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Kentucky Kingdom: General Discussion

I have to say they do have one of the most creative social media teams of theme parks out there.

They have a Keys to the Kingdom enthusiast event on August 30th, so they might let something slip about it then.
 
I want some of what Kentucky Kingdom's social media team are on!
 
In his latest video, Airtime Thrills seems to have found evidence that Kentucky Kingdom's getting a new coaster next year.

...An SLC.

...Right next door to their current SLC, T3.

...The new one will apparently be called T4.



Am I the only one who's struggling to make sense of this?
 
Jonathan said:
In his latest video, Airtime Thrills seems to have found evidence that Kentucky Kingdom's getting a new coaster next year.

...An SLC.

...Right next door to their current SLC, T3.

...The new one will apparently be called T4.



Am I the only one who's struggling to make sense of this?
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I was struggling to make sense of it too, but apparently it’s some kind of joke among those close to Kentucky Kingdom.
 
Indeed, it is a bit of a long running joke that Kentucky Kingdom are completely in on as they know just how much people love (hate) T3!
 
Rob said:
Indeed, it is a bit of a long running joke that Kentucky Kingdom are completely in on as they know just how much people love (hate) T3!
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Ah. Of course. Can I blame being half-asleep when I made my original post? :p
 
Kentucky Kingdom loves to troll around with enthusiasts. Don't always take what the park says on social media as concrete words, as chances are it's a prank. Example; increasing the height of their water slide to 500ft.
 
In a very interesting move, it’s rumoured that Herschend Family Entertainment (operators of Dollywood, Silver Dollar City and Wild Adventures, amongst other attractions), may be gaining some sort of involvement with Kentucky Kingdom.

In recent days, the park has begun teasing “a new story” on their Twitter, with cryptic clues including a map that just so happens to link all of the current Herschend properties together, and a number of graph emojis afterwards that just so happens to have the same number of letters as “Herschend”. There are also rumblings of potential financial difficulties at Kentucky Kingdom at the moment, and Ed Hart was reportedly seen with the CEO of Herschend at the park towards the end of 2020.

Screamscape has suggested that Ed Hart may be looking to sell a majority stake in the park to Herschend, which would also see a $7m capital injection made into the park (presumably towards new attractions, infrastructure etc.). Here’s what Lance had to say:
“Screamscape” said:
Park News - (2/20/21) Screamscape sources have provided me with some new details regarding what is going on at Kentucky Kingdom. According to our sources Kentucky Kingdom’s Ed Hart has been in talks with Herschend Family Entertainment for months now, and many members of Herschend’s corporate team have been seen at the park since December, including Craig Ross, the former President of Dollywood who was promoted up into a new corporate spot to head up future growth opportunities for Herschend. In fact, we’ve heard that Craig Ross had an on-site office set up for him to work at Kentucky Kingdom back in early January.
From what I’ve been told the deal they have been working on since October 2020 would see Herschend come in to purchase a majority interest in Kentucky Kingdom, along with $7 million in capital funding into the park. Apparently the last few years have not been kind to Kentucky Kingdom on the financial side of things, and 2020 was just the icing on the cake that made a bad situation even worse.
In early January 2021 many senior members of the upper staff and management in the park were let go, along with the message that it was happening as part of the pending Herschend deal, though later on others who survived the culling claim to have been told the cuts came from Ed Hart’s direction and not as a directive from Herschend. Currently the deal is pending a required payment to the State Fair Board to cover the land-lease still owed from the 2020 season. I’ve also been told that the park has many other accounts still owed to various park vendors from the 2020 season that they have arranged to push those payments out to July 2021 due to lack of funds last year.
Apparently the deal was to be finalized and the lease-payment made, but as I was told from our source, at the 11th hour Ed Hart was not yet willing to sign off on the deal for an unknown reason, which resulted in the social media posts teasing the big announcement being deleted.
This is what we know as of today, and after months of work on the deal, I don’t think things would have fallen completely apart, so perhaps there are just some final tweaks and details that need to be worked out before it can be finalized and the announcement made. Otherwise, our source did not paint a bright picture for the future of the park if left to go it alone.
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Here’s the Screamscape link, if you want more info: http://screamscape.com/html/kentucky_kingdom.htm
 
Not that I'm complaining, but this seems like a really bizarre acquisition for Herschend if true.
 
Kentucky Kingdom have done a wonderful job as a solo park since they reopened in 2014. I'm sure Herschend will do the park good, but it seems a weird move for all parties tbh
 
Danny said:
Not that I'm complaining, but this seems like a really bizarre acquisition for Herschend if true.
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I don’t think the park is too dissimilar in scale to Wild Adventures in Georgia, which Herschend also owns. Although yes, I admit that it’s a bit out of step with the likes of Silver Dollar City and Dollywood.
 
Sorry for double posting, but it has now been confirmed that Kentucky Kingdom is changing hands:
https://www.wdrb.com/in-depth/kentu...cle_4b30482e-752e-11eb-9771-7bb3912ffbd0.html

Apologies, as the article is American and therefore can’t be read in our territory due to GDPR, but it’s the only one I can find at the moment.

Still, very interesting news; I can’t wait to see where this takes the park over the next few years!
 
Interesting!

Great news ... You're close to a Herschend park ... Bad news, it's Kentucky Kingdom.
 
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