Kentucky Kingdom Adding A New Roller Coaster

Kentucky Kingdom is retiring their classic Twisted Twins wooden roller coaster which has been closed since 2007. But with the coasters departure only means one thing.. A NEW COASTER is coming! The park is transforming the former Twisted Twins (previously Twisted Sisters) into an amazing single-lift, single-track steel-on-wood-on-steel hybrid coaster!

Kentucky Kingdom has officially shared details with us about a new roller coaster to be added to the theme park for the 2016 season. “Storm Chaser” will be the addition of the parks fifth and newest coaster. This will be the second new coaster to be constructed at Kentucky Kingdom in a period of only two years!

The park has commissioned Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) to design and build the unique coaster. The same company that has flipped various Goliath coasters (which are incredible!) and many other coasters at Six Flags parks. Based in Idaho, RMC is on the cutting edge of coaster design and engineering and very well respected in the industry. Before we get into all the mushy details, check out the video below showcasing the new coaster! There’s so many awesome new elements, especially the barrel roll down drop!

Storm Chaser will be built with RMCs’ patented iBox track, which is featured on only five other coasters in the world. Unlike the projects at Six Flags parks, Storm Chaser’s iBox track will rest on wood, creating the “feel” of a wooden coaster… but the steel support system of Twisted Twins will be reused, making this “hybrid” creation more steel than wood in the end. The result is a ride that’s smooth as glass, fast, and intense. If you have ever ridden Goliath, Twisted Colossus or Wicked Cyclone, at Six Flags, you know just how fast and smooth these babies are! Because it will have the iBox track, Storm Chaser will also feature many thrilling elements that can’t be incorporated into traditional wooden coasters.

“Since we’re all about creating exceptional thrills at Kentucky Kingdom, Storm Chaser fits the bill. Storm Chaser would normally cost as much as $15 million all-in but we’re saving money by using some of the existing superstructure from Twisted Twins. However, because of the new configuration, taller lift hill, and many other innovative features, we are essentially redesigning and building a new coaster. When’s the last time you dropped ten stories while doing a barrel roll on a woodie style coaster?” says Ed Hart, President and CEO of Kentucky Kingdom.

There’s quite a few unique features that are firsts for a wooden coaster in the United States. Standing at 100- feet tall at his highest point, Storm Chaser will be the first coaster in America to feature an incredible barrel roll drop from a 10-story lift hill! And don’t get us started on the 78-degree angle of that drop… that’s nearly perpendicular! And that’s just the beginning. Riders will then be treated to a stall dive, tip-out corner, airtime hills, a twisted airtime drop, a corkscrew… it’s truly a new breed of coaster that’s nothing like a traditional “woodie.”

The coaster will join Thunder Run, the classic wooden coaster ranked among the top “woodies” in the world; the newly revamped and reopened suspended looping coaster T3, Lightning Run, a one-of-a-kind hyper coaster introduced in 2014 and rated among the top 25 steel coasters in the world by Amusement Today, and the Roller Skater, a whimsically themed family coaster and a favorite with all ages.

Construction has already started on the new coaster at the site of the former Twisted Twins. It’s scheduled to be open for its first riders when the park opens in the spring of 2016.