Theme park and attraction news, rumors and videos.
By Andy Guinigundo
Mason, Ohio – It was 41 years ago this spring that the amusement park near Cincinnati, Ohio opened. Kings Island premiered on April 29, 1972. About a year later, at perhaps the height of its popularity, “The Brady Bunch” sitcom filmed an episode at the park. [Read more…]
By Andy Guinigundo
So what’s the secret to good health into one’s 8th decade of life and beyond? Is it eating right? Staying off the booze and cigarettes? Exercise? Apparently for one 88-year-old, the answer is frequenting an amusement park and hopping on her favorite coaster. In this case the park is Kings Island near Cincinnati, Ohio and the favorite coaster, The Diamondback. [Read more…]
By Andy Guinigundo
Kings Island near Cincinnati, Ohio is my hometown amusement park. I grew up and still reside in the area. I believe all folks deserve a gas tank amusement park to tide them over until they can get to Orlando or other amusement destinations. A gas tank amusement park is a park that one can get to and get home from with a single tank of gas. Kings Island has gone through changes over the years and 2010 is no exception.
In 1972, Kings Island opened with a children’s area that was eventually named Hanna-Barbera Land. You may recall some of the more popular Hanna Barbera characters: Scooby-Doo, Jetsons, Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound and others. You may even recall the Brady Bunch episode that featured the Brady kids roaming around the park. Mike Brady, their TV father, was an architect. He was in a meeting with Kings Island executives to unveil new plans. When it came time for the big reveal, it was a poster of Yogi Bear rather than the plans. Hi-jinks ensued. Oh, good times.
The kid coaster in Hanna Barbera Land was initially the Scooby Doo Roller Coaster. I don’t remember specifically riding the coaster at that time. It’s a simple figure-eight woodie with Philadelphia Toboggan Company coaster cars. I do remember climbing on board when it was re-themed as The Beastie. This opened in 1979 to coincide with the opening of the wooden classic coaster The Beast. While the graphics on the cars of The Beast feature body-less clawed paws bound by chains, the red cars of The Beastie showed clawless smaller paws bound by rope. Along with a fresh coast of Beast-red paint for the wood coaster, a tunnel was included at the bottom of the initial hill to complete the theme.
In 2006, the whole area was themed as The Nickelodeon Universe. SpongeBob, Dora the Explorer, and The Backyardigans are among Nick’s more popular characters. The same coaster evolved into The Fairly Odd Coaster themed after the The Fairly OddParents cartoon. 
Pink and purple paint abounded and the tunnel was removed. The kid-coaster count eventually swelled to four including a suspended coaster, a ramp coaster, a little kid coaster and the Fairly Odd Coaster – the most of any children’s themed area in an amusement park. Nickelodeon Universe has won several awards including the last several “Golden Ticket” Awards for the best kid-themed area.
Now, in 2010, the area is getting a complete make-over as Planet Snoopy. The 38-year-old little woodie continues on with yet another fresh coat of paint: baby blue and white this time. The as yet unnamed coaster will continue to thrill the park’s smaller guests, and make memories.
Stay tuned this spring for a complete before and after photo shoot of Planet Snoopy. I photographed the “before” the final weeks of Nicklodeon Universe during Kings Island’s Halloween event.
• Andy Guinigundo is the author of the Out of The Loop column in “Orlando Attractions Magazine”. Out of the Loop keeps you up-to-date with attraction news outside of Central Florida. Andy lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with his wife and three daughters. He grew up frequenting theme parks around Ohio and making trips to Orlando with his family. While for most of the year, he’s out of the Orlando loop, he tries to visit Florida at least once a year.
By Andy Guinigundo
Interstate 275 is the freeway that encircles Cincinnati, Ohio. Go five miles north of the circle on I-71 and you’ll come to one of the booming northern suburbs of Cincinnati – Mason, Ohio. Mason is known for several things including traffic, car dealerships, a world-class professional tennis tournament and Kings Island amusement park. Kings Island’s current ownership is Cedar Fair, the amusement park juggernaut that owns Cedar Point, also in Ohio, Knott’s Berry Farm in California and many parks in between.
The air is cooling down in Ohio. In fact, this morning, it was 52 degrees, while it was already 82 degrees in Orlando. The leaves are just beginning to turn. Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays are packed with football. Autumn has arrived. With autumn comes Halloween season at amusement parks around the world.
I have little ones ranging in age from 1 to 7. Although they have asked to attend Halloween Haunt, the grown-up, “all you fear is here” event at Kings Island, we opted for Howl-O-Fest, the “ultimate kids Halloween party”. The whole park was dressed in orange and black as the Haunt is actually spread out throughout the park. Skeleton people and pumpkin headed people displays are everywhere. These definitely set the mood as we headed straight for the Howl-O-Fest area.
In the picnic grove between Nickelodeon Universe and Boomerang Bay is Howl-O-Fest. A 30-foot-tall non-scary blow up Frankenstein greeted us. The area was abuzz with activity. We were headed toward the hay maze, but took a side trip to get a picture with the cast of Scooby Doo. While we frequently see Scooby in the park, we’ve never seen Fred, Thelma, Shaggy and Daphne with him. Scooby and his dark-ride are the last holdouts in the park’s kids area transformation from Hanna-Barbera Land to Nickelodeon Universe. 
We soon learned the park dusted off many of the old throwback Hanna-Barbera characters just for this event. While many of the characters were unknown to my girls, I was like a kid in a candy store. “Look, it’s Fred Flinstone, Barney Rubble, and Dino! There’s Yogi Bear! It’s George Jetson and Astro!”
After pictures, we played: hay maze, nursery rhyme fun house, dance party and pumpkin patch. We made stops at each of the five candy stations. They also had a mask making station. The final stop was the games area. The games were definitely kid-friendly. Each game was $1 and every play was a winner. We finished up and grabbed some free popcorn and punch.
We then headed off to the usual – the rides. We enjoyed more Halloween décor as we ran around hitting some of our favorite rides: Runaway Raptor, The Beast The Diamondback. One of the more amusing sites was a safety net that protects pedestrians from objects falling from Diamondback riders’ pockets. Usually, you can see coins and an occasional cell phone up there, but today, a skeleton! I also chuckled at the tombstones of the rides of yesterday: King Cobra, Screamin’ Demon, Sky Ride and others.
I think the girls had fun. I believe the event has evolved and improved over the years. The last time we attended a few years ago, the fest activities were widely spread out and few in number. While I would still say the event is similar to a local carnival, in the end, there are the usual park amenities to fall back on. It’s fun to see the usual dressed up unusually.
Admission is free for both Halloween Haunt and Howl-O-Fest for season pass holders. The normal admission fee is less than $30 if you get tickets ahead of time online. The Haunt is held Friday and Saturday nights from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. The Howl-O-Fest is Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The events continue on until Nov. 1.
• Andy Guinigundo is the author of the Out of The Loop column in “Orlando Attractions Magazine”. He lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with his wife and three daughters. He grew up frequenting theme parks around Ohio and making trips to Orlando with his family. While for most of the year, he’s out of the Orlando loop, he tries to visit Florida at least once a year.