Maestro

I would have loved to have The Bat head. That's one item I was never able to track down. Thanks for your insight!

For those of you that more closely follow the pricing trends on KI collectibles - is $1,000 for a Smurf an average price? Or is that an outlier? Has the price for this kind of stuff trended up over the years? At the risk of being bombarded with a flood of "can you send me pics" (yes, I am willing to post a few) or "do you want to sell it" (no, not at this time) messages, I will admit to owning a Smurf, among other unusual collectibles from the park. He is one of my favorite items, but at some point I am going to have to unload all this stuff and am curious if the value continues to go up?

We used to let the kids play one or two games each visit prior to the card system. We no longer bother with it. I'm not going to go to the card machine, put in the cash that I already have in my hand, only to let the kids go over and spend 50 cents on a game of Bowler Roller. Seems like some people would love the option, but to refuse cash completely seems like it would hurt in the long run.

I stumbled upon a one-time opportunity and ran with it :-) . Sorry, didn't have time to start making phone calls :-)

Back in the 90's, when it was possible for the maintenance folks to easily adjust/lower the old skid brakes, I had the opportunity as an employee to take a spin on The Beast with all the brakes off. They occasionally did this early in the year in preparation for the start of the season to "break in" the ride. Having ridden it in normal operation hundreds of times, I can honestly say the most impressive part of the experience was the amount of speed the ride is capable of in the section between the break shed and the second lift (in the sections of track where the ride hugs the ground). The lack of breaks on the first drop didn't add a whole lot to the experience (although it did allow for the smallest pop of airtime in the back seat on the hill as you come off the first drop). The helix felt a little faster, but mostly a dramatic increase in roughness. Having ridden it without the breaks, I definitely think they are necessary (as much as I hate to say it) for the comfort of most guests and for maintenance purposes - I could see some of the turns needing yearly rebuilding if they let it go "full throttle." And while the speeds today are generally the same as when the skid breaks were used, I just think they are more noticable because of the magnetic trims. The skid breaks slowed more gradually, as opposed to the sudden "grabbing" feeling of the magnets.

Boat Tag, maybe? Not sure why that rings a bell?

Thank you for the information on Bruce Bushman - I have been looking for that for a long time! I've never heard Curtis Summer mentioned with the Eiffel Tower's design. Here's what I do know: Around the 1968 season, the heads of Cincinnati Coney Island decided to install an observation tower to take the place of the Lost River dark ride attraction. Gary Wachs (the man responsible for KI) met with Intamin in Zurich Switzerland and ordered a tower. When the Taft monetary backing for KI's construction was obtained - Wachs immediately called and postponed the order from Intamin. Wachs then hired a gentleman by the name of Bruce Bushman from Hollywood to conceptualize the park's main entrance plaza and entrance theming. Mr Bushman was one of Walt Disney's Imagineers who had been a key player in the development of Disneyland. He spent a good part of his career as a layout artist with Disney. He worked on many Disney shorts and movies such as Pinnochio. When "Uncle Walt" began developing Disneyland, Mr Bushman was immediately transferred to WED Design as one of the original Imagineers. At WED, he was placed in charge of designing/conceptualizing perhaps the most crucial part of Disneyland's themed areas - Fantasyland. He is credited as giving the area it's original feel and designing many of those unforgettable early Disneyland character dark rides. Bruce Bushman eventually left Disney and moved to Hanna Barbera productions where he returned to his animation/layout artist roots. During this time, he conceptualized the idea for a Flintstones themed amusement park - of which renderings and proposals exist to this very day. The Flintstones park never materialized, obviously, and eventually Hanna Barbera was encorporated into KI's design. At the end of his career, he become an individual consultant to many regional theme parks cropping up across the US in the late 1960's and early 1970s. It was Bushman who developed the concept of "International Street" at KI encorporating the parameters Wachs had given him (Octoberfest theming, an observation tower, shops, eateries and elaborate fountains - all of which Wachs had seen at the World's Fair years eariler. ) For the fountain construction/installation, the head of the Cincinnati Coney Island Sunlite pool's operation at the time - Charlie Flack - was placed in charge. As part of Bushman's design concept, the Fountains lead to an elaborate observation tower themed to the Eiffel Tower. So thus the tower became as the park's focal point... and Wachs and Bushman presented the concept to Intamin. Intamin then engineered the ride, and it was built in Graz Austria and partially dissasembled. The ride was shipped overseas in a pre-assembled state and the components re-assembled at the park. The total cost of the Eiffel Tower's engineering, shipping and install was $1.4 million. Mr Bushman died in February 1972, 4 months before KI opened. He never saw the full realization of his concept for KI's grand entrance. Shaggy

