page_title: T3 (roller coaster)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: T3 (roller coaster) / History
caption_attribution_description: In the red T² station www.rollercoasterphilosophy.com/
context_page_description: T3 is an inverted roller coaster at Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville, Kentucky. Previously named T2, the Suspended Looping Coaster model manufactured by Vekoma opened in 1995. The amusement park closed in 2010 due to financial difficulties, but later reopened under new ownership in 2014. The roller coaster was refurbished and renamed T3, which reopened to the public on July 3, 2015.
context_section_description: The concept to add inversions to the inverted roller coaster was first developed by Jim Wintrode, general manager of Six Flags Great America, in the 1990s. Wintrode worked with Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabillard – from Swiss roller coaster manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard – along with engineer Robert Mampe to develop Batman: The Ride which opened at Six Flags Great America in 1992. Dutch amusement ride manufacturer Vekoma developed a similar concept shortly after, and the model became known as the Suspended Looping Coaster (SLC). Their first installation was El Condor at Six Flags Holland which debuted in 1994.
  In 1995, nine parks around the world announced plans to add Vekoma SLCs, including Kentucky Kingdom. The installation at Kentucky Kingdom was identical to the original prototype at Walibi Holland, but it featured a different color scheme – red track with purple trains. Announced as T2, the roller coaster officially opened to the public in 1995.
  At the end of 1997, the rights to operate Kentucky Kingdom were sold to Premier Parks for $64 million. Following the acquisition, Batman and DC Comics themes were added to Kentucky Kingdom. As a result, T2 was painted black for the 1999 season. This was due to a plan by Six Flags to retheme part of the park as Gotham City, and rebrand T2 as Batman: The Ride and its next door roller coaster, Chang, as Riddler's Revenge. However, these plans never came to fruition, while T2 retained its new coat of black paint.
  Amid a corporate bankruptcy on February 4, 2010, Six Flags announced the park would cease operations immediately due to the rejection of an amended lease by the Kentucky State Fair Board. Under the efforts of former Kentucky Kingdom operator Ed Hart and several investors, the Kentucky Kingdom Redevelopment Company was formed to redevelop the park and reopen it. The Koch Family, owners of Holiday World & Splashin' Safari in Santa Claus, Indiana, also expressed interest in redeveloping the park. On February 23, 2012, the Kentucky Fair Board approved a lease agreement which would see the park reopen as Bluegrass Boardwalk. The plans called for the removal of T2 along with the Twisted Twins, due to age and safety concerns. However, plans soon unraveled, and the Koch family eventually withdrew from the investment.
  On June 27, 2013, Ed Hart's investment group negotiated an agreement to spend $36 million to reopen the park under its former name Kentucky Kingdom in 2014. Plans involved a major refurbishment of T2 with a timeline to reopen the ride in 2015. Later it was revealed that its name would be changed to T3. The refurbished ride reopened on July 3, 2015, and featured renovated trains and track to provide a more comfortable experience for riders.
caption: T3's station remained red following the transition to the black color scheme.
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot S3 IS", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2009:05:09 13:12:45", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "2270", "Image XPKeywords": "[83, 0, 105, 0, 120, 0, 32, 0, 70, 0, 108, 0, 97, 0, 103, 0, 115, 0, 32, 0, ... ]", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "1/96", "Thumbnail YResolution": "1/96", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "7156", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5610", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/320", "EXIF FNumber": "27/10", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:05:09 13:12:45", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:05:09 13:12:45", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "5", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "133/16", "EXIF ApertureValue": "23/8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "23/8", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "80", "EXIF FocalLength": "6", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2816", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2112", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "2816", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "2112", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "6930", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "112640/9", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "2112000/169", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "4158"}