders up and giving them an aerial tour of the park and if you paid more you could get a tour of cincinnati or dayton with a custom tour possible for an additional fee this would cost between 25 and 155 dollars there were also 10 new shows for kids and adults timberwolf has some big acts lined up like sugar ray smash mouth chicago weird al yankovic duran duran and martina mcbride there was also a new direct entrance to waterworks allowing guests to get in from the parking lot and avoiding the dry park the one thing they weren't looking forward to was son of beast construction delays pushed his opening back two weeks later son of beast was finally set to open its gates two hours into his opening day maintenance was still trying to get it ready for prime time with the line stretching throughout the park once they got it working it got rave reviews don helbig the record holder for the most rides on the racer with over 11 000 to that point said son of b exceeded his expectation there's no lull it's non-stop action and speed after that opening friday son of beast opened for some time on saturday but it was shut down for the rest of the weekend there was a 15 foot section of track at the top of the second hill that needed adjustments they plan on reopening it the next week but that didn't happen the park was hoping to get it open the week after but that deadline came and went finally almost a month after its opening day son of beast was back open to the public seven thousand riders lined up to write it on its reopening day other than some minor mishaps in june son of beasts remained operational for the rest of the season but by the end of the year kings island found a lawsuit against three companies involved in building the coaster one was the roller coaster corporation of america hired to design and build the ride another was wooden structures incorporated hired as the lead structural engineer finally universal forest products of hamilton provided the lumber king's island alleged that shoddy design and construction forced the ride's month-long closure once the 2000 season got underway king's island launched the month-long dinosaurs a prehistoric journey a kid's exhibit featuring 13 dinosaurs and interactive stations they also had been hosting the kid-friendly holostream up to that point but in 2000 they would launch fear fest a much more dark and terrifying event transforming different areas of the park into sinister destinations despite all the action and all the new additions capping off their 40 million dollar two-year expansion between 1999 and 2000 attendance dropped for the second straight year down 4 percent to about 3.2 million the park blamed this not on son of beast but on bad weather for the 2001 season the park would focus on the kids expanding the nickelodeon splat zone into nickelodeon central and adding three new rides this included a retheme of the king's mill's log flume to the wild thornberry's river adventure and rugrats runaway reptar of akoma suspended family coaster kenton's cove kielbo canal never got to see the 2001 season removed for something big the park had planned for the future outer limits flight of fear would drop the outer limits from its name as well as dropping its over the shoulder restraints replacing them with much more open lap bars james bond a license to thrill was retired from the newly renamed action theater replaced by stan lee's seventh portal and smash factory and would start being used to host films during the halloween season 2001 was also the first year the park would offer a gold pass offering a free upgrade for families buying their pass in april this would give access to some rides an hour before the rest of the public two for deals on tuesdays where guests could ride twice without getting back in line and access to preferred parking the park brought in more family-friendly entertainment like the mapa acrobats and forbidden magic secrets of the mummy's tomb a magic show in the paramount theater timberwolf was set to feature jessica simpson aaron carter and the spirit song festival as king's island continued to be a popular spot for christian music acts son of beast had a smoother sophomore season giving its 1 millionth ride in june 2001 was a big rebound year for king's island with attendance back up 4 percent to 3.36 million crediting the success of the gold pass and the new nickelodeon central the park had conducted surveys to see what people wanted they wanted more family-oriented attractions the park listened and they were rewarded kings island would win amusement today's golden ticket award for best kids area in 2001 and they would win it every single year for the next 18 years even with a sagging economy and travel fears following the september 11th terrorist attacks kings island as a regional park did not suffer as much as the big destinations looking to add to their most popular park on the 30th anniversary paramount used its hottest brand for a brand new thrill ride tomb raider the ride based on the popular angelina jolie film this would be a heavily themed totally immersive dark ride experience the show building would be located next to the beast in the rivertown area on the former site of kenton's cove kiobo canal the whole experience was start with a queue line where patrons would enter the cursed tomb and be sealed inside everything from this point on would play off scenes from the movie as park spokesman jeffrey siebert said there is nothing like this in the entire world the infrastructure of this ride is unparalleled to anything paramount parks has done to date the ride was a huss giant topspin flipping riders around in the darkness equipped with fog and light effects lifting riders up to stare at sharp icy stalactites on the ceiling then dropping the riders and dangle them over a supposed lava pit this would use fountains to shoot wider near their faces tomb raider would coincide with a 2 hike in the admission price up to 42 for a single day and the adult gold pass was selling for 84.99 this would not include a ride on the brand new slingshot a fun time bungee ride that would launch riders 275 feet in the air at speeds of 100 miles per hour flipping the whole time this would open as an upcharge attraction the 2002 season also started without its oldest steel coaster king cobra once its manufacturer togo went out of business in america parts were harder to come by and maintenance became more difficult it