Friday, October 17, 2008

Kings Island: An Introduction

The first Kings Island Brochure, cover (1972).
Source.

I've been wanting to post on Kings Island for awhile now, especially after my son's amusement park watershed event this summer, but I'll wait for another day when I can do a full writeup. In a nutshell: Times have changed.

Regarding this brochure cover, it really creates an empathetic feel for the amusement park experience - at least the ones I used to know - which is lent by the illustrated mid-century aesthetic that I tend to drool over; a brightly-colored hand-drawn montage of simple enjoyment. 

The great thing about KI, in the early years at least, is that it was obviously trying to emulate Disney's park model: in general, a main promenade leading to a hub & spoke design, an iconic central structure, themed quadrants, associative popular culture references, a monorail, and corporate sponsorships to keep operating costs in tow.

A beautiful midwestern Disneyland.