Thursday, May 24, 2012

Bluegrass Boardwalk: Possibly Delayed + Coasterless?



Some significant news has broken about the possibility of Bluegrass Boardwalk having its opening delayed to Summer 2014.

From this news story it sounds like the decision is not final yet, but delays in financial related issues, including tax incentives, are making the 2013 opening increasingly difficult.  The final lease will not be signed until those items are in place, and they're taking much longer than expected.

Regarding the park's coaster selection when it does reopen, it sounds like there won't be much offered.  The news report that due to certain coaster's age, reliability, and cost prohibitive repairs they will not be brought back online - including the Twisted Twins (1998 CCI dueling wooden coasters) and T2 (Vekoma Suspended Looping Coaster).  The park's classic Schwarzkopf shuttle loop, Greezed Lightnin', was not mentioned specifically.

According to the plan when the park opens only select rides will be included, such as the park's river rafting ride, several flats and kiddie rides and the carousel.  In future years other rides will be brought back, like the Ferris wheel and Thunder Run wooden coaster.  All waterpark attractions will be reopened.

So, that leaves me wondering - will that be enough?  Will the focus on the waterpark be enough to overshadow a small selection of rides?  I expected many rides not to reopen, but thought a larger balance between water and dry rides would be achieved.  Developers do point out that this is not set in stone, so available rides could change quite a bit once the lease is signed and full inspections are done.


2 comments:

Unknown said...

Well water rides I'd imagine stand the test of non-maintenance better than mechanical ones. Also, it seems Holiday World itself has put more stock lately into the water side of the park - Pilgrim's, Wildebeest, Mammoth with Mammoth being the largest investment the park ever made.

Yet, still disappointing if it's truly delayed a full year. It makes one wonder whether this is the fair boards problem rather than potential investors eps BB.

goodhalgarage said...

We used to go to Kentucky Kingdom every year and we never went for the water park. Here in Nashville we already have two water parks, so why drive for hours to do something we could do at home. If the park is going to open without any significant coasters, how do they expect to attract people from out of the state?