Tomb Raider: The Ride (aka the Crypt)
Opening in 2002, Tomb Raider: The Ride was based on the popular video game and film franchise of the same name. The attraction was the only installation of Huss’s Giant Top Spin model in the world, a bigger version of the classic carnival ride which swings and spins guests on a large gondola.
Tomb Raider: The Ride was also one of the most heavily themed attraction in the park’s history. The ride used a variety of special effects and detailed sets to immerse guests into its world. The ride’s queue line was also filled with props from the film itself, and various cast members reprised their roles for voiceovers, including Lara Croft herself, Angelina Jolie.
After Kings Island’s then-owner Paramount Parks was purchased by Cedar Fair in 2006, the park lost the rights to use the Tomb Raider name. So, in 2008 the ride reopened for the season as The Crypt. This update lasted until 2011, where the ride closed for good.
While the attraction itself is closed, its queue line and show building has been utilized for the park’s Halloween Haunt event, serving as the location for Madame Fatale’s Cavern of Terror.
Firehawk
In 2001, Six Flags Worlds of Adventure (the park formerly known as Geauga Lake) opened X-Flight. The attraction, built by Dutch company Vekoma, was an early iteration of a flying coaster, where guests are strapped into a harness and traverse the layout facing the ground.
Cedar Fair purchased Six Flags Worlds of Adventure in 2004, returning it to its original name. In 2007, Cedar Fair relocated X-flight to another Ohio park it recently purchased, Kings Island.
Now under the name Firehawk, the ride was given a red and grey paint job and placed next to the indoor Flight of Fear.
Firehawk lasted 12 seasons at the park, before closing in 2018. The attraction was replaced with Orion, the 300-foot-tall gigacoaster which opened in 2020.
Enchanted Voyage (aka The Smurf’s Enchanted Voyage aka Phantom Theatre aka Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle)
The Enchanted Voyage opened with the park in 1972. The boat ride took guests on a journey featuring popular Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters such as the Flintstones, Scooby Doo and more.
In the 1980s, television viewers across America were smitten with Hanna-Barbera’s latest creation, The Smurfs. To capitalize on the brand’s popularity, Kings Island completely rethemed The Enchanted Voyage in 1984 to “The Smurfs’ Enchanted Voyage.”
This overhaul lasted until 1991, when the park closed the Smurfs attraction and removed the boat track. With the help of Morgan Manufacturing, Kings Island built a brand-new ride system inspired by Disney’s iconic Omnimover.
Instead of tying the new attraction into a known property, the park decided to take guests through a haunted opera house, complete with original characters. This idea developed into the cult-classic attraction Phantom Theatre, which operated from 1992 through 2002.
After its closure, the ride was replaced by Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle, which utilized a similar ride system as Phantom Theatre, with the addition of a shooting gallery mechanic. Guests take aim at targets placed throughout the layout with blasters connected to their vehicles.
After the Cedar Fair buyout, Kings Island would remove all mention of Scooby Doo from the ride in 2010, renaming the attraction to Boo Blasters on Boo Hill. Despite the name change, most of the ride’s effects and theming remained the same.
Boo Blasters on Boo Hill has now lasted longer than any other attraction housed in the building, as it celebrates its 15th anniversary this year.
The (original) Bat
Credit: Archive
Credit: Archive
In 1981, Kings Island became home to a one of its kind attraction with the opening of The Bat. Built by Arrow Dynamics, an American manufacturer famous for building rides such as Space Mountain and the Matterhorn for Disney, The Bat was the first coaster to hang the riders in a car beneath the track.
However, this innovation came at a cost, as The Bat was notorious for its downtime and maintenance problems. In 1984, it was decided the ride would close for good.
“We have concluded we do not have enough confidence in its ability to operate on a consistent basis to open it again, so it will be taken down,” said Kings Island’s then general manager T. Lewis Hooper.
Despite the failure of The Bat, Kings Island and Arrow Dynamics would collaborate for several other attractions, with the manufacturer even building the looping roller coaster Vortex on the same plot of land in 1987.
Flight Deck, another Arrow Dynamics-made suspended coaster which opened at Kings Island in 1993, was renamed to The Bat in 2014 to pay tribute to the attraction.
Vortex
Kings Island dared the world to “Feel the Grip” of the looping coaster Vortex when it opened in 1987. Built by the aforementioned Arrow Dynamics, the attraction took riders upside down seven times, making it tied for the most of any coaster in the park.
After 33 seasons of operation, the legendary Vortex closed in 2019. Since its retirement, coaster fans have speculated what could be installed in the large plot where it once stood.
King Cobra
In spring 1984, Kings Island opened King Cobra, one of the first stand up roller coasters in the world. The ride one was of few American coasters built by Togo, a manufacturer originally based in Japan.
The coaster would only be open a few months, when in August 1984, a train derailed from the track and injured eight people.
King Cobra would reopen a few weeks later, and operate without incident until 1999, where it was closed due to an accident occurring on a similar coaster at Kings Dominion in Virginia.
The ride would close one final time in 2001, after Togo’s international branch filed for bankruptcy.
Son of Beast
Credit: Contributed photo
Credit: Contributed photo
Over two decades after creating the longest wooden roller coaster in the world, Kings Island decided to create a sequel to the legendary Beast.
Known as Son of Beast, the attraction was once the tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster in the world, and even featured a full loop.
However, the ride’s creation did not go as planned. The park originally hired the Roller Coaster Corporation of America to build the attraction, but the company was fired before construction was completed.
After opening, Son of Beast continued to face problems, with it quickly becoming infamous for its rough ride experience and accidents. The biggest incident occurred in 2006, when 27 guests were injured after a wooden beam cracked during the ride.
Kings Island attempted to fix the attraction’s issues by removing its iconic loop in 2007. It operated for two more years before being closed permanently after a 39-year-old woman reported she had been hospitalized after sustaining a burst blood vessel in her brain as a result of riding the roller coaster.
The ride stood closed at the edge of the park for several seasons before it was demolished in 2012. After its closure, the ride’s station was used during Halloween Haunt for the former Wolf Pack haunted maze. Much of the space taken up by the ride was also used by the inverted roller coaster Banshee, which opened in 2014.
Have any good memories of these attractions other closed Kings Island rides? Send in your thoughts to alex.cutler@coxinc.com.
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