Kentucky Kingdom, formerly known as Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, is a theme park in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. The park includes a collection of amusement rides and the Hurricane Bay water park. Kentucky Kingdom is at the intersection of Interstate 65 and Interstate 264, sharing a parking lot with the Kentucky Exposition Center.
In 1977, the Kentucky State Fair Board announced plans to build a theme park on the grounds of the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center. The park's construction, overseen by Kentucky Entertainment Limited, began in 1986 and cost $12 million. Kentucky Kingdom opened to the public on May 23, 1987. The park went bankrupt after one season, and was reopened in 1990 by businessman Ed Hart. Due to loan payment challenges, Kentucky Kingdom was sold in 1998 to Six Flags, which operated it until closing it in 2009. Hart reopened the park in May 2014. Seven years later, the park's operating rights were sold to Herschend. Kentucky Kingdom is owned by the Kentucky State Fair Board and operated by Herschend.
Kentucky Kingdom has six roller coasters: Flying Fox, Hollyhock and Roll, Kentucky Flyer, Lightning Run, Wind Chaser, and Woodland Run. The park has opened many first-of-its-kind roller coasters. T2 was the first Vekoma Suspended Looping Coaster in North America. Lightning Run was the first Chance Rides Hyper GT-X Coaster in the world. Wind Chaser was the first roller coaster in the U.S. with a barrel roll drop.
History Foundation Planning and construction
The Kentucky State Fair Board released a long-range master plan for the redevelopment and expansion of the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center grounds on March 24, 1977, which included the construction of a theme park. The Fair Board suggested that the park should be divided into three sections: a turn-of-the-century village, a Daniel Boone town and a "unit devoted to Kentucky's mining industry." Several years later, the Fair Board began searching for a developer who could operate the planned park. On November 21, 1985, they signed a contract with Kentucky Entertainment Limited, headed by Dallas businessman Michael Jenkins.
On December 13, 1985, at a press conference attended by Kentucky governor Martha Layne Collins and Louisville mayor Jerry Abramson, Kentucky Entertainment Limited and the Fair Board announced plans for Kentucky Kingdom, a 13-acre theme park focused on Kentucky's history and culture that would open in 1987. Construction began on March 28, 1986, with a team of mules and a 60-year old plow breaking the first ground at a ceremony that was also attended by Governor Collins and Mayor Abramson. On May 16, 1987, more than 6,000 Girl Scouts and their relatives were allowed to preview the park a week before opening. Most of the reviews were negative, as visitors complained about long lines and poor crowd control, many believed that the park was too small to accommodate large crowds.
Opening Kentucky Kingdom opened on May 23, 1987, with about 400 people in attendance at the opening ceremony. The park had four themed areas called "Carousel Plaza," "Old Louisville," "Kentucky Frontier," and "The Enchanted Forest." The latter was a children's area which would later become "King Louie's Playland." Many people who visited Kentucky Kingdom complained about the 13-acre park's small size and how it had few attractions, one visitor said "What few rides Kentucky Kingdom did have seemed to be oriented to younger children. In fact, most of the park seemed to be oriented to children. But what about the parents who take them there? What do they ride or do while waiting for their kids?" The park closed and filed for bankruptcy after only one season due to low attendance numbers, which were attributed to the small amount of attractions and poor weather conditions throughout the 1987 season. Most of the contractors and vendors were unpaid and almost all of the rides were auctioned off to other parks on April 15, 1989.
Rapid growth
The rights to operate Kentucky Kingdom were purchased by Ed Hart and a group of investors in April 1989. Hart was a local businessman who had renovated two buildings in Louisville's Highlands neighborhood. After Kentucky Kingdom closed, he was contacted by the National Bank of Canada, who offered to be the senior lender if he reopened the park. Hart initially declined, discouraged by the stories of Kentucky Kingdom's failure, but later changed his mind. Hart's first step was paying the 227 vendors and contractors that were unpaid before. In December 1989, the new operators decided to exercise an option in their deal with the Fair Board to lease an additional 13 acres so that the park could be expanded.
Kentucky Kingdom reopened for the 1990 season on June 13, with an estimated 2,000 people visiting the park on the first day. While all the rides from the 1987 season were sold, Starchaser, the park's indoor roller coaster, had remained on-site at Kentucky Kingdom, allowing Hart to repurchase and reclaim it. Additionally, new flat rides were added, including Blackbeard's Bounty, The Enterprise, Whirling Dervish (later renamed 'Breakdance'), as well as The Vampire, a roller coaster. The Tin Lizzies antique car ride reused the same track as the former car ride, Pontiac's Tin Lizzy Junction, while new antique cars were added in 1995, having been previously used at Opryland USA in Tennessee. In 1991, the park opened the Flying Dutchman, a wooden shoe-swing ride that was relocated from Kings Island.