I realize this is about a week late, but here are a few thoughts and observations. First off, what an amazing day! The weather could not have been more perfect, the ride was running great, and Kings Island did a fantastic job with the event. I have been to several of these events over the years, and I do not recall a year with more media / press folks in attendance. It was very clear that Diamondback was a hit. I arrived around 10:45am, was checked-in, and was walked back to the Rivertown area. The general improvements to the area looked great - clean, fresh mulch, well landscaped - everything looked fresh and new. The entrance/exit area and the station fit in great with the theme. I can imagine this area will be very popular this season, and it was nice to see an abundance of tables, chairs, and benches around the entrance/exit area. I grabbed a quick drink (left over from the morning breakfast) and took a look around the gift shop, which had a good layout and was very organized. Let me tell you, if you want Diamondback merchandise, this is the place to be - you would be hard pressed NOT to find something you liked in that store. I found a spot outside the shop to watch the official ribbon cutting ceremony, which took place around 11:15am. First up was Don Helbig, who welcomed everyone to the event. After saying a few words, he introduced Greg Scheid (General Manager) who did a nice presentation on the ride itself, as well as the auction (which raised about $102,000). He also introduced Walter Bolliger (from B&M) who was on-hand. The ribbon was cut and the ride officially opened! I am not going to go into details about the ride, as there are plenty of trip reports on the specifics. The ride is everything I hoped it would be - fast, smooth, and full of air-time moments. It makes excellent use of the terrain. I rode in a variety of places throughout the day. This may sound strange, but my favorite seat ended up being in the middle-to-back of the train. I can't really explain it, but the forces and airtime that you experienced there were crazy. I am not one to shy away from re-rides on most coasters, but after a while the positive/negative forces this thing puts on your body caused me to turn in the towel. I decided to check out the food and take a rest. The lunch buffet they put on was very tasty - chicken, pulled pork, salad, chips, and plenty of desserts to go around. The new Rivertown Junction looked good, and it was definitely a different experience eating at an amusement park on white tablecloths with real plates, glassware, etc... I grabbed my first rider t-shirt, press kit, took a few more pictures, and headed out. Thanks to the folks at Kings Island for an amazing event. They are a class act, very accommodating, professional and organized. You can tell they are very proud and excited to have such a great addition to their park.

Let's see - the helix is enclosed, so not 1979. I don't see any supports yet for The Bat, so not 1981. How about early 1980? Nice video - thanks for posting!

That's too funny - and here I thought it was just a cool video. And it's not even MY video so I get no credit there. I've always been a lurker, so when I do post I try to make them count.

Are those redeemable for cash and/or prizes? Just kidding. If that's the case, I have boxes and binders of old stuff lying around at home someplace...

A friend of mine tipped me off that this video was on YouTube - thought you guys might enjoy it. Not sure if it has been posted here before or not. It is an old video from 1971-72 centered around the construction of the park (I think Taft did the video).

1) KI&MV RR 2) SDATHC 3)Eiffel Tower 4) Crocodile Run 5) wave pool 6) the Grand Carasel 7)the small helicopters in Nickolodeon Universe if you want. 8) Action Theater - Spongebob - in the motionless seats

That sounds amazing. I just feel like boo-ing when the train hits the MCBR. I mean it's kinda cool being at the top of the coaster and being able to look at everything but the experience of the rest of the ride suffers. Anyhoo.... How'd you get that ride? Yes, it definitely was a highlight. I was a Manager at the time - we were doing testing on the ride.

As everyone else mentioned, the old restraints were horrible. I recall working the unload side of Outer Limits many times and watching people get off the ride holding their heads. In the later years, some additional foam padding helped a little, but did not signficantly reduce the problem. I always joked that Paramount could have made a fortune selling aspirin at the end of the exit ramp :-) I also remember my first ride on it with the new lap bars - I was riding with Jeff Siebert, before the ride opened to the public with the new restraints. This was also during the short period while the mid-course breaks were off, and before the LIMs had been re-adjusted to accomodate the new weight of the trains. What an amazing ride - the feeling of going through the corkscrew at the end with your arms uninhibited at breakneck speeds was incredible!

I have seen or heard many concerts during 1994-2003 seasons (years I worked at the park). A couple of my favorites were Third Eye Blind and Smashmouth (front row for both of those). Kind of neat hearing Smashmouth sing "All Star" while the fireworks were going off (during the "All that glitters is gold" part) - not so neat when the band invited all the teenage girls up on stage and they rushed the front...

