Kings Dominion (KD) Discussion Thread

I'm sitting in my hotel room right by KD after logging several rides on I305 tonight. This was my first time at KD so you could say I'm not a fanboy. But here is my review of the ride:

Is it a great ride? Absolutely.

Is it one of the craziest rides out there? Yup.

I heard rumors of trims over the last week but I didn't know if it was confirmed or not (have been traveling from Orlando to KD over the last few days). You can certainly feel them. I knew without looking. My first ride was in the second row and the ride didn't do much for me. The first drop didn't have pop to it and felt like it didn't get crazy till the bottom. No air on the second hill. I rode it 4 times in the last few rows and was blown away - thrown over the top of the first hill, airtime everywhere, etc.

My ride up front didn't do much but the back seat ride put the ride right up there with MF for me.

I don't think the trims are bad... especially if they help the transitions in the second half of the ride. The only drawback is since the trims are from the crest to at-least the half way mark the drop seems "slow" at first where I find MF or even Diamondback's first hill out of control from the crest down. But honestly that me just being picky. The rides in the back were crazy and provided some of the best rides ever on a steel coaster.

As for the "grey-outs"... I still greyed out every-time but not till the end of the turn/while going up the second hill.

I never rode it "pre-trims" but honestly while it might have gave the first drop less of a pop and take some air out of the second hill (I only know this because up front I didn't get any air over the second hill) it certainly doesn't ruin the ride. The ride is still one of the best and I really don't think the trims will cause the ride to "drop in the rankings."

^ And this review is exactly why I would rather hear from people who aren't locals...

^ And this review is exactly why I would rather hear from people who aren't locals...

^ And this review is exactly why I would rather hear from people who aren't locals...

 

It's nothing at all against the locals, don't get me wrong, it's just that I know what it's like being a local to a big park and you're far more likely to critize something a lot more, and possibly even slightly unfairly when you are there all the time.

Whereas something even as major as a trim brake all the way down the first drop of i305 might be like murdering tuna-safe dolphin to a park local isn't as big of a deal to a less frequent visitor.

I want to hear from the locals, by all means, but I'd put a bit more weight into that less frequent visitor as to how much something like these trims really affect the ride.

--Robb

Personally from a non-local stand point since I live closer to Carowinds.I neither give an enthusiast nor a general public stand point. Trimmed or not it doesn't bother me. I liked the ride for what it is, and for what it was. Less intense can have its good points in saying that less will black out/gray out and less will complain in that manner. More may complain from say an enthusiast view that "omg its trimmed its going to suck now" Alot of parks don't really look at what the enthusiast wants (Holiday world DID listen to us to make the Voyage though) versus what say the general public want. Safety is what truly matters in my opinion. As long as the ride is safe that is what matters to me. We don't want someone to knock their neck into next Thursday and then sue the park putting further and further larger restrictions on riding things do we? Do we really wanna see the new generation rides with 10 point click seat belts with pad locks that have combinations , 3 lap bars a shoulder pad, an ankle lock , wrist locks to the harnesses , a Nascar sanctioned neck brace? and yes yes I will say it restrictor plates . Do we REALLY wanna see this over ONE person suing the park?

Also during my visit the only odd thing I felt on I305 , was it hesitated on the lift a lot. We'd get all the way up and it would slow to a stop for just a minor second then start right back up over the crest. BGWfreak(wes) Called his thrillnetwork friend to ask if he/she had felt it and they said it even happened during the media day. it didn't really take away from the experience, but it did prevent the ultimate "whip" over the top.

^ And this review is exactly why I would rather hear from people who aren't locals...

 

It's nothing at all against the locals, don't get me wrong, it's just that I know what it's like being a local to a big park and you're far more likely to critize something a lot more, and possibly even slightly unfairly when you are there all the time.

 

Whereas something even as major as a trim brake all the way down the first drop of i305 might be like murdering tuna-safe dolphin to a park local isn't as big of a deal to a less frequent visitor.

 

I want to hear from the locals, by all means, but I'd put a bit more weight into that less frequent visitor as to how much something like these trims really affect the ride.

 

--Robb

That was more tongue-in-cheek than anything.

While I haven't ridden as many coasters as a lot of fans I do still consider I305 my #1 steel so that in itself could make me look sort of fanboy-ish. I was going to try to ride it this weekend but will probably put it on hold due to thunderstorms in the area, a conflicting event tomorrow, and the Lost finale on Sunday. When I do report back about it I'll do my best to give my perspective from someone who might visit the park less frequently and also my more "local" feeling about it. Hopefully, it isn't as big a "disaster" as some of the fanboys have made it out to be and a compromise can be made as this ride might be "testing" throughout this whole season. I do think the intensity was probably a little much and while somewhat disappointing, the modification isn't a major surprise to most enthusiasts who have ridden it (local, or otherwise).

