Now that is a tempting offer as I have no interest in paying for parking on every vist

yeah, i bet if they were not of fair board property they would already have that deal

Somebody has Holiday World envy....

I just might visit this park this year then!

Sounds like they are trying very hard to do some good things... Did you notice that during the state fair you will still have to pay a parking fee?

I found this interesting.....

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Gordon BoydVerified account‏@GordonWAVE3

#KentuckyKingdom season-pass holders will have special parking at Fairgrounds, if Board approves. Board seeks protection if attendance drops

Well Heart is trying his best, this isn't 1997 anymore where attendance was high, you got way more competition

So it seems the Fair Board may or may not have a Hart.

Wait, I thought the park had the Hart..

I see it says 'Board seeks protection if attendance drops'. What exactly does that mean?

Could it be that if they don't meet a minimum in revenue that they are responsible to pay the difference to the Fair Board?

The social media / marketing teams at Kentucky Kingdom make me even more glad that we have what we have over at Cedar Fair, and especially Kings Island, to be more specific.

All of these new improvements and rides, but yet the public and enthusiasts hear hardly anything about them?

We're now less than a month from the opening of Kentucky Kingdom's 2015 season......

And I could almost hear a pen drop.

Meanwhile.......Over in Santa Claus.....

Meanwhile.......Over in Mason.....

And down in Bowling Green...

Don't forget Bowling Green!

I hear a rumble!

And a pin!

The social media / marketing teams at Kentucky Kingdom make me even more glad that we have what we have over at Cedar Fair, and especially Kings Island, to be more specific.

Kentucky Kingdom has a marketing team?

Ed Hart is large and in charge.

As he is in every aspect of that place. Whether he or Dick Kinzel is the greater micro-manager I could never decide.

And down in Bowling Green...

Don't forget Bowling Green!

I hear a rumble!

And a pin!

Sorry but I'm still trying to forget about that park.

So Kentucky Kingdom isn't making it past season?

Some need to vote on that, in effect.

Coming soon to a November near you.

The whole free parking thing for season pass holders is a bit late. Honestly this close to the season starting this seems to be a last minute incentive to spur additional season pass sales. Maybe they should have announced this when season passes went on sale initially for the 2015 season. Then again like most things at KK this was probably an afterthought.

I highly doubt this will incentivize many new season pass purchases this late in the game. Therefore the park and fairboard have just blown a revenue stream that would have been coming in. Remember they had already sold the majority of their season passes to folks who intended to pay for parking. Now they will not need to pay for parking and it is a mighty risky chance hoping they spend those dollars in the park.

Once again well played KK.

But I'm pretty sure the park or Ed Hart didn't get any of that $8 parking fee. That was the standard fee to park at the Kentucky Expo Center and (if I may for a moment play Devil's advocate) is quite a bit lower than at most major parks, where $15+ seems to be the going rate. Sure, some parks like Holiday World and Kennywood have free parking for everyone, but those are the only ones I've been to that do. Even Coney doesn't have free parking. Even CAMDEN doesn't have that (or take credit cards at the parking tolls, but that's a different story...). Granted, most parks offer free parking to season passholders (if not on the standard pass, then at some tier anyway) but now KK has that too. That's $8 more in my pocket that would not have gone to the park anyway that I could, if I wanted, spend at the park. With season pass discounts, that's an entree at Swampwater Jack's (after all, I'm not wheelchair-bound, so I can go there...) and a soda. How convenient.

I like this. I really do think this will raise up the per caps among passholders. I think this is a rare step in the right direction for this park.

I really do like the park. I really do want them to succeed. It quickly became like a second home park for me. I see so many things that the park does wrong and it makes me so sad because I really don't like the thought of losing a park that I like so much. I love having something reasonably close by that offers something different from my normal coasters at Kings Island.

And maybe I'm wrong, but recent socio-political happenings just across the river might (somewhat ironically) drive some dollars out of Indiana and into Kentucky if people really plan on putting their money where their mouth is, and the park might be able to capitalize on that. Time will tell.

Remember, too that T3 will not be running the same trains that it did previously. That may (or may not) dramatically improve the ride experience. Vekoma SLCs do have really interesting layouts. If the ride experience can be made enjoyable, I honestly think it could be a flagship ride. The layout certainly looks enjoyable enough. They already have a Dinn that doesn't ride remotely like a Dinn (well, after the first turn anyway). Maybe they can have a Vekoma SLC that doesn't ride like a Vekoma SLC, too.

That all being said, it is important to remember two things here:

A. Kentucky Kingdom PAID the Fair Board approximately 400k for this...money that otherwise it would not have had to...and did so long after most passes had been sold.

B. The Fair Board in exchange demanded protection in the event admissions decline. That it felt the need to do so is...worrisome. To put it mildly.

Ultimately isn't that the part about KK that is the hardest part to overcome? The fact that not all of the land it sits on is owned by the park. At least at CI, KI, Kennywood, etc, the land is at least owned by the park.

One other thing to note is, this kind of opens the door for abuse. If I'm going to some event at the Expo center and have a KK season pass, I can now park for free (presumably the park has to be open) because how could they know whether or not I plan on going to Kentucky Kingdom? Given that a Kentucky Kingdom season pass is much cheaper than a parking pass at the Kentucky Expo Center, I could see this being a problem. I'd assume, however, that they considered that when they worked out the deal.

Thus why the attendance guarantee...

FYI... Don't expect all *new* rides to be operational by park opening. Heck, don't expect 2 of them to be operational until well into summertime.

Also, if what I've *heard* proves true... hang onto your hats for 2016. Even I will give them props if this becomes reality...

^ "Hats" must be a hint, so I'm guessing that the "Comical Caps" shop will start selling Cheeseheads? Be still my beating heart!

Hats. Hats, flying. Hats, flying in the wind, Hats, props......I think I'm lost.

Some may call this a diversion, and to that I give you thee tip of the hat. Did I just make sense, or did I?

I just thought of a reason for the lack of advertising outside of the state. My thinking is that the Kingdom is hesitant on spending taxpayer dollars out of state due to the election(s) to decide their fate, perhaps 1 saving grace they're making for themselves.

I was talking with one co-op agency that said that the dollars they receive have to be spent in the areas where the money is generated, i.e. where their customers live. Could it be that in receiving state money, there is a limit placed on the advertising out of state?

Also, I'm not surprised of the limit of parking during the fair. I could imagine many vendors and 4-H families purchasing a season pass instead of a fair parking pass to save money. Parking can be quite the revenue generator for fairs.

It was mentioned in the fine print that the KK season pass was not valid for parking during the Kentucky State Fair. I can see this angering people who just looked and saw "free parking" but didn't read the details.