Kentucky Kingdom Opening Day 2014

[XGatorHead 8904]

Prologue

June 1998

In early June 1998, a group of about seven Admissions associates and one person from the Information Systems department from Paramount's Kings Island ventured two hours south to visit Kentucky Kingdom and enjoy the park, anticipating a ride on their new coaster, Twisted Sisters, and everything else the park had to offer. Little did they know it would be one of the worst park experiences they would ever have.

We carpooled down, and the day started off well enough. We rode Hellavator, Thunder Run, T2, and Vampire. We didn't find out until we were at the park that Twisted Sisters had not opened for the season yet, which was disappointing because we were really looking forward to it. But overall, we had fun until Chang.

When we got to Chang, the only access to the station was by stairs. There were no ramps or elevators, so my friend Brian, who is in a wheelchair, couldn't get up there. The rest of us waited in line and when we got to the station, we asked the ride op about how our friend could get up there. I will never forget his exact words: "Well, if he's in a wheelchair he shouldn't be riding anything." I asked "Excuse me, what did you say?" in disbelief. He said "Yeah, if he's in a wheelchair he shouldn't be riding anything at all."

Now you've got to know Brian. A skiing accident when he was in high school broke his neck. Yes, he uses a wheelchair, but he can walk short distances as long as he's holding on to something. He is very active; he still skis, waterskis, goes boating, and has played wheelchair rugby on the international level. He just missed making the US Paralympic Rugby Team (which is profiled in the excellent documentary Murderball). He has ridden every ride at Kings Island, including King Cobra after his accident. So when the ride op said this to us, we were shocked. Needless to say, Brian was less than pleased when we reported back to him.

When we decided to ride again, Brian figured he would take that time to get gas in his car, so he and another friend left the parking lot, filled up, and when he tried to use his receipt to re-enter the parking lot like at Kings Island, he was told he would have to pay again. After arguing with the parking lot attendant, he relented and shelled out the money again. It wasn't until years later, through this site, that I found out the park didn't control the parking lot.

During the afternoon, a bad storm blew in. There was no notification over the park's PA system about it like we were used to at KI. We sought shelter in the one and only indoor restaurant. We ordered pizza and one person in our party ordered a beer. The food service worker told him "You're going to have to come back here and pour it yourself." Huh? He asked why, and was told that they didn't have anyone working at the time who was old enough to serve beer. He asked to speak with a supervisor, and after a ten minute wait one appeared and was able to serve him a beer.

Things got crazy as the storm raged on outside. The place was packed, and there were lots of unruly teens in the restaurant. One of the food service workers knew some of the teens, grabbed the microphone that was on the counter near the register and started yelling at her friends "GIMME BACK MY PEN! YOU STOLE MY PEN! I WANT MY PEN BACK!" over and over.

Then two groups of teens decided that they didn't like each other, or somebody looked at someone the wrong way, and they started throwing trays at each other. We narrowly missed being hit, but one innocent mom near us was not so lucky and was hit in the head. One of our party ran to the counter and asked the worker to call Security and First Aid.

When the two First Aid workers showed up to check on the woman, we told them they needed to get Security in there too to calm the crowd. They told us that they were also Security, but they couldn't do anything because there were too many people and only two of them.

By that time, the storm had cleared and we made our way to Guest Relations. We told them everything that had happened and demanded a full refund. The woman there said all the could do for us was a voucher for free pizza and beer. We told her that wasn't acceptable since we had already just eaten. She then said they could offer us tickets to come back another day. We told her that also wouldn't work, because there was no way that we would ever be coming back. She went in the back, and about five minutes later said she could give us our money back if we left the park at that time. We said that was absolutely fine with us!

It was many, many years before I even considered giving them a second chance. After hearing from other enthusiasts that it was a decent park (and some even going as far as saying it was their favorite park!), I decided during the '09-'10 off-season that I was going to go to opening day 2010. I even put the date on my calendar. But then, it was announced that Six Flags was not going to open the park, and I considered it dead.

[APE]

We want more, we want more...

[XGatorHead 8904]

Part One

Resurrection of a Park

When it was announced that Ed Hart was reopening the park and I read about his plans, I had serious doubts. I immediately said "I have to go to that opening day!" I wanted to see how a park that had been closed for four years, loved by some and reviled by others, would handle the mass numbers of people that were sure to attend. I predicted it would be a fiasco and I wanted to see it all first-hand.

