Kings Island Lion Country Safari?

Anyone ever seen or heard of Kings Island Lion Country Safari. I found an old Kings Island plate today at a junk store, it has animals on it and says Kings Island Lion Country Safari in the middle. I never heard of it.
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Mike Middleton of Urbana, Indiana

If I'm not mistaken, King's Island used to have a ride where you got in a monorail and rode around and saw animals. It was where Son of Beast and Top Gun are now. Rumor is that it was shut down after an employee was attacked by a lion, but I'm not sure how much of that is just urban legend.

I remember it. It was a monorail that ran through a Safari with all kinds of animals and it was an extra charge. It was back in the area behind Adventure Express where Action Zone is now and I think it ran down as far as were Flight of Fear and the Helipad now are.
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Christ how do you kids do it

It was a great way to beat the heat. Sitting in those air conditioned monorails were great. If I remember correctly PKD had one too. They were great, and I was sorry to see them go. It was especially cool for the non riders.
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- Peabody

Extra Charge, that explains it. My dad wouldn't have paid extra for us to ride anything. Anyone know when it closed?
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Mike Middleton of Urbana, Indiana

I am pretty sure the year before top gun was up and running- I am young but remeber that ride like it was open yesturday.

There used to be Lion Country Safari's all across the country. There was one halfway between LA and San Diego when I was a kid. The one by my house allowed cars to drive through. It was kinda scary. I'm sure the liability insurance got quite high after a while.

I think there may still be one or two Lion Country Safari parks still around. The ones at PKI and PKD were operated by Lion Country Safari under contract to those two parks in the days before Paramount owned the parks. The site where SFA is started out in 1973 as one of the Lion Country Safari parks that you drove through in your car. I think the problem with those type parks was more that the novelty wore off after one or two visits.

An interesting fact about the monorails is that one train was sold to the Jungle Jim's grocery store near Fairfield (Suburb of Cincy). Jungle Jim plans to re-open the monorail, which would take shoppers from the store and back to the parking lot. The monorail was taken out the year that Paramount bought out the park, which was the same yaer that TopGun opened. 1993?

*** This post was edited by KIBeast on 10/29/2001. ***

I remember the monorail myself. It was a nice change of pace on a hot summer day, but not something I'd have wanted to ride repeatedly.
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--Greg
"Beat the rush, sign up for your post-Mean Streak MRI now..."
My page My other page And my coaster page

Paramount took control of the park in 1992, but made no serious changes until 1993 - if memory serves me.

The Lion Country Safari was added to PKI for the 1974 season. It was part of the entire "Wild Animal Habitat" area the park developed as their new attraction. The area included the Safari ride which consisted of a monerail ride through the land on the northern side of the park. There were giraffes, elephants, antelopes, and of course lions.

King's Island sister park, Kings Dominion, also included a Wild Animal Safari attraction when it opened. However, the Animal Safari actually opened prior to the amusement park itself. It opened as kind of a precursor of "things to come" at KD.

The Kings Island Safari lasted until 1994. It was present through the first season of Top Gun's Operation. KD's may have lasted another season or two longer.

PKI had begun to use/develop the land on which the ride was located in latter years. The first alteration came when Adventure Express was built for 1991. The second came when Top Gun was built for 1993.

The ride had dwindled down to basically just a tame jaunt through the land away from the park in smelly monerail cars. Very few animals existed in latter years. The ride did not, according to urban legend, close due to a lion mauling an employee. That act did in fact happen, however the incident occurred early in the 1980's. The ride lasted existed for a long time after the unfortunate death. No riders were hurt, and no guests witnessed it.

The Monerail trains now reside at Jungle Jims in Fairfield Ohio. For years, the trains remained in the storage area which still exits. The building that housed the monerail trains sits directly behind Timberwolf Amphitheare/ Skyflyer and next to the Top Gun Entrance.

Many question the "overpass" that exists at the entrance to Top Gun and Son of Beast. What is now an access road, used to partially house track on which the monerail trains would traverse, as well as the access road animal keepers used to get to the animals.

The station itself for the Wild Animal Safari resided where the Skyflyer tow poles and SOB midway now exist.

The attraction was an upcharge in its early incarnations ($1 - $2), but in latter years became free. Ridership was extremely low and most of the time the heat of the day kept the animals asleep in their little houses. The animals mostly roamed at night, and in the day usually would only grace guests with an occasional poop show.

The ride, ironically, was aslo an off season attraction for years. You could visit the park in cooler months and ride the temperature controlled monerail long after the park had closed for the season. Most of the "warmer climate" animals were housed at the Cincinnati Zoo in the off season.

The cost of the animal upkeep, low ridership, use of the land, and basically lost interest spelled the removal of the attraction for the Skyflyer upcharge installation.

Some of these Safari attractions still do exist accross the US. Although mostly a 1970's fad, many "drive through" safaris cropped up. SFGADV still maintains and operates theirs. When KI and KD opened theirs, it put a spin on the unique experience. They had a special monerail built that was literally driven through the area for you. No lost winshield wipers, no damaged canvas car tops.

Since the animals were known to "roam" onto the track, the monerails were piloted and would often shut down until the animal removed themselves from the track.

If you would like evidence of the experience, just rent or watch the movie "Rollercoaster" with George Segal. In it, he rides the Kings Dominion version.

Shaggy

If you have seen the movie "Rollercoaster", when the detective is at Kings Dominion, he rides the safari monorail.

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Top Gun: The Jet Coaster Flights in 2001: 85
Coaster Tracks Ridden: 57
http://www.starcoasters.com

I just said that ;-)

Shaggy

wow shaggy thats one of the most intresting post i've ever ready! thanks!
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If you want to experience a successful version of this, a visit to San Diego's Wild Animal Park would be in order. The park features a long monorail ride through several 'habitats' that feature many many animals representative of each habitat. They have lot's of roaming areas, and I've never been disappointed. The admission is pretty reasonable (~$20) and is a great value for your experience. It's much nicer than a regular zoo as you get to see animals acting a little more naturally. Keep in mind though that they do keep the predators and prey apart...no carnage!
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Yeeee Haaawwww!

Welcome to the site Shaggy and thanks for joining since I know from URC that you have a ton of great info, posts, opinions, and explanations we could use over here(especially about my favorite seasonal park in the World). Hope you have fun! We're a...different bunch. ;)
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Danny

PKI 2002- "The Rollercoast is Toast!"

Thanks, I appreciate that.

I still avidly post on URC, but happened accross this site after someone suggested it to me.

Good topics, and of course I can never resist *any* subject about PKI. ;-)

Shaggy

Now it is used as steel coaster maintenance. However when the Safari was operational, it housed the trains. Until just a few years ago, the transfer track system, now relocated to Jungle Jims in Fairfield, was in this spot. The transfer tracks led to the building where the trains could be stored if needed.

Currently on the site, the original FOF train resides. This is the first train to ever run on the coaster. Originally there were 4 trains built for the ride, but only three max have been used at any given time.

Shaggy

I can add that the PKD Animal Safari was closed in 1994 as well.

When i visited in July 1994, the station had already been converted into a food stand