I moved to Virginia last summer and went to the park for the first time on Saturday. We got there around 1:00PM and hit a few rides before a downpour around 4:00PM, but we did Flight of Fear during this time and it mostly cleared up by 6:00PM with little to no lines for anything afterward. Overall, we had a great time. Here are my pros and cons:
PROS:
1. Intimidator: This did not disappoint. It was unbelievably fast and intense. It also had about a 2 train wait all day. Could be made better only by having lapbars instead of the straps, but a small complaint overall. I think this slides into my #2 spot behind Maverick. A+
2. Volcano: I was pleasantly surprised. This is an awesome coaster. Starting to show its age in the theming department and fairly mediocre in capacity, but I have heard these will both be addressed this off season. A hidden gem though. Truly awesome. Definitely in my top 5. A+
3. The Towers: Drop Tower and Windseeker were both awesome. Enough said. A
4. Ricochet: This was insane. I expected a fairly boring mouse, but this was flying. No brakes at all throughout the course made some of the hairpin turns seem almost too fast to be possible. We rode this a few times as it was one of the more thrilling rides in the park, we thought. Awesome mouse! A+
5. Dominator: I rode this at GL and it is running much better in its new home. It had a horrible vibration when I rode it on several occasions at GL but had only mild shuffling in the corkscrews on this trip. Was fun and enjoyable overall, better than at GL, but still nothing to write home about. A-
6. The woodies: Rode them all and loved them all. My favorite was Grizzly in the dark and fog after some rain. Great experience even if a little rough. I had heard horror stories about these woodies but they were pretty smooth I thought. Nothing like HW's woodies, but above average I would say. A nice surprise. B+
7. Non ride stuff: Starlight Spectacular was pretty cool. The Eiffel Tower and fountains are pretty cool. This park has pretty nice infrastructure and lots of trees!
CONS:
1. Walkways: It appears that at some point this entire park was asphalted over and they've been slowly working to fix it. There were a few areas that were horribly uneven and in need of repair.
2. Bathrooms: I thought the park overall could use a few more bathrooms, particularly back by Flight of Fear and Intimidator. The ones they had were passable, but a few needed some renovations.
I'm very glad to call this my home park. It is much nicer than a lot of enthusiasts give it credit for! What a great collection of rides. Will be back soon!