served the park for 18 seasons 2002 was also the first year for new general manager craig ross replacing tim fisher ross was kings island's vice president of resale in 1995 before moving on to the same role for the entire paramount parks chain he oversaw some big changes following the 2002 season starting with the retheme of the popular phantom theater that served 11 years this would be called scooby-doo and the haunted castle a multi-million dollar overhaul that was built as the first interactive family ride in the park's history a four and a half minute ride where guest board mystery machine vehicles equipped with fright lights they can shoot at targets along the ride and collect points adding them up at the end to see who won spongebob squarepants 3d would start its long run at the action theater also but the biggest edition of 2003 would be delirium king's island employing huss a year after installing tomb raider to build a giant frisbee the first of its kind in the world this would raise riders 137 feet off the ground in a swinging motion like a pendulum following a 120 degree arc all while spinning this would be on the plot of land that king cobra left open craig ross also oversaw the addition of metal detectors something that had become more and more common after the september 11th terror attacks and ross wanted to make it a point going into his first full year we are constantly evaluating and enhancing our safety and security measures as a part of this process and in conjunction with world events we are implementing the system as one more tool to ensure the safety of both our guests and associates the process would also include a bag check for the first time in order not to hinder the guests trying to enter the park they installed 30 metal detectors outnumbering the amount of turnstiles in addition to the new rides the park also debuted the tomb raider stunt show in honor of the 2003 tomb raider sequel the cradle of life timberwolves also welcomed in def leppard aaron carter billy idol and third eye blind in late september a severe storm with over 100 mile per hour winds caused major damage to warren and hamilton counties and destroyed the paramount's king's island sign collapsing in the parking lot king's island stopped offering the helicopter rides after the 2003 season but they were about to bring a whole new experience for the water park waterworks opened in 1989 had a major expansion in 1997 and now it was being retired in favor of a major new water park resort craig ross explained if you crave innovative water adventures or if you simply prefer to relax and be pampered all day the new waterpark resort will have something for everyone this would be called crocodile dundee's boomerang bay sporting an australian theme and featured four new attractions for 2004. this included the tasmanian typhoon the raft slide with a giant funnel at the end of a 269-foot tunnel the park even got crocodile dundee himself paul hogan to promote the new water park the problem was warren county was expanding rapidly and were having problems with the water supply king's allen's request for an extra 500 000 gallons per day was met with skepticism but they figured it out and got it done and crocodile dundee's boomerang bay opened on schedule in late may kings island also launched a new event for teenagers extended play fridays from 8 pm to midnight in the action zone anyone 16 and older could enter for five dollars and dance and party with guest djs for kids they rolled out the nickelodeon celebration parade with 80 performers 6 floats and encouraging guest participation for everyone the paramount theater got a 1 million renovation and a new show paramount's magic of the movies live including brand new theater seats and a new digital projection system part guests would even be chosen to recreate scenes from movies like titanic and sleepy hollow my my favorite still the um kings island the beast hmm i presented a paper at an entomology convention in cincinnati just so i could ride son of beast head over heels on a wooden track 2004 was a big success with the park bringing in 3.5 million guests a seven percent increase from 2003. looking ahead toward a major addition for 2005 the park closed two classic rides one of them was flying eagles formerly known as flying scooters a coney island original the other was less taxis the antique cars that opened with the park they also took this opportunity to remove the ohio overland auto library standing but not operating for seven years kings island would use this land for their brand new coaster the well-themed premier rides launch coaster the italian job stunt track this was based on the 2003 mark wahlberg film the italian job with the cars resembling bmw mini coopers recreating climatic chase scenes from the movie equipped with special effects throughout the ride king's island would also have interest outside his gates closing his campground and announcing its replacement a joint venture with the great wolf resorts for a 100 million dollar project a 39 acre family resort and entertainment complex this would include a massive 404 suite resort an indoor water park and a conference center among other attractions there would be shuttles and trams taking guests from the launch of the park and back this was another step in turning king's island into a year-round destination and getting people to stay multiple days at the complex in the summer this was set to open the following year meanwhile there were rumblings at the top viacom was rumored to split into two companies built around its main tv properties cbs and mtv this led to uncertainty about the future ownership of the park a park that saw 3.3 million visitors in 2005 down five percent from the year prior this was despite the return of winterfest the event that paramount got rid of right after buying the park in 1992 bill balfour kings allen's manager of entertainment and special effects said the original winterfest opened small and kept growing winterfest is going to be more impressive when it opens than it was when it closed last time the most popular attraction was the ice skating rink on international street so they brought that back and decked out the entire front of the park with brand new decorations and lights this was joined by parades shows special dining and retail options and the signature attraction was the white christmas express using the railroad for a show experience this