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Kentucky Kingdom, in Louisville, Kentucky has had quite the rollercoaster of an existence.  First opened in 1987, on the site of the Kentucky Fairgrounds & Exhibition Center, the then 13 acre park closed at the end of that season due to low attendance.   In 1990 Kentucky Kingdom opened up under the guidance of Kentucky Businessman Ed Heart who expanded the park, added more adult attractions while rebranding Kentucky Kingdom "The Thrill Park".



In late 1997 Ed Heart lost the rights to run the park (the actual park is on the Kentucky Fairground's property) and Premier Parks assumed control.  Shortly after taking over Kentucky Kingdom Premier Parks stunned the world by taking over Six Flags and in 1998 Kentucky Kingdom became Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom.  Unfortunately, Kentucky Kingdom became a small cog in the ginormous Six Flags Machine and the park languished with little attention.  Eventually in 2010 with Six Flags in the middle of bankruptcy proceedings the decision was made for them to walk away from running Kentucky Kingdom, leaving the park closed.  Over the coming years there were numerous attempts to reopen the park.  Ed Heart tried to reopen it but failed.  The owners of Holiday World were interested but later backed out due to complications with having to run a business with the fair board having a onerous hand in decisions about the park.  In 2013 Ed Heart took another run at reopening the park and this time he succeeded.  Kentucky Kingdom opened back up in 2014.



In 2021 the up, down, and twisty journey of Kentucky Kingdom took another surprising directional change when Herschend Family Entertainment, the owners of Dollywood and Silver Dollar City had taken over as the operator of Kentucky Kingdom.  With over nineteen years between my last visit, with numerous ownership and ride changes to this park, it was most certainly time to head back to Louisville to check out a pretty much new Kentucky Kingdom.

My visit was on the opening day of Kentucky Kingdom's 2025 season and there was already plenty of buzz about changes in the park as well as rumors about what is coming in the future.



It was interesting walking around Kentucky Kingdom as so much has changed.  Coasters like Chang, Roadrunner Express, T2, Twisted Sisters, and Greezed' Lightnin are either gone or have been transformed into a completely different ride.  With quite a few new rides it feels like a new, but oddly familiar, park.  One of the things that Herschend brought with them was a bakery to churn out their famous cinnamon bread for guests to enjoy.



The really interesting recent change to Kentucky Kingdom are all of these walls in the front of the park fencing off areas where there used to be rides.  As it was opening day there were lots of folks milling around business attire from Herschend Family Entertainment.  Chatting with one I found out that the additions they made for this year are just the beginning of their plans to rebuild and transform Kentucky Kingdom into their kind of a park.  This fenced off area is going to be for phase two of their plans.  If the current rumor mill is correct we should see a nice new coaster here, probably a Vekoma family inverted, opening in 2026.



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Paul B. Drabek