Yogi Bear buys Coney Island: The birth of Kings Island
Coney Island (Ohio…not the more famous place in New York) was in trouble. Not financial trouble—the park was tremendously successful. But sitting adjacent to the Ohio River has its drawbacks, the biggest being periodically submerged and covered in mud. Though the park had always recovered and was rebuilt each time, the writing was on the wall. Things were changing in the park business thanks to Walt Disney, and now Fess Parker (Davy Crockett) had just announced he was planning to build one of them new theme parks in northern Kentucky, just south of Cincinnati where Coney was.
So they went looking for someone with deeper pockets to join forces and build their own park. Taft Broadcasting, owners of the Hanna-Barbera brand, wanted to get their iconic characters into something besides television, and this was just the ticket. They bought Coney, then bought land in Cincinnati, and in the meantime ensured Parker couldn’t get anywhere with his ideas.
We’ll continue the story later, but for now here are samples from the local news when the announcements came out in 1969.