I got 5 rides in today and it is a bummer that the best part of the ride is gone. Luckily you still get thrown off the top so there is still airtime on the hill but you fall into the harness on the way down.

I did not grey out every time but 2 of the rides I started to before the rise.

The 2nd hill is the biggest loser of this event, you do get a little floater in the front but nothing like it was

The rise before the turns only gave me airtime in the front

"Twistys" were still good just a little slower

Now for the GOOD news! Almost all the trims have been removed off of the 75ft hill (2 small ones still at the top) so there is much more airtime on this hill and the following hill and the back half is actually faster now.

MORE good news they did some tests with the new Strap restraints with maint. and Intamin engineers and KD decided to switch to them and my reliable source said both trains should be upgraded within the next 2 weeks.

I did love the intensity of old I305 and the insane speed but it is nice to have a more re-ridable ride now.

Plus all my rides were pretty much in the morning so the trains had not been warmed up fully yet but usually it gets faster as the day moves on.

It is still a world class ride and most of the comments I overheard from the GP were the same "that was really fast but it hurt my neck"

They ran the red train 10 times before switching it out due to a bad wheel but after that there were a lot of minor downtime with the cable and the staging of the train (only running 1 on Friday) I left at 1pm

I hope this clears up some of the speculation.

JEFF

^ Thanks for that Jeff. That's probably about the best report I've heard from a local. I have to say that with all these reports of trims added here, trims removed there, testing different restraints, etc, I'm willing to put money on it that this current configuration of trims and other such tweaks won't be the last.

Just because a bunch of trims went on a drop today doesn't mean they can't be removed or altered later.

I think it's only fair we give the park and Intamin enough time to find the right balance.

--Robb

Just because a bunch of trims went on a drop today doesn't mean they can't be removed or altered later.

 

I think it's only fair we give the park and Intamin enough time to find the right balance.

 

--Robb

Thank You Robb!

 

Now for the GOOD news! Almost all the trims have been removed off of the 75ft hill (2 small ones still at the top) so there is much more airtime on this hill and the following hill and the back half is actually faster now.

 

MORE good news they did some tests with the new Strap restraints with maint. and Intamin engineers and KD decided to switch to them and my reliable source said both trains should be upgraded within the next 2 weeks.

Wow, when I go in two weeks (and also again the week after that), I could be riding essentially a completely different ride than what I rode in April. New credit!!!!

Here is a pic i saw on another site of the first drop!

http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx306/anescapeartist/i305trims.jpg

^I'm about 99.9% sure that's just a cropped version of the picture I posted earlier in this thread. It's a picture of the bracket before the trim was installed, screen capped from a youtube video. That's not the trim.

Obviously they wanted this thing open as soon as possible.. but with all the greying out, etc early on.. It is kind of a head scratcher that in such a 'sue-happy' culture we live in, that KD decided to open it without more trims right out of the gate.

Robb and the locals around KD could probably attest to the fact that this thing was WAYYY too fast and intense for the GP. I remember watching the first pov's with people on it, thinking.. "This thing would be too hardcore for a NoLimits coaster"

Obviously they wanted this thing open as soon as possible.. but with all the greying out, etc early on.. It is kind of a head scratcher that in such a 'sue-happy' culture we live in, that KD decided to open it without more trims right out of the gate.

im no expert but I dont think they wanted to open it as soon as possible. I think intamin pushes the limit which could be a good and a bad thing. I wonder what kinda system intamin uses for calculations and such to be able to say...hey, this element is gonna produce this force and so on and so on...

For all I, and probably the rest of us know, intamin could have in fact told KD that the way its designed right now it could be borderline extreme to unbearable and KD said, produce it as is. Intamin could have given then a plan b where the trims and slow lift would have calmed the ride down.

I'm not usually a conspiracy theorist at all BUT I have to wonder if the soft strap restraint is being added to the train now that there are trims on the first drop?

With the ride being dumbed down on speed and airtime, any opinions on whether or not this would adversely affect whether or not the park went with the hard or the soft restraints?

