Kentucky Kingdom

[The Interpreter]

Holiday World is not an urban park. Its guest base, costs (both fixed and variable) and risks are very, very different. And, most of all, Holiday World is ONE park ran by one family. And the two people most involved in its recent success are not involved in Bluegrass Boardwalk. One of them chose not to be. That speaks volumes.

[Browntggrr]

Fantastic article written in 2000 about the Koch family and the ventures they have accomplished.

http://www.hohoholdings.com/kdhistory.htm

Most notably:

Bill Koch is humble about the accomplishments and candid about the failures.

"Not everything has worked," he says. "We quit as many things as we started. You don't give up. You just keep going. You try something new."

*** TO INFINITY --- AND BEYOND! ***

Bill and Pat Koch always encouraged their children to follow their own dreams.

For two, this meant pursuing outside professions. Son Daniel is an attorney in Florida and daughter Kristi is a doctor in Indianapolis. Will Jr., and Philip are in Santa Claus carrying on the family enterprises. Natalie left the day to day operations of KDC in 2001, married and returned to school at Purdue. Each family member adds a unique talent to the business, and is given the freedom to help it flourish.

Mom and Dad are trying to retire ... and what better place is there than Santa Claus? After all, it's a community with every recreation imaginable.

But Pat and Bill Koch don't fish. They don't play golf. They don't goof off. "We have a hard time relaxing," he says. "We like to work," she says.

Bill is a visionary whose visions just won't quit.

"I expect to go a lot further," he says. "I expect to see a lot more. I always have."

[IndyGuy4KI]

That was a good article Browntggrr. I did not know most of that info!

[jdawg1998]

I am very excited for Bluegrass Boardwalk. My family says it will be easier to go there instead of Holiday World or Cedar Point because it is closer.

I don't know why so many people are angry at the Koch's decision - it's there decision and you don't know how much they probably talked about it before.

[The Interpreter]

Angry? No. Saddened? Yes.

I strongly fear Holiday World itself is endangered due to this action. And again, the woman who is largely responsible for what Holiday World is today is not a part of this plan.

[shark6495]

terp, just to play the other side of this, is it possible that the woman most involved in HW is keeping out of this for no other reason than to let her children make a name for themselves? The obvious way to look at this is that she does not see it as working and that is why she stayed away from it, but could it be she wants the kids to know failure/success on their own and is letting them do this on their own? Plus how can we know for sure that she is not secretly advising them on the side?

Again just playing devils advocate...

[Browntggrr]

Unless HW is being used as collateral for a loan, which would make ZERO sense, this cannot harm HW at all.

Also- given that not all HW shareholders are included in BB, HW cannot be legally touched. (i.e. if a business fails and is an S-Corp, the owner(s) cannot be sued for personal wealth or material belongings not located on business premises. In the HW case- all shareholders would have to sign off HW as collateral, since we know this not to be the case, HW cannot be touched.)

[The Interpreter]

Holiday World and Splashin' Safari until now got 100 percent attention from its management team. To say that will continue is to be naive in the extreme. Bluegrass Boardwalk will divert attention from what had been not just the first focus, but the polar star. To say Holiday World will not suffer due to this is at best studied folly.

[Browntggrr]

Reading the article, it is obvious HW has not been their only focus as Koch family has been part of numerous business ventures owned by Ho Ho Holdings LLC.

The Koch family has shown a successful history of maintaining their current business while successfully exploring new ventures. Given their history, it is insulting to predict they cannot handle it.

We also know that the entire management team is not going to be associated with BB.

[The Interpreter]

No Bill. No Will. No Pat. It is insulting to them and their memories and reputations not to realize their contributions. And these are the three people most responsible for the park's success. Dan was a practicing attorney. Not in the park business until after Will's untimely death.

Time will prove the wisdom of this venture, or lack thereof. As for me, I will close for now with an old saying "Fools rush in where angels ( or Ed Hart) fear to tread."

[Browntggrr]

No Bill. No Will. No Pat. It is insulting to them and their memories and reputations not to realize their contributions.

It's a good thing the article provided, from 2000, cannot be forgotten by any of us.

It is also a good thing that the family also follow Bill & Pat's wishes:

Bill and Pat Koch always encouraged their children to follow their own dreams.

Each family member adds a unique talent to the business, and is given the freedom to help it flourish.

[The Interpreter]

...which includes risk and the freedom to fail. That's why it's called entrepreneur spirit.

[Browntggrr]

And is there a more historically successful amusement family than the Kochs to see that failure does not happen again at KK?

They have already successfully negotiated a negative sticking point the former proprietors could not get out from.

[The Interpreter]

Ed Hart. Who rescued Kentucky Kingdom from failure once before. He DID do it. Not potentially, but in reality.

[Browntggrr]

Perhaps if Mr. Hart had 60+ years of family success instead of 8 it could have become a reality again.

[Guest rcfreak339]

Lets sum this up into one sentence shall we?

There is a potential to succeed and there is a potential to fail.

