May 29, 2026, 2:00 PM ·
Kentucky Kingdom is the little amusement park that refuses to give up. Even after many instances of horribly bad luck, it now has found itself in the best of circumstances.Its first incarnation closed after one season and declared bankruptcy. Ed Hart rescued the park two years later and turned it into a 1.2 million-visitor juggernaut of a small park before the bank called in its loan, forcing the sale to Premier Parks shortly before Premier Parks purchased and then became Six Flags. A dozen years later, the frenzied park purchases by Premier Parks/Six Flags caught up with them, and they backed out of the lease for Kentucky Kingdom, removing most of the big rides before they left. Ed Hart and his team stepped in again, reopening the park after it had been dormant for four years… only to have the Covid-19 pandemic drop the park into financial peril. Ed Hart sold the park to Herschend several years before they also went on a (hopefully different outcome of) frenzied spree of park purchases, including Kennywood and Silverwood, among others.In addition to all of that, the park is on the grounds of the Kentucky State Fair and near the flight path of the Louisville Airport, which greatly limits the park’s footprint and the height of the rides allowed. The roller coasters at Kentucky Kingdom are not tall, but are delightfully punchy for as short as they are.The first roller coaster addition since the Herschend takeover is Flying Fox, a Vekoma Suspended Family coaster. As one of the taller Vekoma Suspended Family coasters at 65 feet, it is a surprisingly good ride for what looks from the outside like a glorified kiddie coaster.
Flying Fox at Kentucky KingdomWe’ve been on several Vekoma Suspended Family coasters, notably Dragonflier at Dollywood, Flying School at Legoland Florida, and Woodstock’s Air Rail at Kings Island. The ones at Kings Island and Legoland are/were very gentle. The one at Dollywood is more intense, but Flying Fox is about as happily forceful as I think would be possible from this particular model.From the back car, which should be noted as the best place to ride this coaster, you feel moderately intense G-forces several times throughout its length, and a massive train whip coming off the lift hill. While its ancestors were kiddie coasters, this one is a punchy mid-tier coaster masquerading as a kiddie coaster, and while not quite as intense as Lightning Run next door, it is quite comparable.For Flying Fox, the stats do not make the ride. At 65 feet and a speed of 37 mph, it sounds fairly boring to my jaded roller coaster ears, but the forces on you as you ride make those numbers seem very misleading. The very tight turns throughout the run, and what seems like a manufacturer’s special on overbanked turns, make this coaster feel like it is punching well above its weight class. From the parking lot, you can get a good look at the overbanked turn that exceeds 90 degrees, allowing you to argue to younger riders that they have, very technically, been on an inversion.
Riding Flying FoxWhile Flying Fox could be overlooked at a larger park, at Kentucky Kingdom, it is a well-thought-out inclusion that can be ridden and used as a stepping stone for the next, more intense ride.It should be noted that Colton, in the video, rode his first inverting coaster only two weeks prior to this and is not comfortable riding tall rides. That said, he could have spent all day riding Flying Fox, and we rode it at least six times before exploring the park for other rides. The experience on Flying Fox emboldened him to try Wind Chaser, an inverting RMC coaster, for his second inverting coaster.Thank you to Kentucky Kingdom and Herschend for inviting us to experience their delightful new coaster.
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