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With guests flocking to Lightning Run for their first ride of the day the boys and I decided to head to the back half of Kentucky Kingdom to hit those coasters first before working our way back to the front of the park.  Our first stop:  Woodland Run.



The last time Bond was at Kentucky Kingdom he was nowhere near tall enough to ride a coaster like Woodland Run so I was curious as to what his impression would be.



Designed on a cocktail napkin at an industry trade show Thunder Run; as it was originally known as, was the big addition to Kentucky Kingdom's third season in operation back in 1990.



Being conceived assumedly with a few cocktails sloshing around in designers John Fetterman and the legendary designer Curtis Summers, Wilderness Run has always been a pretty aggressive design with one big drop followed by a bunch of small bunny hills and turns all taken at high speed.



This Fetterman/Summers design with construction by the Dinn Corporation was an immediate hit.  It was so much of a hit that when Paramount Parks was a chain, they copied the design for their two Wayne's World themed Hurler coasters at Kings Dominion and Carowinds.  Hitting Carowinds the day after this one of the things we were interested in which would be the better of the two?  Would it be the original or the carbon copy?  To give a spoiler on my upcoming Carowinds trip report the original is worlds better than the copy.



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Paul B. Drabek