I left my house at 7:45 on Saturday morning. After getting breakfast and coffee, I was on the road by 8:00. I made excellent time and it took me almost exactly two hours to get to the park. Once I got to the parking lot, it was a little confusing where I needed to go. There were no signs and no one directing traffic. I ended up following other cars over to the Expo Center, and saw the parking for the park to the left. I got a really close spot, and was at the gate at 10:15.

There were already lines of people waiting to get in. I immediately saw my friend Tom and his friend Jeff, so I joined them.

Lines at the gate.

We discussed our plans for the day. They were going to Lightning Run first, while I planned to walk around and take pictures and video before taking my camera back out to the car. I just had to document the occasion. We agreed to meet up later. The gates opened up at 11:00, and we were in after a very short wait.

The sign inside the gate.

I stood inside the gate, and one thing I noticed right off The Bat was that there were lots of families coming in. This boded well since last time our visit was spoiled in part by unruly teens.

King Louie was there to welcome everyone back.

I headed to the left and one of the first rides I came to was Fearfall. After what happened with the park's previous drop ride, I wasn't the only one questioning the decision to put in a new one due to the general public's perception (in fact, later in the day I heard someone say "I'm not riding Hellevator!" and then someone trying to correct them). This ride looked fun. As soon as it reached the top, it dropped. No time to wait for Sammy Hagar to sing the words "Right now!" before the drop. I didn't ride it just then, saving it for later.

Fearfall

I continued on and came to the flying scooters, Professor John's Flying Machines. There was no line, and so I got right on. They're a decent set of scooters. I couldn't get it to snap, but I got some very nice height on them. The scooters were located right next to...

I had heard stories from ACEr friends who had been there the week before that it was a tight fit with the unique restraints, so I wasn't even going to bother trying. But the ride looked like a lot of fun with its compact layout.

Waiting to drop...

...and there they go!

Looks like a fun turn.

Lightning's coming!

Next I came to the kiddie section of the park. Being a musician, I just had to get a picture of the little carousel, especially the tuba since that's my main instrument!

Ride the tuba.

As I wandered on, it was evident that there was still a little Six Flags left in the park.

The Movie Store, which looks like Six Flags theming I had seen before.

Sadly, Enterprise wasn't running. I love those things. I guess I'll just have to wait until Kennywood.

The 5D Cinema

I rode the 5D cinema, which was showing Rio. I didn't really care for the movie when we rented it, but as an action theater atraction it worked pretty well. I took a spin on Himalaya, where the ride op told me that he liked my shirt (I was wearing my black Banshee shirt).

Next was the Bumper Cars. I didn't ride them after seeing how slow they are. I posted to Facebook "I will never complain about the slowness of KI's bumper cars after seeing KK's. The kiddie cars in Planet Snoopy are faster." And yes, I'm am serious about that! They were not the old fashioned kind with the pole up the back, and I wonder if this was part of the issue. There were also too many of them for that small space; they kept getting jammed up in a big group. This happened both times I stopped to watch them.

Realizing that I had made a complete circle around the front section of the park, I made my way over the bridge and onto the Giant Wheel.

Under the Wheel

They paired me with a couple since I was by myself, and I got some good views of the park.

Lightning Run from the Wheel

Thunder Run from the Wheel

Deep Water Dive from the Wheel

T2 from the Wheel

Right at the exit of Giant Wheel, I saw something that struck me as funny. At Kings Island, smokers get a lush garden next to the tower to stink up. At Kentucky Kingdom, they get something similar. May I present Wheel Gardens, a virtual smoker's paradise with ample seating and plenty of shade. Or not.

Smokers' Paradise, or Wheel Gardens

I didn't bring my swim trunks because I'm too heavy to be a single rider on several of the waterpark attractions, but I like waterparks and thought I'd walk around to see the place. This name sounds oddly familiar...

Aruba Tuba at KK, not to be confused with Aruba Tuba at KI.

I found someplace for devarious to hang out! Hurricane Bay Bar

Waikiki Wipeout

Family Wave Lagoon

Wave Runner and Deep Water Dive

Plummet Summit

Giant Wheel

When did I step into Universal Studios? It's Jaws Jr!

Next up was something I had been anticipating for a long time. A flight on...

I approached the ride, and it was much smaller than I remember it. Maybe it was because I was a little boy riding it at Kings Island, so the size difference between me and it was greater then.

They also painted the shoes different colors. They were all orange when it was at KI. It was a fun relaxing ride, and it was great to feel that familiar thud when the shoes were lowered to the ground. A boy said to his mom while we were exiting "That was a weird ride... Can we do it again?"