was about a soldier coming home after world war ii one of 2005's casualties was smoking in the park it would only be permitted in designated zones but the park also lost scooby's ghoster coaster replaced by his umbrella skater coaster avatar the last airbender this would be one of six new rides for their kids area being totally revamped nickelodeon central and hanna-barbera land would be renamed nickelodeon universe with the hannah barbara themed brides receiving nickelodeon themes this included the family wooden coaster beastie now with the name fairly odd coaster and their smallest coaster scooby zoom renamed top cat's taxi jam in 1998 would now be called little bills giggle coaster the world's greatest kids area would become even more spectacular in 2006. over the summer of 2005 it was clear that viacom was going to split into two and by the end of the year it was done paramount parks fell under the umbrella of cbs and they immediately decided to put the chain up for sale because the theme park industry had matured and stabilized the days of double-digit increases in revenue were gone the industry was lucky to see two or three percent growth each year with slow growth and high capital costs these parks didn't do much to boost stock prices if cbs was going to invest in theme parks it would be in the fast-growing asian market not america the news drew immediate interest from several parties in january 2006 including some private equity funds anheuser-busch incorporated owner of the busch gardens and sea world parks and cedar fair who owns six parks station wide the sale would put all the parks branding in jeopardy including all the paramount movies like top gun tomb raider and the italian job but also nickelodeon with nickelodeon universe taking shape as the sale was being negotiated on monday may 22nd 2006 a deal was struck in a 1.24 billion cash deal cedar fair was the big time winner of the five paramount parks plus the rights to operate bonfonte gardens in california for paramount parks cedar fair was a good suitor because of their history of operating major parks including ohio cedar point and jiaga lake cedar fair was interested because this would double their portfolio with large-scale well-established parks and they would gain a more national presence the deal was expected to close in the third quarter of 2006 and cedar fair shared gas they would not notice any differences in operation for the new season however by mid-summer cedar fair announced that winterfest had been tabled and would not happen in 2006 the one year the event came back attendance was below expected levels when asked if winterfest would ever come back the park's response was we never say never despite the demise of winterfest fearfest would remain cedar fair may have been happy with their investment as a whole but they were about to inherit one giant problem it seemed like a typical mid-summer sunday evening a train full of riders on son of beast was dispatched and about halfway through the ride they felt a sudden jolt this was in one of the large helixes the one known as the rose bowl one writer said it felt like we hit something or jumped the track everyone was screaming before that then it was complete silence the rest of the rye a witness said he saw people being carried away on stretchers others were bleeding from their mouths and hunched over in pain 27 people were sent to the hospital most with minor chest and neck injuries and all but two were at least the same day when that train came back with the injured riders the next train was stopped in the lift hill and the ride was shut down the state came in to inspect the ride the day after and they believe the accident was caused by a crack beam that caused a dip in the track this led to a lawsuit by the end of the month filed by one of the writers who fractured her sternum stayed at the hospital for four days and couldn't return to work for eight weeks son of beasts would remain closed for the rest of the season as the park and cedar fair had to decide what to do they concluded the structure was not meant to bear the ride's weight and they could remedy this by using lighter trains they bought the trains from the recently defunct hurricane category 5 from the myrtle beach pavilion manufactured by gerstlauer these were much lighter than the original and they would cause less stress on the track and the supports there was just one problem the lighter trains wouldn't gain enough speed to complete the vertical loop and the ride signature element had to be removed the state also said the park had to make other structural changes including adding metal supports to make the structure more resistant to stress after giving son of beast another chance cedar fair was busy rebranding the park ahead of the 2007 season all references the paramount were removed and the park went back to its original name kings island the one thing that didn't change right away was the roadside marquis the one that was just replaced after collapsing in the 2003 windstorm the park said that would eventually be swapped out as for new additions there were 5 new live shows including the endless summer on ice the first ice skating show in 12 years as well as a roller coaster that was new to the park but not new to the state of ohio firehawk was a coma flying dutchman located right next to flight of fear in the new x-based section of the park an area themed to a secret military base this operated at jiaga lake from 2001 to 2006 and cedar fair decided it would be better off with their new acquisition and led to a lot of speculation about that park's future later that year cedar fair would announce the closure of the giaga lake theme park leaving just the water park behind since moving the bavarian beetle to the park in its opening year firehawk would be the first relocated coaster to come to kings island there was also excitement around not a new coaster but a coaster given new life son of beast reopened on the 4th of july 5 days shy of a full year being shut down operating with trains that were one third lighter than the original craig ross said it's still really good we even had some people clapping and cheering in the station but while son of beast was reopened another ride in the action zone was shut down this was drop zone closed down ever since a teenager's feet were severed on a similar ride in late june the ride at six flags kentucky kingdom was also built by intamin