Kings Island on the Casio
Recently went to Kings Island and brought along a twenty-year-old digital camera that still holds up fairly well.
The CASIO Exilim EX-S600
I originally had some random amusement park stories I was going to share (tales accumulated from working at the park over several years), but as I was working on all that—I just wasn’t feeling it.
At least not right now.
However, there are a few "easter eggs” scattered throughout the following photographs made in 2025 with a camera from 2005.
Royal Fountains and International Street.
Rivertown.
If you catch the train from Rivertown—and don’t disembark at the water park—you’ll eventually pass an old, wooden fort that with a little elbow grease and imagination could be a really unique Air BNB.
Always thought it was pretty lame that when each of the Paramount Parks “Tomb Raider” rides became “The Crypt,” Kings Dominion and Canada’s Wonderland got to keep all of their theming while Kings Island had to transform theirs into “a ferris wheel within a warehouse.”
“I’ve been queuing for Hypercoaster 2 for ages.”
Still one of my favorite areas in the park even if the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. we had here was never a true Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.
Adventure Port.
Batman: The Ride.
Eiffel Tower and Aquaman’s Starfish Spin.
Adventure Express is still wonderful thanks to some relatively recent TLC from good people.
The drummers at the end have broken arms again, though.
Coney Mall.
Racer South.
Windseeker + Shake, Rattle, and Roll.
Coney Mall.
Coney Mall.
“The Zephyr” is a true classic and hidden in the background of this photo is Fort Cooper.
Coney Mall.
Coney Mall.
Coney Mall Arcade.
For one season (back when this coaster was called “Top Gun”), guests could soar like Maverick and Goose above the park’s Wild Animal Habitat zoo and monorail. Despite having grown up going to Kings Island, I never experienced the park’s monorail until it eventually showed up down the street from where I lived. As for KI’s former zoo: I never saw that until I worked at the park and occasionally encountered its Jurassic Park-style remains.
An ugly, but still great roller coaster. Thank you, Gillette Mach 3—I did, in fact, enjoy my ride.
I was recently trying to describe this phenomenon to my girlfriend, but she couldn’t fully understand it until we gazed upon this view together.
Relics from Son of Beast. Don’t be fooled by how impressive that former, massive wooden coaster once looked—that ride truly sucked in every iteration.
Superman: Ultimate Krypton Flight.
“Action Zone” has looked like a Six Flags park since 1999.
The park’s replica Eiffel Tower has always offered a nice view, but I preferred the one from a different tower.
Since 2007, the content of this website (and its former life as Queen City Discovery) has been a huge labor of love.
If you’ve enjoyed stories like The Ghost Ship, abandoned amusement parks, the Cincinnati Subway, Fading Ads, or others over the years—might you consider showing some support for future projects?
