Here's the Scoop on Kings Island's Most Famous Frozen Treat
Blog by Stacha Yundt
Kings Island is known for plenty of things — it’s the home of The Beast, the world’s longest wooden roller coaster, Orion, one of just seven giga coasters in the entire world, the park along with its iconic coaster The Racer was famously featured in the 1973 episode of the Brady Bunch called “The Cincinnati Kids,” and it’s known for its blue ice cream.
In 1982, Kings Island debuted an all-new attraction called Smurf’s Enchanted Voyage along with a new food item: a blue soft serve ice cream. Many locals continue to call this seasonal staple a Smurf Cone, a holdover from its origins in the park, but mention “blue ice cream” and anyone who has spent time at the park will know exactly what you’re referring to. More than 40 years later, Kings Island continues to sell hundreds of blue ice cream cones each day.
If there was any doubt about just how popular blue ice cream had become at Kings Island over the years, it vanished when in 1992 Smurf’s Enchanted Voyage was replaced by a ride called The Phantom Theater. With the attraction’s replacement, the park also got rid of the iconic blue soft serve. The backlash was swift and the public outrage was palpable: within two months, the blue ice cream was back and has returned every season since.
Today, this signature staple is as associated with Kings Island as any of its other claims to fame. Guests can find blue ice cream merchandise in stores around the park, and over the years Kings Island has offered a number of blue ice cream-flavored treats like popcorn, fudge and blue cream cone-shaped cookies. In 2021, the park partnered with Mason-based brewery Sonder Brewing to create the Kings Island Blue Ice Cream Ale, which has continued to get a limited release each season since.
Guests can get their own blue ice cream cone on their next visit to the park by visiting any of the three locations currently doling out this signature flavor. Find it at its original location in the kids’ area Planet Snoopy, near the Banshee roller coaster in Action Zone, and the all-new Twisted River Treats located near the train station in Soak City Water Park.