2006 SF Kentucky Kingdom

First off, I would just like to say that HW's Voyage is going to kick ass, and it's going to give us more competition. Our parks needs a way to compete:

I have heard from several employees (supervisor, senior team leaders) that Top Eliminator Dragster and Chaos are going to removed by next year. This I can easily believe because 1) Chaos has hardly been open....ever 2) Top-E has been down for most this season due to computer problems and that it costs more money to keep it open then to have it closed.

Based on the rumor that a coaster is very possible in the near future, I would believe that it will be located between the Twins and Blizzard River. It's also very possible that it will be located behind Chang, although it would be difficult/unusual to have a path going around/under Chang to get back there.

Also, there is a rumor (on Screamscape though) that the park wants to expand their waterpark. I'm not really for this idea, but it's better than nothing. I think the waterpark would be a better decision for business due to Splashin' Safari's relative closeness. The only problem is where to expand? It's possible and probable that T2 would be removed to allow for the expansion, but then what would happen to the pathway that goes around the waterpark right now. Could it pass directly through the waterpark?

The last rumor that I heard, although I doubt it will happen next year, is that the park wants to add another kiddie ride area behind Chang. This is a pretty strong rumor among a few employees, but they insist that quite a few of SFKK's complaints are that they don't have enough kiddie rides.

So what are the community's thoughts on this? Is all this a bunch of hogwash and I've wasted time typing all this, or is it somewhat credible?

I hope they don't expand the waterpark. I mean, it is just not worth it. You can't turn the existing one into one that is up there with SS. I personally wish they would take out that waterpark and build a Hurricane Harbour or something off of the property. There are a lot of different types of coasters that I see could be put into SFKK. I mean look at G-Force at Drayton Manor. I could even see a rocket put in there. Kanonen comes to mind. If they are "out of space" I say pull a Hershey park or Morey's piers. I could see another kiddie section put in but I don't think they'd do that right now. There is a lot of competetion out there right now. Who knows.

I think they should expand the waterpark greatly and expand a kiddie section. If they want to add that coaster later, they'll need to bring in families. Oh, and they should just paint everything and train their employees. That too.

And mow their grass, cut down weeds- at least the ones poking through queue fences..., open up at least one game in the midway cluster by mile high falls

Sorry couldn't resist.

But yea, that side of the park is really dead and it seems they would logically put something new there. A coaster is possible I guess, but I see them awkwardly expanding the waterpark before that.

The ought to paint Chang. They should be ashamed that they've let a B&M sit there and go to waste like that, whether it runs well or not. This is judging off some 2005 pictures. The ride has huge patches of paint gone and looks like a freakin' carnival ride. WTF? *** Edited 7/28/2005 4:10:08 AM UTC by Willh51***

KK has several, in fact allot, of kiddie rides but they're so scattered around the park that most people skip over them/or simply don't know their whereabouts. Perhaps if they grouped them together around the Roller Skater area it could turn that area of the park into Kiddie Kingdom and also create room for some new "adult" or family themed ride(s). I think KK has got the space to add on rides and can do it, but just getting it done is another whole story.

As far as expanding the waterpark goes, this is the wave of the future (pun intended). All theme parks are now realizing what a draw water parks are and are adding/revamping theirs to draw in a more "family" crowd. This is a trend we're gonna see a lot more of for the near future.

I can see Chaos and the dragster cars going bye-bye. These two rides, along with Quake, have been in hot water now for a long time either with mechanical problems or whatnot. I say sell em off to whoever will buy them, invest that money into either some employee hiring/training or some additional bathrooms. (you can NEVER have too many bathrooms in an amusement park!) Heck, if you just get barely enough money to repaint some of the rides in the park then do that! :) *** Edited 7/28/2005 5:43:21 AM UTC by Joey Stewart***

They need to get rid of the "Damn Bridge"

Look both ways when crossing the 6 lane drive :)

I think they need to learn how to efficiently operate some of the coasters they have NOW before installing any new ones.
One train on Chang.
One train on T2.
4-5 minute dispatch intervals on Thunder Run.

At least they seem to have both sides of Twisted Twins open lately.

I wish they could modify Thunder Run so it could run 2 trains. That coaster kicks some serious ass. The only problem is the horrible crew (at least everytime I've been there) and the single train operation.