so the closure was out of an abundance of caution it reopened after about a month once it was determined that the cables that snapped in kentucky were not a hazard at king's island by the end of the year king's island was ready to roll out the revamped halloween event called halloween haunt replacing fearfest the biggest new addition was club blood a new venue full of vampires looking to repopulate there would be nearly 400 live characters double the number from the year prior and halloween haunt would be more intense relentless and gory according to the park's new spokesman don helbig the cincinnati native that was known for riding the racer almost 12 000 times and seemed to be at all the parks major events was now part of the team and he remains there to this day when cedar fair bought the paramount parks it included a deal to keep the paramount name in front of the parks as well as a paramount branding for 10 years they chose to rename the parks right away but didn't change any of the names of their rides during their first full year going into the 2008 season all of that would change there was a major effort to rename and retheme all the paramount rides though they tried to stay close to the general theme but give it a generic name at king's island two theaters and five rides were renamed most notably top gun was renamed flight deck and tomb raider was now the crypt don helbig said some guests are going to need time to adjust they grew up with the park one way and now it's going into something else another big change was that racer would no longer run one side backwards this started as a gimmick back in 1982 and it was so popular it stayed around for 26 years what we're doing is getting back to the feel of the original kings island that's something our older guests will remember and appreciate our younger guests who have only known one thing their whole lives will find it different but we're confident they'll come to love it as much as ever our theme this year is history tradition and nostalgia we're getting back to being a homegrown park the park knew that taking away this experience would be a tough sell for its guests who came to love the backwards racer but that was just one of many challenges the park would face in 2008 the economy was struggling the price of gas was spiking to nearly 350 a gallon but kings island was hoping that as a regional park they could stay afloat the park was also hit with a legal defeat losing their 20 million case against rcca's insurance company kings island won their lawsuit against rcca in 2005 but once that company went out of business the park sought payment from the admiral insurance company in 2008 a court of appeals ruled the insurance company did not have to pay citing that commercial general liability policies do not cover claims of negligent manufacture kings island also fought the mason city council on a proposed tax on park and missions even threatening to de-annex from mason and return to deerfield township they did not want anything to raise their admission price which in turn hurts attendance kings island didn't welcome anything new in 2008 but they did draw in a lot of people with two acts after years of denying robbie knievel a chance to outshine his dad's jump from 1975 king's island under cedar fair was more open to it more than 40 000 people came to the park on may 24 many of them flocking to the park to see history being made he landed the 200 foot jump over 24 coke zero trucks hurting his back on the landing but it was still a success on the fourth of july there was another family connection as rick walinda broke his grandfather carl's tightrope record the one set at king's island back in 1974 covering 2000 feet in just over 35 minutes cedar fair was just breaking the ice on their new investment over its first two years in charge by the summer of 2008 it was obvious something big was on the horizon kings island didn't want to give too much away and let the speculation create some buzz don helbig encouraged people to come to the park take pictures of the construction and watch this new roller coaster take shape every day our guests ask what is it it's just one of those things you can see unfold in front of your eyes no other details will be revealed all we will tell people is it's going to be a ride what kind of ride people are just gonna have to wait and see not only would kings island's new coaster create a big splash it would be the start of a new era for the park king's island was already one of the country's premier parks but cedar fair was about to launch the park to new heights never seen before [Music] karen johnson is live at the park with this big reveal tonight hi karen hello you know we have been telling you about this even got our hands on some of the plans but finally tonight it's official but hold on to your hats because you've never seen anything like this before on august 6 2008 kings island unveiled the plans for their biggest project ever at the cost of 22 million dollars diamondback would be a b m hyper coaster standing 230 feet tall exceeding 80 miles per hour and one mile up track with 10 hills six of them being over 100 feet this was built purely for airtime but it would have one bonus feature a splashdown right before the final break run as park spokesman don helbig said it's exactly what everyone wants it's big it's fast it's steel diamondback was rising right as the economy was crashing and by the end of 2008 it was clear the country and the world was in for hard times but cedar fair was still ready to invest 62 million dollars in new rides for 2009 and attendance across the chain was up six percent over 2007 diamondbacks track was complete by january and right after the park opened an auction to be among the first riders 96 people would bid for the honor the top bidder getting to choose their seat on the first train and everyone else being assigned a seat based on how much they paid all proceeds would go to a kid again a charity that funded terms for kids with severe illness by march the park had raised over fifty thousand dollars the top bid standing at three thousand dollars and the minimum bid rising to seventy five dollars by the end of march the total reached 75 000 and they decided to increase the first rider event to include six trains as the 2009 season ramped up diamondback was not the only new addition this was located in rivertown and the whole area got a facelift with new