The Fair Board suggested that the park should be divided into three sections: a turn-of-the-century village, a Daniel Boone town and a "unit devoted to Kentucky's mining industry.

[8] Construction began on March 28, 1986, with a team of mules and a 60-year old plow breaking the first ground at a ceremony that was also attended by Governor Collins and Mayor Abramson.

[20] After Kentucky Kingdom closed, he was contacted by the National Bank of Canada, who offered to be the senior lender if he reopened the park.

In December 1989, the new operators decided to exercise an option in their deal with the Fair Board to lease an additional 13 acres so that the park could be expanded.

[11][23] While all the rides from the 1987 season were sold, Starchaser, the park's indoor roller coaster, had remained on-site at Kentucky Kingdom, allowing Hart to repurchase and reclaim it.

[24] Additionally, new flat rides were added, including Blackbeard's Bounty, The Enterprise, Whirling Dervish (later renamed ‘Breakdance’), as well as The Vampire, a roller coaster.

[32] Hurricane Bay opened in 1992 as an extension of the Kentucky Kingdom amusement park, with no separate admission fee required for entry.

[41] That same year, Hellevator, a 177-foot-tall (53.95 m) Intamin drop tower opened in October, just in time for the park's annual Halloween event, Halloscream.

[48] In June 1997, Banc One Corporation completed its acquisition of Liberty National Bank and Trust Company, which held a major loan in Kentucky Kingdom.

[21] Hart announced on September 26, 1997, that the rights to operate Kentucky Kingdom would be sold to Premier Parks for $64 million; the deal was finalized on November 7.

[52] Six Flags then transformed King Louie's Playground into Looney Tunes Movie Town and added the Batman Stunt Show Spectacular in 1999.

[53] The Penguin's Blizzard River opened in 1999, using many pumps and mechanisms for a rapids ride that Premier Parks who had previously purchased the parts from Opryland USA.

[69] Amid a corporate bankruptcy, on February 4, 2010, Six Flags announced the park would cease operations immediately due to the rejection of an amended lease by the Kentucky State Fair Board.

[73] By May, Fair Board president Harold Workman stated the park would remain closed for the year, anticipating a 2011 reopening date.

[81] Hart sued the state of Kentucky in an attempt to recoup $1.4 million that he claimed had been spent as part of the failed effort to reopen the amusement park.

[72] On January 16, 2012, the owners of Holiday World & Splashin' Safari in Santa Claus, Indiana, announced they were involved in talks about the future of Kentucky Kingdom.

Their media release stated they were in a fact-finding stage and hadn't made any decisions about whether to move forward in pursuing an opportunity to run the theme park.

Afterwards, former operator Ed Hart, before his return several months later, criticized the Koch family for using Kentucky Kingdom as an opportunity to help Holiday World continue to thrive without nearby competition to possibly harm its business.

[86] Ed Hart and the Kentucky Kingdom Redevelopment Company announced in August 2012 that they would begin work to reopen the park in 2014.

[88] The company also planned to add a $15 million roller coaster, install three new rides, and double the size of the Hurricane Bay water park.

Storm Chaser is a Rocky Mountain Construction roller coaster which used part of Twisted Twins' existing structure, which has sat standing but not operating since the end of the 2007 season.

[104] For the 2017 season Kentucky Kingdom announced Eye of the Storm, a high-speed flat ride with a seven-story loop, continuous rotations and inversions, and forward and backward motions.

A double feature for 5D Cinema (Happy Family & Journey 2: The Mysterious Island) was added, along with more cabanas for the wave pool, improved infrastructure such as new shade and additional seating installation.

Kentucky Flyer is manufactured by The Gravity Group from Cincinnati, Ohio, and takes riders of all ages through 1,288 feet of airtime hills and twists at a maximum speed of 35 mph.

[111] In June 2019, Hart announced that HalloScream, a Halloween-themed event that was held at the park in the 1990s, would return in October 2019, to celebrate Kentucky Kingdom's 30th anniversary.

[117][118] At a February 2021 press conference, attended by governor Andy Beshear, Louisville mayor Greg Fischer, and Ed Hart, it was formally announced that Herschend Family Entertainment would become the new majority partner and operator of Kentucky Kingdom.

[156] It is a family-oriented event that features themed displays, pumpkin sculptures, trick or treating, mazes, live shows, dance parties, and most of Kentucky Kingdom's regular season attractions.

[164] The event also features live performances from local musical groups along with meet and greet opportunities with Santa Claus and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

[167][168] Lisa Kiava, a reporter for WHAS-TV, falsely claimed that the ride had malfunctioned and that unnamed state inspectors had pronounced the indoor roller coaster unsafe.

[176] Kentucky Kingdom Gardens, the park's horticulture department, has a year-round greenhouse that grows more than 20 cultivars of annuals, more than 100 different species of perennials and ornamental grasses, and various specimen coniferous and deciduous trees.