 Kentucky Kingdom opened on May 23 , 1987 , leasing 10 acres ( 4 @.@ 0 ha ) at the Kentucky Exposition Center property . The Texas investors who operated the park filed it for bankruptcy after only one season of operation . The Ed Hart @-@ led <unk> LLC firm purchased the rights to operate the park in 1989 , reopening the park the following year . As part of the reopening the new operators added a collection of new rides including Thunder Run , which opened in August 1990 . Early in Thunder Run 's operating life , its train had derailed from the lift hill and the ride 's lap bars were found to be unsafe . No injuries were reported from either incident . The original ride was <unk> by Martin & Vleminckx prior to its closure in 2009 . 