walkways landscaping and fencing there were also three new musical shows and the asa action sports world tour would make a two-day stop in may featuring bmx skateboard and motocross performers along with concerts from crooked x and collective soul on april 18th 256 people got to take part in the first rider event raising a total of 102 000 13 year old jackson thurnquist saved nine months of allowance to pay 181 dollars for a seat and when asked if it was worth it he said i would have paid 1 billion it is better than anything i've ever ridden diamondback was a smash hit and it helped offset the mid-season closure of another major ride son of beast on june 16th a woman notified the park that she had been injured after a ride on may 31st and this started an investigation she had a blood vessel burst in her brain and had to be admitted to the icu the ohio department of agriculture wanted to know if the ride caused the injury this was the fifth time the oda had to investigate the ride coaster enthusiast and author pete trabuco said the incident rate is high and they are smart to close it down and look at every aspect of the ride nobody knew how long son of beast would be closed and the park took it on a week-to-week basis after six weeks state investigators found no irregularities but the park kept the right clothes trying to decide what to do next the woman who sparked the investigation was just one of many who came forward to contact the park complaining of pain or injury after writing son of beast by mid-august king's island announced that son of beasts would be shut down for the season although it cleared inspection there was a real concern if the ride was still enjoyable the park would use the off-season to decide what to do next later in the year king's island settled a lawsuit with one of the passengers from the 2006 accident paying over 76 thousand dollars in damages a forensic engineer testified that king's islands officials knew about the rights problems from the start and tried to fix them in a band-aid fashion causing problems elsewhere the plaintiff jennifer wright said my biggest hope now is the public will be aware of the issues with son of beast and that situation will be rectified so nobody else has to suffer ever the park also continued their battle with the city of mason over attacks on admissions they even put a message on the marquee reading mason wants to tax you tell them no while king's island was being sued and fighting the city cedar fair was seeking a buyer to alleviate their 1.6 billion dollars in debt and they found one in apollo management buying the chain for 2.4 billion dollars the sale wasn't expected to bring major visible change but the deal faced immediate objection from investors they said the shareholders would get mega returns and the board members would see massive profits they also tried to force ceo richard ganzel out of his position the shareholder response was strong enough to scrap the entire deal by early 2010. kenzell aged 70 at the time chose to retire shortly after at the same time king's island was victorious in the fight against the new tax as the city council voted it down when paramount bought the king's entertainment parks in 1992 they were granted the rights to the hanna-barbera brand through 2009 having to say goodbye to scooby-doo for the first time in the park's history cedar fair's contract with nickelodeon also expired so it was time to overhaul the entire nickelodeon universe and replace it with their own brand planet snoopy this would cause a re-theme for everything in the area turning the hanna-barbera and nickelodeon attractions into all things peanuts charlie brown lucy snoopy woodstock and the whole gang and scooby-doo in the haunted castle became blue blasters on blue hill while planet snoopy was gearing up for a big debut season son of beasts would remain dormant before opening day the park announced their hyper wooden coaster would not open in 2010. they had poured 30 million dollars into it and they were looking for the right proposal to fix it in the meantime the park would remove its large box sign and they were debating whether or not to take it off the map in the end they left it off for the 2011 season kings island announced windseeker a mondale swing ride that would also be coming to three other cedar fair parks that year this joined the eiffel tower and the drop tower as the park's 300 foot rise tilting riders out at 45 degrees and spinning around at 45 miles per hour 2011 would also turn back time 65 million years with more than 60 life-sized animatronic dinosaurs invading the park this was dinosaurs alive combining entertainment with education as guests could learn about the dinosaurs and even control their movements as they walked along a 4 000 foot path behind the racer this would cost an extra 5 on top of park admission the park would also introduce dinosaurs alive 3d at the action theater and that would last three seasons until the theater's closure 2011 would be another dormant year for son of beast it wasn't even on the list of rides filed with the state so there was no permit to legally operate the ride cedar fair's new ceo matt wieman came to king's island in the summer of 2011 and weighed in on the ride saying the company had to be creative with it but it's still too early to say what the right answer is he also wanted to test out a new system like disney's fastpass where guests could wait in a virtual line in july the park introduced fastlane where guests could pay for a wristband and that would give them access to a special cube bypassing the normal line at the end of the summer season the park tried to break a record for the world's largest human awareness ribbon the current record was over 3 900 people and kings island came well short despite drawing in almost 3 000 the attempt did raise over ten thousand dollars to fight breast cancer the crypt formerly known as tomb raider the ride was closed after the 2011 season the park announcing it had reached the end of its service life the big addition for kings island's 40th anniversary would be silk city yet another massive expansion of their water park formerly known as boomerang bay this would have a 10 million dollar price tag and it would double the size of the park by 33 acres it would include a new 39 000 square foot wave pool an action river replacing the lazy river volleyball courts lounge areas and other amenities by the end