jandyb79

I thought it was in Coney Mall in the Attitudes/Massacre Manor building. That is correct. Both the Dodgem and Cuddleup were located in that building. At Coney there were 3 rides under one roof: Cuddle Up, Dodgem & Whip.

Avatar is a shot of The Beast lift hill. Camera is angled from the track perspective pointing skyward Check it out here.

I couldn't agree more! When I was an employee, I loved being sent to Beast games to work "Pinball Derby" which sat directly in front of Kentons Cove Keelboat Canal. I can still smell that pond and hear those sounds when I think about it... ~Josh

I guess that's supposed to be Yogi Bear. Kind of scary though. Banana Splits yo:

I was never a big fan of this ride, but it was aesthetically pleasing to the eye...unlike the basketball game and cement that reside in that spot now

I'm about 99.9% certain that the elephant was blue, but I've been wrong before. That elephant now sits outside of Jungle Jim's. It's no longer a fountain, but it is nice to be able to still see it! i thought so too, just wasn't gonna say anything. Touch'e...I'll go with that Not all memories are as accurate as others...and now I know to flip my pennies down at Jungle Jims

I loved that old slide When they told us it had been torn down to make way for the new Nickelodeon area during the spring of 96, the entire training class collectively sighed and was saddened. Just to the right of the slide was that big pink elephant fountain as well. We used to flip pennies in its trunk to see them shoot back out - if timed correctly Awww, what good memories! ~Josh

Ahh sweet! I forgot that I had posted this pic My dad took this picture in 1980. It's interesting that just recently I met the sculptor who created these characters. He was an employee at KI throughout the 70's until taking a sculpting position at Kenner/Hasbro Toys when it was based in Cincinnati. He sculpted several of the original Star Wars figures from 77 to 86. He now lives in New England and works as a freelance sculptor for Hasbro Toys. ~Josh

Here's a little contribution to the Waterworks construction pic. I don't know if this is a common pic, but its an artist rendering of the "coming soon to KI - Waterworks".

Knock yourself out my friend

How about a little International Street color?

For the last 12 years I have been waiting for the Coney Mall to be renovated at KI. And there is nothing I would like to see more than the return of the old "Push-up" styled Ginkgo trees. I really hope that this is part of their "sprusing up the landscaping" for this upcoming season! ~Josh

Here is another nice bw ariel shot from the 60's along with several color shots I hope you will enjoy:

+ And then again, I really miss King Cobra - boy did I love that ride Meeee too! And I never minded slightly blacking out on the second helix turn and then coming to on the other side Such great (sometimes ball busting) memories! Below is pictured my favorite part of the ride - tipping toward the access road that passes under the track. Always a thrill! ~Josh

Per your initial thread description, is it alright for others to share photos as well? ~Josh

If I may add one additional *prominent building not mentioned, that still remains, is the old cafeteria - which is now used for maintenance and storage. Several of the Land of Oz buildings still remain as well. I've only located a few photos of the old childrens section of the park (now picnic grove), so it is difficult to know for what purpose the existing buildings were used. If anyone can shed light on this I would love to hear it! I really enjoyed hearing members talk about their experiences at Coney Island, namely the description given about the Dark Ride! Very cool!!! ~Josh

Here are a few that I have. There is at least one picture of the crumbling midway in Charles Jacques "Cincinnai's Coney Island" I thought I had more, but I'll have to keep looking. In the mean time, enjoy...or be sad ...whatever your take is on the old parks fate. Row of ginkgo trees left behind not to be transfered with the others to KI (as far as I know, these exact trees are still growing at Coney today): The Shooting Star Having met its fate:

I was told that every time they broke ground for a new project it was like an archeological dig. Tom Rhein said that each time they had to dig they would either hit a cement ride pad or pieces of the old midway. The park you see today was a result of renovations done in the mid 80's. Until then the "Velvet Palace" (building adjacent to Moonlight Gardens), the carousel pavilion and train trussle were still standing. I have a few pics of the park after Coney was evacuated. They are very sad images! ~Josh

I came down with John Bachelder (KI employee from 1972 - 1987) from Americana to help revitalize and reorganize the games and merchandise departments. Until then the rides and games departments were one and the same. A rides area manager gave the games employee a money apron and sent them to their station for the day. They would then take the money back that night and call it a day. No audits, no balancing...nothing! As a result, there was hardly any accountability with the games employees. In this case, the focus was on the rides employees primarily. However, once Americana closed several of their long time employees joined the staff at Coney full-time. I served as Johns right hand guy for 2 seasons before making plans to work as a percussionist for Busch Gardens the summer of 2002. I have several photos of that first year as we reorganized the games department and merch dept. We lost half of our original employees around July that first year (which would have been 2000) because of theft issues. I received a subpoena at the end of August that year, and had to skip a full day of classes my sophomore year in college, to testify against one of those employees. He sued Coney Island for entrapment. Oh what a wonderful time we had :/ The following season ironed out all of the "bad kids" and I never heard of things having been out hand like that again. John has since retired and he and I are still great friends ~Josh

When I worked at Coney back in 2000 and 2001 there was a restaurant just down the River from the park where one of the owners had, what he claimed was, the largest Coney Island collection in the world. During that period I was collecting Coney Island items pretty hard core, but my jaw dropped when I saw this display in that restaurant foyer. The photos he had were excellent! Several of the photos ranged from varieties of ariel perspectives, inside buildings, off season, etc. If memory serves me correctly, that gents name is Kurt Stillwell. If anyway has time on their hands maybe its worth a shot to try and hunt him down. I had his info as a result to a deal my friend had with him for some Kenner prototype toy items. I later learned that he was a collector of various interests. I will say that the majority of the (professional) Historical photos that have surfaced (in small quantities) were taken by a fellow who worked for Time Magazine that has since passed away. His family owns the rights to all of his photography and getting ahold of it is impossible. When I worked for Coney I made friends with the Vice President of the company and his only advice for me when trying to locate rare photos was "good luck, its practically impossible". The great things about KI Central is the fact that I no longer work alone in my endeavors to see rare photos or locate them. This is why I am willing to share my findings with others who are as passionate this park as me ~Josh

Here is the high res map resized. I'll be posting some of the park maps I have from the 1990's within a few weeks. Is there any place these could be uploaded as a site reference instead of a thread? ~Josh

I'd really like to hear a patron of the park explain the dark ride in detail as I have only seen a few images and video footage of the ride. My fathers family would frequent the park in the 1950's and part of the 60's, but he did not return to Cinci before the "old park was closed and moved the KI. ~Josh

*The bottom right hand corner is the Tumble Bug (relocated to KI). *The Rotor (relocated to KI) *The Dark House *Shooting Gallery *Log Flume (relocated to KI) *Galaxy - metal coaster (relocated to KI???) *Swiss Chalet loading platform *Shooting Star wood roller coaster ~Josh

Here is the start of several Coney Island photos that I have acquired over the last decade. I thought that since I am moving and have to filter through all of my belongings, I would now scan these images for everyone to enjoy I'll be adding addional photos to this thread as I come across those photos. Ariel shot of Coney Island during the 1950's. Image was taken long before the Wildcat was demolished and the mall extended: This image was taken sometime between 1969 to 1971 (on account of the flume ride having been added in the background and various other hints):