Paramount's Kings Island History

As the years went by, Kings Island continued to grow and improve. Just two years after opening, Kings Island opened a new attraction, Lion Country Safari. 100 acres provided a home for more than 350 animals. Guests could have the opportunity to get up close and personal with the animals by boarding an air-conditioned monorail train, which would take them through the preserve over nearly 2 miles of track. By the end of the 1976 season, it was decided that a new steel coaster was needed for the Park. The Screamin' Demon, an Arrow shuttle loop coaster, made its debut for the'77 season. After climbing to the top of a 50 foot platform, guests boarded the train and were launched out of the station. Dropping 47 feet, the train went through a vertical loop, and back up to another flat platform. Upon stopping, the train was then launched *backwards*, through the loop, then back up into the boarding station.

The Screamin' Demon was just the beginning. Kings Island's next coaster project was one of great magnitude. It would be a ride from which many rides would try to copy. The Beast. Unchained in April of 1979, the Beast opened as the world's tallest, fastest, and longest roller coaster. With drops of 135 and 141 feet, speeds of 65 mph, and a track length of 7400 feet, the Beast winded and twisted through 35 acres of wooded terrain! It immediately put Kings Island on the map, and was ranked the top coaster in the country. While it no longer holds the height and speed records, it is still the longest wooden coaster in the world. The closest thing that comes to it happens to also be in the same Park!

What could top the Beast? How about a ride where you hang below the track? Sound impossible? Not quite. Kings Island teamed up with Arrow Development to create a one of a kind ride where the cars would hang below the track and have the ability to swing from side to side. Sure enough, the Bat was born in 1981 as the world's first suspended roller coaster! Unfortunately, the Bat was not to be as successful as the Beast. The ride was plagued with numerous problems, and was broken down more than it operated. For several seasons Kings Island tried to correct these problems. By the end of its fourth season, the Bat was closed forever and dismantled over the winter of 1984/85.

To make up for the loss of the Bat, Kings Island once again built a one of a kind attraction. Hyped as the first stand-up looping coaster in North America, the King Cobra took its first riders in 1984. The next few years following the King Cobra saw the addition of several non-coaster rides. White Water Canyon, Skylab, Dodgems, and Zephyr all made their debut between 1985 and 1986. By 1987, it was time for another coaster. Keeping up with tradition, this new steel coaster would break a record by turning its passengers upside down 6 times. Appropriately named Vortex, the ride would stand 148 feet in height, reach speeds close to 55mph, and travel over 3,000 feet of track. It made its much anticipated debut in the spring of '87 and received rave reviews.

Sadly, the 1987 season marked the end for the Screamin' Demon. It was moved to Camden Park, in Huntington, WV. In its place, Amazon Falls was built for the 1988 season. Offering guests yet another way to cool off, Amazon Falls splashes over a 45 foot waterfall to a pond below. 1989 brought a major addition to Kings Island, their very own water park! Water Works, a 16 acre water park, opened. Featuring tube slides, body slides, speed slides, and a lazy river, Water Works became an instant hit with Park guests. Best of all, it is included free with Park admission. Keeping up with their "Do it All" philosophy, 1990 saw the addition of a very unique flat ride, Flight Commander. Flight Commander was an Intamin Flight Trainer. Guests could hop aboard a capsule, secured by an over-the-shoulder restraint, and be lifted nearly 60 feet. As they spun around in the air, they also had the option of controlling their capsule. They could make it climb, dive, or roll over. Sadly, Flight Commander had a tragic accident just in its second year of operation and was removed a few seasons after that.

Now you will pay! At least that's what they want you to think while aboard Adventure Express. Opened in 1991, Adventure Express began offering a ride the entire family could experience. Plunging over the hillside in Oktoberfest, Adventure Express takes guests on a 2 minute journey through the jungle...complete with extensively themed tunnels. The following year, Hanna Barbera Land received a much needed face lift for the 1992 season. It was this year that one of my favorite rides in the Park opened, Phantom Theater. Replacing the former Smurf's Enchanted Voyage, Phantom Theater takes guests through a 1920's theatre. As they make their way through the different areas of the theatre, they see the spirits of past performers preparing for a final show. Featuring numerous animatronics and special effects, Phantom Theater provides a slow moving, air conditioned journey that lasts for nearly 5 minutes! The kids also found a new roller coaster thrill just for them, the Scooby Zoom. Standing at just over 8 feet in height, Scooby Zoom is the perfect beginning coaster for those kids not quite ready to tackle the big rides. It was over the winter of 1992/93 that something big was in the making....

1993, welcome to Paramount's Kings Island. A new name, a new thrilling coaster, throw in characters from successful Paramount movies and TV shows and you've got yourself an entire new experience. Top Gun, a new suspended coaster, marked the beginning of the Paramount era. Located in the Paramount Action Zone, Top Gun is built on part of the rugged terrain that use to be home to the Lion Country Safari. Flying through the tree tops, Top Gun offers a short but very fast paced, exciting ride all the way through. Top Gun is also special, in the sense that it took over where the Bat left off 10 years before it. The Bat was the first suspended coaster, and Top Gun is the last suspended coaster to have been built in this country so far. Sporting completely different technology than the Bat, Top Gun has definitely been a great success.

1994 brought the second movie themed attraction to the Park, Days of Thunder. Simulating an authentic Nascar race, Days of Thunder invited guests to hop into the driver's seat and take off. It has since been replaced with James Bond: License to Thrill. Taking aim at the kids, Splat City made its debut in 1995. It features a wide variety of activities aimed at children. The big highlight is the Green Slime Zone, a huge interactive water maze. Here, parents can take a breather while their kids run waterfalls, fountains, and more.