of the 2012 season kings island would be gearing up for a major overhaul of the racer including replacing sections of track posts braces and ledgers giving new life to the 40 year old park original that had given over 97 million rides the racer was here to stay but son of beast was not in july park officials announced their decision to tear it down this was the official sad anti-climactic end to one of the most troubled coasters ever built son of beast wasn't the only casualty of 2012 thunder alley the park's go-karts that was adjacent to son of beast was removed after 17 seasons there was a good reason for this king's island wasn't about to leave the site vacant and four years after the debut of diamondback it was time for a brand new coaster throughout 2013 the groundwork was being laid for the so-called 2014 project public records show this was a roller coaster and not just any coaster the most expensive project in the park's history [Music] so with a 24 million dollar price tag banshee would open as the world's longest inverted coaster baljar and mabiard had brought diamond back to the park in 2009 and they would get this project also their inverted bottle was very popular in the 1990s with fewer installations since 2000 and banshee would be the first of its kind in america since 2006 it would be themed to a screeching female spirit a wailing mythological messenger from the underworld when riders reach the top of the 167 foot lift hill the banshee screams before twisting down the 150-foot drop hitting 68 miles per hour and flying through seven inversions all this done over 4127 feet of track like with diamondback king's island would set up a first rider auction for a kid again asking for at least one hundred dollars per person in april the park invited over one thousand media members and coaster enthusiasts to get their first rides this was believed to be the largest preview day in cedar fair history don helbig was concerned the ride would not live up to the massive buzz it generated but it got rave reviews just to compliment the thrill aspect banshee steaming includes a graveyard in the queue one tombstone appropriately dedicated to son of beast this would not be the only way that king's island would pay homage to his past in 2014. flight deck would adopt the name of its predecessor the bat the name change along with this new orange color scheme would be a fitting tribute to the pioneer that made this coaster possible as banshee was throwing its early riders matt we met stated he wanted to take cedar fair down a different road he knew throw rides were a draw but family memories brought people back he gained this perspective after spending 17 years with a disney corporation so while banshee gave its 1 millionth ride diamondback gave his 10 millionth ride the beast gave its 50 millionth ride and racer gave its 100 millionth ride kings island would shift its focus for the 2015 season the park would bring in woodstock gliders a larson flying scooter ride very similar to the flying eagles they just removed in 2004 as well as another edition for planet snoopy snoopy space buggies this only improved on the 14 time golden ticket winner for best kids area meanwhile in 2014 evidence of those little extras that we met talked about started popping up they debuted circuit imagine in the kings island theater and acrobatic show and they set two world records while raising money for cancer research one for shaving 213 heads at once and the other for having 1 821 people applied lipstick at the same time they also expanded halloween haunt including the slaughterhouse a new building in rivertown that was used for a haunted maze kings island would also expand their food options including an upgrade to the funnel cake shop where guests could create a custom order and they launched a beer festival that included three park themed beers bee spock banshee brew and diamondback ale in august of 2015 the park was hyping up their next big announcement but this wasn't for kings island it would be for silk city four years after its big expansion it would be receiving a seven-story slide tower called tropical plunge a set of six slides three of them with a floor that drops out sending the rider straight down keeping with a family-oriented theme for the third time in the park's history winterfest was announced to return after a 12-year hiatus after buying the paramount parks in 2006 one of cedar fair's first actions was the axe winterfest but with the new leadership at the top and given the loud guest demand this was logical for their mission statement winterfest would return for the 2017 season with ice skating on the fountain christmas lighting scenes a craft fair and live entertainment this would be included for gold and platinum passholders as kings island general manager greg scheid said winterfest is all about family memories family fun but 2017 wouldn't be all about family fun early in the 2016 season foundation design plans were filed with the city of mason this was called kings island 2017 project and it was clear it was a roller coaster some people thought this could be a 300 foot giga coaster a model that other large-scale cedar fair parks had been receiving in recent years like kings dominion canada's wonderland and carowinds but upon further inspection this didn't look like a 300-footer it looked like a wooden coaster on july 28th the cat was out of the bag [Music] built by great coasters international mystic timbers would be the newest addition to rivertown the park's 16th coaster withstand 109 feet tall hit a top speed of 53 miles per hour and feature 3 265 feet of track this would give kings island 18 804 feet of wooden coaster track even without son of beast setting a world record its theme would be an area surrounding a lumber company becoming overrun by mysterious medusa-like overgrowth of vines as nature reclaims its land but the big teaser would be what's in the shed after hitting the final breaks the train would enter a shed before going back to the station and that peaked everyone's interest was it a drop track was it an inversion what was in the shed greg scheid would leave the company being replaced by mike koontz and he oversaw the opening of the parks new wooden coaster the following spring he said wooden roller coasters used to be the only roller coasters around but with 16 airtime hills and a 53 mile an hour top speed the ride generates new thrills and new memories