Rocketing toward razor sharp icicles, hanging face-first over bubbling lava pits, dropping through fog from volcanic vents, escaping death at the hands of a menacing lost goddess… Sounds like the kind of production only Disney or Universal could manage, right? But this stunning attraction based on an internationally renowned franchise was located in a most unexpected place… The Midwest. And what’s more, this one-of-a-kind dark ride was so mysterious – its secrets so well-guarded – that guests didn’t know what kind of ride it was, even once they were seated and strapped in.
And with that promise, we can set course for another entry in our Lost Legends series. From The Peoplemover to Alien Encounter; 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to Journey into Imagination and dozens more, we’re on an international Imagineering expedition of our own, telling the incredible tales behind closed classics and fan-favorites. And while it’s not often we find an attraction exceptional enough to inspire a trip outside of the destination parks we know and love, this one is worth the journey into the unknown…
Today, we’re going to go behind-the-scenes of one of the most mysterious and unique rides to have ever existed at all, much less outside of Disney or Universal’s watch. In 2002, Paramount’s Kings Island near Cincinnati, Ohio became home to TOMB RAIDER: The Ride. At more than $20 million, this blockbuster attraction exceeded all expectations of what a seasonal theme park could produce.
And barely a decade later, it was gone forever. How? Well as longtime readers of our LEGEND LIBRARY know, the story’s always more complex than it seems… So let’s unearth the ruins of this Lost Legend together…
The adventure begins…
As difficult as it may be to imagine today, there was a time before Disneyland; a time when the “rules” invented by early Imagineers had yet to be developed. The fundamentals we associate with amusement parks today – a single point of entry and exit, an entry area lined with retail and dining, “themed” areas radiating out from a central core, and, yep, even an entry fee – simply didn’t exist. So while “amusement parks” have existed since the latter half of the 1800s (likely spurred by the origin of World’s Fairs in the 1850s), they didn’t look much like the parks we know today.
In fact, a generation of parks were born from the nascent age of pleasure resorts along the coast. The idea of seaside boardwalks and amusement-filled piers dates to the late 1800s, when steam-powered carousels and rudimentary, gravity-powered “switchback railways” delighted visitors. With the advent of electricity at the turn-of-the-century, those boardwalks became strung up with electric lightbulbs, gaining games, thrill rides, and competing vendors. (You can still see this kind of park flourishing today in New York’s Coney Island, Blackpool Pleasure Beach in the U.K. or the Santa Monica Pier in California.)
Not so different was a generation of amusement parks evolved from trolley parks – picnic and recreation areas often situated at the end of city’s street car lines (and in fact, they were often created by streetcar companies to increase ridership on weekends).
While not as grand as the seaside parks, a trolley park typically offered city dwellers some combination of sports fields, a “sunlite” swimming pool, a theater, boat rides, and – most memorably – an elaborate dance hall. As a matter of fact, it’s estimated that at their peak in 1919, more than 2,000 trolley parks were spread across the United States, though just a handful survive from the era today.
Where they do survive, you may not immediately recognize them! After all, decades and decades of development saw surviving trolley parks add merry-go-rounds, Ferris wheels, and wooden roller coasters, gradually evolving into parks like Waldameer, Kennywood, and Dorney Park. While the postcards above may not look much like the Cedar Point you recognize today, they’re all nonetheless remnants of the original look and feel of that 150-year-old park in Sandusky, Ohio whose main attractions used to be sunbathing and dancing!
Open to the public with no set entrance or entry fee, these park often developed “rough” reputations thanks to wayward youth out to cause trouble, competing vendors nickel-and-diming guests, “carnie” atmospheres, and loud, unsafe rides.
Put another way, for most of their history, amusement parks weren’t the kind of thing a reputable businessman would be interested in… which is why, in the 1950s, when Walt told his wife Lillian he intended to open his own, she said, “Why would you want to involved with an amusement park? They’re so dirty, and not at all fun for grown-ups. Why would you want to get involved in a business like that?”
He’s said to have replied: “That’s exactly my point. Mine isn’t going to be that way. Mine’s going to be a place that’s clean, where the whole family can do things together.”
And he was right! Disneyland had a single entrance and exit blocked by ticket booths requiring payment for entry; it wasn’t inhabited by competing vendors, but designed by filmmakers. And unlike those parks that had developed over decades and decades, Disneyland had the benefit of master-planning, evident in its famed “hub-and-spokes” layout, pulsing all guests to the park’s center (and a towering park icon) from which themed lands radiate like spokes on a bicycle tire.
That’s why Disneyland is considered a pivotal moment in not just “amusement parks,” but in urban planning and entertainment design. Suddenly, the long, stretched midways dotted with random rides and amusements was no longer the de facto model. And so it’s no surprise, any new parks coming online after Disney’s would borrow from its success…
Lessons learned
Here’s where the story of Kings Island – and its eventual blockbuster dark ride – begins in earnest. During the 1950s, Walt set off on a tour across the U.S. and Europe, visiting amusement parks of the era to gather advice for his Disneyland. One of those stops was Cincinnati, Ohio’s Coney Island (not to be confused with New York’s), where Walt cut a check for $1.00 for “consulting services” (still in the park’s archives) before departing.
