Stand-up Thrills: The Story Behind one of the First Stand-up Coasters

 Originally published 1-12-2018. This is one of the weaker pieces I ever wrote on this blog.

If you ask anybody who has lived in the Greater Cincinnati area for a while what their favorite defunct Kings Island ride is, many of them would probably say King Cobra. This coaster was the world's first true stand-up roller coaster. Hold on tight as we explore the history of this classic ride.

In 1982, TOGO, a Japanese amusement park ride company, replaced the sit-down cars on a roller coaster in Tokyo with stand-up ones. Around this same time, TOGO also added stand-up trains on another Japanese roller coaster. In 1983, amusement ride company Arrow Dynamics added stand-up trains to Worlds of Fun's Extremeroller. Previously, the ride had sit-down trains.

Enter Kings Island.

In February of 1983, Kings Island officials announced that they were planning on building a new roller coaster for 1984, which would be the 100th anniversary of America's first roller coaster. It was going to be the first stand-up roller coaster ever built from the ground-up as a standup coaster. The $3 million coaster would have 2,034 feet of track, a 95-foot tall lift hill, a 66-foot tall vertical loop and a top speed of 50 miles per hour. "We have always taken great pride in the coaster tradition at Kings Island," said F.R. Bush, park general manager. "Each of our coasters have been innovative in the industry and the standing loop coaster certainly continues the tradition." Kings Island officials declined to announce the name, however.

TOGO, the company that would be building the ride, built the entire coaster in their Tokyo plant. After director of park operations David Focke inspected it, TOGO engineers dismantled the coaster, numbered every piece, and then sent it to Long Beach, California. From Long Beach, 57 trucks carried the 97 crates weighing 1 million pounds to Kings Island. The pieces arrived between November 9 and November 21, 1983. Assembly began December 5.

During the 1983 Winterfest, an artist's rendering and one of the cars were put on display in the front gate area. Guests were fascinated by the idea of riding a roller standing up. "Can You 'Stand' It?" read a sign placed in front of the car. Over in the Wild Animal Habitat area of Kings Island, the former site of the Maxi Taxi attraction was a construction zone for the roller coaster.

"It's going to give you a feeling of, well, free flight," spokeswoman Ruth Voss said. "It's just you and the world. It looks really scary."

On January 14, 1984, the park announced that the ride's name would be "King Cobra" during a major American Coaster Enthusiast meeting in Chicago. The name of King Cobra was chosen from a survey that park officials did with guests; out of a list of names, most of them selected King Cobra as their favorite.

Construction workers assemble the King Cobra's iconic loop. United Press International wire photo

Starting on March 16, test runs were being made with sandbags. Park officials announced that they were hopeful for an April 22 opening.

The King Cobra opened for media previews on the evening of Thursday, April 19, 1984. On the first train: Charles S. Mechem Jr. and Dudley Taft of Taft Broadcasting, the presidents of TOGO, officials from Tokyo's Nippon Amusement Parks Association and officials of Kings Entertainment Company. Reporters from as far away as Los Angeles came to Kings Island for the historic opening.The coaster officially opened with the rest of the park for the season three days later on April 22.

Screaming riders are carried down the King Cobra's  95-foot hill.

Photo by the Associated Press

The general opinion of the ride when it opened was that it was very good, but the Beast was "more thrilling." Carl Eichelman, who had the record for most rides on the Beast, told a Cincinnati Post reporter that, "The King Cobra is a wacky ride...It was really a lot of fun." Eichelman called the Cobra "a pleasant type of experience," and called it a ride that the whole family could enjoy. Reporters who rode the coaster for the media day event remarked that it felt very slow but it still felt like skydiving. The general opinion was that the first drop was the best part of the ride. Said Cincinnati Post reporter Lew Moores, "Standing opens you up to the reality of the fall, fully exposed and no fetal crouching." David Focke, director of park operations, said "From everything we've heard from people who've ridden the (King) Cobra. I think it will be a very popular ride."

A group of 425 members of the American Coaster Enthusiasts (ACE) arrived at Kings Island to officially ride the King Cobra on Saturday, April 28. The club had chosen the coaster as the one that best exemplified the 100 years of technological advances in the amusement park industry. Club president Liucija Ambrosini thought that the Cobra was "Very interesting, a real thrill. It's different...it moves fast and smooth."

Over the summer of 1984, Kings Island polled 20,000 guests to see what their favorite roller coasters were at the park. King Cobra ultimately ranked third, behind the Racer (#2) and the Beast (#1).

Unfortunately, the King Cobra's inaugural year did not go as smoothly as hoped. On August 8, a manufacturing defect in the last car's wheel axle caused the wheel assembly to fall off, which then caused the car to derail while coming out of the helix. 24 people onboard were injured. 16 were treated at Kings Island first aid for "minor injuries" while 8 people were taken to Bethesda North Hospital. The worst injury was a concussion. The Cobra reopened three weeks later.

King Cobra's vertical loop.
Cincinnati Enquirer photo.

Ultimately, Kings Island's attendance for the 1984 season was 2.8 million people. It was an increase of 8.1% from 1983 and the second highest attendance (at that time) in Kings Island's 13-year history. Vice president and general manager T. Lewis Hooper cited the opening of the King Cobra as a major reason for the attendance increase.

In 1985, the King Cobra gave 1,279,669 rides. This was almost a million and a half less than the #1 ride, the Racer. In 1986, it gave 1,215,875 rides.

By 1987, opinions on the King Cobra apparently began to wane. A group of "judges" sent to Kings Island by the Cincinnati Enquirer to rank the park's 11 most popular rides rated the King Cobra at 53%, which was sixth place.  The judges also ranked the King Cobra as the park's most overrated ride and its "jerks, lurches and lunges" were voted the single worst feature of the 11 rides ridden.

In 1988, readers of Inside Track, a newsletter for coaster enthusiasts, voted the King Cobra as the 40th best roller coaster in the country.

In July of 1990, a park employee was struck by one of the wheels of the Cobra and was seriously injured. The employee was standing very close to the ride, looking for a patron's purse.

1994 celebrated the 10th anniversary of the King Cobra.

Riders on the King Cobra
Cincinnati Enquirer photo

 In August of 1999, a man was killed on a similar TOGO stand-up called Shockwave at Kings Island's sister park in Doswell, Virginia. As a precaution, Kings Island officials closed the King Cobra until the investigation into the Virginia death was completed. Two days later, the Cobra reopened as the accident on the Shockwave was due to rider misconduct.

Sunday, November 5 was the last day of the 2001 season. Unbeknownst to park guests, it would be the last day that King Cobra would operate.

In March of 2002, Kings Island spokesman Jeffrey Siebert confirmed that the King Cobra had permanently closed. The ride was dismantled and put on sale, but no one ever bought it. After spending years lying in the woods, the track was eventually destroyed and the trains were sent to Kings Dominion's Shockwave coaster. The land that the Cobra once occupied is currently used for Banshee and Delirium.

There were several reasons for King Cobra's closing. The coaster's attendance had been declining for several years leading up to the decision to shutter it. The primary reason was that, since TOGO had gone out of business, spare parts were getting harder and harder to find.

In its 17-year history, the King Cobra carried 18.2 million riders. In between the Cobra's opening and permanent closing, about 20 more stand-up coasters were built around the world. The King Cobra cemented Kings Island as a park for groundbreaking rides and cutting-edge technology.