Who originally owned Kings Island?

Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, the park was built by Taft Broadcasting and opened in 1972. It was part of a larger effort to move and expand Coney Island, a popular resort destination along the banks of the Ohio River that was prone to frequent flooding.



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And finally, on June 30, 2006, Kings Island and four other Paramount Parks were sold to Cedar Fair Entertainment Company for $1.25 billion. “In my mind and my heart, I always thought it was going to be us operating it forever,” Speigel said of the original management.

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Earlier this month, Cedar Fair, which owns Kings Island and 16 other parks, merged with Six Flags to form an $8 billion theme park giant. The combined company will operate under the name Six Flags, which caused some thrill seekers to worry that their favorite amusement park's name could also change.

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Kings Island eventually got its name after a public contest. The “Kings” came from the town where it was built, Kings Mills. The “Island” came from its predecessor, Coney Island.

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Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, the park was built by Taft Broadcasting and opened in 1972. It was part of a larger effort to move and expand Coney Island, a popular resort destination along the banks of the Ohio River that was prone to frequent flooding.

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Rather than interfere with the burial grounds, Kings Island officials elected instead to simply build their amusement park around the small cemetery. Today, legend has it that those same officials inadvertently paved over a grave when creating what is now the park's guest parking lot, resulting in an agitated spirit.

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But by the 1970s, no one lived here year-round; most residents had moved to Nome, on the mainland. While several forces drove the migration, King Islanders say a main cause was the decision by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to close a school it ran on the island in the late 1950s.

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Net revenues for 2021 totaled $1.34 billion compared with $1.47 billion for 2019, driven by: Attendance that approximated 70% of 2019 levels (85% on a comparable operating day basis) (1);

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Net revenues for 2021 totaled $1.34 billion compared with $1.47 billion for 2019, driven by: Attendance that approximated 70% of 2019 levels (85% on a comparable operating day basis) (1);

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2. The very first. The first rides and attractions constructed at the park were the Eiffel Tower, Royal Fountain and the Racer roller coaster. The Racer was the first twin-track wooden coaster built in modern times, according to the Kings Island website.

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The amusement park's name represented its historical roots and its future. “Kings” for the location of the park near Kings Mills, Ohio, and “Island” in reference to the company's Coney Island roots. It would not be until October 14, 1970 that the name would become official.

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In the last 50 years, the park has been owned by Taft Broadcasting, Kings Entertainment Co., American Financial Corp., Paramount Communications, and Cedar Fair, the current owners. Cedar Fair purchased Kings Island in 2006 for a reported $1.24 billion.

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Ghost Hunting at Kings Island Before the land was turned into an amusement park, it was the site of an ammunitions factory that exploded in 1942 killing a hundred people. Somehow, Ghost Hunters segued that into the story of a little girl, Missouri Jane, who they believe is the girl in the blue dress haunting the park.

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Taft also financed over half of the $600k required to build Kings Mills Drive, a feeder road to service the park off I-71. Before vertical construction could begin, over 350k cubic yards of dirt had to be moved and graded. By the time the park opened, the total cost would escalate to $30 million.

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King Island was originally part of a land bridge linking Tasmania with the Australian Mainland and was submerged around 12,000 years ago with rising sea levels. While uninhabited at the time of European discovery by Captain Reed in 1799 the first Tasmanians were a very mobile people, especially by water.

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Tokyo Disneyland and its companion park, Tokyo DisneySea, are the only Disney parks in the world not owned or operated by The Walt Disney Company in any capacity.

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