14 hours ago, KI Guy said:

Does anyone know if the band organ is working this year?

It wasn't last weekend. Will try to look today.

The Carousel WAS opened on May 29th, as the piece says. The different operation of parks was the primary reason for the date of opening.

Regarding the Twister, @TombraiderTy can attest to this, there are some photos in private hands that show the numerous stages of construction for the ride. 

13 hours ago, gforce1994 said:

The Carousel WAS opened on May 29th, as the piece says. The different operation of parks was the primary reason for the date of opening.

Regarding the Twister, @TombraiderTy can attest to this, there are some photos in private hands that show the numerous stages of construction for the ride. 

It would be helpful if you could quote the posts you are referring back to.  I have no idea what you are talking about here without wading through a bunch of old posts.

I am a huge fan of the grand carousel. As a lifetime KI gold pass member, I have many fond childhood memories on it. However, my favorite memory has to be spending my days nannying three kids who also happen to have KI passes (best gig ever), and our tradition was to start every day with them taking a carousel ride as I drank my morning coffee from the starbucks on IS (I was in charge of three children who weren't mine; I needed it). Today I really love seeing the carousel lit up at night, especially during Winterfest. Something that ha always interested me however was the paintings of landscapes on the carosel, anyone know anything about them? TIA

4 minutes ago, DownInRivertown said:

I am a huge fan of the grand carousel. As a lifetime KI gold pass member, I have many fond childhood memories on it. However, my favorite memory has to be spending my days nannying three kids who also happen to have KI passes (best gig ever), and our tradition was to start every day with them taking a carousel ride as I drank my morning coffee from the starbucks on IS (I was in charge of three children who weren't mine; I needed it). Today I really love seeing the carousel lit up at night, especially during Winterfest. Something that ha always interested me however was the paintings of landscapes on the carosel, anyone know anything about them? TIA

They were painted by Carole Lanter. The fascinating thing is that KI’s carousel is not the first or oldest carousel in Cincy’s history. The oldest carousel can be found in Seattle.

45 minutes ago, DownInRivertown said:

I am a huge fan of the grand carousel. As a lifetime KI gold pass member, I have many fond childhood memories on it. However, my favorite memory has to be spending my days nannying three kids who also happen to have KI passes (best gig ever), and our tradition was to start every day with them taking a carousel ride as I drank my morning coffee from the starbucks on IS (I was in charge of three children who weren't mine; I needed it). Today I really love seeing the carousel lit up at night, especially during Winterfest. Something that ha always interested me however was the paintings of landscapes on the carosel, anyone know anything about them? TIA

The murals on the rounding boards and on the central drum of the carousel were painted by Carole Lanter in 1969 when the ride was still at Coney Island. The restoration effort was supervised by Coney's special effects coordinator Dick Harsley and all 48 hand carved horses were repainted by Bill Tull. 

I attended the memorabilia sale at Coney Island on September 26, 2020 and purchased a photo of Carole Lanter repainting one of the murals during the restoration. You can also find this photo in the book "Cincinnati's Coney Island" by Charles Jacques Jr.

 

Top: Carole Lanter painting one of the oil murals on the carousel rounding board in 1969.

Bottom: The same mural at Kings Island photographed by me on October 11, 2020.

@BlondyRidesOn, that is awesome. Thanks for sharing!

38 minutes ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

@BlondyRidesOn, that is awesome. Thanks for sharing!

My pleasure! It was an exciting find.

4 hours ago, BlondyRidesOn said:

The murals on the rounding boards and on the central drum of the carousel were painted by Carole Lanter in 1969 when the ride was still at Coney Island. The restoration effort was supervised by Coney's special effects coordinator Dick Harsley and all 48 hand carved horses were repainted by Bill Tull. 

I attended the memorabilia sale at Coney Island on September 26, 2020 and purchased a photo of Carole Lanter repainting one of the murals during the restoration. You can also find this photo in the book "Cincinnati's Coney Island" by Charles Jacques Jr.

 

Top: Carole Lanter painting one of the oil murals on the carousel rounding board in 1969.

Bottom: The same mural at Kings Island photographed by me on October 11, 2020.

woah! this is awesome man thanks for sharing. i’ve always been mesmerized by those paintings! 

Having operated all of the original KI rides that were still around when I worked at the park in the early 2000's, the Grand Carousel was on a different level. Even though it wasn't the biggest or most exciting ride, it was a joy to operate for hours at a time and take in the history and beauty. Do the ride operators still have a spiel that indicates the age of the carousel? I always enjoyed announcing that before the start of each ride cycle.

The park has at least one extra horse and they would consistently have one in the shop, year round, refurbishing and repainting it. They had them all on a rotation. I don't know how many are original, but an educated guess tells me that it's the majority of them. (They don't build 'em like they used to).

From my experience, the entire maintenance team really took pride in taking care of the carousel. For example, when the band organ would go out, they would lobby for the resources to get it back up and running. Which seems to still be a continuous battle. (That band organ is finicky and fixes can be costly and time consuming). The operations crew really took pride in it as well. I recall one of the supervisors would bring newspapers from home to clean the mirrors since they wouldn't leave streaks behind.

Oh and the lights that were added during Winterfest are terrific!