It was hot, so I found a shaded table to call Mrs. Gator and look at the videos & pictures I had taken. I spotted Tom and Jeff across the way getting pizza and waved them over. I told them about my day and they told me about their's. When I showed them the video of the Bumper Cars, they just had to see that for themselves. We headed over and they were in disbelief at how slow they were.

After another ride on Himalaya, I took the camera out to the car then we headed over to Fearfall. After about a 20 minute wait, we were on. What a fun ride! We then rode Breakdance, a Scrambler-like ride where the individual cars spin too, which was a lot of fun as well. I hadn't ridden any coasters yet, so it was off to Thunder Run.

[XGatorHead 8904]

Part Two

Line Jumping is Not a Sporting Event at Thunder Run

The end of the line at Thunder Run was near the sign that said it was an hour wait. The beginning of the queue is wide, then it rounds a corner to go into 3 switchback queues. As we were nearing the corner, a group of four teens cut in front of us to join their friends, who were four groups ahead of us. The guy two groups behind them spoke up and told them to go the end of the line. The teens in the original group told him that their friends had gotten in line with them at the beginning, which we all knew wasn't true because we had all gotten there around the same time and nobody had left.

The guy started raising his voice and swearing at the teens, dropping the F-bomb along the way. That's when one of the girls who had cut started in on him. "You need to watch your mouth, you're talking to somebody younger than you. Sh**..." The arguing continued, with both of them raising their voices, and her adding more colorful language "You need to watch your f***in' mouth, I don't need your sh**".

We spotted a member of management on the exit ramp from the ride, which was almost directly overhead. I yelled up to him "We have line jumpers down here!" He asked who they were and I pointed them out. The manager had to yell over their arguing to be heard, he told them to leave the line and they did. After they left, our group and the group behind us laughed about the irony of Miss Line Jumper telling the guy to watch his mouth while dropping F- and S-bombs herself.

You know how most switchback queues have a swinging gate or chain that can be used to adjust the lines according to crowd size? KK uses chains, but we noticed a few of these were missing at the park. When we got to the end of the third switchback to make our way up the stairs to the station, a group of teens came through the spot that was missing a chain, which would allow them to miss going through two lanes of the queue. I said, "Excuse me, the line goes that way, not this way!" The first teen said, "Who are you talking to?" and I said "You guys." He said, "I don't care, you can get in front of me." I quickly blocked their way and the rest of my group and the group behind us kept close behind me. The teen then said to his friends, "The next person to say something to me better be ready to suck my ****."

As we were going up the stairs, a security guard was coming down them from the station. As he passed I said, "You better put a chain down there in the line because you have people going through that and line jumping." He asked who did, but since I didn't make eye contact with the group and kept my head down while talking to them, I couldn't point them out with certainty. I had an idea of who it was, but didn't want to be wrong. Security said that he would need to know who it was before he could do anything. I said "All I'm saying is there needs to be a chain there, something to keep in mind for the future." I looked back down the stairs a few seconds later, and the security guard was escorting a group out of the line. I guess other people behind me had pointed them out, and they were the ones I had suspected.

I rode 2nd to last seat, and it was running great with some nice little pops of airtime!

We then headed over to the front of the park and rode Tin Lizzies. The ride op had to give a long spiel explaining the rules as each car was loaded. I asked her "Are you tired of saying all that yet?" She smiled and said "I am, and I'm here for a few more hours!" I said, "And just think, it's only opening day!"

We went over to Lightning Run, and I tried the test seat (which, according to reports, hadn't been there during the ACE event the week before). The light didn't light up when I tried. Tom pushed down on the second seat to see how far it had to go before it lit and he said there was about an inch difference between my lap bar and the other one. Close...

We were getting hungry, so we agreed on Swampwater Jack's. I had been in there before to look at the menu, and they had some good choices.

[MDMC01]

Good stuff so far, Gator. I actually might head down there later in the summer, so reading this is making me really excited to go!

[XGatorHead 8904]

Part Three

Is That My Patty?

There was quite a line at Swampwater Jack's, but I was forgiving because it was opening day. We got up to the counter and they were out of what I wanted, the grilled Cajun chicken sandwich (so proud of myself in being good and not going for the pizza, burger or fried chicken, although they all looked good!). A girl behind the counter asked me what I needed and I told her. She found out for me that they were on the grill now. Tom & Jeff got their food, paid and sat down while I waited... and waited... and waited.

In the meantime I watched their operation. Lots of people were ordering chili cheese fries, which had to be ordered at the counter, and then the kitchen was asked to make them. This caused a lot of the backlog in the line, so I'm sure they'll find a way to fix that.