Coney Island traced its origins to 1886 – a very long time ago, even to Walt Disney – and had managed the increasingly difficult task of surviving through World War I and World War II. However, a series of devestating floods of the neighboring Ohio River in the 1960s had crippled Coney Island, after being submerged under 14 feet of water in 1964, there was no denying: the park needed to relocate to survive.
Given the chance to start fresh, this new park could adapt all that had been learned from Disneyland; it could be among the first in a next generation of Disney-inspired parks leveraging those now-tried-and-true trademarks, like a hub-and-spokes layout, a “Main Street,” and a central icon.
And like Disneyland, it could even feature characters and stories people loved. How? By 1968, Coney Island’s owners were in talks with Taft Broadcasting, a media company who were eager to leverage their recent acquisition of Hanna-Barbera (the animation studio behind The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, The Smurfs, and more).
In July 1969, Taft Broadcasting Company purchased Coney Island for $6.5 million, then purchased 1,600 acres of land northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio.
When Kings Island opened in April 1972 (just six months after Walt Disney World, mind you), it was a park borrowing from Disney’s innovation. Guests entered the park via International Street, walking down its corridor of leaping Royal Fountains and European old-world architecture to the base of a 1/3 scale Eiffel Tower (more than 300 feet tall). From that central hub, themed lands radiated off.
There was Oktoberfest (a German land anchored by a beer garden and flat rides, and later by the Festhaus stage and restaurant), Coney Island (populated by all of the relocated rides from the old park), Rivertown (a forested Ohio settlement), and the Happy Land of Hanna-Barbera (a veritable Fantasyland of family fun).
When Kings Island opened, its two headlining attractions were undoubtedly the dual, white tracks of the Racer (credited with sparking the Second Golden Age of the Roller Coaster, and famously ridden by The Brady Bunch in their 1972 episode, “The Cincinnati Kids”) and Happy Land’s Enchanted Voyage dark ride through Hanna-Babera’s cartoon worlds – surely one of the best dark rides on the planet at the time.
Kings Island’s most famous attraction, though, was born in 1979. That’s when Rivertown – that rustic old Ohio settlement village – gained a strangely dark new mythos by way of one of the most legendary roller coasters on Earth: The Beast. At 7,359 feet and with a ride time well over 4 minutes, The Beast was (and is still today, more than 40 years later) the longest wooden roller coaster ever.
Covering more than 35 acres, The Beast roars through the expansive, endless forests beyond the park, hemmed to the ground as it follows the terrain through tunnels and caves, shuddering through the trees… Ever unseen, The Beast’s track is famous for being nearly invisible from the park (except for its lift hill) and for its night rides, howling through the pitch black woods as trees race past in the darkness.
This much is clear: over its lifetime, Kings Island – the modern park that emulated Disney’s greatest elements – grew and added new themed lands, stellar dark rides, wild, well-themed family roller coasters, and more. But the park’s Disney-esque design principles were only the start, as a new era in the theme park industry made Kings Island an attractive acqusition for a movie studio looking for parks of its own… Read on…
Image: coasterimage.com
Imagine what any movie studio executive would think after touring Disneyland or Universal Studios Florida. They would be absolutely speechless at the pleasant and smart blending of media; movies brought to life; gift shops packed with memorabilia; families building concrete connections to corporate brands!
And better yet, the “studio” style parks coming online during the 1980s and 1990s (Disney’s Hollywood Studios [1989], Universal Studios Florida [1990], Warner Bros. Movie World [1991], and MGM Grand Adventures [1993]) proved that such enterprises could also be cheap. Under the guise of visiting a “real” movie studio, big, boxy, tan showbuildings and façade-lined streets could populate these parks. Owning a theme park no longer required the detail and immersion of Magic Kingdom. Instead, anyone could place a movie’s name on pretty much anything.
Paramount Parks
In 1992, Paramount Communications Inc. set their sights on the theme park business. But rather than trying to rival Disney or Universal in scope, Paramount had other plans. Paramount wouldn’t waste time and energy building their own parks from scratch in built-out destinations like California and Florida. Instead, they’d purchase already-successful regional parks and re-brand them. These Paramount Parks could add just a dash of movie magic to compete with other regional parks like Cedar Point and Six Flags. It was perfect. Now, Paramount just needed to find some parks for sale.
Luckily, the Kings Entertainment Company (internally bought and separated from Taft in 1984) was willing to part with theirs. Five of the parks owned by KECO were taken over and re-branded:
- Paramount’s Kings Island (near Cincinnati, Ohio)
- Paramount’s Kings Dominion (near Richmond, Virginia)
- Paramount’s Carowinds (near Charlotte, North Carolina)
- Paramount’s Great America (in Santa Clara, California)
- Paramount Canada’s Wonderland (in Vaughan, Ontario)
Now supercharged with access to the licensing catalogue of Paramount Pictures, Kings Island and its sister parks would enter their next era. For better or worse, Paramount’s cinematic branding kicked in from the start.
