Kentucky Kingdom

Kentucky Kingdom, formerly known as Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, is a theme park in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. The 67-acre (27 ha) park includes a collection of amusement rides and the Hurricane Bay water park. Kentucky Kingdom is at the intersection of Interstate 65 and Interstate 264, sharing a parking lot with the Kentucky Exposition Center.

In 1977, the Kentucky State Fair Board announced plans to build a theme park on the grounds of the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center. The park's construction, overseen by Kentucky Entertainment Limited, began in 1986 and cost $12 million. Kentucky Kingdom opened to the public on May 23, 1987. The park went bankrupt after one season, and was reopened in 1990 by businessman Ed Hart. Due to loan payment challenges, Kentucky Kingdom was sold in 1998 to Six Flags, which operated it until closing it in 2009. Hart reopened the park in May 2014. Seven years later, the park's operating rights were sold to Herschend. Kentucky Kingdom is owned by the Kentucky State Fair Board and operated by Herschend.

Kentucky Kingdom has five roller coasters: Hollyhock and Roll, Kentucky Flyer, Lightning Run, Wind Chaser, and Woodland Run. The park has opened many first-of-its-kind roller coasters. T2 was the first Vekoma Suspended Looping Coaster in North America. Lightning Run was the first Chance Rides Hyper GT-X Coaster in the world. Wind Chaser was the first roller coaster in the U.S. with a barrel roll drop.

The Kentucky State Fair Board released a long-range master plan for the redevelopment and expansion of the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center grounds on March 24, 1977, which included the construction of a theme park. The Fair Board suggested that the park should be divided into three sections: a turn-of-the-century village, a Daniel Boone town and a "unit devoted to Kentucky's mining industry." Several years later, the Fair Board began searching for a developer who could operate the planned park. On November 21, 1985, they signed a contract with Kentucky Entertainment Limited, headed by Dallas businessman Michael Jenkins.

On December 13, 1985, at a press conference attended by Kentucky governor Martha Layne Collins and Louisville mayor Jerry Abramson, Kentucky Entertainment Limited and the Fair Board announced plans for Kentucky Kingdom, a 13-acre theme park focused on Kentucky's history and culture that would open in 1987. Construction began on March 28, 1986, with a team of mules and a 60-year old plow breaking the first ground at a ceremony that was also attended by Governor Collins and Mayor Abramson. On May 16, 1987, more than 6,000 Girl Scouts and their relatives were allowed to preview the park a week before opening. Most of the reviews were negative, as visitors complained about long lines and poor crowd control, many believed that the park was too small to accommodate large crowds.

Kentucky Kingdom opened on May 23, 1987, with about 400 people in attendance at the opening ceremony. The park had four themed areas called "Carousel Plaza," "Old Louisville," "Kentucky Frontier," and "The Enchanted Forest." The latter was a children's area which would later become "King Louie's Playland." Many people who visited Kentucky Kingdom complained about the 13-acre park's small size and how it had few attractions, one visitor said "What few rides Kentucky Kingdom did have seemed to be oriented to younger children. In fact, most of the park seemed to be oriented to children. But what about the parents who take them there? What do they ride or do while waiting for their kids?" The park closed and filed for bankruptcy after only one season due to low attendance numbers, which were attributed to the small amount of attractions and poor weather conditions throughout the 1987 season. Most of the contractors and vendors were unpaid and almost all of the rides were auctioned off to other parks on April 15, 1989.

The rights to operate Kentucky Kingdom were purchased by Ed Hart and a group of investors in April 1989. Hart was a local businessman who had renovated two buildings in Louisville's Highlands neighborhood. After Kentucky Kingdom closed, he was contacted by the National Bank of Canada, who offered to be the senior lender if he reopened the park. Hart initially declined, discouraged by the stories of Kentucky Kingdom's failure, but later changed his mind. Hart's first step was paying the 227 vendors and contractors that were unpaid before. In December 1989, the new operators decided to exercise an option in their deal with the Fair Board to lease an additional 13 acres so that the park could be expanded.

Kentucky Kingdom reopened for the 1990 season on June 13, with an estimated 2,000 people visiting the park on the first day of the season. While all the rides from the 1987 season were sold, Starchaser, the park's indoor roller coaster, had remained on-site at Kentucky Kingdom, allowing Hart to repurchase and reclaim it. Additionally, new flat rides were added, including Blackbeard's Bounty, The Enterprise, Whirling Dervish (later renamed 'Breakdance'), as well as The Vampire, a roller coaster. The Tin Lizzies antique car ride reused the same track as the former car ride, Pontiac's Tin Lizzy Junction, while new antique cars were added in 1995, having been previously used at Opryland USA in Tennessee. In 1991, the park opened the Flying Dutchman, a wooden shoe-swing ride that was relocated from Kings Island.