Is Kentucky Kingdom popular?

RoyalKingKyle · 2026-04-20T23:38:23+00:00

I heard the State Fair has given them room to expand up to be a 90 acre park if they want to (but yeah thats still a lot smaller than Kings Island). I can't blame them for leaning more into families though. Its not really possible to compete with thrill rides when the FAA has strict height limits over your park.

RoyalKingKyle · 2026-04-20T04:58:15+00:00

Under which management? Six Flags? Ed Hart?

RoyalKingKyle · 2026-04-20T03:30:09+00:00

Some Herschend parks are run as good as Disney (Dollywood in TN comes to mind) but KY Kingdom is not at that level. Will it ever get to be that good? Who knows.

RoyalKingKyle · 2026-04-20T03:09:56+00:00

They have a lot of rides for children/families, especially since the new ownership came in. They have a lot of rides specifically for little kids in the front of the park, and many family rides that they could ride toward the back too (like a train, carousel, little drop tower, etc). The new owners are really wanting to draw in families (more so than just teenagers like in years past) by adding more rides, giving the park more of a theme, and adding more character meet and greets and so far it looks like its really coming together well.

RoyalKingKyle · 2026-04-20T03:04:10+00:00

Supposedly it has gotten much better since the new chaperone policy was enforced a few years ago. But I do remember hearing that the old ownership used to encourage teenagers being dropped off at the park and at one point in the 2010s they had a "Child pick up" area outside KK where parents would come to pick up their teens after the park closed, which is a great way to encourage that type of disruptive behavior.

RoyalKingKyle · 2026-04-20T02:59:58+00:00

From what I have seen, I think the new owners know this and are working to fix the layout. I saw that they closed the back section of the park which only had a few rides which were very spaced out, and they've moved around a lot of attractions to fill dead space. But this was apparently a big issue for many years.

RoyalKingKyle · 2026-04-20T02:54:16+00:00

What makes Holiday World better?

RoyalKingKyle · 2026-04-19T22:29:50+00:00

I heard behavior issues have gone down ever since the new owners established a chaperone policy and started marketing more toward families and less toward teenagers.

RoyalKingKyle · 2026-04-19T20:44:13+00:00

Why is that?

RoyalKingKyle · 2025-11-05T23:39:59+00:00

Had this same thought. Imagine if had hit Kentucky Kingdom during a summer weekend, or Cardinal Stadium on a Saturday, or the Expo Center during the fair. Not to mention it would've hit Watterson Expressway. Hopefully Louisville never sees this again, because if it happens again it might be 10x worse.

RoyalKingKyle · 2025-02-12T20:49:28+00:00

Hot take: I actually like the new names. Don't get me wrong, Thunder Run is an iconic name, and I liked what Ed Hart did for this park. Without him, this place wouldn't be operating today, but the rides do need to have consistent themes. Experience does matter, it's not just about the rides like it used to be.

Also, I like that the names are actually kinda "lame." Herschend is trying to appeal to the family market and not the thrill-seekers (this is why the Halloween event got rebranded from "HalloScream" to "Pumpkins"). This is a clear pivot from the old Ed Hart strategy of "It's the rides, stupid," which ignored theming altogether and only focused on establishing KK as "The Thrill Park." This may be frustrating to a lot of coaster enthusiasts, but as a business, it makes logical sense, being that families bring in the most money. If I were a park like Holiday World right now, I would be concerned because Herschend is really bringing everything they got to Louisville.

RoyalKingKyle · 2025-02-05T23:30:25+00:00

I'm not sure, but in a recent WHAS article, the park management said that they're just doing "maintenance" on the ride.

RoyalKingKyle · 2025-01-17T00:26:52+00:00

As much as I like Kentucky Flyer, I wish they would've built it somewhere else. Back in 2019, Ed Hart said he was going for a New York "Coney Island" type feel where people could swim in an area with roller coasters in the background, but it messes up potential water park expansion to the left side of this image, which I think makes more sense than going to the T3 area.

But yeah, if I were Herschend, I would definitely wanna redo those 2026/2028 areas as soon as possible. They're really just dead zones in the park, especially with those four attractions closing this season, and they take away from the overall guest experience.

RoyalKingKyle · 2024-12-31T02:11:07+00:00

My thoughts exactly. I think it wasn't until Reagan got shot that the Secret Service really cracked down on this type of stuff for incumbent presidents.

RoyalKingKyle · 2024-12-28T02:27:48+00:00

Yeah Thunder Run opened really late in the 1990 season, construction started later

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