SFKK Question about Six Flags branding

In the news section today it said that Kentucky Kingdom Suddenly becomes Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. Did Six Flags re brand the park mid season? Was the park bought out of the blue with no rumors or anything?

Premier Parks bought KK before they bought Six Flags, im not sure about how suddenly the name was changed though.

Uh, hasn't it been SFKK forever now?

I believe it was branded the year after Chang was added.

Kentucky Kingdom was sold to Premier Parks in 1998 mid season. It was purchased from Ed Hart a businessman. Recently, Mr. Hart was pushing the development of another park in Nashville.... but that project fell through about a year ago.

In 1998 Kentucky Kingdom added Twisted Sisters (now Twisted Twins) but the coaster (when KK was owned by the Hart Corportation) was originally supposed to be called "Double Trouble."

Premier made the decision to change the name of the coaster prior to construction being completed. Twisted Sisters had a delayed opening and took it's first public riders in the midst of the 1998 season. If I recall, there was controversy over the building of Twisted Sisters because many lower income homes along Crittenden Drive were demolished to make way for it. Several families were evicted.

I believe KK became branded as Six Flags in 1999 when Premier bought out the Six Flags chain. Originally the General Manager of the park assumed that most of the SF/DC branding would be carried over to the park and orchestrated a repaint of the rides. The re-branding never happened, but new color schemes on the coasters did. That is why Chang changed from Yellow to Green and Purple, and T2 went from Red to Black.... well, for the most part ;-)

Basically, Premier saw KK as a lucurative opportunity since Hart had been able to add MAJOR rides consecutively to the park.... Thunder Run, Hellivator, Chang, the Giant Wheel, the Waterpark etc. etc. etc. all were added within seasons of each other. This read to Premier as a park that was obviously a cash cow. Fact is, Mr. Hart had added the rides to the park on "time" and left Premier holding the bills once the purchase deal was made.

Shaggy *** Edited 6/23/2004 2:06:22 PM UTC by Shaggy***

I never knew it was called "Kentucky Kingdom Suddenly" before.

Um If I'm correct SFKK was branded sometime in 98...not 99.

The only parks re-branded(flagged) in 99 were Adventure world(SFA),Elitch gardens(SFEG),Darien lake(SFDL) & Riverside(SFNE).

I remember it well because during the october 98 press release about the SF branding of Adventure world there wastalk of SF already operating the Kentucky park under that name,also that was the same day that vampire(now SFNE's flashback) vallied in the cobra roll & I also have that news report on tape as well as the SF press release regarding SFA.

I was there the day after KK became SFKK and the only real changes to the park were the new stickers on the trash cans, a little Looney Tunes Merchandice and a new logo in front of Helivator. I was there a few weeks before that and it looks like the "branding" literally took place overnight.

Have Fun!

Paul Drabek

I'm pretty sure Riverside was rebranded to Six Flags New England in 2000 when they added the three new coasters (SROS, Flashback, Poison Ivy) in one year. I went on the second day of operation in 2000 expecting Superman to be a shorter version of The Escape at Magic Mountain... Boy was I in for a surprise! ;)

Like Shaggy and the Rollback says, Kentucky Kingdom was rebranded in 1998, on June 22nd to be exact. :)

+Danny

The four parks "flagged" in 1999 were -

Adventure World as Six Flags America
Darien Lake as Six Flags Darien Lake
Elitch Gardens as Six Flags Elitch Gardens
Marine World as Six Flags Marine World

Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom was advertised as being part of the "new" Six Flags parks for 1999, even though the name change occured in 1998.

Ahh SFMW was the one I missed....how could I forget that one?

You're right about SFNE being flagged in 00 as opposed to 99 but of course I was thinking of the 4 parks that premiere originally owned instead.