Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom trip - Sept 4, 2005

I wanted to post about my day at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. I realize that people are rather harsh when talking about this park. While many of the criticisms I read are valid, it *is* still possible to have a fun day here.

We live in Louisville, and decided to go since I was oncall at work and could not attend a park out of town. I went with my girlfriend and another friend of ours. We were at the park for about 4 hours before we needed to leave, but had a really nice time.

We first rode Road Runner Express, basically a mouse coaster. I know these are not much, but we had a blast on this. The theming is cute and it is always fun to think you are going to fly off the track at the top. We then tried to ride Greezed Lightnin' but it was temporarily down. So we went to the Thrill Park Theatre and saw/rode the Stargate SG-3000. It was cheesy and silly, but still fun. After that, Greezed Lightnin' was running and we hopped on. It is a quick ride, but it is a real Schwarzkopf classic and therefore worthy of some respect!

After that we got on the Rainbow, which was fun although it came close to getting my girlfriend sick. Then we walked over the bridge into the main part of the park to get into some more coaster. We first did Twisted Twins, a moderate but still fun wooden coaster. They were sadly running only one side, which is always frustrating. But it was enjoyable.

Then it was on to Thunder Run. It is easy to list the complaints with this ride. They only have one train, and the loading of that train takes a long time because of the difficult to work seat belts. But once you get past all that, it is a fun coaster with a lot of airtime and a unique layout. I think it is a real asset to the park, despite the limitations and its 14 years of age.

We then rode the best ride in the park, which is the stand-up coaster Chang. It was running pretty smooth today, like a good B&M should. They need to paint Chang SO BAD, but it was immensely enjoyable. They were only running one train, making what should have been a short wait much longer. The tendency of SIx Flags to run only one train on their coasters drive me insane! But the wait was still not too long, and you have to love a good B&M!

I then rode T2 for the first time. This is one of the dreaded Vakoma hang and bangs, and from the reviews I have seen online, I dreaded what would happen when I rode it. They were stupidly only running one train, so it took a half hour to get on, and I was getting more and more filled with trepidation. Then I rode it and... I loved it! Maybe I just have a strong constitution on these rides or caught it on a good day, but I did not find it that bad. It was not as smooth as glass as some of the Batman The Rides we rode at other parks, and there was some moderate head banging (but the material on the over the head restraint was soft). And yes, there are times when the rides seems to be going over speed bumps on the track. But it was not that bad either and I really had a nice time on it. The loops were fun and intense, and while the scenery around the coaster is ugly, you are flying so fast you do not notice. I dreaded this ride for so long and simply did not find it all that bad. I think we are spoiled by the ultra-smooth modern coasters.

I have to give credit to the ride crew on T2 this afternoon (Sunday around 4:00PM). There was a guy and girl there and they were working hard to entertain the audience with trivia about the park, doing some sing a long stuff and just being energetic and excited as they told us about the ride and the rules. You see so many workers there who are indifferent at best, and these two were really into what they were doing, and they made the wait for T2 more enjoyable. If the park had more employees like them, it would be a really awesome place!

We ended the day on the Helluvator, which was fun, although small compared to some other drop towers I have done. It did look nice since they painted it this year.

Overall we had a nice day here. No, this park does not have many new, state of the art rides and no, it does not have the best landscaping or theming. But it *IS* possible to have a nice time here with the right attitude. If SFKK would just operate the coasters at full capacity, add a second train to Thunder Run, get more employees like what I encountered at T2, paint and spruce up the park more, it would be a nice little park. I think people are a little over the top in their hatred of this place. It does have some redeeming qualities. It is one of the poorest run Six Flags parks, but it does have potential and it is possible to have a fun day there. *** Edited 9/5/2005 4:43:51 AM UTC by Mikewhy***

Did you happen to ride Blizzard River? If so, what did you think about it? I'm surprised you thought T2 was a good ride. I really like it myself, but many disagree.

I did not ride any water rides this trip, but I did ride Blizzard River and Mile High Falls during previous trips and I really enjoyed both of them. I think Blizzard River has a fun theme, and is actually one of the nicer rapids rides I have done, although the loading is slow due to the design of the loading platform. I do not see many rapids rides themed like Blizzard River at Six Flags parks, so I really like it! It is also kind of cool that the track lining came from the now defunct Opryland in Nashville, a park I always wanted to visit but sadly can not now...

Glad to see that someone else finds some good in T2! *** Edited 9/5/2005 5:57:54 AM UTC by Mikewhy***

"but it does have potential"

I keep hearing this a lot about SF's smaller parks.

I may have the chance to go to SFKK within the next few years because my Mom moved to Huntington...Or maybe I'll skip it for something else.

That's the thing. This park has the assets to be one of the better small scale parks around. Unfortunately, they choose to run one train operations on the coasters that are capable of running more.

Chang just baffles me on this. This coaster is huge. It is the 2nd longest standup behind Riddler's Revenge. Why they run 1 train on this coaster never made sense to me. Even if the line is just at the bottom of the stairs, you will still wait a good 30 minutes to ride due to the unloading and loading of a standup and also waiting for the 1 train to complete the course.

Thunder Run could use 2 trains and with the straight away track before the station, I see no reason why they can't modify it to handle 2 trains.

T2 also should run 2 trains. The other train is just sitting there on the transfer track. The station gets crowded real quick which creates impatience.

I will say this park has quite a few flats and they have a shoot the chutes that delivers a huge splash that garners attention. I see potential in this park and I hope with being smack dab in the middle of Holiday World and PKI, they will give people a reason to visit.

I did go there once in May when they were running two trains on both T2 and Chang. I about died, but I have never seen them do it since!

I like T2 as well. I think SFKK has tons of potential. If they would paint everything, run 2 trains, and maintain everything, the park would be killer! I think that they have 4 (five if you count the Sisters as 2) really good coasters, 2 good family coasters, and an SLC (take that however you want).

The selection is strong, the execution is poor. Thunder Run is one of my favorite woodies, Chang is my 2nd favorite stand up, and the half of Sisters/Twins I got to ride was good.

But, much like the company overall, there is so much lost potential.

Both Chang and T2 run two trains on every Saturday.

Running two trains on an SLC wouldn't do too much to increase capacity,even with two trains SFA's Mind eraser can get pretty crowded in a hurry.

If the staff is so slow checking restraints(cough superman cough)then it doesn't always do much good to have two trains going.

The guy employee at T2 is one of our best employees. Glad you had a good time! :)