First off,Thanks for the wickly awesome trip report! I'm a long time follower but first time register'er (Seriously, how hard is it to pick JUST ONE picture and shrink it down to itty, bitty, barely can see it size?!?!?).
I'm a Niagara Falls born boy, so my family, ironically despite living in a major tourist destination, took vacations anywhere other than home. That turned out wonderfully because I grew up playing in the classics: Kennywood, Dutch Wonderland, Canada's Wonderland, CONEY ISLAND, Kings Island, Cedar Point, etc. I remember the very first time it was decided that instead of going to see midways, scary haunted houses, tunnels of love and carousels we were going caving in Mammoth Cave Kentucky. I.........WAS........PISSED! What the hell was this crap? "You made me sit in the back of this cramp, uncomfortable, hot- as* car so we can go down into a wet, scary hole?" Well, after my bitc*in on the way there, the Cave turned into something pretty cool (and somewhere I've returned to visit as an adult) and my change of attitude resulted in an unexpected visit to Louisville's Kentucky Kingdom. This was the mid 1990's and as I can remember is how much FUN I had! What a cool place! Hell, I think I wore a KK (just two K's, for the record) shirt till I ripped it in High School!
Later on, as an adult, I went back to visit the year it closed, hoping that I could relive some of my youthful memories, which with time had been elevated to nearly mythic levels, but ended up heart-broken. The place had lost it's charm, was dirty, was practically empty (minus little packs of nasty teens) and had become a pretty crummy Sovereignty. Quite frankly, from what I've seen in these pictures, closing for nearly-half-a-decade was probably the best thing that could have happened to Kentucky Kingdom. Ed Hart and his team really worked their backsides off and it shows! I can't wait to visit again!
