The History of Kings Island | Episode 1: The 1970s - From the Floodwaters

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 10 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 flu 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 and forcing 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 president 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 tapped umbrella shortly after taft announced march 15th for the groundbreaking ceremonies for the new park valued at 20 million dollars 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 cards 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 koni would feature the park's signature ride the racer these twin wooden coasters would operate side by side combining for six thousand one hundred feet of track they also promised a hanna-barbera dark ride where guests travel through an enclosed storyland in 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 coney 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 tap tell the contest to find an official name in july 15 000 entries later they chose the winner kings island this combined the name of kings 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 kony'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 [Music] over the years kony 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 reign 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 13 of the 31 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 include 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 king's island now valued at 30 million set 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 up 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 the vast amusement park i had to see if it had anything on kony it does it has everything on kony blayne evan others were noticing the bad differences between king's 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 the 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 a.m 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 eighteen thousand 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 skyride the rotor 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 kings island and miami valley railroad their spin and cagers halley's comet less taxis auto library wheel of fortune kenton coast 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 costume 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 with 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 himself 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 i 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 king's 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 boat 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 guests 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 3 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 for 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 ilynski came out with his tribute to coney island goodbye coney island goodbye kings island bought 320 hard-bound copies and gave them to local schools they wanted young students to 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 her big new draw but there were other reasons to visit the park in 1974 carl wallenda 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 air show 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 believed 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 husk spinning ride called troika lyon country safari would open a 1500 seat amphitheater for an exotic bird show the safari would remain open during the off season charging three dollars 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 evel 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 kings 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 u.s history seating 70 000 people once the day of the jump came around only 25 000 filled the seats it was a cold blustery day and its 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 smalled 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 twenty four hundred dollars for safety violations reduced to eight hundred dollars 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 dollar theater with nine shows every day as well as the follies marionette show but taf 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 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 mchale 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 cuddle 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 11 percent the king's island theater that collapsed three years prior and once 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 arrival 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 kings 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 the record holder to this thanks for watching episode one of this five part documentary if you could drop a like and share this video with anyone who may be interested i would appreciate it this is a massive project and i really appreciate the support i also want to thank everyone who provided the visuals for this video including the photo gallery of bob joyner among others stay tuned next week for episode 2 as kings island cement's legacy is one of the coaster capitals of the world you

Channel: Airtime Thrills

Views: 39,698

Keywords: kings island, 50th anniversary, mason, ohio, cincinnati, coney island, warren county, kings mills, deerfield township, racer, eiffel tower, screamin' demon, bavarian beetle, beast

Id: _341zypmG0Y

Length: 26min 34sec (1594 seconds)

Published: Thu May 26 2022