In a press release given out by Six Flags just over an hour ago, the Kentucky Kingdom park is being closed permanently. Citing a breakdown in lease negotiation with the Kentucky State Fair Board, the park will be closed immediately and permanently.  The press release from Sixflags.com is quoted below.

“Six Flags announced today that as it nears the scheduled end of its restructuring process, it has decided to reject its lease with the Kentucky State Fair Board relating to the Kentucky Kingdom park. In recent weeks, Six Flags had proposed a new lease arrangement to the fair board that would have enhanced the viability and future of the park. Unfortunately, those proposals were not accepted and the park will cease operations and the company will move expeditiously to re-locate employees and several of the more than 40 rides and attractions to one of its 13 other markets.

“We are deeply disappointed to be leaving such a great fan base in the greater metropolitan area of Louisville and we are grateful to the thousands of employees at Kentucky Kingdom and the millions of guests for their dedication, support and loyalty over the years,” said Mark Shapiro, Six Flags President and CEO.

“This action relates solely to Kentucky Kingdom,” Shapiro continued. “The substantial lease
payment has been a significant hurdle for this park in recent years. Our other parks, which reside
largely on company-owned land, will be completely unaffected and will open as scheduled for the full 2010 season.”"

As per usual, the first thing that Six Flags has to do is cover its ass about its other parks closing. It makes sense, given the nature of people’s confusion about such things in the past (If I had a dollar for every time I heard “Isn’t Magic Mountain closed?” a few years ago…). However, it seems rather callous given the thousands of seasonal jobs, not to mention all the upper management positions that have been destroyed by this move. But hey, business is business, and that’s how life goes. I don’t know the whole story about why the negotiations broke down, and we likely never will. But I would expect to see the Kentucky State Fair offer their rebuttal tomorrow. Six Flags has rather discreetly blamed them for this closure, and I can not imagine they will let that stand.

Now, the next question is (my enthusiast brain is kicking into gear here), what happens to all those rides? A ride like Chang is unlikely to be sent to the scrap heap and if the reviews I have heard are true, it is a rather formidable ride. I can definitely see it being moved to another Six Flags park as a “new” ride for 2011. Stand Ups are a rare breed these days, even more so are good ones. So this seems like a very likely move for Six Flags.

Edit: Oops, I had forgotten that Chang was already removed for the addition of “Bonzai Beach”. So other than T2, it does not appear that there are many rides worth salvaging from this park – at least coaster wise.

Alright, so you know what I think, what are your thoughts? Big mistake? Inevitable? Throw out your thoughts and comments below!