Jerry

Jerry....Thunder Run HAD the footers in place and was only a transfer track away from two train ops....then someone (who apparently isn't very bright) paid to REMOVE the footers, so now they'd have to *reinstall* them to add transfer track for two-train ops.

Bottom line: they paid to make sure TR does NOT get a second train...potentially the worst park decision I can think of offhand... :(

Could the park invest money into new Vekoma trains to make T2 smoother? Would that help? Or is it the track itself the makes the ride rough? Also, if it is the trains that cause the problem, is it possible to use the four abreast trains like on Deja Vu on T2? I'm sure the track/supports would have to be modified to support twice the amount of weight, but it would give twice the capacity.

T2 has an extremely short train - much shorter than any of the other Vekoma SLC's. However, the real problem is the constant choice to run just one train on the ride. That, combined with crappy crews, makes SFKK nothing short of hellish to visit. I agree with those above who say SFKK's best bet for 2006 is to work on internal improvements. That could take years by itself.

-Nate

I don't see why people would want to ride T2 anyway. It's actually was not a bad visit on weekdays last season. It was walk ons for most of the rides. I got 68 rides on Greezed Lightnin' one day. And chang only had about a train weight. They def. need to paint Chang. And tear out T2. I mean how could the put a crapkoma right beside a beautiful B&M?

That Vekoma was there first, and it still seems fairly popular with the majority of park visitors.

-Nate

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rollergator said:
Bottom line: they paid to make sure TR does NOT get a second train...potentially the worst park decision I can think of offhand... :(

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Yep, I have to agree gator. Thunder Run is the best coaster SFKK has, and they crippled it right off the bat. The park gets raked through the mud a lot (and rightfully so), but everyone should visit at least once to take spin on TR.

But, to beat a dead horse, I really hope they take any money they had earmarked for new rides and put it towards internal improvements instead.

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john peck said:
They need to get rid of the "Damn Bridge"

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Make the cars go over a bridge and have the path go under!

I am sure it would be costly but perhaps build an underground tunnel for the cars to go through. That way it does not distract from the parks atmosphere and allows the park to feel like one whole part and not two seperate ones.

I know there are highways with underground tunnels but would have no clue on the feasability of doing it in this situation. Also who would fund this project would be an issue, would it be the state or Six Flags?

I think it would be both Six Flags and the state on that decision. Is the Expo Center part of the state? If not, then it would be among three parties. Also, if this underground road was constructed and the two halves were unified, it would be very difficult to blend them together. It would be like draining the Ohio River and blending Kentucky with Indiana. There's too many "abrupt stops" on both sides of the road that many changes would have to be made to make it look like a road was never there.

I think the underground car tunnel is unfortunately out of the question. SFI is just not going to spend that kind of money for it. I do think they could dress the bridge up though and make it more of an experience in itself. If you've ever experienced the Ponte Vecchio in FLorence, Italy you know what I mean.

http://www.magicaljourneys.com/Italy/italy-interest-florence-pontevecchio.html

I'm with Thriller on this one. SF won't spend the kind of money that would take to complete. Plus, since it's on the state fairgrounds property there's all types of red tape there too.

If they'd just get to a point where they could widen the bridge another 10-15' they would have a real chance to circulate traffic to both sides, and still have enough room to throw in some stands in a tasteful-looking way. And from what I remember about the kids area it is not very well advertised. Just a little rounded area with 4-5 themed rides that are kind've hidden behind tall brush and trees.

Put some exciting looking signage up, and make it apparent that you have something back there for small children to do that can be worth while. And apart from all that been mentioned about KK from Roller Skater back to the twins...that whole area has potential, as does the whole park, but just about everytime I've been there it seems like the area time forgot!

KK doesn't have to compete with HW, (Thankfully for them...'cause it's losing battle!). They just need to get people to work there that give a rip about the place. From employees who work the park, to execs. who work the boardrooms. This isn't the only SF park out there getting reamed, about 3/4 of all their properties are mistreated and misrun and it's just sad!

Of course, any powerful person in the SF Corp. who would read our posts would probably be stuck in disbelief at the first post to mention SF coasters using more than one train. That itself would be a huge hurdle to jump for SF.