mikeykaise

No, Ed Hart had reopened it the first time after it closed in the early 90's and ran it. He turned it around and was setting attendance records when he ran it. Six Flags bought it from him and when they couldn't reach an agreement with the Fair Board they locked the doors and moved Chang & the Wild Mouse to their other parks and the park remain shuttered for 2 yrs when the FB finally came to an agreement with Ed Hart.

Not something the old powers that be would have done that is for sure. They would have announced something before making the change. I wonder if it could be an oops that it was left off the park map, maybe?

Andy, You have to join the Holiwood Nights page on FB, Paula posted it there. Here's the link to the HW Nights group page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/325861871036/

Holiday World on May 15th is giving free admission, a Voyage photo walk back, ERT, and a meal to coaster club enthusiasts according to their Holiwood nights page: Are you planning to be in the area on Thursday, May 15? If you're a card-carrying member of one of our partner clubs, you'll receive free admission! Plus a Voyage photo walkback, a bit of ERT and a meal. Any takers?

The other factor in drop towers when it comes to Kentucky Kingdom is that it sits right next to the airport so they are limited on how high up they can go. I'm sure Ed would have loved to put in a 200 ft+ tower.... that would be a cool affect being 200 feet up in the air and a UPS 757 passes right under your feet as long as no one got hurt by a passing airplane that is.

I hate to say it since I'm a fellow Beast lover too but the last time I rode it at Coasting for Kids in 2012 to me it seemed a lot slower and not as thrilling, would love to see some work done to get it back to the way it used to be.

I wonder if they could possibly run 3 trains. When one is coming down the drop another one could be in the station and the 3rd one could be in the back 40 and all 3 still wouldn't be close to each other.

I noticed that as well, thought it might have been a new coaster technology... jump the gap!

holy moly.... its white out on the webcams, can't even see banshee its snowing so hard up north.

This morning while sipping my coffee and watching the local morning news before heading to work, I about pee'd my pants when I saw the first KK commercial advertising season passes.... so excited, its almost here.... 2 more months!

It surprised me to see them brushing the paint on, I always figured amusement parks spray-painted rides.

I think its a good assumption to make especially if both Natalie and Dan are both involved. Pat hasn't been around Holiday World ever since Lori took over and Dan was forced out. I don't see Pat sitting idle or going into early retirement she's such an active person it would take a lot to keep her out.

I sent Dan a private message to say congratulations and he said unfortunately Rampage won't open in May. He is saying it needs track & train repairs but they will make it much better as soon as possible.

All I can say is this is a big loss for HW, Dan & Pat are awesome and I love how my first two years of HW Nights they both dressed up in costume for the Friday night welcoming and then on Saturday at the picnic they would go out of their way to walk around and talk to total strangers. My 3rd one was with Lori and the kids doing it and in my opinion it just wasn't that exciting, the music was so loud you couldn't hardly hear the person next to you, and I never saw Matt, Lori, or the children walking around talking to the attendees, to me they just kind of stood off to one side and kind of talked among themselves.

so will it be two separate parks or is this a start of a chain of parks possibly, with Lori running the one in Indiana and Dan running the one in Alabama?

Curse you Mother Nature, I would love to be able to do this again but thanks to the record number of snow days our kids are in school until the 12th now so June 8th is going to be a school night and with the events not wrapping up until 11 pm we wouldn't get back to Louisville until 1 am or so.... I hate winter!

I had doubts that it would ever reopen too. Glad to see it happening and hope the locals embrace the park so it can continue to expand and improve. Yeah, I also had massive doubts it would ever reopen. I really hope it does better this time around! I have no doubts that it will. I imagine the season passes at $59 are being snapped up quickly and it's definitely a no brainer for us locals and the other thing is too is that there was so much popularity for the hiring fair that they had to shut off the application process because so many people applied. I think it'll be back and have nothing to worry about as long as Hart doesn't decide to sell it again to someone who'll take his hard work and run it into the ground like Six Flags did.

On their fb page, they said that the weather hasn't hampered them and they were only a week or two from erecting steel. Here's the link and article: http://www.wdrb.com/story/24617959/ky-kingdom-construction-not-bothered-by-harsh-winter "LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) - With five inches of snow on the ground in the Louisville area, riding a roller coaster or swimming in a wave pool may seem a long way away. But at Kentucky Kingdom, the clock is ticking as the amusement park's grand opening date in May approaches. Despite the harsh winter weather that seems to have no end, work to restore Kentucky Kingdom has continued in full force during the past few weeks. WDRB News visited the park recently, and it was a very cold day with temperatures hovering in the low teens. Despite the bitter cold, there was plenty of construction activity underway. "We've lost a day or two, but with the commitment we have it is 24/7, we make the day up on weekends if we have to," said Communications Director John Mulcahy. One area of activity is the site of a new coaster under construction, on the east side of the park. "Site preparation is underway for the new Lightning Run coaster, which is our new signature coaster," Mulcahy said. During the next couple of weeks, workers will begin erecting the steel and then the area will really begin to look like a coaster. Kentucky Kingdom's new water park will be twice as big as in years past. Mulcahy said a 13- story tower will be built that will be part of what will be the nation's tallest body water slide. One area the general public probably won't ever see is a new metal tech services building that has just been completed. Mulcahy explained, "This is part of a $2 million commitment that we have made to upgrade the infrastructure and the behind-the-scenes facilities necessary to keep Kentucky Kingdom up and running as a top notch operation." Despite one of the coldest winters Kentuckiana has seen in years, Mulcahy says the park is still set to open on time. "It's full steam ahead and everyone is committed to that May 24 opening," he said."

The Beast would be even better like it was originally if they removed the fins that they put on the first drop and the drop curve into the corkscrew. I rode it at Coasting for Kids 2012 for the first time in years and it was much slower than it used to be.

It's definitely exciting to see how popular the park already is and how good it is for the local economy. I can't wait to use my season pass might even have to go on Opening Day. Here's a quote about the online application system from KK's fb page. They had 7,000 apps for 1,000 positions, amazing response: Wow! We've received over 7,000 applications so far! In response to the overwhelming number of applications being received it is necessary to temporarily suspend the online application process as management continues to evaluate those applications. PLEASE DO NOT CALL – this process will start January 13th and continue through mid-February. Thank you!

so excited to see footers being dug, only 4 more months till its time to break the cherry on the season pass, if they combine Twisted Sisters I kind like the thought of a Dr. Jeckell & Mr. Hyde name, that'd be unique and awesome.

I'm more interested in the "hard to miss" covered bridge for the Thanksgiving section I would assume they are covering the bridge the enters into Thanksgiving. I think so too but it was fun to stand on the bridge and watch Voyage zoom under you so hopefully the sides will still be open so you can still get up close & personal with the Voyage fly-by.

They should have stopped at Iceland and gotten directions but no, they insisted on sailing on.

I know there are fellow IT'ers besides myself that call TPR home and thought I would share their fb posting just in case anyone might be interested, I would but I lack the management experience, and wife already said no anyways because she said I wouldn't get any work done that I'd be on the coasters all day. She's probably right about that one. " Holiday World & Splashin' Safari Please share this with any IT professionals who are looking for a fun and challenging career change: http://www.holidayworld.com/apply Thanks!"

I'm super excited, as part of the kid's xmas presents this year, we bought 4 season passes for KK! Never been a season pass holder before and the deal with KK's is waaaaayyy too good to pass up... ready for Christmas and May!