I've looked all over and havn't found any, so I'm curious. Does anyone have ANY pictures of the construction of Top Gun? I mean we have pcs of The Bat.. Beast, King CObra construction. Vortex.. but no one ever got any pics of Top Gun when it was being built?

There are some renderings for the station

http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?/topic/22866-top-gun-question/

I wonder how many handicap people are thrown off by the signs at Flight Decks entrance? Anybody else notice? I remember riding Top Gun and waiting 4 hours the year it opened but never seen any construction photos. It seemed so much cooler back then but I'm not sure if its because I was young and it was new or that I'm old now?

No construction pics, but here's an article on Kings Island's "new" owners (Paramount Communications--as it was called then) in Cincinnati Magazine back in April 1993, and the featured new attraction that year--"Top Gun"

http://books.google.com/books?id=fx4DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA80&lpg=PA80&dq=%22cincinnati+magazine%22%2B%22Kings+Island%22%2B1993&source=bl&ots=inMlXnqXzB&sig=rNIeAhTEWi81suZZY3f9JCZewhM&hl=en&ei=DsluS4iZCNCn8AbGnfSPBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CA0Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22cincinnati%20magazine%22%2B%22Kings%20Island%22%2B1993&f=false

It's an interesting read...especially with 20 years of perspective now.

"The Flintstones- Fred and Wilma- and the rest of the Hanna Barbera crowd have a contract to see and be seen until 2009."

So what happened to that? Not that anything would be different today, but...

It expired.

In 2006, three years before it apparently was supposed to?

No. Cedar Fair bought a company that was already preparing to not use the characters at Kings Island. A renewal was available, but at very high cost. Since the contract was not going to be renewed, why would the park continue to promote characters it was soon going to lose?

And they were present at Howl-O-Fest once in a while, weren't they? Up until 2009, I mean.

They made present in several events during 2008, and even took part of the ice show that year!

That's all well and good about the Hanna Barbera characters.. but.. if there are NO pictures of the construction of Top Gun.. I'm interested in knowing why? Anyone have an answer for that?

Well at that time the monorail station hid a lot of the wooded area.

and the time frame when it was being built. 1992? The internet was not anywhere close to what it is now. Cameras still had film. Not many people would waste film (and money to develop) on a picture of a footer, or some steel in the parking lot. Plus if it was developed there was not an easily accessible group/community that would be very interested in a picture of a footer, figuring out what the ride was going to be. same thing with video.

Compare to today, digital camera and digital video. Easy to take 100 photos and upload online. Top gun was just a "ride" not like with The Beast that the park knew was going to be a unique new ride or The Racer (since it was part of the park opening).

This is one of my favorites.

That is a really neat picture, Fear the Four! I haven't seen many early renderations/advertisements for Top Gun/Flight Deck!

Where's the high point on The Beast? 1st lift hill or 2nd? Sure seems like there is a greater than 7' difference b/w the high point on Vortex, and the 1st lift hill on The Beast. Although terrain elevation relative to their respective lift hill could account for why I've always thought Vortex was significantly higher than The Beast.