Kings Dominion photo book from 1981!

There are very FEW things that have not changed at PKD in the last 25 years

Eiffel Tower, Dodgem, Wave Swinger, the fountains (although the border has changed DRAMATICALLY) Log flume and the Blue ridge tollway just about everything else looks completely different. Rebel yell is still there but looks very different and the old Q house was much better than what they have now

Just thought I would share these pics with you guys

JEFF

Bonus pic from the season password from August 1990....this is how the ride sat for a YEAR the foundations were even finished for the pretzel loop and corkscrews...probably could have been finished in a month....but they let it sit for a year...this is th

the classic Q house and the much better color scheme....note the 4 car PTC's anybody know the year it went 5 car?

Time shaft was a Rotor ride with lighting effects and loud music buried DEEP in the mountain

yes they had water skiing shows on the lake..there used to be grandstands behind Dodgem to watch the skiiers

scooby dooby doo!

another mountain shot

these were the best Flyers ever..originally called the parrot troopers. note that half the loading platform was a pier and you would swing out OVER the lake...this ride scared me half to death when I was a kid...I thought for sure "the strings would snap"

The lost world

Classic monster ride located in the same area that Drop Zone occupies now

Volcano in its dormant state

ahhhhhhh

check out how big the lake was and how big that water spray is

I wish the pics were better but this is the 2 page foldout for the Haunted River a great dark ride/log flume

I street

check out the border of the fountain

Apple Turnover...old enterprise by the lake (great name)

Wow! Thanks for sharing...what rides occupied the volcano before it became the blast coaster?

So that was what where your old avatar came from.

^^The Haunted River, The Time Shaft, and the AMAZING Smurf Mountain. I love Volcano, but I miss me some smurfs.

I remember riding the Haunted River when I first moved to Virginia (was going to finish a master's degree and leave, but "the best laid plans of mice and men . . ."). The best part was that rather steep drop at the end. I thought. Below is a rather dark picture I took last weekend after riding Volcano. I had never noticed these skeletons down in the pit by the exit--they look like leftover theming from the Haunted River.

I remember the fountains in the entry plaza looking a whole lot bigger in the movie Rollercoaster. And how about those singing mushrooms?

Thanks for sharing, Jeff--Rebel Yell's old queue house was pretty cool (as was that lake).

Sorry the picture's so dark. Looks like these poor guys have been hanging around Volcano's exit for quite some time.

Actually before it was SMURF mountain it was called "Journey to the land of the Dooz" then in 1983 I believe the transformed the animatronics into the Smurfs

JEFF

lala...lalalala..lalalalala

Speaking of Rollercoaster! the movie..here are some screenshots from 1975

JEFF

Great pictures, I think I would have enjoyed the park more if it had all the rides it had in those photos compared to what is there now. I didn't know they used to have those Old Engine 99 trains. It seems like they are gone except for the ones at the Great Escape.

Rebel Yell's old queue house looks better than what they have now (I hate how it takes forever to walk through the current queue that seems way too long for the short lines it gets)

Wow, awesome pictures, thanks for posting them.

I totally forgot about the Time Shaft! I loved the Haunted River though. When I visited PKD my one and only time (I think it was the year Hurler opened, 95, maybe?) I rode and enjoyed both of those rides. The Smurf ride was already closed by then though.

Wow, its been over 10 years since I visited PKD, I should try and hit it again this summer.

^ That's funny, that's the same year I visited my one and only time, and we (My girlfriend and I) just went there last weekend. I recommend going back, a lot has changed in 10 years!

-James

Wow, awesome pictures, thanks for posting them.

 

I totally forgot about the Time Shaft! I loved the Haunted River though. When I visited PKD my one and only time (I think it was the year Hurler opened, 95, maybe?) I rode and enjoyed both of those rides. The Smurf ride was already closed by then though.

 

Wow, its been over 10 years since I visited PKD, I should try and hit it again this summer.