Lights, cameras, action
What difference would Paramount’s new ownership make? Take for example the first addition to Kings Island post-Paramount takeover: a suspended, swinging coaster (in the same coaster family as another Lost Legend: Big Bad Wolf at Busch Gardens in Virginia) set along the forested hills and ravines of the park.
The 1993 opening of the ride introduced some entry-level atmosphere and theming. The attraction opened with a steaming aircraft carrier station, “Danger Zone” soundtrack, and bright red stripes fitting the new, cinematic name, Top Gun: The Jet Coaster.
In 1999, the themed land Top Gun was placed in was reimagined from scratch around it. The PARAMOUNT ACTION ZONE was born, ostensibly themed to a bright, loud, sparse Hollywood backlot where you became the star.
Aside from impromptu stunt shows and action film demonstrations around its central studio-water-tower plaza, the land initially featured two new rides in an all-at-once cinematic expansion: FACE/OFF (an inverted boomerang coaster wherein riders were positioned forward-backward-forward-backward to stare into the eyes of fellow thrillseekers), and the record-breaking DROP ZONE: Stunt Tower, casting riders as extras in a freefall stunt.
And they still weren’t done! Remember The Beast, terrorizingly the woods outside of Rivertown since 1979?
In true cinematic fashion, Paramount decided that what any ’70s horror-camp-classic needs is a loud, brash, big-budget sequel. So in 2000, Paramount Action Zone became home to SON OF BEAST – the tallest, fastest, second-longest (leaving the record to its father) and only looping wooden roller coaster on Earth. (Son of Beast was like many sequels: a critical and commercial flop. The astounding engineering marvel lasted less than a decade before closing for good, earning its own in-depth Lost Legends: Son of Beast feature here.)
Son of Beast might not have made many fans, but Paramount’s cinematic style would come to a head in the park’s addition for 2002… Something mysterious.
Lara Croft: Blockbuster
In 2001, Paramount Pictures released Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, drawn straight from the pixelated world of 1996’s Tomb Raider video game series. To be sure, the film performed pretty disastrously with critics. But it did have something going for it: chiefly, Angelina Jolie. Then a little-known actress, Tomb Raider launched Jolie into stardom.
If you can believe it, there hadn’t been a genuine female-led summer blockbuster since 1979’s Alien over two decades earlier, and Jolie’s headlining debut in Tomb Raider shattered box office records for both female-led action films and big screen video game adaptations. The film earned nearly $300 million, and Paramount moved to fast-track both the 2003 sequel (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – Cradle of Life), and a presence in its biggest marketing opportunity: its theme parks.
And why not? It stood to reason that Tomb Raider might just be Paramount’s modern equivalent of Indiana Jones – an endlessly entertaining, adventurous, globe-trotting film series that could see Jolie’s Lara Croft encounter ancient curses, forbidden temples, and lost treasures around the globe. And in 2001, Paramount’s Kings Island imported the multi-armed warrior goddess Brahma from the film, positioning it before the Royal Fountains to announce their new, epic attraction for 2002…
The legend arises…
In the park’s forested Rivertown, near the quaint entrance to the legendary Beast, Paramount’s Kings Island would open a “totally immersive dark ride adventure” called TOMB RAIDER: The Ride.
But if you asked Kings Island guests, industry observers, or Kings Island message boards, you wouldn’t find anyone who knew exactly what TOMB RAIDER: The Ride was or what it would do. Constructed in complete secrecy inside of a towering show building, imaginations ran rampant…
A few scattered pieces of concept art seemed like lofty goals for a simple, seasonal park in Ohio while simultaneously revealing nothing of the ride’s nature. But if Paramount’s Kings Island were willing to invest $20 million – the price tag of a shiny, new 200-foot roller coaster – then they must be confident that TOMB RAIDER would wow audiences… And most importantly, that those audiences would get in line without knowing (or maybe, because they didn’t know) what TOMB RAIDER even was.
So what on Earth did visitors find when they stepped into the ancient stone cavern that had emerged in Rivertown in 2002? Read on as we step inside…
The tunnel mouth
Your quest begins in a new plaza constructed before an ancient cavern. The actual Jeep used in the filming of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is parked nearby, with a set of footprints set into the concrete arranged in a confident stride leading from the Jeep to the geometric cave mouth ahead. The cave – flanked by flaming pedestals – is engraved with a very peculiar shape: a triangle with an all-seeing eye inside.
Could this be the fabled resting place of the Triangle of Light, supposedly able to halt time itself? There’s only one way to find out.
Stepping into the cave, bamboo poles are rigged to support a half-collapsed ceiling. The queue winding through this ancient temple entrance is a series of catwalks three or four feet above the ground, with stone relics beneath, lit by flickering lanterns and faltering excavation lights. A moody, distant soundtrack (comprised of five musical tracks, each for a particular room of the queue) signals that this is a mystical and unusual place…
The Warrior Room
Image: Weber Group, Inc.
