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Kentucky Kingdom (SFKK, KK) Discussion Thread


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IMO this could be very possible. I don't believe the Koch family will permeantly operate the place, but it is possible they could operate the park for a year or two to keep it in shape and running until a fixed owner is found. That would help keep Kentucky Kingdom alive.

 

People think KK and HW are rivals but its the complete opposite. The parks even had deals for employees before Kentucky Kingdom closed. For Example: When KK was open your work I.D. gave you Free Admission to Holiday World all season long. If you had worked over a certain number of hours you were allowed to have a buddy sticker which would allow you to enter holiday world all season long and a friend could enter free as well.

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I don't believe the Koch family will permeantly operate the place, but it is possible they could operate the park for a year or two to keep it in shape and running until a fixed owner is found. That would help keep Kentucky Kingdom alive.

 

I could see something like that. The Koch's could have an out after a couple years if things don't go so well.

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^^It's not about the competition. It's about the fact that SFKK would require a significant amount of money to meet the staffing/maintenance/merchandising/food requirements compared to Holiday World. HUGE risk with little reward.

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I'm not exactly sure where Dominator would have went at KK, I've actually heard a number of things like the parking lot that was out in front of Chang's first turn would be given over to the park from the Fair Board for use. I'm not sure it was going to be Dominator's exact layout, but it was going to be a floorless.

 

Well, from what I've just heard Dominator was indeed made for Kentucky Kingdom. Dominator was supposed to be built in the vampire old spot as well as the squids dry slides spot. Steel Venom could as well been originally planed for the park as well. Looking at Dominator Design/map below, their is space for a impulse coaster right behind Dominator. Steel Venom would occupy the spot Greezed Lighting occupy today. It seems things changed as soon as Six Flags purchased Geauga Lake. So as soon as that happen, Six Flags quickly purchased Road Runner Express, and In 2001, Six Flags added Sky Coaster to fill the blank space in the park.

 

 

 

Premier owned Geauga Lake/Kentucky Kingdom way before 2000. Geauga Lake in 95, KK in 97.

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I don't like this idea at all. The Koch Family and Holiday World have a great business and should continue to expand and improve locally. This is a VERY different beast.

My thoughts exactly! This all makes me a bit nervous. While it would be awesome to see KK saved and reopened, I really don't want KK taking any focus, time, or money away from Holiday World. The park is too good for that, and I think they have SO many great opportunities to expand and improve!

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This could be a smart move for Holiday World. It seems like there's political pressure for Kentucky Kingdom to reopen, and it seems like the search to find a viable management team has been a struggle. I think one way or another this park is going to reopen eventually- and it's market does overlap with Holiday World. If Holiday World had control over the park, they'd also have control over that entire market.

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It seems unlikely that the lackeys at the fair board would ever give up enough control/stake for this arrangement to make sense. It never hurts to consider your options, but it's also not good to make a bad deal just to be able to expand.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Holiday World has sent us a press release regarding the formation of a new company run by members of the Koch Family (of Holiday World fame) who are working to reopen Kentucky Kingdom.

 

Members of the Koch family in Santa Claus, Indiana, continue to explore re-opening Louisville’s amusement and water park in 2013. Four family members have formed a new company – Bluegrass Boardwalk, Incorporated – to negotiate a lease agreement with the Kentucky State Fair Board, secure financing, and apply for economic development incentives from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. No public monies will be requested from the Kentucky Legislature by Bluegrass Boardwalk, Incorporated.

 

The members of the Koch family involved in discussions with the Kentucky State Fair Board as Bluegrass Boardwalk, Incorporated are Holiday World president Dan Koch, his sister Natalie Koch, their cousin Kathy Kamp, and her husband, Michael Kamp, who is a General Manager at Holiday World. Dan, Natalie and Kathy are grandchildren of Holiday World’s founder, Louis J. Koch, who opened the park (originally called Santa Claus Land) in 1946.

 

As updates about Bluegrass Boardwalk are made public, information will be posted online at http://BluegrassBoardwalk.com, on Facebook: http://Facebook.com/BluegrassBoardwalk and via Twitter: @BluegrassBwalk.

6837396591_621c0ebbb9_z.jpg.153c61cedf83890869b0349d5b267931.jpg

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Just learned about this through a re-tweet Holiday World just did. Oh my, they're actually getting involved in this? I have no idea where this is gonna go now, and I did not see this coming at all! I wish them much luck in this, and many thanks for helping re-open the park!

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An excessive, yet ingenious plan to gain control of the Anton shuttle in order to move it to HW.

 

Really though, I hope the park lives on as more than just a water park.

 

I think its safe to say from the carousel horse in the logo that they plan to operate the rides there aswell but it will be interesting to see what they keep... I can see the SLC leaving.

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Purely speculating, but if Hard Rock Park ends up like everyone thinks it will, the barely used B&M looper would be a decent consolation prize for losing Chang (even though Chang's lift hill provides more exhilarating forces). The typical guest won't know the difference.

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An excessive, yet ingenious plan to gain control of the Anton shuttle in order to move it to HW.

 

Really though, I hope the park lives on as more than just a water park.

 

Sadly, though Greezed Lightnin' is in bad shape all over. Even when KK was running it, it had the lowest dispatch rate of the remaining shuttle loops, and even with the spare 'organs' from her twin sister, it is in desperate need for a massive overhaul from end to end.

 

I'm never one to say we should lose a Schwarzkopf anything, but these weight drop models do require a ton of attention to keep going mechanically. And, since a flywheel conversion isn't available on this model, you're looking at a pretty hefty price tag to fully overhaul this one from the ground up.

 

Even with HW giving the park (And the rides...) some love, there are some things that realistically we should be ready for. Losing this treasure of a ride is one of them, as I think it's days as an operating ride are sadly over. Without another 'organ donor' available for parts, it's going to be tough to get this one up and running again.

 

R.D.

Praise be to Anton, Amen.

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So the people at HW operate what is easily the best park in the region (and arguably one of the best parks in the country), but they want to try to revive what was easily the worst park in the region (and arguably one of the worst parks in the country)? To me, this investment would be like buying a boat. It would be a colossal money pit with absolutely no return on their investment. I really, really hope they see the logical side of this and change their minds.

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So the people at HW operate what is easily the best park in the region (and arguably one of the best parks in the country), but they want to try to revive what was easily the worst park in the region (and arguably one of the worst parks in the country)? To me, this investment would be like buying a boat. It would be a colossal money pit with absolutely no return on their investment. I really, really hope they see the logical side of this and change their minds.

 

 

If you think Kentucky Kingdom is the worst park in the US, Count yourself lucky. Off the top of my head:

 

- Santa's Village 2002 (See Conneaut Lake Park with A pathetic waterpark)

- Mount Olympus 2005 (Operations Make DeJaVu operate like Raging Bull)

- Dutch Wonderland 2007 (WORST Guest Relations I've ever encountered)

- Six Flags Great Adventure 2011 (Pathetic Guest Relations. They prevented me from getting on Nitro)

- Conneaut Lake Park 2011 (Tacky, Cheap, Bad)

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Steve, do you honestly think this deal would go through if the Koch's didn't believe it was "logical?"

 

The family has been running one of the most successful parks in the world for over half a century. Surely they know what they're doing/getting themselves into.

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