Kentucky Kingdom (SFKK, KK) Discussion Thread

[ytterbiumanalyst]

15 minutes or so

[Hilltopper39]

22 hours ago, thepoint4life23 said:

I am about 95% sure that I will be making my first trip to the park this summer. Any good food places and or breweries near the park. What hotel would people say is worth staying at.

 

Thanks

Drake's is a pretty solid place that I'm pretty sure has a location not far from Kentucky Kingdom. Just a typical sports bar but really good "bar food" and big beer selection. It's a chain that started in Lexington so it's kind of local, but they've got quite a few locations across the area now.

 

Depending on when you're there in the Summer Churchill Downs is right across the street from Kentucky Kingdom and has live Racing May-June. They do a Twilight Session on Thursdays and Downs after Dark on Saturday nights which is a lot fun. General admission is like $5 so it's a pretty fun way to spend an evening even if it's just to check the place out for a few hours. 

[DBru]

I'll definitely second Drake's! The food is totally delicious (and my face is on all the promos).

Bardstown Road is also full of fun bars and restaurants. Hammerheads comes to mind.

[prozach626]

Has anyone made it to the park?

[Midgetman82]

Twice, opening day three weekends ago and then yesterday. Opening day crowds were pretty intense, only did two rides.  Came back yesterday and it was really easy going, got every major coaster except Thunder Run which was closed.

[SharkTums]

^^Cinnamon Bread won't be open till July 1st so maybe wait?

Seriously though, if you follow us on Instagram we went last weekend...when there were some issues outside the front gate on a Saturday.  The employees and rides were all great, but it was VERY busy most of the day.  Storm Chaser and Lightning Run were running amazing. 

[prozach626]

Thanks for the info.

[Canobie Coaster]

Reading through old posts, I see the park used to close most of their coasters in the rain.

However, that was before the park was purchased by Herschend and I know Silver Dollar City and Dollywood are rather aggressive about running their rides in rain.  Does anyone know if Storm Chaser and Lightning Run still close in rain?

[grsupercity]

We went to beech bend last weekend. We drove right by Kentucky Kingdom and it killed me seeing the park as we drove by. I have not been here since 2016 and really need to get back. 

[ratdogg68]

Herschend has arrived:

Kentucky Kingdom & Hurricane Bay

@KentuckyKingdom

*SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT* Come see the Harlem Globetrotters for a week-long showcase from Saturday, June 19th through Friday, June 25th! Enjoy the Globetrotters showcase of their renowned ball handling and trick-shot skills at 2pm, 4pm, and 6pm daily. Visit http://KentuckyKingdom.com/Globetrotters

11:41 AM · Jun 7, 2021·Twitter Web App

[KBrylczyk]

On 3/3/2021 at 12:29 PM, prozach626 said:

It's neither cheap, easy, or practical to dig a 100 foot deep tunnel. Apparently Roller Coaster Tycoon is catching on again.

 

On 2/28/2021 at 10:55 AM, mikeykaise said:

What would be awesome is a 100 ft tall lift hill to make the FAA happy and then a 200 ft drop with a 100ft of it below ground, might need a chain or launch lift coming back up  but that would be awesome, not many coasters if any go 100 ft underground.

I'm sorry, I need to resurrect this convo.  Oblivion totally goes that deep, if not moreso.  It's a 180-foot drop but because Alton Towers can't breach the treeline it's only 65 feet tall.

[jarmor]

I'm sure it's been stated before but how was KK able to get away with Chang in the first place?!

[Midgetman82]

There's very weirdly specific spots in the park where they can build up to 200-ish feet high. Most of the other spots, up to roughly 100 feet, especially spots that line up with the adjacent Louisville Airport's runways (like where Storm Chaser sits). It's why they can have the Giant Wheel (150ft), Fear Fall (129ft) and Deep Water Dive (121ft) where they are.

[pianojohn]

Heading to the park next Thursday for my first visit since 2005!  Hitting the park for a few hours before heading north to KI and CoasterStock!

Any advice on crowds on a weekday? I arrive about 11am and will head straight to the park. 

I am only looking to ride Lightning Run, Storm Chaser, and Kentucky Flyer (all new credits) and get some cinnamon bread. Do any of these lines move particularly slow?  Hoping it's nice weather so most folks will head to the water park.

Thanks!  And I posted some pics from my last trip there! Most of these rides have been moved and/or retired!

