A new wood coaster C.I. Cinncinati, A possibility?

As Coney Island begins to do remarkably well each season, do any of you think that they would ever build a new steel-structured wood coaster? They obviously saw the need and the profits when they installed the Python in 1999, so I was wondering if a nice compact wood coaster could ever be a candidate again.

Park River West had a choice in 1996 when they bought Americana. It was either build a new wood coaster for Coney or buy Americana. They decided to buy and sell the Middletown park and PRW hasen't owned Americana for 3 years. CI still flourishes with it's Picnic Business, so do you think that a wood coaster could bring them an additional increase of business to not only satisfy a park going patron but will also get the park their ROI.

Do they even have anywhere to put it? Just wondering since there is now Riverbend right there taking up quite a bit of land.

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Wood Rules!

They have plenty of space. Some of it might need to be rearranged a little, but there's enough room for a midsize coaster, something like the MFI Silver Comet would work very nicely. (failed to type the nasty comment I wanted to make about MFI) The bigger question is how to build the ride to withstand the inevitable flooding. But that's a known problem, and not a difficult one to plan for.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Problem is, The park is widely successful without one. This park has such a corprate picnic buisness that the POP or walk up buisness is negligable.

Now the park over the past 10 years has gone from a couple of rides to about 20+ but I as yet fail to see a woodie built just for drawing power.

Chuck, who says a little park in Cincy that hass far-far less buisness has two wooden coasters :) Strickers Grove :)

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A steel structured wood coaster should help withstand the flooding better. Perhaps they can recreate the Shooting Star and reprofile the turn to accomidate it where the Riverbend was put in.

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My fellow Americans; Let's Roll!
Woodencoaster.com
The World of Thrills

I would like to disagree with you on this one Chuck (which I rarely do). The nearest park to Coney would probabily be PKI. Taking from personal example, from taking my nieces to CI a couple of times, a nice woodie would fit great into the park. There are a lot of people who drive to PKI from Northern KY (more specifically Newport, Bellevue, and Ft. Thomas area) just to ride coasters. If Coney Island had a coaster, it would have something for everyone: the small rides for the small kids, relaxing pool, and thrill seekers would have the coaster. It would draw in more people than what the park has now. Although you are probabily right about walk up business not being needed, most of the money drawn in is from fairs and such. I would say that probabily about 50% is drawn in that way. To add a coaster in while having those fairs, the people would want to ride it and enter the park, buying tickets and boosting revinues.

Just my thoughts.

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SOB crew in twenty 02
111 SOB laps, and wishing the park was still open

I seem to recall that back when Riverbend was constructed (concert shed used for all manner of concerts), that there was at least a gentlemen's agreement and perhaps something more formal to the point where Coney would not install anything that might cause noise interference with the concerts. Of course they could still build one and pull a Zingo and not run it during concerts, but as well booked as that concert facility is you could forget night rides to say the least.

Yeah, flooding is a problem, but the Shooting Star lived through its share.

BTW: last I checked Coney Island is taking the Cedar Point toure to ride announcement, saying "Coming in 2003, More Family Friendly Attractions, a Waterslide, and another great classic ride"

Betweem the group picnincs, Sunlite Pool, and Riverbend, thee amusemenet midway is not where this parks bread and butter is.

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David Bowers
Mayor, Coasterville

I don't mean to seem like an idiot here, but I thougt Coney Island closed before PKI opened. I know they got rid of most of their rides and something happened with the Ohio River I think, but what is going on there. Thanks for the info.

Bluestreak83: Your one of many that don't really know that Coney is very much alive and kicking as a small corporate Picnic Park. There are around 25 rides including a Pinfari Galaxi Coaster called Python.

The sunlight pool has kept the park open since 1972, even when the blossoming King Island was opened.

BlueStreak:
http://www.coneyislandpark.com/info/history01.asp
Enjoy!

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Please visit the small parks. We don't know what's happening behind the scenes
Woodencoaster.com

I doubt that they would have a problem of noise from the coasters interfering with the concert. Its so loud and most poeple are getting drunk I don't think they would notice. Plus every concert I have gone too down there the park wasn't open during the time anyways, so I don't know if they close when there are concerts or what.

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Wood Rules!

BlueStreak:

It's simple, Coney Island is the traditional park that refused to die. Yes, Coney Island supposedly ceased operations forever on September 6, 1971, followed by the grand opening of Kings Island in 1972. It was to be a total park move, however they had one huge problem, an approximately 200'x401' problem: Sunlite Pool.

Apparently Taft did not want to invest the money it would take to build a Sunlite Pool at Kings Island, so while the park closed, the pool never did. The new book on Coney Island goes into much more detail, but essentially what they did was board up the rest of the park and keep the pool running. Jacques states that the Shooting Star rollercoaster survived SBNO until 1975.

Eventually they started opening more and more facilites, the picnic grove opened shortly after the pool, and the park was content on being a picninc grove for group outings. Almost like it did when it first started in the late 1800's: Swimming, picnincing, then athletic fields were added. It just kept blossoming, Moonlight Gardens reopened (the ballroom), then a handful of kiddie rides appeared on the scnene, the mini-golf was reopened, boats once again appeared on Lake Como. Almost as if slowly but surely the park was trying to re-awake, to re-invent itself in a very similar fashion to how it all began originally.

Oh, for a while there were offers out there to sell the property, with the express stipulation that it would not be used as an amusement park, then they thought about turning it into a municipal park. Riverbend was opened about this time as a summer home for the Cininnati Pops, which while on Coney;s ground, Riverbend does not belong to Coney. . By all accounts things started looking up for Coney when Taft sold it off, conveniently without the 'not as an amusement park clause"

Enter Park River West who has slowly and steadlily been creating a traditional amusement park out of the place again, a great assortment of classic rides, dirt cheap prices, live hows, midway games. The park has definetly come full circle and around again, back to being an amusement park, perhaps not as grand as the original, but an amusement park none-the-less.

Evil grin: I wonder what Paramount would say if Coney asked for IT'S Carousel back!

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David Bowers
Mayor, Coasterville

btw, if anyone is interested, there is an excellent new book about Cincinnati's CI out. I forget what it's called, but I'm sure if you type in "Coney Island" at Amazon.com, you'll find it easily enough. I bought it for my brother for Christmas.

As far as a new coaster - how about build it on stilts ala Hoosier Hurricane?

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A day is a drop of water in the ocean of eternity. A week is seven drops.

Its called "Cincinnati's Coney Island and is written by Charles J. Jacques, Jr. He's the mastermind that brought us Idora's Last Ride of Summer, the two Kennywood books, a West View park Book and one on Hersheypark. He is currently writing books on Americana and Kings Island. I met him at the Allan Herchell Factory Museum in Towanda New York with CB's own Rideman back in 99 on a Darien-Seabreeze trip.