As you proceed further through this temple, you notice a collapsed wall. It’s through this wall that the experience begins. After all, this isn’t just a ride; it’s an adventure. This new chamber resembles one you might’ve seen in the film: ornate Southeast Asian alcoves carved with delicate images and impressions, with strange stone monkey-warrior statues standing six feet tall in each.
In this room, you’re grouped into three different rows containing a total of 77 people. While it might be unbelievable, this is the group that will share your expedition, as the ride vehicle holds almost 80. Any clue yet what TOMB RAIDER might be? Probably not… As the deep, melodic chanting of the chamber’s musical score rises, fog begins to spill in from behind the monkeys. It would appear that, just as in the film, these stone warriors are coming to life…
Image: Technifex
Just before they can, the distant sound of wind chimes fills the chamber and the sound of grinding gears draws your attention to the far wall, opposite where you entered. A carving on the door begins to glow and twist, arranging itself to highlight a hidden pattern: the Triangle of Light. As an ancient tumbler locks into place, the circular door engraved with the Triangle rotates and slides out of the way, opening up a previously undiscovered chamber… It seems as if we’re on the right track.
The Antechamber
Image: Technifex
As the group presses forward into the Antechamber, they see one of the queue’s most impressive sights: the towering golden Brahma statue direct from the film, with its six arms grasping six golden swords. This four-faced god glows elegantly. As the group presses into the chamber, a golden disc in front of the towering god comes alive with swirling smoke and the voice of Lara’s father.
“It’s not at all what you’d call even odds. But I suppose that’s why my daughter Lara chose the life of a tomb raider. With a fortune to spend in a thousand lifetimes, she is not yet satisfied. And so my spirit remains with her always. For I fear she is attracted to the excitement that comes when life hangs in the balance…” (Foreshadowing?)
The pre-show fills us in on what’s preceded: “It happened once again along the Khamir trail…You could say she stumbled upon the entrance.” Angelina Jolie’s Lara is one step ahead of us, in this very temple. She’s faced the monkeys we just escaped, leaving most in pieces. “She was able; the trick was getting out again. Not so easy when the temple is question is guarded by a nasty curse.”
Then, we see her in this very chamber, puncturing the glowing vase at the base of the Brahma before us. We must be just moments behind! As the smoke dissipates and the chamber falls silent, her father shares his final advice: “I suppose she figured to pop in, knick the treasure, and that would be that… Famous last words.”
With a resounding rumble that shakes the entire chamber, the entire ten-foot tall wall to our left begins to rise. Stone rubs against stone as the pillars and wall ascend, revealing our final destination: the Heart of the Temple. As the three groups proceed in, they face – for the first time – the ride vehicle.
Image: Donald Flint, KIExtreme. Used with permission.
It’s made up of three very long rows situated in stadium-style seating, somewhat like a theatre. Each row crosses a bridge onto the vehicle and proceeds all the way down, pulling a shoulder restraint down until it locks into place with a seat belt for extra security.
Any idea what Tomb Raider is yet? No? Hold on.
The Heart of the Temple
Even buckled into the ride vehicle, most guests at this point will still have no idea whatsoever what TOMB RAIDER: The Ride is or what it’s about to do. That’s exactly how designers wanted it. With “excavation lights” pointed directly at the vehicle for loading, it’s impossible to see (and nearly impossible to imagine) what lies within the Heart of the Temple.
As a resounding, pulse-pounding drumbeat echoes through the massive chamber, your harnesses are checked and any – and all – loose articles are placed into the pouches in front of your seat and zipped tight. Any coins, phones, flip-flops or wallets will be lost. As you steady yourself, a final hiss of air draws your eyes as the bridges you used to board the ride vehicle retract and fold up. Escape is futile.
The banging of the drums comes to an abrupt and echoing halt. The silent chamber slowly fills with an unearthly choir. At the sound of rocks shifting for the first time in centuries, the vehicle slowly moves forward and lifts up just a few feet. Then, it stops and rocks backward, then forward again. It’s building momentum as the vehicle suddenly climbs halfway up the 100-foot tall chamber. Headlights at the front of the vehicle turn on, focusing on an unbelievable sight: an 80 foot tall carving of a Hindu goddess on the wall.
With a blast, her eyes open. Red lights scan back and forth across the vehicle. Deviously pleased, the awakened goddess focuses her eyes on the vehicle’s headlights, which shatter. The only lights left emanate from two gems held in two of her six hands: one pulses with fire; the other, ice.
Image: Technifex
The vehicle – supported by massive arms that allow it to swing – unlocks on its axels and falls precariously forward, hanging over something positioned at the foot of the goddess: the Triangle of Light.
As her fire and ice pulse, she sends the vehicle flying up and over the top of the chamber, circling back down to the center in weightless arcs over and over. Then, the cart flies up toward the ceiling, slamming to a halt with riders facing directly up at razor-sharp icy stalactites, dripping a bit down on riders. The hypnotic sight is accompanied by Lara’s voice: “Time is broken here…”
But with a menacing crack, the icicles flash red and appear to fall toward the vehicle, which flips downward, falling toward the Triangle. At the last possible second, the axels lock as the gondola inverts in a long, weightless arc along the ground. Racing through the dark, the goddess cackles. As the ride’s triumphant score fades, the vehicle reverses its swing’s direction and locks facing downward, with riders suspended facedown.