It pretty much goes for every business that if ran correctly and provided to the right market a business will succeed. Holiday World operated many years with Kentucky Kingdom only an hour away, it will be fine. If Bluegrass Boardwalk is a hit there should be no reason to think Holiday World will suffer, in fact I bet it could do even better than past years. If you're impressed with one, you want to visit the other right? Same can be said with Cedar Point and Kings Island...in which the product of Kings Island and Cedar Point are vastly different. Compare that to Holiday World and Bluegrass Boardwalk where they will too be vastly different parks.

Of course there is always a chance at failure, hinting maybe why they aren't throwing too much money at it just yet.

I'm not a business man by any means, but it seems pretty clear what they're doing. Kentucky Kingdom succeeded once, it can do it again.

[The Interpreter]

When did Kentucky Kingdom succeed? Other than under Ed Hart long enough to look good enough to get Funtime to buy it? It has failed twice, so far.

And few people visit more than one seasonal park. Very few.

[Guest rcfreak339]

Kentucky Kingdom succeed because Ed Hart knew what he was doing. He understood the market and what he had to do to make the park grow. Obviously the previous owners and Ed Hart's successor didn't understand that. The Koch family has been attracting to the same market since the beginning.

In regards to visiting both parks, I highly doubt that as a fact to Holiday World and Kentucky Kingdom. In fact I'd like to see statistics to say that is true...with Kentucky Kingdom and Holiday world being so close and seemingly offering two different products.

[Browntggrr]

What a great marketing campaign this could be. It hits locals from two directions.

Louisville's # 1 attraction is back under new ownership by Kentucky's own favorite fun family.

[The Interpreter]

Louisville's #1 attraction is Churchill Downs. Or the Cardinals. Kentucky Kingdom was never even close. And the Kochs are from Indiana.

[Guest rcfreak339]

I'd say in the summertime Kentucky Kingdom and Churchill Downs were the biggest attractions (Cardinals don't play until the fall)...now they have Churchill Downs and Holiday World. Louisville being one of Holiday World's prime market areas.

The Kochs have probably seen a huge spike in attendance since Kentucky Kingdom closed and if you use the logic that hardly anybody visits another park once a year than why wouldn't they think Kentucky Kingdom will have great attendance figures? They're practically doubleing a market.

[Browntggrr]

I don't know why I believed the Kochs were from KY, nonetheless when KK was sold in 1997 it drew more than Churchill Downs.

[jcgoble3]

I'm cautiously optimistic about Bluegrass Boardwalk. There's a lot of risk here, but sometimes you have to take risks in order to succeed. For now, I'm willing to give the Kochs involved in this operation the benefit of the doubt while I stand back and watch the progress. We can talk about whether BB will succeed or fail all day, but ultimately we won't know what will happen until next year at the earliest. My belief is that the Kochs are taking a huge risk in this venture, but that they are possibly the best people for the job other than Ed Hart. If BB is to succeed, though, they have a lot to learn, not the least of which is an entirely new market that they're not familiar with. Still, I trust that they aren't completely clueless here; I doubt they would have taken on this venture in the first place if they didn't have some understanding of what it would take.

[sccard01]

Louisville's #1 attraction is Churchill Downs. Or the Cardinals. Kentucky Kingdom was never even close. And the Kochs are from Indiana.

Kentucky Kingdom WAS Kentucky's #1 tourist attraction for several years (1997-2001?). I've heard it several times on the local news since the closure of the park when Ed Hart was trying to acquire it.

[The Interpreter]

Kentucky's No. 1 tourist attraction?

Mammoth Cave National Park would beg to differ. 1.899 million annual visitors.

http://www.gorp.com/parks-guide/travel-ta-mammoth-cave-national-park-kentucky-sidwcmdev_067889.html

[westcoaster]

Around 6 east p.m. WHAS 11 Louisville had a great video of Bluegrass Boardwalk and the Holiday world.

Yes Pat (mom Koch will be at bluegrass boardwalk too not as much they stated. )

Good luck to them, and yes Mammouth cave has to rank as a bigger attraction??

http://www.whas11.com/news/WHAS11s-Melissa-Swan-gets-an-inside-look-at-the-new-Bluegrass-Boardwalk-151616055.html

Also did you ever here of this company:

Its an interesting company in itself:

http://www.hohoholdings.com/

[Joncars05]

25% of the attendance MUST be from out of state? How the heck are they going to track that? I wonder how much parking will be since the parking will be profit only for the Kentucky Fairgrounds.... and the price is not under control of BB?

[westcoaster]

I guess when you pay for parking they will ask for ID's?

Hopefully not:

[Oldiesmann]

25% of the attendance MUST be from out of state? How the heck are they going to track that?

Simple. Ask guests for their ZIP Codes when they purchase parking/admission.

[Joncars05]

25% of the attendance MUST be from out of state? How the heck are they going to track that?

Simple. Ask guests for their ZIP Codes when they purchase parking/admission.

Ah that makes sense. Thanks!