Kings Island
Paramount's Kings Island is a 364 acre (1.5 km²) amusement park located in the Warren County, Ohio city of Mason, 24 miles northeast of Cincinnati. (The mailing address is Kings Mills.) The park owns close to 775 acres (3.2 km²) of land, but only 364 acres (1.5 km²) are currently developed. Kings Island is owned by Viacom, and is a part of a chain of Paramount Parks that are located throughout the United States and Canada.
History
Kings Island first opened its gates in 1972, developed by the Taft Broadcasting Company and intended to replace Ohio's Coney Island amusement park on the Ohio River. Taft Broadcasting took the name from the previous landlord, the defunct King Powder Company, which founded the town of Kings Mills for its workers. The site is between I-71 and the Little Miami River.
Many of the rides from Coney Island were moved to the new park. In fact, the only attraction left at Coney was Sunlite Pool, the world's largest swimming pool.
One new attraction was The Racer, which was two wooden roller coasters that raced each other. Designed by legendary coaster designer John Allen, The Racer is credited by many people with starting the second golden age of the roller coaster. Many of its first riders were from Coney Island, a popular park on the Ohio River about 10 miles (16 km) east of downtown Cincinnati. (Coney Island had closed due to frequent floods, but has since reopened.) In 1982, the trains on one side of the Racer were turned backwards, freshening up an old favorite.
One of the first events to draw publicity to the park was the filming of an episode of The Brady Bunch at the park. Later, an episode of The Partridge Family was shot there. While they do not mention the name of the park, they do call it "a new park outside Cincinnati." Many of the scenes feature the park's scaled down Eiffel Tower replica as a backdrop. On July 4, 1976, Kings Island played host to the wedding of Paul Revere of the pop rock band Paul Revere & the Raiders.
Kings Island has added, and removed, many thrill rides throughout the years. 1977 saw the debut of Screamin' Demon, which launched riders through a loop, then back through in reverse; this ride was sold in 1987. In 1979, the park unveiled The Beast, the tallest, longest, and fastest roller coaster in the world at the time. After more than 25 years, it still holds the title of the world's longest wooden roller coaster at 7,419 ft (2,261 m). The park had four rollercoasters for the 1979 season, but at the end of the year closed their original steel coaster, the Bavarian Beetle.
In 1981, Kings Island introduced the world's first suspended roller coaster, The Bat. However, it was plagued with maintenance problems and closed 4 years later. The first stand up coaster in the United States, King Cobra, opened in 1984, but was put into storage in 2002 when maintenance proved to be too expensive.
1985 saw the debut of White Water Canyon, a popular rafting ride that drenched its riders. In 1987, the Vortex set a new record for the number of inversions (6) and took the record from The Beast for the tallest roller coaster in the world; it would hold the record until 1989. That year saw the debut of Water Works, a family water park, and 1991 brought Adventure Express, a mine train ride.
The mid-to-late 80's also introduced a Christmas event called Winterfest, which ran from November 25 through December 31. It included Santa Claus, Ice Skating, and a glorious light show. There were many shops and places to eat within the park, and a train ride through the woods was included with admission. This event was cancelled in 1992, possibly due to lack of interest, but it has returned for the 2005 holiday season.
In 1992 Kings Island was purchased by Paramount Communications, along with 4 other theme parks in America and Canada; the park was renamed Paramount's Kings Island. Top Gun, the last suspended coaster built in the USA, was built in 1993 and avoided the mechanical failures of The Bat. 1994 saw the addition of Action Theater, an indoor simulator ride. In 1996, the park added the world's first roller coaster powered by a linear induction motor (LIM), Outer Limits: Flight of Fear. In 1999, Drop Zone, the world's tallest free-fall, and Face/Off, an inverted coaster, were opened. The Son of Beast, the sequel to the Beast, opened in 2000. Currently, it is the tallest, fastest, and only looping wooden roller coaster in the world. In 2002, the park added Tomb Raider, an indoor ride commonly known as a giant top spin. Delirium, a 137 ft (42 m) rotating pendulum ride, opened in 2003. In 2005 the park introduced the Italian Job Stunt Track, an adventure coaster.
Today, Kings Island has 12 roller coasters and many huge flat rides. But despite all of these thrill rides, Kings Island is much more than a park just for thrill seekers. Kings Island's "WaterWorks" water park was renovated in 2004 to become "Boomerang Bay," a waterpark resort that comes free with admission. Kings Island has also won Amusement Today's award for 'Best Kid's Area in the World.' four consecutive times (2001-2004). Its longtime kids' area, Hanna-Barbera Land, is slowly being replaced with the Viacom-synergistic Nickelodeon Central, which debuted in 1995. In fact, the park now seems to be making a conscious decision to attract families more than thrill-seekers.
PKI, like the other parks in the Paramount Family, features a number of attractions based on Paramount Pictures films and other Viacom brands.
Records and firsts
- King Cobra: First stand-up coaster in North America
- Screamin Demon: First shuttle loop coaster
- Vortex: First coaster with 6 inversions
- The Bat: First suspended coaster
- Scooby's Ghoster Coaster: First suspended coaster for children
- Rugrat's Runaway Reptar: First inverted coaster for children
- Flight of Fear: First coaster to use linear induction magnets to launch
- The Beast: Longest wooden roller coaster in the world
- Son of Beast: Tallest, Fastest, and only looping wooden roller coaster