Hanging over boiling lava pits. Image: Technifex
Something new comes into view: a pulsing of hot red steam escaping from a volcanic vent, fog billowing out. In fact, a 60-foot tall volcano stretches up the back wall of the chamber, and the pulsing lava inside signals that it’s woken up.
Slowly, the gondola lowers inch by inch toward the volcano and directly over a pit of boiling, shimmering lava beneath. As the orchestral score intensifies, fountains of lava leap up in sync, just inches from riders’ faces.
Image: Technifex
Just as riders are about to be lowered face-first into the steaming geysers, a crack releases the vehicle’s axel as it swings out from underneath, providing a view of the entire chamber from beneath. As the goddess cackles, a great burst of force rockets the vehicle toward her, flipping freely right in front of her as strobes flash.
The axels of the vehicle lock with riders upside down – a harrowing moment of force– then the gondola slowly continues its rotation up around the chamber as the goddess uses the last of her power to light the chamber up. As the entire room comes alive, spotlights search the chamber and focus on the Triangle of Light as the vehicle slowly rotates back toward its loading position.
The voice of Lara’s father resounds: “No one gets the best of Lara Croft… unless she lets them. And I didn’t raise that kind of girl!”
The goddess’s wild laughter fades as the room goes dark. Then, with a final note of music, she shrieks. A blast of fog appears to be released from the defeated goddess as she cracks, and the sound of her powers being locked away echoes. As riders cheer wildly, the excavation lights flicker back on, hiding the contents of the chamber once again for oncoming riders as a hiss of air signals the bridges returning to the vehicle, making for an easy escape out of the temple.
We always love to provide video evidence to help cement our descriptions of Lost Legends… but in the case of TOMB RAIDER: The Ride, pieces of that evidence are few and far between… Dark, mysterious, and wild, any and all loose articles you might’ve hoped to hold on to while journeying through the Temple of Light were sure to be lost to lava pits… seriously. But luckily, we can get a few glimpses at what TOMB RAIDER: The Ride was like… if you’re willing to use your imagination (and the description above).
Here’s an on-ride, point-of-view video taken from a secured camera:
And here’s a clever video taken during a behind-the-scenes tour of the ride while it’s running. Though it’s dark, you’ll quickly get a sense of the showbuilding and the ride’s positioning within it as each show scene comes alive… This also helps demonstrate the synchronized musical soundtrack well:
Finally, we’re lucky that the Travel Channel was so enthused by the mysterious TOMB RAIDER: The Ride, they dedicated a portion of one of their amusement park specials to the then-new attraction – including its queue and effects. Hang on tight and watch it all come together in this fantastic look at the ride in action:
One thing is for certain: whatever you were expecting of a seasonal theme park in Ohio, TOMB RAIDER has probably exceeded it. Of course, riders applaud wildly for the cinematic adventure and – more often than not – leave unable to explain exactly what TOMB RAIDER: The Ride is or how it works. But we’re here to help. Read on as we explore the inner workings of this surprisingly simple attraction and why it’s gone for good…
Perhaps the most ingenious element of TOMB RAIDER: The Ride is just how simple it really is. If you removed all the pomp and circumstance and placed the ride at a local carnival, it would look right at home.
TOMB RAIDER was a HUSS Top Spin – a fairly common, “off-the-shelf” flat ride that your local Six Flags or even state fair probably offers. But it’s not just the theming, synchronized music, water, and fog that gave TOMB RAIDER an edge over its carnival compatriots.
The ride was also big. Huge. Even, gigantic…
While a normal carnival top spin holds 40 riders, lifting them to a height of 50 feet, TOMB RAIDER: The Ride used the world’s first and only Giant Top Spin, a much larger model of the ride holding 77 and reaching heights of 80 feet – absolutely gargantuan, with incredible strength and momentum and stunning adaptability.
The clever use of such a simple attraction was a pretty innovative way to stun guests. After all, even exiting guests usually couldn’t find a way to explain what exactly they had just ridden. Even guests who had seen a Top Spin before likely wouldn’t know what it was called or how to identify it. And Paramount’s theatrical effects and lighting wizardry kept riders from seeing the chamber or even the physical ride apparatus until the ride started moving.
In fact, during the course of the ride, the adaptability of such a “simple” ride experience turned TOMB RAIDER into not just a thrill, but a show; it positioned riders hanging upside down, catapulted them through weightless airtime hills; “locked” in place for extended centripetal force flips; angled them straight up to gaze into stalactites, and more.
Put simply, TOMB RAIDER: The Ride stood as evidence that with a little theatricality, even a simple and unassuming midway ride could become something tremendous. The patent filed for the impressive and unique ride is a testament to just how extravagent it was. From the queue and preshows to the synchronized musical score and Technifex‘s stunning special effects, TOMB RAIDER: The Ride was above and beyond what anyone could’ve expected from a seasonal amusement park in Ohio.