Finally my chicken was ready. I got in line for the registers and only the one on the right was working; the one on the left had been working just a few minutes before but was having computer issues and was being worked on by a supervisor. After about five minutes, I started to eat my fries (cold fries are one of my least favorite things) and then my chicken sandwich. The chicken was a little dry so I decided to save that until I could put something on it.

The register on the right went down just as the left one started working. A manager came in and worked on the right one, but then in it's first transaction back online the left started having problems again. There were three people ahead of me in line and all four of us were gathered around the register counter. After a while, the manager told us to just go ahead through without paying. This was a nice gesture that I greatly appreciated after waiting so long.

I put Heinz hot sauce on my sandwich from the pump dispenser, got to the table, took a bite and my mouth was on fire! I said to Tom and Jeff, "I need to remember to taste the hot sauce before I dump it on next time!" I put some mayo on it to cool it down, which helped a great deal.

[Vortex lover]

Nice trip report just got back from my second day of the KK lightning run has some intense G's and airtime I'm going to start my report in a few minutes!

Sent from my iPhone using... You get the point

[XGatorHead 8904]

Part Four

Sorry, the Cardinals No Longer Play at the Fairgrounds

After dinner we went to the Giant Wheel, which Tom and Jeff and not done yet. A group of teenage boys got in line behind us, bouncing their basketballs. Since the Giant Wheel is bulit on a slope, the platform for the queue is a metal "mesh", so the bouncing resonated quite loudly. All I could think of was "Terpy would not like this!"

The ride op asked them to stop bouncing their basketballs, and they did for a while. They started again, and when I looked over, the ride op had one of the basketballs in her hand. She told them they could get it back after the ride. One boy, apparently the one who has his ball confiscated, said "I don't care, I can just win another one."

As we were in line, I looked up and saw what I thought would make an interesting picture from my angle. Unfortunately I had already put my good camera in the car, so all I had was my phone, hence the difference in picture quality.

The basketballs started bouncing again, and I noticed a Security guard had entered the ride area. He kindly escorted the boys out of line after they repeatedly refused to follow the ride op's instructions to stop their dribbling.

We only had time for one more ride and since Tom and Jeff hadn't done the 5D Cinema yet, that's where we went. In the pre-show room, the ride op did his spiel and had to apologize to the people in row 3 that their pre-show screen was turned off by a guest who thought it would be funny to turn it off. To turn it back on apparently requires a "reboot," which he said Maintenance decided against because the park wasn't open for very much longer.

Since we were in row 1, we were right next to the ride op. As the pre-show was starting, Tom asked him if he was sick of it yet. He admitted that he was getting there, but said he had made up a dance for the song that plays during the video.

As we exited the theater, Tom said that he would like to congratulate Ed Hart if we saw him. We made our way towards the front gate, amidst lots of bouncing basketballs. Just as we were getting close to the exit, we saw Ed to our left on his phone. We waited until he was done, and Tom & Jeff went up to congratulate him on a job well done. I hung back because I didn't feel right meeting him while I was wearing a t-shirt sporting the logo of one of their closest competitors' newest attraction. Tom said that Ed seemed nice and appreciated the sentiments.

Inside the front gate, quite a few teens were socailizing. They weren't causing any problems that I could see, but we did have to weave our way through them. We said our goodbyes. Tom and Jeff were going back the next day, with Tom to take videos for Coaster Crew then. I had another two hour drive ahead of me, which thankfully was uneventful. I've always kind of liked the drive between Cincinnati & Louisville.

Epilogue

They Did the Impossible!

Kentucky Kingdom did the impossible... they won me over! This visit was much, much better than my only other time there. It was nowhere near the nightmare/circus/fiasco that I had expected it to be. The associates were friendly and the crowds, for the most part, behaved themselves. Whenever there was a problem, Security or management was there and took care of the situation swiftly.

Sure, there are spots here and there that need to be worked on, but it was opening day so I was more forgiving than I would be if the park had been open for a while. I noticed that the families were mostly there for the waterpark. There's just something about that region and their waterparks... Holiday World's main draw is the waterpark too!

Hopefully Security and management keep up the good work with any problems (aka unruly teenagers) that might occur. That was one of the main problems with our last visit, and from what I hear from others that was the one thing that bothered a lot of people in the past. I hope that as the word gets out about the park being strict, problem children will learn that they can't get away with what was once acceptable under previous ownership and possibly choose not to behave that way or choose not to even come to the park.