Agreed - AE is a tough one. If you have a decent zoom on your camera, you can get a shot of the "drop" out of the station (if you even call it that) from the entrance line before you start up the ramp. You could also get a shot of the first lift from the exit of The Racer.

Don't forget the people who drop them off a loading station and then complain about not getting them back because they are in a lock-out area (Vortex station being a good example).

There also used to be a "Friends and Family" program - not sure when this started, but it was still around in the late 1990's. You had to be a freid or family member of an employee in good standing. You worked one shift (8 hours) and got a free season pass for the next year. You could work up to 4 shifts and get 4 passes, which you could give to other members of your family. My mom worked a couple of shifts in 1997 and 1998 when I worked at the park and got season pass vouchers for the rest of the family. It was a pretty good deal! And this was back in the day when volunteers could still work in any area of the park (including Rides).

I also rode Son of Beast yesterday. I noticed the ride testing while walking through the park headed over to watch. To my surprise, they were loading when I got there so of course I had to get in line :-) It ran about 3 or 4 trains and then shut down for about 15 minutes due to a small electrical issue. Once it re-opened, the line moved quickly - even with losing 1/3 of the ride's capacity due to 2 bench trains. The operators were doing a good job of getting people in and out - in almost every instance, they had the train dispatched with the second still out on the course (I didn't see any stacking). I barely made it on before another weather delay (I was on the last train before shut-down). The new trains were comfortable enough. Definitely more space due to the lack of floor modifications that were present in the old trains. The ride experience itself was also improved. There was a very noticable difference in the sections that had been re-tracked, and the existing sections of track also felt better in the new trains. One things is for certain - it was running VERY fast yesterday. I rode in the front car, back seat. In my opinion, don't go expecting miracles. It was much better than the old Son of Beast (I still miss the loop though). You still need to remember that it is a wooden coaster going 80 mph. If you think it is going to be perfectly smooth, you'll be disappointed. If you compare it, though, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Bill Ossim is no longer with the park. Not sure of the exact year (late 90's), but he accepted a promotion and moved to Vegas to run Star Trek: The Experience for several years. I know he is no longer out there - I think he may have accepted a job outside of the park industry at that point.

Shaggy, Carla remembers you well (and fondly) - funny, I found a picture of you at a Rivertown crew dinner this weekend (that belonged to her) while I was scanning some pictures for Steve. Maestro

If you haven't seen this yet, it's official! Cedar Fair to Acquire Paramount Parks

I'm pretty sure the ride was called Boat Tag and it was indeed located near the Rivertown/HB border. I never played, but it always looked like fun.

I'm confused - Winterfest was never about rides. The old Winterfest only had a handful of rides open. Why did everyone expect that major thrill rides would be open this time around? Besides the obvious factors like the temperature and staffing, as was already mentioned, with the longer operating season (PKI almost always is open the first weekend of November), it's hard enough for maintenance to get the rides ready for the next year. Don't forget, the rides have to be pretty much ready 3-4 weeks before opening day due to training, testing, and state of Ohio inspections. So you're only looking at 4 months max to completely tear apart every ride, inspect them, and put them all back together. Don't forget that some of the maintenance crew is tied up in construction of new attractions. When you add Winterfest into the mix, you're trying to do the same amount of work in 3 months. It's just not feasible with the current maintenance staff to run much else that late in the year. Winterfest always was, and will continue to be, a family event. It's not geared toward rides - it's about celebrating the holidays with your family. Even moreso this time around - remember, PKI's recent focus is families, not thrill seekers. Even as a coaster enthusiast, I can say that I am thrilled with their decision. I think having major thrill rides open would detract from the theme. Some people have said that the price is expensive. The park has to make the event profitable. The way I see it, if they charge less, they're going to have to let more people in the gate to make the same profit. I, personally, would rather spend the $5 more and enjoy the park without wall-to-wall people. Besides, I don't think the price is that out of line with other attractions around town. Based on PKI's announcement, it sounds like there will be enough to do to occupy an entire evening (if you take the time to see the shows, enjoy the shops, go ice skating, etc...). Compare that to $9 to see a movie that lasts 90 minutes, $50 for a concert ticket, $40 for the cheapest Bengals ticket, and I think you've got a pretty good deal. I, for one, am pleased at the way PKI is handling the event and I am looking forward to it. I have fond memories of the event from my childhood and I look forward to taking my family this year.