© Homer
The End of the Line: SFKK's best coaster is moving on to a better place; its current home park however is not. |
Sad but true, rumors of Chang's demise have been proven true as the deconstruction process began this past weekend. The ride had a good run at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. When the ride opened at the park back in 1997 it stole all of the records previously help by Cedar Point's Mantis in the stand-up coaster category. Indeed Chang was the tallest, fastest, longest, and loopiest stand-up coaster ever built and still places #2 in all of those categories behind only Riddler's Revenge.
But alas, the ride is over, at least for SFKK. Unfortunately this is just the most recent in a long line of problems that have befallen the Louisville theme park. Back in 2007 the park's Intamin freefall tower, Superman Tower of Power malfunctioned when a cable snapped and subsequently severed a 16 year old girl's feet. The incident set the park in a negative light that it has still not managed to over come. But the problems would not end there.
One of the most unique ride's at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, Twisted Twins, did not open with the park for the 2008 season. It was said that the twin tracked duelling woody which opened in 1998 needed some extra time to completely repair and refurbish the ride. As things would turn out however, the ride remained standing but not operating all summer. This year Twisted Twins and the Northwest Territory that encompasses failed to open yet again.
And now this. Chang, the most popular ride at the park, is being dismantled as I type. There is some marginally good news to this story. It is rumored that Chang will not die but simply be shipped off to another park in the Six Flags chain, the leading candidate of which at the moment appears to be Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, IL. The other good news is that the removal of Chang is making way for the largest waterpark expansion in the history of Splashwater Kingdom. To be honest though the big picture does not look good for Kentucky Kingdom and many enthusiasts are already drawing comparisons to the now defunct Guega Lake.
