| This article is about a former Six Flags theme park. The content of this page may not reflect the park in its current form, but as it was while operated by Six Flags. |
Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom was a Six Flags theme park in Louisville, Kentucky. The park was originally known as Kentucky Kingdom when it opened on May 23, 1987, until it was acquired by Premier Parks after the 1997 season.
After Premier Parks acquired Six Flags from Time Warner on April 1, 1998, most of Premier Parks' properties were converted into Six Flags parks as the result of a longtime deal made by the two companies. Kentucky Kingdom officially became Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom on June 5, 1998, and that season various Warner Bros. properties were introduced to the park, including DC Comics and Looney Tunes.
The park closed for the 2009 season on November 1, 2009, with plans to reopen the following year. However, due to Six Flags' corporate bankruptcy, the park never reopened under Six Flags ownership. A rejected lease amendment forced Six Flags to hand over control and ownership of the park to the Kentucky State Fair Board. Today, the property that was once Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom has reopened under Ed Hart, who reverted the name back to "Kentucky Kingdom".
History[]
Kentucky Kingdom era (1987–1998)[]
1987–1988: Original era[]
Kentucky Kingdom officially opened to the public on May 23, 1987. The park leased 10 acres at the property of the Kentucky Exposition Center. The park was started by investors from Texas, who wanted it to be an extension of the Kentucky State Fair. Kentucky Kingdom was divided into four different themed areas, "Carousel Plaza", "Old Louisville", "Kentucky Frontier", and "The Enchanted Forest", a children's area. The featured attraction at Kentucky Kingdom was a roller coaster named Starchaser. After just one season, the park closed and filed for bankruptcy after just one season of operation. Most of the contractors and vendors were left unpaid, with the rides being leased to other parks.
Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom's entrance in 1998.
1989–1997: Ed Hart era[]
Kentucky Kingdom remained closed through what would have been the 1989 season, after which the rights to operate it were purchased by Ed Hart and a group of investors. Hart's first step as the head of Kentucky Kingdom was paying the 227 vendors and contractors that had been unpaid before. Kentucky Kingdom reopened for the 1990 season with a new operators and management team. Despite the Starchaser being sold, it had remained on-site at the amusement park, allowing Hart to purchase it back. Additionally, new rides were added including Bluebeard's Bounty, The Enterprise, Whirling Dervish (later renamed Breakdance), and The Vampire 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 which were formerly used at Opryland USA in Tennessee.
In 1992, the Kentucky Kingdom made a large expansion and opened the Hurricane Bay water park along with the 150-foot-tall Giant Wheel. The following year a new slide complex opened in Hurricane Bay featuring four different slides. In 1994, the park opened Mile High Falls, the then world's tallest shoot-the-chute water ride. The children's roller coaster Roller Skater was also added that year. In 1995, T3 (formerly T2: Terror to the Second Power) was added. The ride was the first of its kind on the continent and the second only in the world, with the other being Condor at Walibi Holland in the Netherlands. Also in 1995, Hellevator, a 177-foot-tall Intamin drop tower was added just in time for the park's annual Halloween event. In 1996, the upcharge attraction, Top Eliminator Dragsters opened.
In 1997, the park made its biggest investment yet with the addition of Chang, a stand up Bolliger & Mabillard coaster that set the world records for stand up coasters in height, drop, length, speed, and number of inversions. Thrill Karts (also known as Kingdom Go Carts) were also added this year, but were an upcharge attraction.
In late 1997, Ed Hart sold the rights to operate the park to Premier Parks, which would then merge and eventually become Six Flags just months later. Ed Hart and Themeparks, LLC, had begun on planning a $5 million dueling wooden roller coaster to be named Double Trouble prior to the sell to Premier Parks. Once Premier took over operations, the decision was made to change the name of the new coaster from Double Trouble to "Twisted Sisters". Twisted Sisters officially opened to the public on June 21, 1998.
Through the 1990–1998 seasons the park was said to be one of the fastest growing amusement parks in the United States.
Rides added to the park during the Ed Hart years include Thunder Run (wooden roller coaster), The Quake, T2 (Terror to the Second Power), Twisted Twins (Twisted Sisters), Mile High Falls, Top Eliminator Dragsters, Chang (stand up roller coaster), Hellevator (Drop Tower), Roller Skater Kids coaster, Chaos, and Kingdom Go Carts.
Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom (1998–2010)[]
1998–2005: Kieran Burke era[]
On April 1, 1998, Premier Parks acquired Six Flags Theme Parks from Time Warner for $1.86 billion. In a deal made between the two companies, most of Premier Parks' existing properties would be rebranded as Six Flags parks over a period of several years. Kentucky Kingdom opened for the 1998 season on June 21, 1998, officially re-branded as the "new" Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. On opening day, the all-new Twisted Sisters wooden roller coaster opened to the public. Despite the re-branding, the park didn't change all that much until the following season.
In 1999, the new Looney Tunes Movie Town children's area was added, replacing King Louie's Playground. That season, the Batman Stunt Spectacular was also added in the newly-named Six Flags Arena. The Vampire roller coaster was also removed, after several malfunctions early in the season. The ride was relocated to Six Flags New England, where it became Flashback. A total re-theme of one section of the park to Gotham City had also been planned, but the idea was later scrapped for unknown reasons. The stand-up roller coaster Chang was supposed to become "The Riddler's Revenge", and T2 was supposed to become "Batman: The Ride". Both were repainted for their new themes. On almost all marketing material, Batman: The Ride was being advertised as a new attraction for 1999, but it never materialized more than a change to an all-black color scheme. The only Gotham City attraction that opened as originally planned was The Penguin's Blizzard River (formerly Raging Rapids River Ride), a name and theme later used at Six Flags New England.
For the 2000 season, the new wild mouse roller coaster Road Runner Express was added to the southwest of the park near Greezed Lightnin' and Bluebeard's Bounty. The new roller coaster, targeted at families, was based on the Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner episodes of Looney Tunes.
In 2002, the Twisted Sisters roller coaster was forced to be renamed "Twisted Twins" upon the threat of a lawsuit from the band Twisted Sister, almost four years after it opened. Six Flags would then go on to work with Dee Snider, lead singer of Twisted Sister, on the Van Helsing's Curse Fireworks Spectacular at Six Flags Great Adventure.
The front gate to Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom in its final years as a Six Flags park.
2005–2010: Mark Shapiro era[]
In 2007, Hurricane Bay was renamed "Splashwater Kingdom" and along with the new name came Deluge, the first water coaster attraction in North America. Also that season, the Hellevator was rethemed and renamed "Superman: Tower of Power", however the ride's life at the park would not last much longer.
On June 21, 2007, an accident occurred on the Superman: Tower of Power drop tower which resulted in a 13-year-old girl having her leg amputated after a cable fracture occurred on the ride. The ride was finally removed in 2008. The park originally was planning 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 (which lasted to early 2010).
On September 21, 2009, Kentucky Kingdom confirmed that Chang was being removed for the addition of Bonzai Beach, a new water park region with a separate theme from the existing Splashwater Kingdom. Bonzai Beach would have opened in the 2011 season to coincide with Six Flags' 50th anniversary that year. The park closed for the season on November 1, 2009, with the intention of reopening for the 2010 season.
However on February 4, 2010, amidst a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Six Flags announced that they were ceasing operations of Kentucky Kingdom due to the rejection of an amended lease by the Kentucky State Fair Board. This led to negotiations between the board and Six Flags, and on July 25, 2010, Six Flags announced that they were giving up the property rights to the park in exchange for some of the rides that they installed, and through Ed Hart the Kentucky State Fair Board purchased the land for $2.35 million.
After several attempts to revive the park after its closure, Ed Hart and his team of investors took over the park and re-opened it as Kentucky Kingdom on May 24, 2014, with Six Flags not financially involved in any way. Splashwater Kingdom was reverted back to its previous name, Hurricane Bay.
Location[]
Attractions[]
Roller coasters[]
Attractions[]
- Giant Wheel
- Rio Grande
- Bluebeard's Bounty
- Thrill Karts
- Hook's Lagoon
- Mile High Falls
- Flying Dutchman
- Superman: Tower of Power
- Enterprise
- Rainbow
- International Carousel
- Skycoaster
- Chaos
- Quake
- Slingshot
- Breakdance
Entertainment[]
- Six Flags Arena
- Six Flags Ampitheater
Looney Tunes Movie Town[]
- Main article: Looney Tunes Movie Town (Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom)
Attractions[]
- A"wound" the World in 80 Seconds
- Yosemite Sam's Hollywood Flight School
- Taz's Filmworks
- Bugs Bunny's Big Band Carousel
- Daffy's Star Parade
- Sylvester and Tweety's Pounce and Bounce
- Looney Tunes ACME Fun Factory
Shops[]
External links[]
- Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom at Six Flags (archived 2007-03-15, 2000-06-20)
Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom at Coasterpedia
Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom at Logopedia- Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom at the Looney Tunes Wiki
- Kentucky Kingdom at the Roller Coaster DataBase
- Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom at the Roller Coaster Wiki
- Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom at Wikipedia
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