[Hilltopper39]

Wow those pictures really take me back, lots of memories at that place during that era. I always kind of wondered what would have happened to Kentucky Kingdom is they'd of made slightly different choices with their new additions back in those days. Chang was cool at the time since it was a new concept with the standup and all, but then and now it's a style that isn't anyone's favorite.  The coaster lineup there back in the Six Flags days was always kind mediocre, but I wonder if things might have turned out differently if they had built say a B&M invert instead of a standup, and a solid GCI coaster instead of Twisted Twins (which was really never any good).

Obviously there's a lot of other factors involved but I just wonder if you switch two mediocre coasters out for two world class fan favorites if that place might have been more successful to the point that it wouldn't have sat dormant for as many years as it did. 

[Midgetman82]

Great photos! Takes me back to those days as well. I almost kind of miss the facade they did for Road Runner Express, being that it might've been the most themed coaster queue that's ever been at the park.

Lightning Run's line is typically the slowest, and I usually recommend getting it out of the way first. Otherwise, KY Flyer and Storm Chaser have some really easy waits early in the day. If you're there only to get the credits and bounce, you're gonna be there a lot shorter than you think. Don't forget to consider some re-rides if the wait seems short!

[Taylor Finn]

Hello!

We’re planning to visit on Saturday August 7th. Two of us are from PA, but my friends are from Cincinnati. I know there had been a time where certain folks just across the Ohio border didn’t qualify for the out of state passes. Is that true or would they be eligible?

Also, how have the crowds been on Saturdays? We really won’t have the luxury to go another day. We can obviously rope drop the park and head to Lightning Run. But will coaster lines generally be 0-30, 30-60 or 60+ minutes as the day goes on? Water park lines on nice Saturday?

Any other tips appreciated!

[prozach626]

Change's entrance looked really cool.

[Alex26841]

13 hours ago, Taylor Finn said:

Hello!

We’re planning to visit on Saturday August 7th. Two of us are from PA, but my friends are from Cincinnati. I know there had been a time where certain folks just across the Ohio border didn’t qualify for the out of state passes. Is that true or would they be eligible?

Also, how have the crowds been on Saturdays? We really won’t have the luxury to go another day. We can obviously rope drop the park and head to Lightning Run. But will coaster lines generally be 0-30, 30-60 or 60+ minutes as the day goes on? Water park lines on nice Saturday?

Any other tips appreciated!

Looks like we're going to be making our first visit here tomorrow (have a few hours to burn in Louisville so we figured why not) for a quick stop and I was also curious on weekend crowds. I don't think I've been to a park on a Saturday... ever? I intentionally will always avoid it, but I just figured the crowds would be manageable (and maybe that's a bad assumption). The weather looks super nice for tomorrow. 

I'm sure someone will answer you prior but I'll try and respond back later tomorrow night to let you know how the crowds were. 

[tndank]

It's a water park mainly. 

Coasters will have relatively short lines that move at a snails pace because they aren't exactly quick at ops there.

Have fun.  Great way to spend a few hours.  Get there at opening and you'll have no problems.

[prozach626]

Nice weather on a holiday weekend? eeeeeeeeeeeek. Good luck. Please let us know about your experience.

[Midgetman82]

Yuuup. I'd bet the park is likely to be pretty packed, especially Saturday.

I might drop by for a bit since I'll be in town too, maybe get a lap on something, and hopefully leave with a heap of that anticipated cinnamon bread to enjoy over the holiday weekend!

[Midgetman82]

To no one's surprise, yes, it was slammed. A gorgeous sunny day outside, so of course the park is heavily attended today! I dropped by for an hour just to get two quick laps on Storm Chaser, and get a certain loaf to take home to family!

Entered at noon. It felt like the majority of guests hit up the water park since it's pretty hot outside.

I got my two laps on Storm Chaser with very short waits!

Since I had just come in from out of town and had junk in my car's trunk, I couldn't stay long. So on my way out, I made a mandatory pit-stop to a newly opened building!

A sample of sweet offerings from the new Bluegrass Bakery.

And the moment we've all been waiting for. The coveted Herschend-style CINNAMON BREAD! It comes with either classic icing, apple glaze, or a bourbon glaze.

I took my lidded loaf home, warmed it back up in the oven for a few minutes and enjoyed that suuuper sweet and soft bread! VERY worth getting! The portion is big enough to share or take home to save.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Ooh, bourbon glaze cinnamon bread....

