More trouble ahead

Meanwhile, back in Louisville, Six Flags was facing some big problems. The company was drowning in debt after buying too many parks, and it stopped investing in the one in Kentucky. Several rides were closed and/or moved. Malfunctions in The Vampire coaster caused it to be removed, and it later appeared as Flashback at Six Flags New England. The Quake also malfunctioned and was removed, and in 2002, the Twisted Sisters coaster had to be renamed Twisted Twins because the band Twisted Sister had threatened a lawsuit.

The park also faced complaints about people jumping lines, smoking and using profanity in the park. Kentucky Kingdom’s previously clean reputation was going downhill.

A horrifying accident

Kentucky Kingdom’s attendance was already decreasing in 2007, when the Hellevator ride just inside the park’s gates was re-themed and renamed Superman: Tower of Power. Then came the worst day in the park’s history.

On June 21 that year, a 13-year-old girl boarded Superman: Tower of Power with her friends for their second time that day. Right after the drop ride began to ascend, a cable snapped. The girl became tangled in the cable, and while she was able to remove it from her neck before the ride got to the top, it was still looped around her feet during the drop. As a result, her left femur was shattered and both of her feet were severed.

The ride’s operator heard the cable snap and said there was unusual screaming from the people on the ride. Witnesses said the cable snapped 35 or 45 feet above the ground, and passengers shouted to “stop the ride,” but the operator didn’t press the emergency stop button until it was too late.

The Kentucky Department of Agriculture said the cable failed because of fatigue, and the department, along with a scientist, said that the park could’ve prevented the accident if it had been following the correct safety protocol. They also said that if the ride operator had hit the emergency stop button immediately, the injuries could have been prevented.

Doctors were able to reattach one of the girl’s feet, and Kentucky Kingdom officials said they started double-checking the safety of each ride, but after the girl’s family sued the park, the ride was removed in 2008. The settlement amount wasn’t disclosed, but the money was said to be enough to provide lifetime care for the teenager and pay her medical bills, which reached half a million dollars.

Cash-flow problems continued for the park. Because of Six Flags’ debt, one entire section of Kentucky Kingdom closed. But an even larger closure was to follow.

Shutting the gates

A couple of years after the Superman: Tower of Power accident, Six Flags shut down the whole park. Six Flags was also facing a corporate bankruptcy at the time, as well as the rejection of an amended lease agreement for the land Kentucky Kingdom sat on. Attendance had dwindled to less than 500,000 visitors per season. The company stripped Kentucky Kingdom of all of the Looney Tunes and DC Comics branding and sent a couple of the rides — Chang and a wild mouse coaster called the Road Runner Express  — to two of the chain’s other parks. The rides that were left in Louisville sat untouched and unmaintained, and the abandoned park became an eyesore.

Two years later, a ray of hope emerged for the park. The owners of Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari in Santa Claus, Indiana, about an hour away from Kentucky Kingdom, announced that they were exploring the possibility of reopening the park. They came up with a new name — Bluegrass Boardwalk — along with a logo, and even put out a call to hire hundreds of seasonal workers on the Bluegrass Boardwalk Facebook page. But ultimately, the deal didn’t go through. Holiday World’s owners said they wanted freedom to add or subtract rides like they do at their flagship park, instead of having to deal with the red tape involved with the leased land on the Kentucky fairgrounds’ site.

A familiar name

Kentucky Kingdom sat closed for two more years before a deal was finally struck. Nearly $50 million was used to reopen the park, and the site’s biggest expansion in history would be coming, thanks to Ed Hart.

Hart had tried to reopen the park even before Holiday World’s Bluegrass Boardwalk idea was considered, but his first deal was struck down. But after Bluegrass Boardwalk also fell through, Hart returned with another pitch  — this time promising to return the park to its heyday in the 1990s.

More rides were added ahead of Kentucky Kingdom’s 2014 reopening, including three in the children’s area that was renamed back to King Louie’s Playground. A bright-blue coaster called Lightning Run, named to go along with Kentucky Kingdom’s Thunder Run, was also added. The ride was the park’s first new steel coaster to be added in nearly 15 years and stands 100 feet tall with a course 2,500 feet long. And even a new drop ride to replace Superman: Tower of Power, called FearFall, made its debut. Hurricane Bay also received an expansion that doubled its size, at a cost of $10.5 million, that saw the addition of the tallest body slide in the country along with the Deluge — a hydromagnetic water coaster.

Thousands of Kentucky Kingdom fans were anxious to explore the park once more, and over 100,000 season passes were quickly sold.

When the park reopened on May 24, 2014, more than 50 rides and attractions were available, and attendance hit 600,000 through the season. That year, one in ten residents in Louisville and nearby Southern Indiana held a season pass to the park. And as far as residents age 6 to 17 went, that number was one in four.

More security, such as staff officers and off-duty Louisville Metro police, were also added to the park to try to keep troublemakers away and make the park more family-friendly. And, since the park has reopened, it has provided jobs to thousands, including many teenagers who will count Kentucky Kingdom as their first careers.

For the park’s 2015 season, more new or refurbished rides opened, including the coaster now named T3 (formerly T2); Cyclos, a pendulum ride that loops in the air 360 degrees; Skycatcher, a 130-foot-tall swing ride; and Enterprise and the Raging Rapids River Ride. A new show also came to the park’s 5D Cinema — this one featuring Dorothy and her friends’ adventures in “The Wizard of Oz.” The new attractions and rides brought the park’s total number to more than 60. And Hart had yet another addition: the return of the park’s safety committee, which, he says, gets whatever it needs to make sure it operates.

This year and last, the park also earned special distinctions. It was named one of the 10 best in the country by MSN Travel and was noted as one of the 10 must-see amusement parks in the United States by the Los Angeles Times. Park attractions have also been featured on national TV shows such as the Travel Channel’s “Xtreme Water Parks.”

What’s next

Kentucky Kingdom has plans to keep going strong, adding more attractions each year (including a refurbished Twisted Twin coaster for 2016 with another new name that Hart won’t yet reveal). The park is also expanding its marketing efforts to try to draw thrill-seekers that might otherwise go to nearby parks, such as Mason, Ohio’s Kings Island — or Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari. In addition, the park has added some incentives for season pass holders, such as free soft drinks and sunscreen (which have been offered to all guests at Holiday World for years), free parking and 20 percent off food and merchandise. 

However, unlike in years past when Kentucky Kingdom held events such as Fright Fest, the park doesn’t plan to offer any Halloween-themed October hours this year. The park’s season will end in late September because, Hart has explained, there’s already an abundance of spooky attractions in Louisville during the fall. But Hart said he hasn’t ruled out October hours in the future.

Only time will tell if there will be any more twists and turns in Kentucky Kingdom’s story, but for now, the future looks bright for this Louisville landmark.