Collin on Coasters: The New Kentucky Kingdom

Well, like I promised, here is my trip report to the brand newly remodeled Kentucky Kingdom. It's time to get excited people! In my last blog post I set up a lot of the back story about the park itself. To recap; I explained how a man by the name of Ed Hart (whom I admire and respect a lot for bringing this park back to life) bought the park in 1989 and helped grow the park into a huge success through the 1990's to the tune of over one million visitors per season. It was then that he sold the park at the height of the success to Premier Parks and then Six Flags took over. Unfortunately Six Flags did the park no favors and attendance dwindled. A serious accident to a teenage girl in 2007, followed by Six Flags closing an entire section of the park, forced the park to close for good in 2009. Ed Hart was determined to make the park a success again and in the summer of 2013 he came in and spent over 40 million dollars to renovate and revitalize the park. And let me tell you he did just that.

Kentucky Kingdom is back!

I was able to visit Kentucky Kingdom on Saturday, May 16th of this year. Since I was on limited time, due to the enthusiast event I attended, I was only in the park from noon to around four in the afternoon. I didn't care though because I was about to be back at the Kingdom! As I was getting close to the park a phrase came to mind from the movie Shawshank Redemption; "I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head." That was a true statement for me at that moment right before I pulled into the parking lot. I was indeed very excited to see the park I grew up going to as a kid open again. The park was alive again. There were cars everywhere and people with smiles on their faces. It was an awesome sight.

I see you Lightning Run.

I parked the car and made my way to the front entrance. All of the new paint on the buildings looked great. They really gave the entrance a fresh and lively look with the paint job. In fact I was impressed with the paint colors all over the park. You will see some of this with the pictures I will share in this blog post. As I entered the park I was greeted with friendly smiling employees that said hello. It was a big change from the last time I entered the park in 2008. So here I was back in my home park again and joy rushed over me. I took my time soaking in the atmosphere as I walked around the front of the park. Everything looked new again and there were people everywhere.

Front Entrance looks Great

Love the new colors

Today's itinerary in the park was as follows:
Noon to 1pm - lunch
1pm to 3pm - Extra ride time on Lightning Run and Thunder Run

By this point it was around 12:30 pm so I decided to head to the picnic pavilions where they were serving food. They served prime rib, kettle corn, roasted potatoes, and roasted brussel sprouts. It was delicious. After I downed my food quickly I headed towards Thunder Run the parks wooden coaster for the ERT session. Ed Hart spent one million dollars to fully re-track this ride since it had been sitting for four years. It was in bad shape but the re-track work was fabulous. This wooden coaster once known to be rough became smooth and re-rideable. In fact it was probably the best rides I have ever had on it during this visit. It was like a brand new ride again. I was able to ride it four times in a row in the space of about 45 minutes. Thunder Run was back to bringing the thunder again!

Thunder Run is back!

Next up was Lightning Run. This is the parks brand new seven million dollar roller coaster. I waited about an hour for this ride and let me tell you it was worth it. I am so glad I got to ride as they had just cleared state inspection the day before. All I can say is that this ride was remarkable. After riding it just once I could tell it was something special. The first drop is only 100 feet high but taken at 80 degrees gives the ride some incredible intensity. Then you take into account they packed the ride into a small area and you get some incredible forces throughout the ride. There is ejector air time and surprise moments everywhere on this coaster. It has twists, turns, and hills all over the place. The ride also has one of the best endings of any coaster I've ever ridden. I knew instantly after hitting the brake run it was a top ten coaster for me. I finally decided it ranked #4 on my list. Lightning Run in my opinion is a destination coaster which means it is a coaster you do not want to pass up if you are in the area and have some time for amusement park fun. Trust me!

Simply Awesome!

Yup, still awesome!

At this point it was after 3:00 pm and I figured I would just walk around the park taking a few more pictures before leaving. I was just so happy that the park was open again. I got to see so many familiar sights. I walked around the water park area and was blown away at all of the new additions there. Ed Hart put a lot of money into this area of the park and doubled the water parks size. The 121 foot body slide looked unreal and the speed slide next to it looked like fun too. They added a new family lagoon area with cabanas and it looked fantastic. They also have a really neat poolside bar/patio area that overlooks the lagoon pool and new adventure river. The water park had gone from a once just ok water park to now a great looking park with nice water attractions.

121 Feet High = WOW

New enclosed slide

Bar and patio area

New slide complex with family lagoon pool

I was able to see the once shut down ("thanks" Six Flags) Mile High Falls and let me tell you it is a great looking ride. It was even greater to see it up and running again. For some reason Six Flags decided to just close it for no apparent reason before the start of the 2008 season. They also closed the dual wooden coaster Twisted Sisters (now Twisted Twins) as well at the same time (grrrr Six Flags). Don't worry Ed Hard is going to revamp the Twisted Twins ride and re-open it in 2016. I cannot wait for that to happen. I have seen a lot of rides similar to Mile High Falls, where you ride a boat up a giant lift, the boat makes a turn, and then plummets down the big hill into the big splash element. This is by far and away the best water boat ride splash I have ever seen on any of them! I have the picture below to prove it! I kinda wish I had sucked it up and rode this on my visit but I knew I would have gotten completely soaked so I passed. Please note in the final picture the boy on the bridge running for his life from the giant wave of water about to hit him (haha). I used to love standing on that platform and letting that big wall of water rush over me. Fun times.

Calm...

...before the...

BIGGEST SPLASH EVER!

Also in this area of the park you have a ride that was restored in The Flying Dutchman (pictured below). It is a great kids ride and looked so nice with all of the new colors. On the other side of that ride they have the kids roller coaster the Roller Skater. It looks like a great ride for kids. This area of the park has really grown up landscaping wise. The trees and plants all looked very nice. Kudos to the park for adding all of the new landscaping everywhere especially towards the front of the park. Oh, I should also mention that the park has an incredible ferris wheel (pictured below).

More nice colors

Awww pretty

I made my way back to the front of the park and before I left stopped at the main parks gift shop to look around. I was excited to see what type of new merchandise they had since the last park merchandise there was Six Flags branded stuff back in 2009. They had a great selection of items from shirts, toys, cups, and candy. I ended up buying the best shirt ever for me (pictured below). When I saw the shirt I knew right then and there I would buy it. The best part was that is was reasonably priced too. They also had some University of Kentucky and Louisville shirts which I found interesting.

Pretty much says it all here.

Go Big Blue!

I have to say that I really enjoyed my visit to the park. I was only at the park for around three hours but I had lunch, walked around taking pictures, rode five times between the two roller coasters, and got the brand new Lightning Run coaster credit. It was so great to be back in the park again! They now have over 50 attractions with rides restored from the original park and others new. The food prices looked to be very reasonable at under $10 per person for a meal. In the next few years Kentucky Kingdom will add more rides and restore some of their other rides including two roller coasters and the river rapids ride. I am very excited to see what the future holds for Kentucky Kingdom. What Ed Hart has done for the part is nothing short of remarkable. It sat vacant for many years and left to rot but Ed Hart came in and totally restored everything. He has managed to bring the charm back to the park that was there in nineties. I hope you have enjoyed a trip to the new Kentucky Kingdom. I would encourage anyone to visit if they are in the area. Whether it is Thunder Run or Lightning Run I ask you this one question; can you conquer the storm?