It seemed too good to be true. Maybe it was… Because today, TOMB RAIDER is missing from Kings Island’s park map. Why? Well, that’s the real tragedy.
Changing times
Paramount Communications bought Kings Island (and its sister parks) in 1992. The very next year, Paramount itself was purchased by media conglomerate Viacom. (In retrospect, it was the beginning of today’s media consolidation empire – see, Comcast’s NBCUniversal or The Walt Disney Company’s Marvel, Pixar, Lucasfilm, and 20th Century acqusitions.)
Put simply, Viacom didn’t have much interest in owning or operating the theme parks it inherited.
That meant that after just one year of actually belonging to Paramount, the Paramount Parks reported to a new parent company who seemingly had very little idea what to do with them. For example, for a short time, the Parks division was technically under the umbrella of Blockbuster Entertainment (the operators of the video rental chain)! In 2006, Viacom split itself into two new entities: Viacom and CBS Corporation. The parks went to the latter.
The only company with less interest in running theme parks than Viacom seemed to be CBS. In its final years as “Paramount’s” Kings Island, the park – and its five sisters – endured financial strain, cost-cutting, low-cost attractions, and an era of decisions that seemingly stripped the park of much of its history in favor of quick-fix IP tie-ins and “cheap and cheerful” additions. It didn’t seem like CBS was planning to support the parks for much longer.
Frankly, that makes sense. With the 2008 financial crisis looming, a number of major changes would come to parks around the globe. Companies who had happily bought into the “theme park craze” kicked off in the ’90s suddenly found themselves with products far afield of their “core assets” with a wave of financial strain en route. For example, American brewery Anheuser-Busch sold its Busch Entertainment division (owners of SeaWorld and Busch Gardens) in 2009, obligated to focus on its actual business: breweries.
Cedar Fair’s Kings Island
Similarly, neither Viacom nor CBS seemed to think that their parks (although profitable) were essential enough to earn their attention during a Recession, and predictably put the Paramount Parks up for sale in 2005. A company for whom amusement parks are the core assets – Cedar Fair – bit. Allegedly at the whims of then-CEO Dick Kinzel and his affinity for Kings Island specifically, Cedar Fair purchased the five Paramount Parks in 2006 for a staggering $1.24 billion.
Without a doubt, the purchase plunged Cedar Fair into financial devestation just as the financial crisis rolled in… but it also gave the Sandusky, Ohio-based company a monopoly of Ohio’s amusement parks. After all, Paramount’s Kings Island now belonged to the same company as Cedar Point and the Lost Legend: Geauga Lake – comprised of a full-sized Six Flags and a full-sized SeaWorld near Cleveland that had been combined into one mega-park until Cedar Fair’s purchase.
Though the Paramount Parks name and licensing was allegedly available to Cedar Fair (renewably, for a high fee), they decided against its use. When the parks opened in 2007, the “Paramount’s” prefix had been axed. Still, it wasn’t until 2008 that allusions to Paramount and its film franchises had been hastily removed, yielding some admittedly strange and “generic” ride names you might expect as intentionally-humored titles from a B-movie spoof studio:
- Top Gun: The Jet Coaster became Flight Deck (awkwardly opting for the first aviation-themed name they could come up with despite only a few allusions to Top Gun even existing around the ride)
- Drop Zone: Stunt Tower became Drop Tower (an almost-laughably generic name you might expect in Roller Coaster Tycoon)
- The Italian Job Stunt Truck became the Backlot Stunt Coaster (stripped of its on-ride audio and MINI Cooper-themed cars, with its special effects left to wither.
- FACE/OFF had it name switched to Invertigo (the name of the roller coaster’s manufacturer model).
And while those frustrating renames were so bland they practically begged long-standing fans of the park to ignore them in favor of Paramount’s former identities, at the end of the day “a rose by any other name” smells just as sweet. But TOMB RAIDER: The Ride’s identity was not so easily squashed… covering up allusions to Paramount’s E-Ticket adventure would be a lesson in heartbreak….
If you’re up for the challenge, read on as we descend one last time into what remained of TOMB RAIDER: The Ride… and why it was shuttered before its tenth anniversary…
Unsealing the Crypt
Though Cedar Fair’s new ownership and the removal of Paramount’s licenses in 2008 amounted to little more than genericized ride names across the park, fans anticipated that more substantial changes would be necessary within TOMB RAIDER: The Ride. And they were right…
Aside from the removal of the Triangle of Light emblem carved into the exterior of the entry cavern, the only real change outside of the attraction was its new name: THE CRYPT. What about the inside? The only hint there was an A-frame sign proudly proclaiming, “This ride now has more THRILLS.” It was an intriguing invitation… but what did it mean?
Once you stepped inside, it might at first seem that things had only changed subtly. The Antechamber was still there with all of the detailed set design of Paramount’s tomb still on display… sure, those Monkey Warrior props from Tomb Raider were gone (replaced with a few scattered skeletons reclaimed from old Halloween haunted houses, draped in cotton cobwebs), but that much was to be expected.
