Shaggy

I happened to get in touch with a contact on the State Fair Board. As of this morning, it seems that it's all a done deal and SFKK will be removed. The way they put it, both sides are prepared to walk away as the relationship has not been amicable for sometime. They blame a lack of revenue and attendace for SFKK's inability to meet lease options. In other words, losses were predicted for the park this season that would have prevented the parks ability to make the lease and restructure. The removal of signage continues. It's all the buzz here in Louisville... and as of now most fingers are pointing at the State Fair Board and Jerry Abramson (Mayor.) But I think it goes much deeper than that. It's been clear that Shapiro has never liked SFKK and considered it a mis-directed eyesore from the time he took the reigns. I expect when push came to shove a few years ago, Shapiro recognized that they needed to completely redirect the park to become an actual profit center. Thus the initial directive to focus on the waterpark. Some here on the message board insist that SFKK was profitable... it was only mildly so and only recently. Debts incurred by it's purchase were paid off only within the past 7 years or so. Those huge debts came from the initial purchase from Ed Hart, the local Louisville businessman that built Kentucky Kingdom into a "large park." (It had been owned prior and operated as a kiddie park.) He installed HUGE rides in the park right and left season after season, but did so paying "on time." He then sold out to Premier... not Six Flags. Premier then bought Six Flags and began the branding process only to incurr the large debts owed ride manufacturers and overspend while brading parks. Several of the rides in KK, when purchased by Premier, were actually being "rented" from manufacturers like Chance and Vekoma. Initially Premier had desired to own many parks, brand them all SF and operate them all as a huge entity. They quickly realized that they had to operate each park on it's own merit, as they could not continue to rob Peter to pay Paul... or rob SFGAm to pay SFWOA. As a result, the SF parks started operating as their own profit center. SFKK was a low profit park, and suffered year after year without new installs and dwindling upkeep. The small parks that had been branded/overexpanded could not support themselves and immediately began to falter thus SFWOA, SF Astroworld, SFDL, SFA, SFEG and more to come. In the meantime, operating costs at KK escalated to the point of necessitating changes to park operations that crippled attendance. They shut rides, limited operating hours, sold rides, shortened the operating calendar, and failed to entice others through new installs. At the worst time possible, the Lassiter accident occurred scaring even more locals from attendance. Finally, SFKK is on the "bus line" and a couple of gang related incidents at the park have scared familes away. It's well known (although it's not pc to mention) that a certain dynamic of teen clientelle made the park miserable and avoidable on weekends and evenings. KK has been plagued with issues from it's inception. The Lassiter incident was not the only accident in the park that prompted attraction removals. Starchaser and Vampire were both removed due to ride incidents covered by the news media. There was a very ugly public divide when KK purchased and demolished low income housing on Crittenden Drive to build Twisted (then) Sisters. Many low income families were displaced and given little notice of the loss of their homes, ultimately it cleaned up the area. There was always the ongoing fight over the height variance at the park. Twisted (then) Sisters lies just 3 feet below the flight path for the airport. The loss of rides and attractions at SFKK over a 10 year period is staggering. Off the top of my head I know of 17. By comparison, they have installed only 6, 3 of which are waterslides and one is an upcharge. Had the park not closed, T2 and Twisted Twins were due to be removed during the 2010-2011 off season. I know this for a fact. I believe that when Shapiro submitted a feasible, yet drastically reduced, lease option to the State Fair, it obviously allowed the park the funds to remodel/re-structure the park into a waterpark. Such a change would have reduced the operating season even more, thus an immense discounted lease was imperative. The State Fair balked, thinking SF would have no option than to agree to continue to operate as is. They can't, so as of this morning, the plug is still being pulled. It's pretty easy to see what has happened at the park. IMO it's sad that the park is likely being demolished, but it's also not a huge loss.

Don't be surprised what a difference a week can make... ;-)

I don't think anyone at SF ever dreamed of re-locating rides to other parks by the opening of the 2010 season. It could be a power play... a very smart one IMO... but then again it seems Shapiro has slammed the door shut, persay. The next few days will be very telling. The Mayor is in a panic, that's obvious by the news coverage. Also, the Fair Board is apparently holding emergency meetings because they, as the 11:00 news put it, "Were surprised by the news" and that they learned "via the media release." It seems the Fair had held SFKK by the nuts for so long, they failed to notice that the owners grew a new, and bigger set. As someone else pointed out... once the Cardinals leave for the new arena and if SFKK is demolished... the Fairgrounds is hosed. The loss in parking revenue alone is borderline devistating. Shaggy

Only part? It sits on 58 acres. 38 are leased from the Fair. Either way, it would be a crippling loss to the Fairgrounds. The Mayors office and State Fair Board are scrambling... it's apparent by their statements all over the local Louisville news. IMO, It could be strategic posturing on Shapiro's part... he's obviously playing hardball. But it does seem pretty certain since they've gone to the trouble of closing the website and publishing a rather detailed closure statement. This should not come as a shock to anyone, quite frankly. When a park suffers in reputation year after year, then begins an ongoing effort to remove, not operate and sell rides, not to mention operate on extremely abbreviated hours then the writing is on the wall. Shaggy