Hurler opened in 1994

1993 was the last season for Smurf Mountain and the Animal Monorail

1994 was the last season for Apple Turnover

1995 was the last season for Haunted River and Time Shaft

JEFF

I vaguely remember time shaft (I think) Did they play the Rocky Horror Picture Show song "Time Warp" in the line or something like that?

Wow, awesome pictures, thanks for posting them.

 

I totally forgot about the Time Shaft! I loved the Haunted River though. When I visited PKD my one and only time (I think it was the year Hurler opened, 95, maybe?) I rode and enjoyed both of those rides. The Smurf ride was already closed by then though.

 

Wow, its been over 10 years since I visited PKD, I should try and hit it again this summer.

 

Hurler opened in 1994

1993 was the last season for Smurf Mountain and the Animal Monorail

1994 was the last season for Apple Turnover

1995 was the last season for Haunted River and Time Shaft

 

JEFF

Thanks for the timeline!

Yeah, I do think it was 1994 that I visited. I remember visiting BGW for the first time that same trip and Escape from Pompeii was under construction (This was August of '94, and I looked it up and Pompeii opened in '95). And I remember the brochures were really pushing Hurler.

Wow, a lot of things I have missed since then (12 years!), I'll have to hit it up this coming August.

It seemed to have a bit more charm back then--still a fun place today, but it became more of a thrill-ride park.

It was more of a FAMILY Park back then, as in it had rides the whole family can enjoy together. Now there is stuff the grown ups can do and stuff the kids can do....not to many rides that can be ridden as a whole family

JEFF

Yeay cheers for those pics. I love looking back at parks from a few years ago, before true modernity started to sweep in, and somewhat tarnish things.

When watching Rollercoaster, I always love the Rebel Yell footage - those are the trains a good woodie SHOULD have and those are exactly the right colours, too. There's far too much plain white, or bare wood these days. Pure loveliness back then, ahhhhhhhhhhhh. Ok so I didn't experience any of it myself, but I know I'd prefer it to today's equivalents.

I LOVE seeing old pictures of King's Dominion, hopefully the vice-president will keep her word and start bringing back the old charm the park used to have.... (including "The Time Shaft")

thanks for the pictures!

@ Rebel Yell's station! Too bad the station doesn't look like that today.

The park looked excellent back then! Too bad the lake was filled in for the concrete waterpark.

^ Which in my opinion needs all of it to be moved where the "new" parts of Water Works was built (behind Rebel Yell). I'd love to see Lake Charles come back.

^ I thought KD was actually gonna rip the concrete waterpark out and move it up to the newer side a while ago.

I'm curious to know when they took out the skyride, for lack of a better name. It was the ride that took you across the park for those of us with tired feet, or if we wanted a birds eye view. There's several shots of it in the pictures.

I was so disappointed when I took my 4 year-old sons to the park in 1995 only to find out that they had removed the safari a couple years before, they were really looking forward to it (as was I). I hadn't been there since 1990 and didn't know it was gone.

Arent those second set of pictures from the awesome movie Rollercoaster?

Man a trip down memory lane! The King Cobra, that was my first looper. Haunted River, I loved that ride, what a classic that was. I haven't been to the park since 1990 when we moved to Dallas. I can still remember the water ski shows on the lake. I know I'm old. The Sky Ride, Apple Turnover. I regret not takeing pics all those years ago. I can remember the top of the Eiffel Tower when it wasn't fully caged in, before that man committed suicide jumping off. Yikes. I also remember watching them build Anaconda. It was fascinating to me when they drained the entire lake to build it!! Thanks for the pics!!

The best feature of this parks past was that huge lake by Rebel Yell. When they built Anacanda, I thought that was a nice touch, (over the water), but then that water park came along and took up alot of the lakes space. It looks too cluttered now. I wish the water park was next door, not IN the park.

Thanks for sharing - these are some great shots!

That log flume ride looks amazingly themed! Too bad they wouldn't have been able to keep that and the Volcano coaster.

I remember seeing Anaconda on the news the year it opened and thinking to myself, "you'll never get me on that thing!"

My, how times have changed!