Also unsurprisingly, the “rolling door” that one came alive is permanently open – perhaps because of Tomb Raider’s Triangle of Light carved on it, but more likely because its job was to partition off the queue from the pre-show, and… well… there is no pre-show anymore… Instead…
Again, it’s not Cedar Fair’s fault that the impressive Brahma that once reigned over the pre-show room is gone. And at least the new owners made a sincere attempt at replacing it by way of… well… a hokey animatronic bat-demo which slowly, laboriously, mechanically opens and closes its wings, emitting a high-pitched, raspy snarl.
Okay, so if’s not obvious enough yet, Cedar Fair doesn’t really “do” dark rides (in part thanks to the failure of the Declassified Disaster: Disaster Transport at Cedar Point just up the road). Positioning mannequins, Halloween props, and camouflage netting throughout the Crypt and abandoning any semblance of story, pre-show, show lighting, or style is indeed a signal of what’s to come.
But before we can board, another bad omen awaits… As you stand before the bat-demon, take a look to your left… The rising wall that once hid the ride from guests is gone, which means you can see directly into the ride chamber to listen and watch as the ride runs with the group before you on board. So much for the mystery and the thrill of the unknown… This video, for example, was taken from the former pre-show room:
And as for the experience once on board?
More THRILLS
Another unusual change made known in the former pre-show room is that rather than being sorted into three rows, now guests were sorted into only two. In fact, in the changeover to The Crypt, the entire front row of the attraction’s ride vehicle had been removed, slicing the ride’s capacity by a third (and creating an oddly asymmetrical ride vehicle, surely “off-balance” when the gondola was unlocked to rotate freely or brought to rest?).
The reduced size (and thus reduced weight) of the gondola was reportedly in exchange for The Crypt’s other big change: its ride cycle. Naturally, all of the theatrical lighting, effects, fountains, and fog had been shuttered. To compensate, The Crypt had been reprogrammed, plucking a dizzying, nauseating nine-flip ride cycle designed for the nimbler, more agile HUSS Top Spins you’d find at any other park. Even with its front row removed, the immense weight, size, height, and power of the churning Giant Top Spin turned this thrilling ride cycle into an ultra-intense experience known to leave knees quaking – “more THRILLS” indeed.
And so, in 2008, Kings Island’s Giant Top Spin reintroduced itself as The Crypt – looping, flipping, and falling in near pitch-black darkness to the sounds of techno music (quickly replaced by jungle animals and beating drums). Though the goddess and volcano remained, they were unlit during the ride, visible only to those who bothered to squint through the darkness.
The Crypt seemed ready to continue on as a bland but thrilling reinvention of the Giant Top Spin’s capabilities. But as strange as that sounds, the story of the Crypt didn’t end there…
Afterlife edits
Image: BunnyHugger, Flickr (license)
Beginning in 2009, Cedar Fair was ready to leave their mark on the former Paramount Parks… which meant bringing them up to snuff in the company’s modus operandi: roller coasters. That year, Rivertown became home to Diamondback – a soaring, crimson, steel hypercoaster dominating the park’s skyline… and cresting right over the formerly moody entrance to The Crypt
In fact, the ornate, atmospheric, bamboo forest plaza with its ancient glyph carvings and distant mystical music became a finely-manicured lawn hemmed in by a “western” wooden fence. The bamboo grove queue was torn out to make way for the coaster’s first drop, exposing the massive showbuilding the ride took place in.
Image: Donald Flint, KIExtreme. Used with permission.
The elimination of Rivertown’s wooded landscape for the steel behemoth would’ve been a killer to The Crypt’s atmosphere and theming… if it had had any left to begin with. But even if the last remnants of “theme” left over from TOMB RAIDER: The Ride were gone, at least The Crypt offered “more THRILLS”! …Right?
But the arrival of a new, noisy neighbor wasn’t the only change to The Crypt in its second year. Though the ride began the summer of 2009 with that same, ultra-intense ride cycle, mid-way through the season, it was quietly edited. Without acknowledgement or comment from the park, The Crypt was reprogrammed.
Now, the ride would circle around the room twice, then perform one “locked” flip foward; then it would reverse direction, circling around the room twice, then one “locked” flip backward. (Watch that video again, this time noting the ride cycle…) The Crypt now flipped just two times – half as many as TOMB RAIDER: The Ride had. So much for “more THRILLS”…
Insiders allege that the tepid and downright disappoint ride cycle was actually about all that the ride could handle after a season of perfoming the intense, nine-flip cycle it wasn’t built for; that the ride was simply incapable of keeping up with such an extreme profile, necessitating the limping, lame version. In fact, this neutered two-flip ride cycle was pitiful and pointless, earning literal boos from stunned riders and the name “Ferris wheel in a box” from park enthusiasts.
