Kentucky Kingdom Trip Report 6/14/15

[homestar92]

You probably think you know what to expect in this trip report. You probably know what I think of this park.

 

You're probably wrong.

 

I decided today around noon to visit Kentucky Kingdom. I wanted to go for a drive, and that seemed as good a destination as any. So I hopped in my Sky, put the top down and got on the road. Yes, I drove my beloved Sky to Kentucky Kingdom, It's still in one piece, so hooray for that!

 

Anyway, I drove all the way there and only got rained on for a few minutes. The rain wasn't very hard and the patch of rain wasn't very large, so I just soldiered it out and left the top down rather than try to get off and find a place to park. Side note, I got very badly sunburned on the way there and am now red like a lobster. I got to the park around 3:00 and happily, I'm still allowed in! I realized when I got there that I did not have a glasses strap with me, so I went to buy one. I was happy to see that they were a reasonable $1.59 rather than the outlandish $5 that they were selling for on opening day. I will not complain about dropping that amount of money in the name of safety, and  I think the park has realized that they'd rather have people be safe than to gouge them for that little extra profit.

 

I'm not going to go in detail about the rides (excluding the new ones that I rode). You all know what The Runs are like, and if you don't, GO EXPERIENCE THESE RIDES. Nothing I can say will do them justice. They are GREAT. Seriously.

 

So, the first bit of my trip was just walking around, exploring the improvements. First new thing I saw was Cyclos. It looks great on the midway. Its lighting package is very eye-catching and makes the park feel alive. I didn't ride it because inverting pendulum rides are not my cup of tea. As I walked through the park, I noticed lots of misting fans everywhere. The misters were not turned on, but the fans were on. I could be wrong, but I'm ALMOST positive that these are new. I do not remember them being there at all. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Anyway, next I went to the back of the park, toward Raging Rapids and T3 (Which you can walk back to despite its being not open yet). There was one train sitting in the station. Nothing on the transfer track. This leads me to worry that T3 will remain a one-train coaster. That said, on opening day, only one train was on Lightning Run and the other was not on the transfer, and they were both there today. Perhaps train two will appear later. While the color scheme is still questionable, the paint job itself is VERY high quality. I'd almost guess Baynum was involved. It looks every bit as good as the new paint on Invertigo, Bat, and Rougarou in each of their first years after getting fresh paint. Very impressed. I stepped into the Taco Tequila stand to look at offerings and prices. It is a very small food stand (I believe that in the days of SIX, this was a simple clothing stand, so there wouldn't be much room for a restaurant) but there is a bar facing into Hurricane Bay with the restaurant and another side of the bar accessible from the dry side. I sent a picture of the menu to a friend who I might call an "alcohol enthusiast" and he had some complaints with the choices on the menu, but said that the prices appeared to be quite reasonable. Given that it is alcohol, I do not know if the 20% discount for season passholders applies, but if so, that's a nice savings. The menu had a lot more options than Hank's does, and prices were about the same. I did not see the portion sizes.

 

While I was back there, I rode Raging Rapids. Most of the themeing from Penguin's Blizzard River is still there. There are a lot of penguin sculptures in the ride and it is obviously themed to the sewers of Gotham City. It even has one water effect involving The Penguin's signature black and white umbrella. Poor effort in de-themeing it, but honestly, if DC Comics is OK with it, then it's whatever. All in all, the ride is decent. I wish there were cannons that you can pay to blast people with like on every other rapids ride I've ridden, but you don't REALLY need them. The wettest riders will not get as drenched as on White Water Canyon, but unlike White Water Canyon, there is NO escaping completely bone-dry. The wetness is a lot more evenly dispersed. There is also no center hump on which to put your feet to escape them sitting in the bottom of a wet boat, so avoid riding this with socks if possible. One issue is that they only have three boats, and that leads to a lot of time sitting waiting for the next boat. But perhaps I've just been spoiled by WWC's continuous loading. Either way, I digress. Good ride. Not the best rapids ride I've ridden, but CERTAINLY not the worst. Better than the one at Holiday World, which I'm sure is the only thing they really care about.

 

Next I went to SkyCatcher. I do not at all like its placement in the park. It's awkwardly located in a corner near the waterpark, and it's a chore to get to. The ride itself is pretty fun though, but very VERY scary. I don't mind WindSeeker. Heck, I LIKE WindSeeker. It's a great ride and it's very relaxing. SkyCatcher is not. It is much more open-feeling and the rotation is faster (by my guesstimation, 10RPM as opposed to WindSeeker's 8) and it really is a white-knuckle ride.

 

I did encounter one disappointment. I went to Swampwater Jack's for food, and they were out of pepperoni pizza at 4:45 PM. Inexcusable. Yes, there is another pizza place nearby next to Thunder Run, but at that location, the pizza costs more (though the portions are larger) and it is a flatbread, whereas Swampwater Jack's is a bit smaller, almost $2 cheaper, and has a crust that is more to my liking. I did notice, however, that there is a flat path to get to Swampwater Jack's that is much more wheelchair accessible than the old bumpy bridge. I don't THINK this path is new, but I was specifically on the lookout for it today. I do not know if it is precisely ADA compliant in terms of width (I'd estimate it around 4.5 feet wide based on it being about one and a half arm-lengths on me) but it's something. Still no automatic door, but I've been told that isn't a hard-set requirement under the  ADA. It would be very nice to have one or to prop the door, but it's something. Speaking of accessibility, there is NONE whatsoever for the Up, Up, and Away ride. to access the ride platform REQUIRES riders to walk up stairs.

 

As for the other rides, I did notice that the ride operators were VERY focused on guest safety above ALL else, and I applaud that. Lightning Run operators reminded those waiting in line several times that they need to stand behind the yellow line. Most guests followed instructions the first time. One bull-headed guest decided to stand right on the gates, past the yellow line despite being told not to numerous times.. They were told that the ride cannot be dispatched until they stand behind the yellow line, and so, it sat, for about a minute and a half while the guest stubbornly stood there.  When they finally decided that they were being a fool and got tired of waiting, they stepped back and the ride was dispatched. Security was present at every ride to check for line jumpers, and I saw line jumpers told to return to the end of the line on three occasions. Good on them for catching that and enforcing the rules.

 

All in all, I had a good day. The park has improved tremendously since opening day and almost all of my complaints have been fixed since then. It's not perfect. It's still a small park. It still can't really expect to compete with Holiday World or Kings Island. And that's OK. Be a great small park before you try to be a big park. I'd rather have a straight-four that's firing on all cylinders than a V8 that is only firing on half of them.

[stashua123]

Nice trip report! I really need to go down and visit the Kingdom sometime.

[TheBEASTunchained]

Wonderful trip report. Thanks for sharing.

You gave quite an honest and real perspective as to what's actually behind the gates of the Kingdom. Glad to hear it's doing so much better. This is great news.

I'm going to try to make it out there again after T3 opens.

[RailRider]

Glad to hear park operations are improving. Hope this improvement trickles in to all areas of operations.

[VortexBFForever]

I've always wanted to go to the Kingdom!! Hopefully I can get there soon (as in hopefully this year). Nice report as always!