New N.Ky. theme park plans unveiled

FRANKFORT, Ky. - Plans for a new Northern Kentucky theme park were unveiled Wednesday morning in Frankfort, Ky.

Governor Steve Beshear joined Ark Encounter LLC and Answers in Genesis, the developers of the Creation Museum, with details of "Ark Encounter". The theme park is expected to be built in Grant County near Veteran's Cemetery in Williamstown, but multiple sites are being considered.

A full-scale wooden Noah's Ark will be built in the park and include associated museums, theaters, amenities, event venues and outdoor parking. Preliminary indications are that the park could draw as many as 1.6 million guests per year and would cost $150 million to build, all privately funded.

The theme park will create approximately 900 new jobs. Ark Encounter is expected to take three years to build and open in the spring of 2014.

"We are excited to join with the Ark Encounter group as it seeks to provide this unique, family-friendly tourist attraction to the Commonwealth," Gov. Beshear said. "Bringing new jobs to Kentucky is my top priority and with the estimated 900 jobs this project will create, I am happy about the economic impact this project will have on the Northern Kentucky region."

In addition to the ark, the complex will include a walled city much like was found in ancient times, live animal shows, a children's interactive play area, a replica of the Tower of Babel with exhibits, a 500-seat 5-D special effects theater, an aviary and a first-century Middle Eastern village.

One of the factors in getting the Ark Encounter to launch the Ark project was a news survey that revealed the remains of Noah's Ark would be the archaeological discovery people would most want to see made next.

The Creation Museum, which opened three years ago in Petersburg in Boone County, has drawn more than 1.2 million visitors.