To their credit, the team at Kings Island didn’t give up on the Crypt. In 2009, 2010, and 2011, incremental “upgrades” clearly signaled that the park was listening… Though the “rising wall” didn’t return, views of the ride in action were blocked from the pre-show room by simple wooden doors; music from Inception replaced beating drums and howling jungle animals; and culminating in 2011, Tomb Raider’s theatrical lights were reprogrammed to pulse during the ride cycle (even in the empty lava pits!), at least giving the impression of a show.
But offering neither thrills nor theme and clearly limping along as a maintenance nightmare, The Crypt was doomed.
In early 2012 – almost ten years after TOMB RAIDER: The Ride debuted – the cavern in Rivertown was sealed. The Crypt never re-opened. The ride was quietly dismantled and removed during the off-season. Its cavernous queue and its three main show scenes – the Antechamber, pre-show room, and ride chamber – have been revived every autumn as a walkthrough haunted house. While much of the walkthrough takes place in the grand, 100-foot-tall chamber – still overseen by the carving of Durga and the volcano along the back wall – the details inside are impossible to see in the darkness.
Elsewhere…
Following in Kings Island’s footsteps, in 2005 Paramount’s Kings Dominion in Virginia opened a Tomb Raider attraction, too. In fact, their ride – TOMB RAIDER: FIREFALL – was a Top Spin, as well, but a smaller, suspended version carrying only 38 riders, reaching half the height of Kings Island’s, and with a built-in, thrill-focused ride program.
Set in the park’s Congo themed land (in the shadow of the spectacular Volcano: The Blast Coaster), Kings Dominion’s Tomb Raider attraction made even more contextual sense than Kings Island’s ride, even if it was located outdoors and not in a highly themed dark ride building. Still, Firefall had its own custom-made musical score as well as fog, water, and fire effects synchronized to the thrilling ride.
Even if Virginia’s TOMB RAIDER: FIREFALL was a cost-cut version of the ride compared to Ohio’s, it fared much better. After all, Kings Dominion’s Tomb Raider attraction was renamed The Crypt in 2008, as well, but kept it special effects, its custom-made music score, its ride cycle, and even the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider prop Monkey Warrior statues that flanked the ride!
Ultimately, Kings Dominion announced in January 2020 that their Crypt had taken its last rides at the close of the 2019 season. It was removed to make way for “future adventures,” and given that its neighboring Volcano closed a year earlier, it’s likely that the land is due for an elaborate roller coaster that’ll need the space. Still, Kings Dominion’s Crypt is the rare special-effects packed Paramount leftover that Cedar Point apparently maintained!
In any case, the era of the Top Spin seems to be coming to a close. Throughout the 2010s, no less than a dozen installations of the ride model at Cedar Fair, Six Flags, and Merlin parks bit the dust, included Ramses Revenge (Chessington World of Adventures), Ripsaw (Alton Towers), FireFall (California’s Great America), King Kahuna (Kennywood), King Chaos (Six Flags Great America), Voodoo (Six Flags Discovery Kingdom), and RipTide (Knott’s Berry Farm, above).
Perhaps the smaller units ended up with just as much wear-and-tear as Kings Island’s – which was and will always be the only Giant Top Spin ever built. Likely due to its mechanical problems as The Crypt, the ride manufacturer HUSS stopped offering the Giant version of the ride entirely.
In 2007 – just as TOMB RAIDER entered its last season – Phantasialand in Germany opened the stunning Talocan, clearly based on the precedent set by the two TOMB RAIDER rides. It’s a stunning attraction that’s as fun to watch as it is to ride… and at least for now, it’s still around!
Sealing the Tomb
A model of the ride’s two pre-shows and final ride chamber. Image: Technifex
As for Kings Island, TOMB RAIDER: The Ride represented their second massive failure in as many years. The $20 million Tomb Raider – groundbreaking, unprecedented, and unimaginable for a seasonal park – didn’t live to see its tenth birthday. That said, it still fared better than Paramount’s Kings Island’s 2000 addition, which ultimately cost close to twice as much as lasted only until 2009 – another Lost Legend: Son of Beast.
Two new millennium wonders, both groundbreaking, both living less than a decade and both remembered as two of the most expensive (and ambitious) theme park failures ever, even if they failed for very different reasons.
Frankly, it’s one thing to say goodbye to a treasured, world-class attraction; it’s quite another to see its shambling corpse limp on, so close and yet so far from the greatness it once achieved. Consider that – for a generation of Kings Island guests – Tomb Raider: The Ride was almost there; so close you could taste it; you could see (and point out) its features, hidden in the dark; and but for a licensing fee and a little maintenance, it could’ve lasted…
To this day, that cavern entrance and the massive showbuilding it conceals both sit in Kings Island’s Rivertown, used seasonally for a Halloween attraction but otherwise abandoned. In other words, it stands as a reminder that even seasonal, regional theme parks can aspire to greatness… all they have to do is think outside of the box and commit.
Are you surprised to find that a seasonal amusement park right here in the United States had such a grand and Disney-quality attraction? Did TOMB RAIDER raise the bar for seasonal parks, or did it simply prove that the big rides should be left to the big players? Did you ever get to experience TOMB RAIDER: The Ride? Let us know your memories and thoughts in the comments section below!
