I'm so happy to have been a kid during Coney's golden days, before it was picked clean by King's Island, which may be bigger, but has never held the same charm or magic as the old park on Kellogg Avenue.
I'm with you. The Coney Island days during the '60s were awesome. My brother and sisters even started a "Coney Island Fund" where we would contribute part of our allowances to "save up for Coney". We went every year on Findlay Market Day. Ham sandwiches for a nickle. The world was brand spanking new!
When I was growing up this was the epitome, the holy grail of amusement parks. We went there, twice every summer, to spend an entire day there, all the way through to the fireworks every summer night at 9 p.m. The rides, the sights and the smells have never left. I remember going to bed early on summer nights, with the windows open and the fans blowing and you could still hear the fireworks going off down the river at Coney Island.
I was nine in 1965, 4th grade, when peer-pressure forced me to ride my first coaster. The Shooting Star. I've been a coaster enthusiast ever since (Velocicoaster is my latest conquest). I remember Coney Island had 10¢ pay toilets, which cost the same as a Coke. You had to buy tickets for rides; the log flume and Shooting Star coaster were their "E tickets" of the day. Tickets cost 5¢, and the E-level rides cost 6 tickets. Coney Pool is still open today. I remember the day when it became desegregated in the 60's. I never understood segregation, and it still puzzles me today. When King's Island opened (1972?), I was a charter employee. I worked there from age 16 and continued seasonally through college. Now we're Universal Orlando-a-philes.
I remember running from one ride to the other! I loved the Wild Cat roller coaster! Shooting Star scared me. The Lost River was so great. Tumble Bugs was so much fun. Back in the 50s Coney Island was thee place in Cincinnati! Italian day Paul Dixon did his show with Dotty Mack! She was Italian and so was I! If only I could go back in time!
Loved going to Coney as a kid during the 1960s. It was a huge deal when I was finally big enough to ride the Shooting Star. It scared the hell out of me, but I'd give a lot to be able to go back and ride it again. My Dad's company had its annual summer picnic there, and I couldn't get enough of Skee Ball, driving the little cars around Lake Como, Sunlite Pool, and all the rest of the great attractions and activities. Fabulous! Long live the The Shooting Star!
By any chance, was your dad's company 5/3 Bank? They held summer picnics there, under the big shelter, with all the food you could eat, ice cream, treats, games, and a rock band at night. Wonderful memories.
Stickers Grove has same size replicas of the Shooting Star and Teddy Bear. They are only open to the public for a short time in summer. I enjoyed revisiting those childhood experiences there.
When I was a kid, we lived in Northern Kentucky which was referred to as Greater Cincinnati because it was the greatest part of Cincinnati, we always went to Coney on the ferry that loaded across the river on Mary Ingles Highway. Our street was directly across from the park up on the hill above the river. Every night at 10:00 PM we would walk down to watch the fireworks.Awesome memories. Thank you for sharing them.
This is an excellent presentation. Thank you for sharing. I grew up across the river, and came by ferry each summer. The Shooting Star footage is splendid. What fun!
As a small child going to Coney with my parents and family was such a big deal...later as I got older, spending the day swimming at Sunlite Pool and then riding the rides with friends until the park closed, became an almost every week outing. In my mind, I can pretty much still see the layout of the entire park. THanks for sharing this great memory!
Let me tell you a little bit about the Shooting Star roller coaster. By the way, I'm 80 years old. The Shooting Star was the same height as the Kings Island Racer. It had a super thick track, 18 inches high, and it was the smoothest roller coaster ever due to the super thick track. The air time was incredible. After falling down the first drop to the ground, the train came straight up at a 25 degree angle 45 feet high and going over that hill you were out of your seat for 100 feet of track. It was like being shot out of a cannon and flying weightless through the air. My friend John, who had traveled and ridden practically every roller coaster in the country, told me the Shooting Star was the best coaster he had ever ridden. And the finish to the ride was a high speed, high banked tunnel enclosed curve that took your breath away it was so intense! No, no coaster will ever be as good as the Shooting Star. Why? For one thing, you will never see a wooden coaster track as thick as the Shooting Star's 18 inches thick. Simply the best!
Mom & dad went there on their honeymoon, 1935, many years a fabulous day at Coney was the summer vacation. Before height requirements I was mandated to go on the shooting star and wild mouse. I was 6, scared to death and all pissed off. Good times!
Damn! Watching that video was hard. I was a young boy when this video was filmed. I'm an old man now. Most of those who took me there are now gone. Shew! Where did all that time go?
our family always made it a point to go to "CONEY ISLAND" every august of every year, until it shut down, my only regret that I had was ,"I was not tall enough to ride the WILD MOUSE, or the SHOOTING STAR"!!!!! I was raised in northern cincinnati, my dad was related to the "SCHOTT FAMILY" who owned coney island from 1928 to 1968, they sold it to taft broadcasting company, who shut the park down in 1970 , and built 'KINGS ISLAND"( opened in 1972)
One or two days, every Summer, my Mom and Grandmother, my 4 sisters and I got to spend a full day at Coney Island, Cincinnati, Ohio. My first introduction to roller coasters. We lived on a hill, in Ft.Thomas, Kentucky right across the river. We still had to drive to Downtown Cincinnati, get on Kellogg Avenue or Columbia Parkway to get to Coney. It was a 45 minute trip when we were no less than 2 miles away, across the Ohio River.
I did not know it was still around, when dad was in Korea mom and I stayed with her parents up at Buckeye lake . I remember this place as my grandparents would take us down there in the summer and i remember how neat it was that was the 50s though
Thank Marion Spencer who in 1955 fought to change the parks policy on who was not allowed in the park. www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cincinnati.com/amp/100426872
Coney was officially desegregated in 1955 - the year I was born. I guess Sunlight Pool remained segregated for a time afterward, however. Bathing with black folks was just beyond the pale, I suppose. We've lived through some interesting, albeit barbaric, times.
I remember my mother telling me she wanted to go there so badly. She was all excited when it opened, only for her to be told that Blacks weren't allowed at Coney Island. Not everyone has good memories of this place - because they never got to see it.
yea, every so often some old person will tell me to take the kids to coney island. the kids would think that's kinda lame as they're getting too old for most of the kiddie rides.
