Happy 31st Anniversary, Kings Island!

31 years ago today, King's Island first opened to the public.

So Happy 31st to:

Beastie
Racer
Eiffel Tower
Royal Fountain
Les Taxis (now called Antique Cars)
Monster

And today is also Jeff Seibert's Birthday so Happy 31st Birthday, Jeff!

Derek

31 years? hmmmmm, doesnt seem like a milestone anniversary to me. Get back to us in 19 years and we might get hyped about it. :)

------------------
Arena football has arrived in the Windy City. Go "Chicago Rush"

It may not be a milestone for the park, but two of their suspended coasters have their 5th (Ghoster Coaster) and 10th (Top Gun) birthdays this season. ;)

-Danny

What a fan boy Danny

------------------
Ah what the hell.....Magnum What?

S:ROS blew me away

Actually, the official opening of King's Island was May 27th, 1972. That same day, Mr. Siebert was born.

The park began preview weekends on April 28th 1972... a month earlier.. however, the Grand Opening was not held until May 27th.

What many do not realize is that this is actually the park's 32nd season of operation. Another tid-bit of info: although I wasn't fortunate enough to be born the day KI opened, I do share the same age as the park...31.

Also a final note: The Monster was actually built in 1968, thus it is 4 years older than KI.

------------------
Shaggy

Proud A-lister!

I share the same age too Shaggy.....woohoo! :-)

-Tina

------------------
Feel The Adrenaline....
www.intenserides.com

Shaggy: No, it wasn't. I have heard from what should be a fairly reliable source not connected with the park (the manufacturer, in fact) that Kings Island's current Monster was the last Monster built, and that it was built in, I want to say, 1974. Although the latest Monster documentation I can lay my hands on at the moment was published in 1978.

I have a theory about this, but absolutely no evidence to back it up. Knowing that Kings Island's Monster was built in the early 1970's and was apparently the last one, there is a KECO Monster problem, specifically that Canada's Wonderland, which apparently opened in 1981, has a Monster. A look at the Bat photos Shaggy linked to in another thread (I think it was here on CoasterBuzz...) and the related Kings Island photos on that site indicate that in 1981, there was no Monster at Kings Island!

My theory is that the 1968 Monster moved up from Coney Island is the one that ended up at Wonderland, and sometime after 1981, Kings Island obtained another used Monster from another park. Hmmm...Serial numbers ("10-xxxx") wouldn't tell us the year of manufacture, but they would tell us the sequence of manufacture, and would reveal which park has the older Monster. Trouble is, the serial number is on the inner cage, hidden by the sheet-metal (or expanded metal, in PKI's case) shroud.....

--Dave Althoff, Jr.