[Alex26841]

(OK, these pictures are no good but I had zero plans of writing a trip report or anything... but here we are)

So we ended up going Monday instead of Saturday. Every Louisville native we met throughout the weekend gave us a puzzled look at best and a flat out stank eye at worst when they found out we were stopping there, but eh... we had fun. I knew the line-up was stacked with airtime, which is all I really enjoy honestly. I'll try and keep this brief but I tend to ramble on these things.

FearFALL (X1) - I'd heard Larson drop towers were pretty good and this thing definitely delivered. I'm pretty much desensitized when it comes to 99.9% of rides at this point but this one had me a little on edge with the fairground aesthetic and feel haha. The tower felt taller than it should have and the drop was stomach-wrenching. I'd put this up there with Falcon's Fury and KI's drop tower as one of my favorites honestly.

Lightning Run (X3) - Our first ride was in the front seat and my final 2 rides were in the very back (which I preferred overall). This thing was great... and it's hard to believe more of these were not built. Butter smooth but still wild as hell... it felt like a shrunken down Phantom's Revenge / RMC hybrid with legit ejector airtime. The home park is Carowinds and I'd take this coaster over anything there aside from Fury 325. The first drop in the back seat might be my favorite drop anywhere. Super fun ride. Unfortunately the wait took about an hour the first time because they were only running one train. They tried to add the 2nd, and after about 20 minutes of downtime they finally got the transfer track to move 4 inches to the left before they said "nah, it ain't happenin'" and the maintenance guys just gave up and walked off.

Kentucky Flyer (X2) - Nice little family coaster with some legit airtime pops. I've had two somewhat recent hip surgeries this year and one of the hops had me in some pain because I flat out wasn't ready for it and my restraint was laughably loose, but we enjoyed it overall for what it was.

T3 (X1) - LOL. I mean, I knew what I was getting into... but even then I feel like I wasn't truly prepared. My morbid curiosity got the best of me. Holy shit this thing is terrible. We waited for the front and the pre-recorded operator spiel said something like "the front row is the most extreme seat on this ride. Please make sure to ride with your back against the seat..." along with other defensive-riding instructions. I told the GF just to skip it when we were about to board because I didn't want to ruin her day. The ride op told me they'd been getting broken / bloody noses from people headbutting the metal handlebars on the restraint... and afterwards I was like "well that makes sense". Absurdly intense, and it felt like the wheels suddenly became square about halfway down the drop. My restraint also tightened so badly my legs were starting to go numb on the break run. Just a laughably terrible coaster all-around as expected, but hey... I did it!

Thunder Run (X2) - Sleeper hit of the day by far. I'd heard it was underrated and we ended up loving it. Those PTC restraints were about 2-3 inches off my body and holy crap I was EJECTED every time on those first couple of hills. The track was smooth overall with just the right amount of ruggedness. They clearly take care of it. I guess this is sort of what Hurler was supposed to be. A legitimately good coaster I could ride all day.

Storm Chaser (X4) - We got 3 rides in the very front and one in the back; I'm definitely more of a back seat guy but the front was better overall IMO. This was only my 2nd RMC and I knew it would be fairly wild but I was still surprised by just how powerful and violent it felt for it's size. I've had an 11 PM, trim-less, lubed-up ride on Steel Vengeance on a warm summer night and the ejector airtime on this was just as good if not better than that insane SV ride. The first half is freaking awesome in every way; unfortunately everything after the double up over the entrance is almost TOO wild and borderline painful with the absurd airtime, but I loved this coaster overall. And because it's in such a weird spot it was a walk-on all day (I'm sure this is usually the case). I know opinions vary all over on this but I could have (and probably should have) rode it all day. Someone on Reddit mentioned it as feeling "crazy broken intense" and that pretty much sums it up. It was absolutely hauling. 

Overall impressions - We had fun. The park was absolutely slammed and the layout is odd for sure. It truly does feel like a water park with some rides randomly sprinkled about... the general layout and ride placements felt like a poorly planned out Planet Coaster creation haha. The operations weren't great but I've seen worse. I do love how every single major coaster here has the same standard operating procedure... first drop followed by a stupidly powerful airtime hill that tries it's best to yeet you off of the ride. I'm here for it. I'd be shocked if we ever went again, but it's hard to beat that out-of-state 2-day deal for $40 and I'm intrigued to see what Herschend does with the park. We were glad we stopped by.