Kings Island Fiftieth Anniversary

The Kings Island amusement park is located at 6300 Kings Island Drive, Mason, Ohio, which is in Warren County in Southwest Ohio. Though Kings Island is considered part of the Greater Cincinnati area, it is actually 24 miles (39 km) northeast of Cincinnati. This park is owned by Cedar Fair, which also owns the 152-year-old Cedar Point amusement park near Cleveland.

International Street is the best place to start moving through the park, and two parallel sides lead straight to the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower at Kings Island is a one-third replica of the famous tower in France, and the one here stands at 314 feet (95.7 m). It is the best place to view all 364 acres (147.3 ha) of the park.

Today is May 29, 2022, which is fifty years and two days after Kings Island held its grand opening, and the Eiffel Tower is decorated to commemorate this event. Today is a nearly cloudless day with a high of 82 deg F (28 deg C) and is a perfect day to take an elevator ride up to the top of the Eiffel Tower. The view is spectacular.

The Eiffel Tower provides a 360-degree all around view of Kings Island and beyond. This is the Royal Fountain showing both sides of International Street. Looking northeast from the top of the Tower, is the Front Gate and the Plaza. At the foot of the Royal Fountain, in blue and gold, is a live entertainment bandstand.

Kings Island has fourteen roller coasters, three water rides, and a waterpark, but there are hidden gems among the park’s hundred attractions. Tower Gardens is one of them. Tower Gardens has been repurposed over the years, most recently as a maskless rest station during the worldwide Covid pandemic in 2020. Now it is a beautiful walk-though garden with a special Golden Celebration display.

Tower Gardens has a walkable pathway inlaid with historical markers for each of the fifty years that Kings Island has been open. The Racer, in Coney Mall, was Kings Island’s first roller coaster and is commemorated here with a 4-foot-tall (1.21 m) mini Eiffel Tower. This twin-track wooden coaster was designed by John Allen (1907-1979) of Philadelphia Toboggan Company, which is still in business today.

In 2019, The Beast celebrated its 40th anniversary at Kings Island. As of this writing, Summer 2022, The Beast is still the world’s longest wooden roller coaster with a 7,361-foot track (2243 m), two feet of which were added just this summer. John Allen came out of retirement to help Kings Island’s own engineers create this ride, which opened just four months before his passing in 1979.

Mystic Timbers was installed in the Rivertown in 2017 and received a Golden Ticket Award for “Best New Ride of 2017” from Amusement Today magazine, based in Arlington, Texas. This wooden coaster was built by Great Coasters International and is 3,265 feet (995 m) long that hits 53 mph (85 km). Its tallest point reaches 109 feet (33 m).

The Sweet Spot is mid-way along the right-hand side of International Street. This treat stand has baked goodies, and a large selection of fudge, gourmet apples, and candies. This year, Sweet Spot has a collection of Golden Anniversary commemorative sweets. This location is air-conditioned and a great place to get out of the sun.

This is the chilled display case at the Sweet Spot front door, with its brightly lit commemorative treats. There are decorated Golden Anniversary sugar cookies, lemon truffles, and dipped pretzels up top; medallions, macarons, and dipped berries in the center; and pie babies on the third shelf.

This Eiffel Tower sugar cookie is delicious. It is frosted with a white base and decorated in blue. The commemorative treats at the Sweet Spot are not inexpensive, however. The cookie shown here, like most of the other anniversary items, is $2.99 plus tax. This sugar cookie is of the same type that Mrs. Claus sells out of her kitchen during Winterfest.

This pretzel rod is dipped in milk chocolate and drizzled with white chocolate. The pretzel and chocolate coatings are fresh-tasting. The price for this treat is $2.99 plus tax. Gold and platinum season pass holders get a ten percent discount on food and merchandise throughout the park.

A golden Oreo dipped in chocolate, dusted in gold, and embossed for what could ultimately be the signature Golden Celebration cookie treat for Kings Island’s Fiftieth Anniversary. This is a really, really rich cookie. The golden Oreo has white creme filling and is $2.99 plus tax.

The Sweet Spot Six-Pack is $3.99. There are a variety of frosting color choices and each is topped with sugar crystals. The sugar crystals give these button cookies a nice crunch. The frosting is creamy, and the sugar cookie base has a nice flavor and texture. The cookies are about one and a quarter inches (3.81 cm) in diameter.

The French Corner is a little cooler and quieter inside than a lot of the sit-down areas on International Street. This shop has coffee like Starbucks across the way, but has both indoor and outdoor seating. The interior is pictured here, with an Eiffel Tower adorned in golden roses. This shop also has baguette sandwiches.

The facade of The French Corner is decorated in French cottage style. The exterior is painted in a pleasant French blue, and there is a bicycle with a wicker basket parked on the right. When both sets of doors are open here, as they are now, there’s a nice breeze gently blowing through the shop.

Right next to the Eiffel Tower is the Grand Carousel. The Grand Carousel is another gem of a ride created by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company. This attraction, according to Wikipedia, is adorned with tens of thousands of sheets of genuine gold- and silverleaf. The 48 wooden horses are hand-carved, and this carousel previously entertained guests at Coney Island from 1926 through 1971.

The Floral Calendar is just outside the Eiffel Tower. Today is Sunday, May 29, 2022, of Memorial Day weekend. All of these attractions—Royal Fountain, Sweet Spot, French Corner, Grand Carousel, Tower Gardens—are set close to the Eiffel Tower along International Street. Each is an easy stroll from one to the next, all decorated for Kings Island’s Golden Celebration.