Kentucky Rumbler is a

wooden Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin tha ...

roller coaster A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers ride along the track in open cars, and the rides are o ...

Beech Bend Park Beech Bend is an amusement park, campground and automobile race track located in Warren County, in the U.S. state of Kentucky, just outside the limits of the city of Bowling Green. History The park takes its name from a bend in Barren River whe ...

Warren County Warren County is the name of fourteen counties in the USA. Some are named after General Joseph Warren, who was killed in the Battle of Bunker Hill in the American Revolutionary War: * Warren County, Georgia * Warren County, Illinois * Warren County ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

. It has a drop of 80 feet and a height of 96 feet. Before Kentucky Rumbler, the park did not have a signature ride, and it is the most popular ride in the park. Voted the 5th best new ride in 2006 by ''

Amusement Today ''Amusement Today'' is a monthly periodical that features articles, news, pictures and reviews about all things relating to the amusement park industry, including parks, rides, and ride manufacturers. The trade newspaper, which is based in Arli ...

'', the Kentucky Rumbler broke records and set others when it opened.

History

Between 2000 and 2005 many improvements were made and many features were added to the park. By the end of 2005, 40 rides had been added, including the new coaster the

Wild Mouse A wild mouse is a type of roller coaster consisting of single or spinning cars traversing a tight-winding track with an emphasis on sharp, unbanked turns. The upper portion of the track usually features multiple 180-degree turns, known as fla ...

, 500 campground spaces with modern amenities, renovated racing facilities, a water park and picnic pavilions. The Jones family started talking about adding a wooden roller coaster to their park years before the Kentucky Rumbler was built. After they decided, Dallas Jones contacted

Great Coasters International Great Coasters International, Inc. (GCI or GCII) is a Sunbury, Pennsylvania-based roller coaster manufacturer which has created several award-winning rides since its formation in 1994. Starting in 2006 with Thunderbird at PowerPark in Finland, th ...

. Vice President of Sales & Design Jeff Pike started working for GCII after college, under the tutelage of Mike Boodley. The Kentucky Rumbler was Pike's first solo design. The Rye Aeroplane is a long-defunct coaster in the city of

Rye, New York Rye is a coastal suburb of New York City in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is separate from the Town of Rye, which has more land area than the city. The City of Rye, formerly the Village of Rye, was part of the Town until it r ...

. It served as the inspiration for parts of the ride, including the first drop. The Rumbler's first drop is a

mirror Image A mirror image (in a plane mirror) is a reflected duplication of an object that appears almost identical, but is reversed in the direction perpendicular to the mirror surface. As an optical effect it results from reflection off from substances ...

of the Aeroplane Coasters. On October 28, 2005 the park officially named their new wooden roller coaster “Kentucky Rumbler”. Derek Sailors from

Surfside Beach, South Carolina Surfside Beach is a town in Horry County, South Carolina, United States. Its nickname is "The Family Beach". The population was 3,837 at the 2010 census, down from 4,425 in 2000. It is considered a part of the Grand Strand. Geography According to ...

, was the winner of the contest to name the ride. Beech Bend received thousands of entries for the contest from all over the world. The Kentucky Rumbler opened in 2006 to great reviews. It was ranked in the Top Five New Rides in the World by

magazine, for 2006.

Design

Highlights of the ride include a world record three station fly-bys and an airplane style first drop. It reaches speeds of almost 50 miles per hour and features 30 track crossovers and twelve airtime hills. The ride cost 4.6 million dollars. It is a wooden twister (bobs) coaster with a capacity of 480 guests per hour. It has one vintage style 24 passenger Millennium Flyer train, made up of 12 cars, that each seat two riders. The maximum height is 96 feet with the first drop of 80.2 feet. Ride Time is approximately 90 seconds. The Track Length is 2,827 feet. The Kentucky Rumbler was constructed with 80,000 bolts and 1.5 million nails.

Awards

Note: Kentucky Rumbler has not charted in the

Golden Ticket Awards ''Amusement Today'' is a monthly periodical that features articles, news, pictures and reviews about all things relating to the amusement park industry, including parks, rides, and ride manufacturers. The trade newspaper, which is based in Arli ...

since 2017.

References

{{reflist Roller coasters in Kentucky Roller coasters introduced in 2006