I think the price was maybe a little steep for what they had to offer in the dry park alone, but add in the waterpark and it's a good deal. But you know what... I'm perfectly fine with that. I know that Six Flags' extremely low price points for the park led to the park being a babysitter of sorts in the past, and hopefully these higher prices will keep out more of the riff-raff (wow, I'm starting to sound like a grumpy old man!). I'd rather have a good time at a higher price than a miserable experience at a lower price.

I'm actually looking forward to going back next year! But Terpy, be warned... you may want to bring earplugs for the basketballs!

[IndyGuy4KI]

Nice trip report Gary! KK is really looking like it is well cleaned up. I really do hope that Ed can make a go of it long term!

[Dieseltech20]

Nice report, thanks for sharing.

The park sounds nice, glad they are dealing with trouble in a prompt manner.

[jcgoble3]

I am amazed. I expected a fiasco too. Sounds like they did a good job keeping things under control.

Now, let me think here: two and a half hour drive, short park hours... I could potentially stay from open to close and still do this as a day trip. I'm going to have to look into that.

[The Interpreter]

I'm willing to put up with a few bouncing basketballs to ride Thunder Run again.

Thanks for the trip report. That sounds far better than I feared it'd be.

[FoF96"]

Really glad you enjoyed the park. Everyone has been working so hard to try and make it the best experience possible with what we've got. Another note, Deluge water coaster will be opening tomorrow!

[jbt]

I also had an interesting experience on Thunder Run. My first ride was so much fun, I went around for another -- this time in front row. Just before the train was to depart, a ride op asked who was excited to ride Thunder Run. At that precise moment, there was a loud thunder. Some people seemed to think this was an effect through the loudspeaker, but it was actually the start of a heavy storm. The op then announced the ride would be closed due to weather and asked everyone to exit the train. All but one person understood this request and concern for safety. This passenger continued to sit on the train, shouting all types of four letter words. At first, several people in line seemed to interpret this outburst as enthusiastic sarcasm, but the park guest just carried on with the profanity.

I was disappointed, as well, being next in line for front row. I decided to weep silently on the inside, though, and simply returned after the rain stopped.

[XGatorHead 8904]

I completely forgot Mile High Falls in my TR! Good ride with an amazingly long splash from the front of the boat. We were soaked, but in the heat (and with me wearing a black shirt) it was a welcome cool-down. The boat after us got stopped on the lift and Maintenance was called. I thought it was funny that the Maintenance building was right next to the ride and we could see the Maintenance guy walk over... was that building placed there because its an Intamin? But it wasn't even stopped for five minutes before it was on its way again.

Nice trip report Gary! KK is really looking like it is well cleaned up. I really do hope that Ed can make a go of it long term!

I really hope so too, but with reading about his investment plans for the future, I still have a little doubt about the long term future. But the short term looks bright!

Nice report, thanks for sharing.

The park sounds nice, glad they are dealing with trouble in a prompt manner.

You and me both!

I'm willing to put up with a few bouncing basketballs to ride Thunder Run again.

Thanks for the trip report. That sounds far better than I feared it'd be.

I had forgotten what a fun coaster that is. The years and the overall bad experience before clouded that memory!

Really glad you enjoyed the park. Everyone has been working so hard to try and make it the best experience possible with what we've got. Another note, Deluge water coaster will be opening tomorrow!

Congratulations to you and all the other park associates down there! All of you were a big part of why I had fun this time. Keep up the good work!

[XGatorHead 8904]

I also had an interesting experience on Thunder Run. My first ride was so much fun, I went around for another -- this time in front row. Just before the train was to depart, a ride op asked who was excited to ride Thunder Run. At that precise moment, there was a loud thunder. Some people seemed to think this was an effect through the loudspeaker, but it was actually the start of a heavy storm. The op then announced the ride would be closed due to weather and asked everyone to exit the train. All but one person understood this request and concern for safety. This passenger continued to sit on the train, shouting all types of four letter words. At first, several people in line seemed to interpret this outburst as enthusiastic sarcasm, but the park guest just carried on with the profanity.

I was disappointed, as well, being next in line for front row. I decided to weep silently on the inside, though, and simply returned after the rain stopped.

I guess he thought they would just make an exception for him. I wonder how they got him off the train, if he went willingly or what. Glad you liked Thunder Run too!

[LoraX]

I am glad you and Chris reminded me to go back and read your trip report. I had started to when it was first posted and for some reason got distracted.

For years I had a KK membership and strongly preferred KK over KI, especially during the KI Paramount days. The only "issue" I had at KK pre Six Flags was the amount of unruly children (brats) that were permitted to run the park. the Six Flag years were horrible.

I am glad that opening day was a success. I really cannot wait until we can get back down there. I am hoping we can get there this season.

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