Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom
Louisville, Kentucky
April 23, 2005
Page One






On Saturday April 23rd I was in Louisville for some spur of the moment mischief and when I finished that up and had enough time for a couple of hours at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom.  The weather was cold.  It was only forty degrees out when it had been eighty only a couple of days ago.  That's just how it is in the Midwest.



Having a limited time at the park my main goal was to spend some serious quality time with my favorite steel coaster in the Midwest; Greezed Lightnin'.



I have to comment on this weird procedure that ride operators do at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom that I haven't seen at any other park.  With every coaster before it can be dispatched a ride operator must count up all of the riders and then click it into a counter that keeps the running tally for the day.  I'd have thought that a turnstile would be a whole lot easier but this is how it's done at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom.



Back to the coaster; once the number of riders has been tallied up the siren is sounded (although it's a lot quieter than last year - you have to listen for it) and Greezed Lightnin's electric motor starts you off before the weight drops and gets you up to speed.  Speeding down Greezed Lightnin's track is fantastic but the loop and spike after it and going back through those just blows me away.  It's a religious experience for me, especially speeding up into the heavens.



It's always a lot of fun speeding back through the station.  Greezed Lightnin' slows the train a little on the way back and the brakes don't smell that good.  A couple of teenagers asked if someone threw up because of the smell but it's just the brakes slowing a train at high speed.



Next


Copyright 1999 - 2024

Paul B. Drabek