Looks like a fun addition.... I really do hope this park survives just because abandoned parks are just sad and look like rotting corpses.... Americana for example

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...or like condos.

Looks like it really moves through the course. I need to get over there and check out out. Taking my nephews for their first trip to KI in a couple weeks, so KK will have to wait.

...or because of high land value, with a dash of dreams of a real estate developer crushed due to the housing bubble burst. IamlookingatyouAstroworld

Realtor is a registered trademark. As such, it is always capitalized here. The generic is real estate broker. Only Realtors are members of the National Association of Realtors.

Looks like a fun addition.... I really do hope this park survives just because abandoned parks are just sad and look like rotting corpses.... Americana for example

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I believe that if the park fails......yet again, it will be razed rather quickly.

I hope this park survives for a next season, because I'm not one for water parks, and they are planning to have the SLC and the two twisted woodies up and running for 2015, based off their park map.

I really would love a chance to ride Lightning Run, it looks like such a blast and to have more dry rides to offer me, I could see spending the time, gas, and money to visit Kentucky Kingdom once again.

This is how closely some local media is scrutinizing Kentucky Kingdom:

http://www.whas11.com/news/local/Kentucky-Kingdom-ride-malfunctions-briefly--262063301.html

Sigh.

Sigh. Something that happens, sometimes weekly. A mountain out of a mole hill.

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Thank god no one was injured.

This would happen everyday at KI if the chain lifts didn't have different speeds..

Is there really nothing better to report on the news?

Reporting this is like reporting your car broke down. It a machine things happen.

Nothing this park does right will get noticed, when ANYTHING even remotely negative happens, it will make the headlines.

I believe Irvine Ondrey Engineering also recently did a controls revamp on Kennywood's Auto Race, by the by. From what I've read from some Kennywood ride ops online, that ride used to be one of the most difficult rides in the park to operate. I've never ridden Auto Race, so I don't know understand how that ride works.

Not to hijack the thread, but what have you read? It seems like a regular ride with automatic operations...but maybe I'm wrong.

I would think all you do is push a button to send a car out...

Since we had this conversation, I'll pass along an interesting article originally posted on IOE's Facebook that explains exactly why Auto Race was difficult to operate. It also explains what changed when IOE updated the controls and why:

http://themeparkuniversity.com/backstage-access/modernizing-auto-race-attraction-kennywood/

Fair or Not, Kentucky Kingdom had to know they would be under a media magnifying glass once they opened. With the previous history of the park and how it shut down, plus the deals that were cut to open the new park. There are many in Louisville counting on the parks failure and Im not so sure the fair board isn't one of them.

Kentucky Kingdom Gets ADA Lesson:

http://www.wave3.com/story/25855369/kentucky-kingdom-overturns-wheelchair-policy-after-troubleshooter-investigation

In 2014.

Seriously?

Yep, that's pretty sad in this day and age.

However, it is nice to see the crusaders that have made accessibility into law have not wasted their efforts, and the media acting as a force of good: getting this publicized acted as a pressure point to getting it fixed.

Wow that's wrong. Glad they fixed the issues.

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Some of the decisions and actions at KK amaze me and some things do not. Seems like they truly stumble with the simple things...

I was kind of shocked when I got to the bottom of the article and the park's management wasn't adamantly denying that no admittance for wheel chairs was their policy. I'm surprised even operating temporarily without equal access is legal in today's day and age.

Did someone say it was?

Terp, who likes to ask reasonably accommodating questions.

Paging Mr. Hart, come in Mr. Hart..one would think he should be front and center on this issue, not somewhere else ignoring the PR (and now legal) fiasco that his park has found itself in. Sounds like his lawyer(s) are about to get some more work.

Here's a question for someone in the know - let's say a train gets stuck on a lift hill and riders have to be evacuated. How do they perform this task for someone who is paraplegic and must have a wheelchair?

^

Send in the uber-strong muscle dudes?

I think I may have spotted a gator at the park today but I didn't occur to me until I was driving home otherwise I would have said something, gator, were you wearing a Banshee T-shirt today?

Sorry, I didn't mean to ignore your question. I didn't realize that I haven't looked at this topic since May 23rd. But yes, that was me in the Banshee shirt opening day!

Kentucky Kingdom Gets ADA Lesson:

http://www.wave3.com/story/25855369/kentucky-kingdom-overturns-wheelchair-policy-after-troubleshooter-investigation

In 2014.

Seriously?

It's good to see KK had reversed it's policy, but it's completely inexcusable that that was even allowed to happen in the first place! "Inexperienced staff members couldn't perform the specialized loading procedures for people in wheelchairs while still maintaining the security of the general public"? Then train your staff on the proper procedures to ensure everyone can ride! It shouldn't take that much longer in your training. To do otherwise is blatant discrimination.

Kentucky Kingdom and problems with riders in wheelchairs? Who knew? Sounds a little familiar though... Oh yeah, I know where I've heard that one before...

June 1998

When we got to Chang, the only access to the station was by stairs. There were no ramps or elevators, so my friend Brian, who is in a wheelchair, couldn't get up there. The rest of us waited in line and when we got to the station, we asked the ride op about how our friend could get up there. I will never forget his exact words: "Well, if he's in a wheelchair he shouldn't be riding anything." I asked "Excuse me, what did you say?" in disbelief. He said "Yeah, if he's in a wheelchair he shouldn't be riding anything at all."

Now you've got to know Brian. A skiing accident when he was in high school broke his neck. Yes, he uses a wheelchair, but he can walk short distances as long as he's holding on to something. He is very active; he still skis, waterskis, goes boating, and has played wheelchair rugby on the international level. He just missed making the US Paralympic Rugby Team (which is profiled in the excellent documentary Murderball). He has ridden every ride at Kings Island, including King Cobra after his accident. So when the ride op said this to us, we were shocked. Needless to say, Brian was less than pleased when we reported back to him.

16 years later, and you'd think things would be different. Apparently not at the Kingdom...

^ That is exactly what I thought about when I seen the story on Wave3 news the other morning.

SMH.....pretty sad indeed.

Normally, one must be able to transfer in and out of coaster ride vehicles to ride. A paraplegic cannot do that. Absent attachment devices like a few Universal and Disney rides have, paraplegics generally cannot ride coasters.

I was at Cedar Point and Millennium Force got stuck on the hill with people in it for hours, never heard that on any news. They had to send up the thing to get them out. So glad I dont live in Lousiville anymore.

I am reliably told that as of today, wheelchair bound Kentucky Kingdom guests STILL do not have reasonable access to shows in the arena, but are reduced to watching through a locked steel mesh gate. In addition, access to Swampwater Jack's eatery is only available via an extremely rough wooden deck that is nearly impossible to push a wheelchair across, much less comfortably.

In the past, parks with similar issues have received greetings from the United States Department of Justice.

Glad to see The New Kentucky Kingdom is still much like the Old Kentucky Kingdom. Still looking to cut costs and corners at the guests expense.

​Once again a fine job of addressing issues within the park and within the media, best public relations I have ever seen.