KENTUCKY KINGDOM TO CLOSE

[AV Matt]

I'd rather it go to a small park than another Six Flags anyway. But it would be neat to bring it back to Great America. For those that don't know, the loop on it is from the former Tidal Wave at California's Great America (now Cedar Fair) and the rest of the ride was originally Tidal Wave at Illinois's Great America (Six Flags). And AstroWorld's more intense shuttle loop (also Greezed Lightning) is still in storage in Texas, as the park that bought it from AstroWorld was unable to find a suitable site to construct it on.

I always thought it would be cool to have one of these on the lake at Indiana Beach. But Knoebels is another perfect location for an antique looping coaster.

[GADVwow]

Holiday World Expects Positive Bounce From Kentucky Kingdom Closing:

Word that Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville is closing brought a mixed reaction from

Will Koch, president of Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari here.

“It’s tough, always sad when another park closes,” Koch said Friday morning. “We know the people (employees) over there.”

But he said Holiday World also sees it as an opportunity to draw even more customers from the Louisville area.

“We would love to offer our park to their fans and we think we have the capacity,” said Koch.

He said while Holiday World’s attendance — just over 1 million annually — has remained fairly flat since 2006, the family-owned park has continued to open new rides and make other improvements and expects corporate picnic business to rebound this year....

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/feb/05/holiday-world-expects-positive-bounce-kentucky-kin/

[nitrorox1414]

Just a question.

Would Ceder Fair be happy this is happening?

[GADVwow]

Although Kings Island may pick up a wee bit of business from this closing, Holiday World is far more apt to pick up business because of it.

Right now, Cedar Fair has many more problems of its own to contend with.

[jimmybjammin]

really depends where someone lives right? if I lived east of 75, I would probably pick wherever is closest, which might be KI. Or is KI really that bad?

[AV Matt]

Let's just say that Kentucky Kingdom was a stop on the way to  better places and Kings Island (for me at least) is a multi-day destination.

[dkny6363]

KK is the kind of place that if they had a 2 hr sundown plan you'd probably do that?

[GADVwow]

No way.  The park had a reputation for having a gang/thug/bad neighborhood problem at the end...and the last two hours of the day could indeed be perhaps the most unpleasant. 

One of the things I never understood was that, with this reputation, the park had wrestling shows!  Of all things.  And then was shocked, shocked I say, at the conduct of some of the people who showed up for them.

If you are really interested in Kentucky Kingdom, what happened there and the details, I highly recommend this thread on Kings Island Central:

http://www.kicentral.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=20717

I'd pay particular attention to posts there by Shaggy (especially his post 88 on page 6) , who knows the area and that particular park well, and to The Interpreter (among others, post 46 on page 4), a long time visitor to that park, who went there more than 30 times the year it converted to Six Flags, even though he lived three hours away at the time.

[AV Matt]

KK was a place you stopped at to get a cheap Six Flags pass or you stopped there for a couple of hours because you already had a Six Flags pass. If you didn't do the waterpark, a couple of hours was usually plenty of time to enjoy the coasters and any other rides you wanted to take a spin on. Unless you're Bubba. In that case, Greezed Lightning was never open. :-/

[GADVwow]

And play passes this year were...$29.99.  Regular season passes were $39.99.  That should have told the Fair Board something.

[ChuckR]

SFKK wasn't that bad, I wish I did the waterpark when I was there. It sucks for all the locals around the park though...

Let's hope we get some flats out of it though!

[GADVwow]

This article quotes a representative of the fair board who contends the rides belong to the fair board, or at least some of them do:

...Harold Workman, Ky. Fair Board President, said, “Six Flags removed the Chang rollercoaster ride. They requested they able to remove it through me they requested that under the pretense that they were going to expand the water park and after showing me diagrams and pictures of what they were going to expand and what they were going to add and so on.  So, we're a little disappointed in the fact they removed a ride but never really moved on expanding the water park.”

He said that at that point, the way the lease is worded makes it sounds like Chang could have belonged to the Fair Board because it is affixed to the ground.

Workman says Six Flags wanted to pay no rent for nine years remaining on the lease.  The offer also included a share of profits, if there was any.

http://www.whas11.com/news/local/Whats-next-for-Six-Flags-Fair-Pres-says-rides-might-not-be-going-anywhere-83772172.html

[GADVwow]

It's one month before school's out, and there are no signs that the Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom property could reopen for the summer.

Legal hurdles are in the way -- hurdles that started with a lease dispute and still leave an uncertain future for the Louisville economy and hundreds of potential workers.

Walk to the front gate of what used to be Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, and you'll see the "U" is missing from the sign.

And "you" likely won't be enjoying a ride or a dip in the pools here any time soon....

No one wants to touch anything, until the question of who owns the rides is decided.

http://www.fox41.com/Global/story.asp?S=12435515

[GADVwow]

KENTUCKY KINGDOM WON'T OPEN THIS YEAR:

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20100506/NEWS01/5060350/Kentucky+Kingdom+won+t+reopen+this+year