page_title: Kentucky Kingdom
section_title: Rapid growth (1989–97)
hierarchical_section_title: Kentucky Kingdom / History / Rapid growth (1989–97)
caption_attribution_description: English: Thunder Run at Kentucky Kingdom.
context_page_description: Kentucky Kingdom is an amusement park in Louisville, Kentucky. The 65-acre park includes a collection of amusement rides and a water park named Hurricane Bay. Kentucky Kingdom is located at the intersection of Interstate 65 and Interstate 264, sharing a parking lot with the Kentucky Exposition Center. The park originally opened on May 23, 1987, after years of planning by the Kentucky State Fair Board and Kentucky Entertainment Limited, the parks original operators, at a cost of $12 million. The park went bankrupt after one season, and was reopened in 1990 by businessman Ed Hart, who would reopen the park again on May 24, 2014, after it was closed by the park's third operator, Six Flags, in 2009. Kentucky Kingdom is owned by the Kentucky State Fair Board, and operated by Kentucky Kingdom, LLLP.
  Kentucky Kingdom's normal operating season runs from late April to early August. The park then reopens only on weekends until the end of October, the same month that the park hosts their Halloween-themed event, known as HalloScream.
  Kentucky Kingdom has six roller coasters: Kentucky Flyer, Lightning Run, Roller Skater, Storm Chaser, T3, and Thunder Run.
context_section_description: The rights to operate Kentucky Kingdom were purchased by Ed Hart and a group of investors in early April 1989. Hart was a local businessman who had renovated two buildings in Louisville's Highlands neighborhood. After Kentucky Kingdom closed, he was contacted by the Bank of Canada, who wanted him to reopen the park. Hart originally declined, because of the stories of Kentucky Kingdom's failure, but later changed his mind. Hart's first step was paying the 227 vendors and contractors that were unpaid before. Kentucky Kingdom reopened for the 1990 season on June 13, an estimated 2,000 people visited the park on the first day of the season. Despite the Starchaser being sold it had remained on-site at the amusement park allowing Hart to purchase it back. Additionally, new rides were added including Bluebeard's Bounty, The Enterprise, Whirling Dervish (later renamed Breakdance), and The Vampire roller coaster. The Tin Lizzies antique car ride reused the same track as the former car ride, Pontiac's Tin Lizzy Junction, while new antique cars were added in 1995 which were formerly used at Opryland USA in Tennessee. In 1991, the park opened the Flying Dutchman, a wooden shoe-swing ride that was relocated from Kings Island.
  On August 24, 1990, Kentucky Kingdom announced plans to build a water park that was projected to open in either the summer of 1991 or April 1992. On July 11, 1991, the park announced plans for Ocean Avenue, a 6-acre water park that would open in 1992 and have a separate admission cost of $4 to $6. The name was later changed Ocean Paradise, however the name was changed for a third time to Hurricane Bay, which was the planned name for the water park's wave pool. Hurricane Bay opened in 1992, as a water park with no separate admission fee from Kentucky Kingdom. Other additions in 1992 included The Quake, which was the first Vekoma Waikki Wave to open in North America, and a $2.6 million, 150-foot-tall ferris wheel called the Giant Wheel. The following year a new slide complex opened in Hurricane Bay featuring four different slides. In 1994, the park opened Mile High Falls, the then world's tallest shoot-the-chute water ride. The children's roller coaster Roller Skater was also added that year. 
  In 1995, T3 (formerly T2: Terror to the Second Power) was added. The ride is a Vekoma Suspended Looping Coaster, the coaster is 101-feet tall, 2,172 feet long, has five inversions, and a top speed of 49 mph. T2 was the first of its kind on the continent and the second only in the world, with the other being Condor at Walibi Holland in the Netherlands. Also in 1995, Hellevator, a 177-foot-tall Intamin drop tower opened in October, just in time for the park's annual Halloween event, Halloscream. In 1996, the upcharge attraction, Top Eliminator Dragsters opened.
  In 1997, the park made its biggest investment yet with the addition of Chang, a $12 million stand up Bolliger & Mabillard coaster that set the world records for stand up coasters in height, drop, length, speed, and number of inversions. The coaster also included a vertical loop that was 121-feet tall, which was the tallest in the world. Thrill Karts (also known as Kingdom Go Carts) were also added this year, but were an upcharge attraction. Through the 1990–1998 seasons the park was considered as the fastest growing amusement park in North America. Park attendance had increased from 130,000 guests during the 1990 season, to 1.2 million guests during the 1997 season.
caption: Thunder Run opened in 1990, and was the first ride added to the second half of the park
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