By 1996, it was time for another thrill ride. As usual, it was to be a unique and world's first attraction. Flight of Fear, the world's first linear induction coaster. Carrying a space theme with it, Flight of Fear uses a series of linear induction motors to propel the train from 0-54mph in just 4 seconds. Guests are launched into a twisted maze of tight curves, spirals, and 4 inversions....all in the dark! The saying is, build it and they will come. They certainly did for Flight of Fear. People lined up for hours and hours just to get a ride on this most unique coaster. Its still quite popular with guests today.

Happy 25th! 1997 marked the 25th Anniversary for Paramount's Kings Island. To celebrate, Water Works received its largest upgrade ever....doubling the park in size! Included in the expansion was a 600,000 gallon wave pool (Surfside Bay), a 99,000 sq. foot sunning area, and an all new children's play area (Buccaneer Island). Water Works would expand again the follow year, 1998, with the all new Wipeout Beach. This interactive body board surfing attraction offers a much wilder wave experience than the gentle Surfside Bay. 1998 also saw a major upgrade to Hanna Barbera Land. All rides were given fresh coats of paints, new awnings, new signs. 3 new rides were also added. One, Scooby's Ghoster Coaster, was a first of its kind. Billed as the first children's suspended coaster, Ghoster Coaster takes individual 2 passenger cars to the top of a 40 foot track. They are then released and allowed to gently swing their way back down to the station. It joined Yogi's Sky Tours and Atom Ant's Airways, the other 2 new rides.

With two years of attractions added to round out the family entertainment aspect of the Park, it was time, once again, for thrills. An incredible $40 million was to be invested in the Park over the 1999/00 seasons. The first part of the investment, for 1999, was announced in September of 1998. Two new thrill rides would arrive in the all new Paramount Action Zone, the former Adventure Village. Face/Off, the Midwest's only 5-g, face to face inverted roller coaster. Located behind the Paramount Theatre, Face/Off's twin 138 foot peaks hang close by to the main pathway leading to the front gate. Featuring unique back-back seating, Face/Off pulls guests up the first 138 foot tower. Upon release, they rocket back through the station and through 3 disorienting inversions. Climbing skyward again, the train is then released from the top of the second 138 foot tower....this time negotiating the entire ride in the reverse order. Face/Off wasn't the only new thrill for 1999...

Drop Zone Stunt Tower, the world's tallest gyro drop! Towering an incredible 315 feet tall, Drop Zone raises a ring of 40 guests to the top. Stopping at about the same height as the Eiffel Tower's lower observation deck, guests have an un-nerving sense of anticipation. Without warning, they plunge 264 feet at 67mph in a pure free fall before hitting a magnetic braking system to gently sit them back on solid ground. Both of these great new rides proved to be very popular with the public, and still draw very lengthy lines throughout the summer. With the addition of these rides, who could have imagined what Kings Island had up their sleeve for 2000? Tim Fisher, the vice president and general manager of the Park, stated that the new 2000 attraction would be appropriate for the magnitude of the millennium. That was a pretty clear indication that something huge would be coming to the Park.

The day before this attraction was announced, the Cincinnati Enquirer released a few details. The new ride, slated to be over 200 feet in height, would be the tallest and fastest wooden coaster. With that little bit of information released, no one could imagine what this new ride could possibly be like. On May 11, 1999, the secret was out. SON OF BEAST! Not since the construction of the Beast had Kings Island embarked on such a bold new attraction. At 218 feet tall, it would be the world's tallest wooden roller coaster and at 78MPH, it would be the world's fastest wooden roller coaster. Boasting an incredible 7,032 feet of track, it would be the second longest wooden coaster in world....only second to the Beast, which still remains the longest. Even the second drop on Son of Beast, at 164 feet, would still be taller than any other coaster in the Park. With all these incredible stats, what else could there be? How about a LOOP? What many thought to be impossible, would become a reality on Son of Beast. The world's first wooden loop!

Construction began over a year prior to the opening of the ride, clearly showing the sheer size of this monster. As the 1999 season progressed, evidence of Son of Beast began to appear. By the end of the season, a large amount of the 218 foot first hill had been built and a large portion of the first 540 degree helix was built. The winter of 1999/00 saw the continued construction of the ride. Week by week, more and more of the structure went into place. Finally, in late April, Son of Beast was unleashed! Is it as good as the Beast? Depends on who you ask! The point is, Son of Beast was a tremendous undertaking for the Park. Never before had so many records been broken in a wooden coaster. None had gone so high, so fast, and certainly none had ever looped. While it suffered from several operational issues through out the early part of its life, by the end of the 2000 season Son of Beast was furiously rocketing over the rails! Time will tell if its name will live on as the Beast name has.

From first of a kind roller coasters, to splashing water attractions, Paramount's Kings Island has had a very colorful history. The Park is well rounded, offering *everyone* something to do in the Park. That reputation will not be lost for the 2001 season. 2001 is shaping up to be another great year at the Park. Shifting their aim from thrills to family again, the Park will be renovating the Splat City area. The new area, Nick Central, will feature *possibly* two new attractions. The Kings Mill Log Flume took its last riders at the end of 1999, but it will continue to live on in 2001. Completely renovated and overhauled, the ride will be given a Nickelodeon theme and be part of the all new Nick Central. A possible second new attraction was mentioned in a season pass newsletter, but is not confirmed as of yet. In any event, Kings Island is bringing back one of the most popular rides in the Park with an all new theme and experience! Sounds like fun!

Paramount's Kings Island Timeline