Eiffel Tower at Kings Island is getting a new coat of paint
Eiffel Tower — the one in Kings Island amusement park, anyway — is undergoing a major freshening-up ahead of the park’s 50th Anniversary in 2022.
Among the original signature attractions at Kings Island is the replica of France’s Eiffel Tower, and after 50 years of faithful service, the tower is getting some tender loving care with a new coat of paint. Loose paint is being power-blasted away, the girders are getting a good scrub, and, like many 50-year-olds, its joints are benefitting from a little shoring up. A bright new coat of paint finishes the job.
The refurbishment began in mid-August and is expected to take approximately 65 days, with the final flourish applied at some point in mid-October.
The tower has become a landmark in Mason, Ohio, standing at one-third scale of Paris’s original tower. As a park icon, it has appeared in countless family photos since Kings Island opened in the early 1970s. As a classic part of the park’s history, it was important to leadership that the tower looks as new and pristine as it did on opening day, April 29, 1972.
The project is being led by Baynum Painting, and it marks the third time the company has repainted the tower. The first time was in 1988, and the second in 2006. Even better, the same crew worked on each project, led by the Hopkins family, who boast three generations of specialty painters.
Baynum Painting, based in Newport, Ky., also painted The Beast roller coaster as one of their first projects with Kings Island. Over the course of 30 years, they have painted more than 300 roller coasters for hundreds of amusement parks worldwide.
Kings Island also re-tracked its popular roller coaster, The Racer, one of opening-day’s original attractions.
Want to see the painting project in progress? Visit Kings Island during its annual event, Halloween Haunt.
Kings Island Eiffel Tower By The Numbers
- Tower height: 314 feet
- Elevator speed: 10 feet per second
- Time it takes for the elevator to reach the top: 30 seconds
- Bolts holding the structure together: 15,000
- Number of steps visitors climb to reach the top: 410
For more information, head to VisitKingsIsland.com.
