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Herschend Buying Kentucky Kingdom

Hummmm I think they might sadly use it as a bit of a cash cow.

This purchase will be great for Herschend as it’s a good park that will bring in a steady flow of money for Dollywood and SDC, I think there future investments will have even more money going towards them now.

As for Kentucky kingdom I see them being treated like wild adventures but a bit better, they have a great line up already so they could leave it as is. I can see one more big thrill coaster coming over time and some flats but i don’t think they will be in any rush to do so.

The park would cost way to much to bring up to quality of theming at Dollywood and SDC, so sadly I think it might fall into the well maintained, see investments here and there but not seen as a priority park.
 
Two things from the article that allude to Hart will still be involved.

1.The new owner will also retain one of the partners in the current ownership group on a consulting contract for three years, Carlin said, without specifying the partner.

2. Glasscock and Al J. Schneider Co. CEO Scott Shoenberger referred questions to Hart.
 
Not sure if I'm happy or sad about this as KK was/is a really good park, it's been given a lot of love and investment over the last 5+ years and it would be a shame if that changed due to an ownership shift.
However, parks have suffered crippling losses because of the pandemic so if a takeover of sorts saves the park then it's worth it, and there are quite a few operators worse than Herschend.
 
Here's a local news story coverage: https://www.whas11.com/article/news...rium/417-bc5018d1-38f0-4870-967d-a1f9ed150297

“Herschend is a proven innovator and leader in the tourism industry, and we are delighted that they recognize the potential Kentucky has to offer and have committed to expanding their operations in the commonwealth," Gov. Beshear said.
According to a press release, the partnership aims to bring "enhanced entertainment and amusement park management experience that will benefit the operations at Kentucky Kingdom and Hurricane Bay."
The release said Herschend plans to create a strategic plan to improve the park. The plan includes broadening the appeal of the park to multiple generations, hosting seasonal and themed events, adding Herschend-owned programming and characters, and expanding the park season to allow for more park guests.
"Kentucky is a great state for business," said Herschend Enterprises CEO Andrew Wexler.
Craig Ross, Dollywood's president for the past decade, will serve as Kentucky Kingdom's interim General Manager. Under Ross' leadership, Dollywood was named one of the top theme parks in the world by TripAdvisor and USAToday.
“We strongly believe in using guest and community input to create amazing experiences and will be reaching out to the Louisville community for input on enhancements they’d like to see at the park, including attractions, shows and events," Ross said.
Ross said that no changes would be happening to the current season pass plan. Guests who have already purchased passes for 2021 will still be able to use their passes this year with no issues.
He also said his team would look into bringing Dollywood's iconic "cinnamon bread" to Kentucky Kingdom after seeing several comments on social media about the popular treat.

Herschend also plans to build relationships with local tourism partners to encourage travel to Kentucky Kingdom, Louisville and the state of Kentucky as a whole.
The Kentucky State Fair Board, which operates the Kentucky Expo Center adjacent to the theme park, plans to work with Herschend to make sure "the new vision for the park is successful in Kentucky," according to Board Chair Steve Wilson.
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adrenaline1996 said:
I hope this doesn't mean that there'll be much of a slow down with the amount of thrill rides / roller coasters installed in the park. Hope the RMC Raptor also happens.
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Discounting that likely every park will see a slow down because of covid, It likely does mean they'll be a slowdown in coasters and thrill rides as HFE has multiple parks to care for including two that are their main draws that likely get the most money spent on them.
 
SilverArrow said:
"A new story" kind of suggests it could be a change of ownership but they then tweeted this.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1362156190483030021

The obvious other thing is the rumoured RMC Raptor but I thought that was delayed/shelved.
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Before Herschend can work on the RMC Raptor project at Kentucky Kingdom, the park will definitely build the relocated B&M Batman clone, as T4, from Kuwait Entertainment City that went up to sale.
 
^Yeah they definitely 100% won't. That's an unrealistic, downright absurd prediction with literally no basis or evidence to back it up. It wouldn't make any sense for them to replace an invert with an invert, which has never been done anywhere in the world before for good reason. Marketability.

When can we have this emoji added to the reaction list @Hixee?
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That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if T3's years are numbered.
 
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CrashCoaster said:
^Yeah they definitely 100% won't. That's an unrealistic, downright absurd prediction with literally no basis or evidence to back it up. It wouldn't make any sense for them to replace an invert with an invert, which has never been done anywhere in the world before for good reason. Marketability.

When can we have this emoji added to the reaction list @Hixee?
View attachment 11218
That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if T3's years are numbered.
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With regard to the bolded, I think a park could pull that sort of thing off. However, in order for it to work, I think the ride would either have to have some sort of gimmick that differentiates it from your regular invert (e.g. a launch) or it would have to be substantially bigger (for example, if an SLC was to be replaced with a Banshee or Alpengeist-sized B&M invert; the park could then market it as a “bigger, better inverted coaster” or something along those lines).

However, I personally think that the Kuwait Batman clone might be a hard ride to market if it replaced T3, as it’s only 10ft taller, 400ft longer and goes practically the same speed.

I also don’t think that Kentucky Kingdom would really have the budget for a mega invert from B&M of the kind I described; if you’re wanting a new invert at Kentucky Kingdom, I’d personally look more towards the Vekoma Suspended Thrill Coaster, or the upcoming Gerstlauer inverted coaster model going to TusenFryd. They could offer something a bit different to what T3 does without being excessively sized or out of KK’s budget range.
 
I think the idea of KK buying the Kuwait batman clone is highly unlikely. But it's impossible to compare a Batman clone with a SLC. A Batman clone is a really good, smooth and intense coaster while SLCs deserve to be deleted from the face of this planet. Batman clones are great ride but SLCs are among the worst coasters ever created. Period.
 
Isn't that the guy who led Dollywood for ages? He was really active at Dollywood so I don't think he will let KK be neglected
 
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