Yes, but from 0.17-0.22 it is the Arrow suspended coaster. The commercial was a conglomeration of B-roll footage from 3 parks... Kings Dominion, Great America and Kings Island. The coaster is obviously Anaconda at Dominion as is the flume, the invert is Top Gun at Great America, and the ice show/waterpark/around park footage is from KI. The footage of the riders on the suspended is green screen. They used a suspended car that had already been produced and edited in the "moving" effects. FYI, the ice show footage is a give-away because of the skater being able to turn a back-flip. He was a featured skater at KI, and had quite a fan following.

Bingo! You are a genious! Thanks for figuring this out. :-)

Great photo! Did you take that? LOL... no, but I do have a picture of me in front of the Bronson Gate ;-) Shaggy

Ouch, I am old... I can't believe folks don't immediately recognize the Bronson Gate. Did no one here see Sunset Boulevard? ;-) http://dearoldhollywood.blogspot.com/2009/01/sunset-boulevard-ready-for-my-close-up.html

I am having the same issue with the toolbar being located in the middle of the reply box. Very, very frustrating. Is there not a fix?

The two least photographed rides that have ever existed at KI are the Rotor and Bavarian Beetle. It's worth noting also that in this picture, the Rotor is shown to the right of the Bavarian Beetle. When the Wild Animal Habitat opened in 1974, the Rotor was relocated to the left of the Beetle so a path to Coney could be placed from WAH. Re attendance: KI's largest attendance year was, if memory serves me correctly, 1996 (Outer Lmits year.) Shaggy

LOL, sorry about that! I just can't bring myself to part with the Ki stuff... too near and dear to my heart. I beg your forgiveness ;-)

About once a year I purge (via Ebay) stuff I haven't looked at or used in years. Many of you know I am an avid collector of all sorts. When I was an avid coaster enthusiast, amusement park collectibles were a part of that. Well, time marched on, my interests wained and I am selling most of the park postcards I've picked up over the past 10 years or so. I put them up on Ebay in groups for miniscule amounts for those that may want them for their collection. Some of you may be interested in other parks, so I thought I'd let you know via this forum. Why this forum? The postcards are from all sorts of US parks... but none from KI, those I am hanging on to ;-) Shaggy If interested, check it out on Ebay - user name Shagscooby (of course!)

The Paramount's Kings Island website did have POV of their coasters online for quite sometime. They were even downloadable. Shaggy

In BGW's case, the Burgermeister is the emcee of the Festhaus. He serenades the attendees with traditional German/Bavarian folk songs, introduces the Oompah band and dancers and most importantly leads the raising of the steins. http://www.themeparkbrochures.net/1997/bgw1997_7.html

So sad to hear this... I had the pleasure of seeing him year after year as a kid growing up near BGW. I talked with him a few times and he was indeed a gentleman. It's a big loss. http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-local_ob...0,6623827.story

The proposed Flying Dutchman for KI was going to take the place of King Cobra. It obviously ended up at Six Flags GL... and Paramount retained money from that install... believe it or not. (Paramount partenered with Vekoma in the development of the ride and owned rights to the design.) Shaggy

Prior to SOB, a wooden coaster had been considered for the Swan Lake area. Chances are good that Paramount would have also removed the lake for the sake of an attraction. Shaggy

Part of the consideration of the move of the Flight of Fear coasters involved a total re-theme. Surveys were sent to various folks... myself included... that gave different options. I can't recall the specifics of the potential FOF re-theme, but do recall it having something to do with MTV - ala Rock n Roller Coaster and it was to be called "Soundwave." Here's the rendering: Another little known fact is that there were MANY proposed theme changes to significant parts of KI. One shocker is that plans were in the works to re-theme Coney Mall to "TV LAND." TV Land was supposed to re-vitalize the neglected back corner of the park and would have been anchored by the install of "Addams Family Values - The Ride" that was slated to have it's entrance built in the general area of the Flight Commander pad. The park was close to securing the rights to the characters for the attraction when the Countess that owned them passed away leaving the trademark in limbo. That negated the install and the park passed on the ride unit itself. You can still ride it though... it became "Mystery Mine" at Dollywood instead. Also of note is that originally Tomb Raider was to have it's entrance placed in the area in which the Addams ride was later proposed. When the decision to remove KCKC was made - TR was re-surveyed for that spot. Well prior to that, Drop Zone was originally slated for this same area... but the park passed on it and expanded the waterpark instead. The original Drop Zone proposed for KI was instead installed at PCW. KI didn't get theirs for years... and got a much larger version. Drop Zone and Face/Off were last minute decisions provoked by the decision to build SOB. Once the park knew that they wanted to build SOB, they decided to overhaul the sad Adventure Village area of the park and remove all traces of the former Safari Theme. They quickly made the decision to add the two rides the year prior to SOB, which explains why PKI installed a small foot-print shuttle instead of a full circuit invert. In addition, prior to the decision to remove the Safari Monerail, PPD&E actually drew up plans for an attraction called "Movierail" that would have used the Safari Trams. Guests would have passed by recreations of Paramount Movie Scenes and iconic tv sets. For instance the Brady Bunch House. I know it seems far fetched, but trust me... it's all true. Shaggy