for the enthusiast it may not have been anywhere near a record breaker but its 16 airtime hills and twisted out and back layout made the ride instantly popular with the modern steel monsters popping up all over the park plus the beast right there in rivertown many people considered mystic timbers the best ride in the park later that year amusement today awarded it with the golden ticket award for best new ride as for the shed some people were impressed others were disappointed but regardless everyone was sharing their opinions rather than giving away the surprise i'll leave it up to you to find out for yourself after seven seasons dinosaurs alive would be removed as the park was making way for future development but it wouldn't be the only one at the beginning of halloween haunt in 2018 a sign appeared at a makeshift funeral site reading the air is eerily calm as we make final preparations for the ill-fated demise of one of our own the park's twitter account did confirm this would be a coaster and its final day would be october 28th there was a lot of speculation over the next week some thought it would be vortex others believed it would be firehawk after dinosaurs alive was removed firehawk may be next to clear enough land for a major new ride sure enough the park confirmed the doom ride was firehopped serving 12 seasons at king's island and 18 overall firehawk would not be finding a new home this time it was completely scrapped now the rumor mill was hot over what could replace both dinosaurs alive and firehawk some thought it may be a revival of son of beast others believed it would be that long awaited giga coaster by the end of 2018 paperwork was filed for something described as the 2018 2019 and 2020 additions and modifications to king's island park and this mentioned bollinger and mabiard the designer and builder of diamondback and banshee in the meantime kings island was teasing their 2019 attraction stating something old will be new again this fueled even more speculation about a son of beast's revival but in august they announced the return of the antique cars resurrecting a park classic 14 years after their removal this would be located in the kuni mall next to the racer slightly south of the prior site now being used by backlot stunt coaster these would be a 2 3 scale model of the 1911 ford model t and per mike koontz when we asked gas what they would like to see return to kings island the most popular response by far is the antique cars 2019 would also bring a new restaurant to rivertowne the miami river brew house replacing the reds hall of fame grill as well as one team village a new complex of dorms meant for employees living more than 25 miles from the park this would accommodate 400 workers at a cost of 65 per week the park also kicked off his second winterfest opening and theming more of the park adding more rides and usa today named kings island the second best park to visit over christmas just behind silver dollar city and just months after rewarding kings island the number one spot for their halloween haunt for the 2019 season king's island would offer a free ticket to one child under four feet tall for every regular adult ticket bought online in addition to the family-friendly antique otto's the park would also welcome in the grand carnival an international festival advertises celebrating the sights sounds and smells of various cultures this would be the big summer event to draw in more people going along with the halloween haunt and winterfest in the fall and winter the highlight of grand carnival would be the spectacle of color parade every night starting at the coney mall going to international street and circling the royal fountain lasting 30 to 40 minutes the park may have been catering to kids and families in 2019 but behind the scenes they were gearing up for something big in mid-august they told everyone to expect an announcement for a major new addition setting up an event open to all guests in the koni mall on august 15th based on blueprints filed with the city of mason this was called project x and it was a 300 foot roller coaster it looked like finally king's island would get their giga and before a massive crowd mike koontz unveiled orion [Music] [Music] amid the chance of giga giga giga koontz said you wanted it you got it although it would stand 287 feet tall it dropped into a ravine reaching the 300 foot mark this 30 million project would cost about the same amount as the entire park did back in 1972 but cedar fair was experiencing a big boom with revenues increasing 8 from 2018 riding the business model of putting major attractions in their biggest parks but there was some unexpected unwelcome news the following month the legendary vortex the world's first six inversion coaster had finally reached the end of its service life the park stated coasters like this normally last 25 to 30 years and vortex was nearing the end of its 33rd season giving almost 46 million rides over the month of october people flocked to king's island to ride vortex one last time on the night of october 27th following the final train the park played taps and turned out the lights on vortex for good [Music] with vortex gone the park was looking ahead to the future orion went vertical in early september and it was topped off in early november orion was set to open with the park on april 11th and another first rider auction was set up riders would have to give at least 150 to take part on april 9th king's island was booming cedar fair's profits were up and the park was creating rapid economic growth for warren county but the coronavirus coming to our shores threatened all of that by mid-march sports leagues were suspending or cancelling events businesses were shutting down and opening day had to be delayed the park was hoping to reopen in mid-may by mid-april shortly after the supposed opening day the park announced that season passes and all add-ons would be extended through 2021 there was too much uncertainty around when the park had finally opened in the meantime park officials were gearing up for a safe reopening ordering thousands of face masks and setting up plexiglass but they would still need to staff the park once they got the green light from the governor they would also go cashless to avoid additional contact points and reduce their capacity by one-third allowing no more than 15 000 guests in the park per day so people could spread out this would