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Partridge Family and Brady Bunch at Kings Island theme park 1972-73
by Billy Ingram
King's Island opened to the public on April 29, 1972 and, within 2 years, this Cincinnati, Ohio amusement park was visited by both the Partridge Family and the Brady Bunch. Scenes from those productions offer us a prime look at this quintessential midwestern theme park in its heyday.
The Partridge Family was first to visit Kings Island in 1972 for an episode called "I Left My Heart in Cincinnati," premiering Jan. 26, 1973. The show briefly features Baseball legend Johnny Bench as a waiter for a gag about Keith wanting a cocktail.
For the plotline, Keith Partridge, little brother Danny, and their manager Reuben Kincaid are all trying to get down with groovy guest star Mary Ann Mobley, cast as a Kings Island publicist. When King’s Island first opened, the Partridge Family’s "C'Mon Get Happy" hit tune was featured in their commercials.
The Brady Bunch paid a visit during the park’s second season of operation. This episode centers on the Brady kids and Alice searching high and low for dad Mike Brady’s architectural drawings for a planned park expansion project.
Episode No. 106 of The Brady Bunch, titled “The Cincinnati Kids”, was filmed at Kings Island over a five-day period from Aug. 20-24, 1973, airing Nov. 23, 1973. Danny Bonaduce stated that ”I Left My Heart in Cincinnati" was his favorite episode.
The park paid half of the expenses for these location episodes in exchange for Kings Island being associated with two hit TV shows. A number of rides seen in this video mashup are long gone (but not forgotten) like Halley's Comet, Der Spinnen Keggers and the Wheel of Fortune.
Here’s the entire "I Left My Heart in Cincinnati" episode from season 3 of The Partridge Family, in it we learn that Keith Partridge suffers from motion sickness.
King's Island opened to the public on April 29, 1972 and, within 2 years, this Cincinnati, Ohio amusement park was visited by both the Partridge Family and the Brady Bunch. Scenes from those productions offer us a prime look at this quintessential midwestern theme park in its heyday.