In late 1990, Kentucky Kingdom announced plans to build a water park, projected to open by either the summer of 1991 or spring of 1992. In 1991, the park revealed more details about the proposed water park, notably that it would span six acres (2.43 ha), be named 'Ocean Avenue', open in 1992, and require a separate admission cost of $4 to $6. Additionally, 1991 also saw the opening of 'The Quake', the first Vekoma Waikiki Wave to open in North America. It was announced in October of the same year that all profits from the 1991 season would be invested into the waterpark's development. The name was later changed to 'Ocean Paradise', and was changed for a third time to 'Hurricane Bay' (which was the planned name for the park's wave pool). Hurricane Bay opened in 1992 as an extension of the Kentucky Kingdom amusement park, with no separate admission fee required for entry. Other additions for the 1992 season included a $2.6 million, 150-foot-tall Ferris wheel called the Giant Wheel. The following year, in 1993, a new water slide complex opened in Hurricane Bay, featuring four different slides. In 1994, the park opened Mile High Falls, which, upon its opening, was the world's tallest shoot the chute water ride. The children's roller coaster Roller Skater was also added that year.
A new roller coaster, T2: Terror to the Second Power, opened to the general public in April 1995. The ride is a Vekoma Suspended Looping Coaster (SLC), standing 101 feet (30.78 m) tall with 2,172 feet (662 m) of track, five inversions, and a top speed of 49 mph. T2 was the first of its kind in North America, and only the second in the world, the other being Condor at Walibi Holland in the Netherlands. That same year, Hellevator, a 177-foot-tall (53.95 m) Intamin drop tower opened in October, just in time for the park's annual Halloween event, Halloscream. In 1996, an upcharge attraction, Top Eliminator Dragsters, opened.
The park made its most expensive investment yet with the addition of Chang in 1997, a $12 million stand up Bolliger & Mabillard coaster that at the time set world records for stand-up roller coasters in height, drop, length, speed, and amount of inversions. The coaster also included a vertical loop that was tall, which was previously the tallest in the world. Thrill Karts (also known as Kingdom Go Carts) were also added in 1997 as an upcharge attraction. Park attendance increased from 130,000 guests, during the 1990 season, to 1.2 million guests over the 1997 season.
Six Flags
In June 1997, Banc One Corporation completed its acquisition of Liberty National Bank and Trust Company, which held a major loan in Kentucky Kingdom. Although the park had never missed a payment, Banc One called the loan, forcing Hart to either raise more capital or sell the park's operating rights. Hart announced on September 26, 1997, that the rights to operate Kentucky Kingdom would be sold to Premier Parks for $64 million; the deal was finalized on November 7. As part of the agreement, Premier Parks agreed to continue opening new attractions at the park through at least 1999. At the time, Kentucky Kingdom was one of the most popular tourism attractions in Louisville, receiving more visitors than Churchill Downs.
During the offseason, Premier Parks acquired Six Flags from Time Warner, and as such, on June 21, 1998, the park reopened as Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. Also on June 21, 1998, Twisted Sisters, a wooden dueling roller coaster, officially opened to the public. The roller coaster cost $5 million, and had been planned by Themeparks LLC, who originally wanted to name it "Double Trouble." Hook's Lagoon, an interactive tree house with water activities, was also added that year to Hurricane Bay. Six Flags then transformed King Louie's Playground into Looney Tunes Movie Town and added the Batman Stunt Show Spectacular in 1999. It became the ninth amusement park to use the Six Flags name.
The Penguin's Blizzard River opened in 1999, using many pumps and mechanisms for a rapids ride that Premier Parks who had previously purchased the parts from Opryland USA. The parts were from Grizzly River Rampage, a rapids ride, that closed along with Opryland in 1997. That same year, the Vampire roller coaster was removed due to several malfunctions that had occurred earlier in the season. The ride would later reopen as Flashback at Six Flags New England in 2000. The park opened Road Runner Express, a wild mouse coaster, in 2000, and opened Skycoaster one year later. The Twisted Sisters roller coaster was renamed to Twisted Twins in 2002, upon the threat of a lawsuit from the band Twisted Sister.
For the 2003 season, Kentucky Kingdom opened Greezed Lightin', a shuttle loop roller coaster formerly located at Six Flags Over Georgia as Viper and before that as Tidal Wave at Six Flags Great America. It was named after another shuttle loop coaster in the chain at the now defunct Six Flags AstroWorld in Houston, Texas. The Quake was removed in 2004 because of malfunctions and was replaced by the Tornado water attraction in 2005. In 2007, Hurricane Bay was renamed to Six Flags Splashwater Kingdom and Deluge, the first hydromagnetic water coaster, along with Buccaneer Beach, a water play area for young children. Also, the Hellevator drop tower was renamed and rethemed to Superman: Tower of Power just in time for opening day 2007.
On June 21, 2007, an accident occurred on the Superman: Tower of Power drop tower which resulted in a 13-year-old girl having both feet amputated at the ankles after a cable fracture occurred on the ride. This accident caused several other drop towers to close down, including Drop Tower: Scream Zone at Cedar Fair parks. On November 29, 2007, it was announced that Superman: Tower of Power would not reopen for the 2008 season. The ride was removed in 2008, the park originally was to replace the ride with a new attraction for the 2008 season, but this never occurred. Instead, Mega Wedgie, a new water slide, was added to Splashwater Kingdom in 2008. Due to major debt by owner Six Flags, the entire northwest section of the park, which included Twisted Twins, Mile High Falls, and the Zeppelin spinning blimp ride, was completely closed for the remainder of Six Flags' operation of the park.