require a reservation system by late may parks around the country were starting to open up but the parks in ohio were still ordered to be closed the governor announced that museums and other indoor entertainment centers could open by june 10th but amusement parks had to wait cedar fair ceo richard zimmerman pled his case stating that they were experts at managing risks and following protocols and kings island joined cedar point in a lawsuit to allow the parks to open the next day the governor announced that amusement parks could open in two weeks starting on june 19th kings allen worked quickly to staff the park and by july 2nd they were open to pass holders and open to everyone starting on july 12th every guest would need a reservation they would need to complete a pre-visit health screening they would have their temperature checked and they would have to wear a mask and follow social distancing markers throughout the park not to be lost in the chaos orion was finally ready to open with a park its first rider benefit was on july 1st and it officially opened to pass holders on july 2nd guests would enter area 72 the former xbase and its theme would be a secret research facility one that has been studying the effects of flight on man flight of fear fit well into the new theme as did orion themed to a simulator that would launch writers to a new planet in the orion consolation this would top usa today's poll for best new attraction in 2020 despite orion's popularity cedar fair inevitably took a tremendous financial loss third quarter revenue was down 88 from the prior year and by year's end they had an operating loss of over half a billion dollars hunt and winterfest were cancelled replaced with tricks and treats a food festival 2021 was cautiously shaping up to be a better year with the parks opening day set for may 15th about a month later than usual they would also open camp cedar a luxury outdoor resort where guests could rent cabins rv sites and take advantage of pools cabanas fitness areas food trucks and so much more this was slated for a june opening but that was pushed back to mid-july but with the ongoing pandemic king's island was aware that people may be apprehensive about coming back to the park but they were hoping that pent-up demand as well as a hunger to go back to normal would bring them through the gates but like every industry nationwide the shortage of labor became a huge problem in order to fill 4 000 positions they hosted a virtual hiring event and offered hourly wages from eleven dollars to fourteen dollars this was increased to fifteen dollars and even eighteen dollars for some positions going along with a three thousand dollar bonus despite the incentives staffing remained a problem on may 22nd the park was particularly crowded and although the rides were fully staffed the food stands restaurants and gift shops were not there were reports of one security guard watching four metal detectors people were stuck in long lines at the food stands and there wasn't much security inside the park there were altercations among young people in the park with several small fights breaking out and one big one just before 10 pm the park closed down 30 minutes early that night to restore order they responded to this incident by increasing security and assuring the public that safety is our top priority the park would start closing two hours early in june just because they couldn't find enough workers to staff the park despite the shorter hours and lack of staff 2021 saw attendance return to pre-pandemic levels this was true not only at king's island but across the industry king's island would also bring back their special events halloween haunt and winterfest things were going back to normal except for one aspect the park would officially go cashless guests could use cash to card kiosks inside the park but everywhere else in the park only credit cards debit cards apple pay or google pay would be accepted going into the 2022 season the park was keeping wages steady between 15 and 1850 per hour they would also focus on refreshing some of his classic rides for his 50th anniversary including a repaint of the eiffel tower retracting of the beast and a major restoration for the grand carousel however slingshot would be shut down after 20 seasons and it was taken out to make way for future plans what those plans are we don't know because that brings us all the way to today what started with the flood at the old coney island has brought us this massive destination park today through all its turmoil through all its changes in ownership and through all the great times king's island has become one of the most beloved parks in the country but whatever happened at the old coney island after closing in 1971 and having all strikes taken out it reopened in 1972 with a sunlight pool and a picnic grove in 1973 in 1991 coney island was bought by ronald walker and he started turning coney island back into an amusement park with small riots and even a roller coaster called python in 1999 but in 2019 they decided to close down all their amusement rides and focus on one thing being a water park this park is open to this day so if you're in the cincinnati area and you want to visit a park dripping in history check out coney island thanks for joining me on this journey through the 50 years of kings island if you can drop this video a like and share this whole series with anyone who may be interested i'd appreciate it this documentary was months in the making so i appreciate your support as some of you may know i grew up going to magic mountain but over the last four years kings island has slowly become my all-time favorite park from its right collection to its atmosphere to its outstanding staff so it was an honor to dive into this park's rich history and bring you a story i want to thank everyone who lent their photos and videos of this project including coasterbob62 sean flaherty and jeff joyner whose dad bob joyner has an extensive photo gallery that he was willing to share with me also since kings allen seems to do everything well their amazing youtube channel is also a big help so thank you all again for sticking through this with me and i'll see you all in the next one [Music] you

Channel: Airtime Thrills

Views: 647,388

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Id: oFhlZqadLZc

Length: 122min 7sec (7327 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 24 2022