Obviously they wanted this thing open as soon as possible.. but with all the greying out, etc early on.. It is kind of a head scratcher that in such a 'sue-happy' culture we live in, that KD decided to open it without more trims right out of the gate.

im no expert but I dont think they wanted to open it as soon as possible. I think intamin pushes the limit which could be a good and a bad thing. I wonder what kinda system intamin uses for calculations and such to be able to say...hey, this element is gonna produce this force and so on and so on...

 

For all I, and probably the rest of us know, intamin could have in fact told KD that the way its designed right now it could be borderline extreme to unbearable and KD said, produce it as is. Intamin could have given then a plan b where the trims and slow lift would have calmed the ride down.

I'm fairly sure that a company that's been designing coasters for 31 years and breaking all sorts of records would at least be able to realize that something's gonna have a lot of force.

Anyhow, I think the trims will draw more GP in. I personally hate them, but I dragged one of my (GP) friends on before the trim and she cried afterwards because she hated the intensity.

I'm not usually a conspiracy theorist at all BUT I have to wonder if the soft strap restraint is being added to the train now that there are trims on the first drop?

 

With the ride being dumbed down on speed and airtime, any opinions on whether or not this would adversely affect whether or not the park went with the hard or the soft restraints?

Also I think that straps would still not be the best of ideas, albeit I haven't ridden it with the new trims, but I can imagine that it's still gonna give your neck a good digging-into during some of those transitions.

I'm not sure if this has been brought up before, but I wonder why they didn't just slow the lift hill down. That thing is like 20 mph., wouldn't it just have been a lot cheaper if they'd slowed the train down at the top?

^From reports that people gave over the last week or so prior to the trim being installed, they already tried a slower lift hill. I have to imagine it wasn't getting them the results they wanted. I'm pretty sure the people in charge of all this are smart enough to pick the best course of action, all things considered. If it's something that a bunch of Joe Blow regulars on a website could come up with, don't you think it's something that experienced engineers could come up with?

Obviously they wanted this thing open as soon as possible.. but with all the greying out, etc early on.. It is kind of a head scratcher that in such a 'sue-happy' culture we live in, that KD decided to open it without more trims right out of the gate.

im no expert but I dont think they wanted to open it as soon as possible. I think intamin pushes the limit which could be a good and a bad thing. I wonder what kinda system intamin uses for calculations and such to be able to say...hey, this element is gonna produce this force and so on and so on...

 

For all I, and probably the rest of us know, intamin could have in fact told KD that the way its designed right now it could be borderline extreme to unbearable and KD said, produce it as is. Intamin could have given then a plan b where the trims and slow lift would have calmed the ride down.

I'm fairly sure that a company that's been designing coasters for 31 years and breaking all sorts of records would at least be able to realize that something's gonna have a lot of force.

Did you even read what I said? I never questioned intamins ability to know forces of coaster they built before being built. I wonder what system they use.

Did you even read what I said? I never questioned intamins ability to know forces of coaster they built before being built. I wonder what system they use.

Yes I know you weren't questioning but I was saying I'm sure that it's some system that would tell them that a ride will have extreme forces, sorry for wording that incorrectly.

Robb and the locals around KD could probably attest to the fact that this thing was WAYYY too fast and intense for the GP. I remember watching the first pov's with people on it, thinking.. "This thing would be too hardcore for a NoLimits coaster"

If you want a NASCAR themed coaster it has to be fast and intense.

^Or at least have a lot of Coors Light.

^And crashes all the time

Obviously they wanted this thing open as soon as possible.. but with all the greying out, etc early on.. It is kind of a head scratcher that in such a 'sue-happy' culture we live in, that KD decided to open it without more trims right out of the gate.

im no expert but I dont think they wanted to open it as soon as possible. I think intamin pushes the limit which could be a good and a bad thing. I wonder what kinda system intamin uses for calculations and such to be able to say...hey, this element is gonna produce this force and so on and so on...

 

For all I, and probably the rest of us know, intamin could have in fact told KD that the way its designed right now it could be borderline extreme to unbearable and KD said, produce it as is. Intamin could have given then a plan b where the trims and slow lift would have calmed the ride down.

Yeah but what could've been done was design a layout that didn't require a helix at the bottom of the drop,they had enough room to put in an OBT to bleed off speed or design an L shaped layout that extended around the waterpark(ala superman@SFA) & of course they didn't.That IMHO was CF & KD's fault in picking the location on the premesise in which to build the ride.

IMO this is still all a rumor until someone posts pics of the actual trims! I cant believe that a pic hasnt been posted yet, is it because no one can afford a camera in Virginia or atleast a cell with one?