I would expect KI's next coaster might likely be a B&M full circuit invert. Shaggy

For those of you not in the know about "Fresh Horses" the Molly Ringwald movie flmed at KI... here's the clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6LPtz8CXJY

I did a search and found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq_tkxWV-QY It's a link to the press announcement held in London this week. If you skip to 7:24, you'll see the Coney Island footage I was referring to. If you skip to 11:04 in the video, then you'll hear the song I was referring to. Shaggy

I was fortunate enough to hear some of the music from the show since I am in "the business." I am never one for sequels... movies, tv shows etc... only because they always seem to fall short. On Broadway it's never fared better (Think "Bring Back Birdie." Oy vey!) Not saying this wont... however the few songs I've heard from it are incredible. There's one called "Till I hear you sing" that is on par with his mega hits "Memory," "Music of the Night," and "Don't Cry for me." That song alone has caused me to become VERY excited about this show. Well, that and the fact I recently got to experience Coney firsthand recently. Rumor has it that the opening of the show will include EXTREMELY rare footage of Coney in it's heyday shown on the main curtain during the overture. Apparently it's film found only in the National Archives. Oh and the overture has a haunting/turn of the century/carousel sound to it. It's IMO as memorable as the original Phantom overture. So far, so good! Shaggy

Take a gander... it's a new way of filming. It, essentially, gives real videos a look of "Miniatures" ala train models. Walt Disney World is the subject, simply amazing! http://www.gadling.com/2009/10/02/tilt-shi...fe-of-disney%2F Shaggy

Uh, first of all, The Crypt is a Hindu temple, not an Aztec Tomb, and it today contains a pink bat demon, giant Hindu goddess, and (according to the t-shirt) an Egyptian mummy. DUH. Get it right. So for those of you counting, Rivertown is a mysterious Ohio settlement town that plays host to a pink bat, a Hindu goddess, an Egyptian Mummy, a savage beast, and a giant snake. And really no, the rides don't necessarily fit, but they easily COULD with a bit of a pre-show, even if told through signs. Hydra did place Hercules, so that's actually a bit clever. Talon and Raptor are so named because you appear to be in the grip of a bird of prey. A giant nest in the queue would easily tell people this. Diamondback is, as I said above, another unique animal to find a home in Rivertown. When discussing it in print material to give to my friends, I prefer to call it "Operation: Firehawk" because I think that well explains what it's supposed to be: a government prototype flight device for which you're the guinea pig. It makes sense and fits in X-Base in that regard, and again, could be easily explained in a short pre-show video or even a sign or two scattered about the queue. Intimidator, no that doesn't make sense. At all. I actually tend to think Flight of Fear does make sense in the Congo because of my ever-optimistic mind... As if the government set up a secret facility in the deep jungle. It requires that their Flight of Fear have a different storyline than ours (perhaps, you stumble upon an abandoned government facility during your jungle trek, find an old, decaying spaceship within, wander into it, etc.). However, even that storyline sort of falls through with the new Intimidator. The two could be CLOSER to matching if they recieved their own X-Base redo, but who knows if that will happen. It really should, since that would also encompass their Backlot Stunt Coaster. All three are in the same corner. But then again, their map no longer highlights differently themed areas anyway, since it's a Cedar Fair style map, so it wouldn't make a difference to the casual park-goer. I think you just spent a lot of time reaffirming my point. Don't try to rationalize any consistant "theme" in the parks. There isn't one. Resistance is futile. Shaggy

You think so? I don't find theming to be CF's forte either. They've had a few installs that suit the area in name and sometimes look... but overall THEMING isn't their gig. Typically, Cedar Fair develops a coaster and attatches a noteworthy name to it. Sometime it "fits" the area, sometimes is doesn't. Of course nothing can cause us to scratch our heads quite like an Aztec Tomb in the middle of Rivertown... but that's another story. Typically, CF chooses monster or beast type names with some weight to them as a stand alone. There's little regards to the surroundings IMO. Raptor, Hydra, Talon, Diamondback, Behemoth, Firehawk etc etc etc. None of those have *anything* to do with their surroundings in the parks. The best example of this is actually a forthcoming install... Intimidator at KD. It's a Nascar-named ride who's entrance will lie off the FOF plaza. FOF's entrance happens to have a theme of an "off limits government area." But that lies in the middle of a "Congo" themed section of the park. And the Congo themed area of the park also includes a Hollywood Back-Lot themed ride. Confused? We all are... I guess the point is... the days of regional "Theme Park" chains adhering to "Themed" areas are loooooong gone. Shaggy