Kentucky Kingdom is getting a new Vekoma family coaster next year, owner Herschend announced today.
Flying Fox will be a Suspended Family Coaster from Vekoma, similar to sister park Dollywood's Dragonflier. Flying Fox will run 1,380 feet, with a maximum height of 65 feet and top speed of 37 mph.
The height requirement to ride will be just 38 inches for the 63-second ride.
"The addition of Flying Fox is a significant milestone in our multi-year growth strategy," Kentucky Kingdom General Manager Sarah Worrell said. "We've worked closely with Vekoma to design a coaster that meets the highest standards for safety and fun while bringing an original story to life that resonates with our region."
The story here tells the story of crop-dusting pilot Jeb Fox, through a red barn queue and farmland setting. Herschend said that it is investing $14 million in the new attraction.
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I love what herchend is doing with Kentucky Kingdom and I love the look of this coaster. The tunnel at the end of it looks like a fun final element and I'm glad this park is continuing to get more investment.
is there a 2 train version of this ride? i know it would need a longer brake run and not sure how busy KK gets, but we waited nearly an hour for firefly at Dollywood (which looks very similar), and whereas, it was a fun ride, it didn't warrant a nearly one hour wait. and all because of only one train.
Completely agree mbrussmco, which is the same problem that Phoenix Rising has. I understand these are targeted towards families, so don't have the same demand as high thrill coasters, but do tend to attract more guests who can get easily frustrated with long, slow moving lines. I do like the general layout that does look like a slightly upsized version of Dollywood's Dragonflier, especially with that cool tunnel, but there should be a lot more consideration for capacity on these rides, especially when small hiccups during the load/unload process can really drag operations to a screeching halt.
Looks like a decent coaster, and it's nice to see a custom layout for one of these rides. Even though the ride is a little smaller than Dragonflier, if it's built to the same quality it should still be a fun ride for younger riders, though I do question if a park with only six coasters really needs a third junior coaster. As for running two trains on one of these, Vekoma does offer that as on option for custom layouts, but it doesn't seem to be very popular as only two of the 38 suspended family coasters they've sold run multiple trains.
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And yes, I did notice that Vekoma's POV had a white track and the park's concept art showed it green.