BitterOldHag

Just had a “premium” time at Kings Dominion today. I sincerely hope the Six Flags era isn’t starting early. Took me 9.5 hours to get to Doswell from my place near Cleveland Hopkins airport. The number of crashes on I-495 and 95 is just mind boggling. Now I have not been to KD since 2009, and I have been visiting Kings Island numerous times a year since 2020, so for me, it was like walking into Bizarro Kings Island. I will say that KD’s International Street is really quite nice. The extra trees add a nice touch, and the fountain doesn’t seem to be as long, so it is much easier to traverse. I Got my FL wristband from a friendly girl at one of the gift shops inside the front gate, which saved me from having to wait in a rather large line at the “Upgrades” counter and headed to get the 3 credits I didn’t yet have. First stop, Twisted Timber (credit #277). Posted wait time for standby was 75+ minutes. Unfortunately the same prison-style shakedown in effect at Cedar Point’s Steel Vengeance is in effect here too. Also rather unfortunate- single train operations. My FastLane wait was 30 minutes, so I can only imagine what the standby wait was. My opinion of this ride is that it is completely insane. The first drop inversion was crazy and the constant airtime and quick direction changes made me completely forget this was once a Hurler. Good ride, and I was hoping to ride it again, but the line never seemed to die down. The main reason I wanted to visit KD was for Project 305 (credit #278), the lone North American giga I hadn’t yet ridden. One train ops here and about 4-5 minute dispatches resulted in a 30 minute FL wait here also. I was excited as the train climbed the 305 foot lift, and I was preparing for the much discussed grey out turn. And yes, it did indeed cause quite the vision blur! The rest of the ride is basically just high-speed s-turns, which is cool and very Maverick-esque, but as a whole, the ride just didn’t impress me. I’ll take Fury, Millennium Force and even Orion (I know, “not a giga” lol) over this any day. Since I had to pass Flight of Fear on the way out of P-305, and the posted wait time here was 75+ minutes, so I asked if it too was one train operations. the guy at the entrance said “no, two!”. So I figured I’d give it a whirl. 25 minutes later, I was boarding my train. The family behind me said they had waited 90 minutes. Ugh! Anyhow, I think this FoF is better than Kings Island’s as the train doesn’t sit on the mid-course for 5 seconds, and it seemed overall darker inside the spaghetti bowl, creating a very disorienting ride experience. Good stuff, but someone needs to turn the volume of the music and sound effects down a bit. It was truly ear splitting! My final new credit was Tumbili (#279), my first S&S free spin. Two cars were being used (not sure if there are any more) and the FastLane line was only 10 minutes, so that was a plus. I actually kind of liked this ride. I got 2 full (and very forceful) flips and while the ride is insanely short, it’s smooth and it made me smile after the park was kind of a let down thus far. Reptilian was closed when I first arrived, but it was open after I exited Tumbili. The app said a 60 minute wait, and the FastLane line looked like there was only about 20 people in it so I got in line. 40 minutes later, I was climbing aboard. One train ops and the limited capacity made this a slow moving line. Too bad because I absolutely love this ride. Why didn’t we get more Mack bobsleds in the States? Fast, smooth, and the second half feels like you’re going to slide ride out of the trough. Great ride, but that line… the standby line stretched way back to near Tumbili’s entrance. Yikes! The singing mushrooms never sang. Boo! I wrapped up my visit with a one cycle (FastLane) wait for Flying Eagles, which run VERY fast, and a walk-on FastLane ride on the Blue Ridge Tollway antique cars. This had to be the worst antique car ride I have ever done as the steering wheel did absolutely nothing. I bounced off the rail through the whole course. Other things that sort of irked me: Racer 75 had one train and one track operating. Grizzly’s line said <15 minutes on the app. The line stretched all the way to the gift shop with, yes, one train. Don’t think that was 15 minutes! Delirium, Anaconda, Backlot Stunt Coaster, Drop Tower, Windseeker, and the Log Flume were all down. There were no “merger people” for FastLane and ant Tumbili annd Reptilian, no one was even checking. And lines for food were just ridiculous. Yes, I know it was Good Friday and the weather was quite nice. But this was a pretty bad day all around and I sincerely felt sorry for people without FastLane as they probably didn’t get on much at all. So that’s my review of Kings Dominion. Doubt I’ll be heading back again anytime soon… and that’s a shame because it is a nice park that has a lot of good things going for it. Thanks for reading…

Looks like they are adding some sort of Disk-o style ride called "Wave Twister" for 2025. This video (at 0:58) shows a very brief glimpse of what appears to be a rotating two armed ride vehicle with rotating seats that rock back and forth along the track. Edit: I saw on Twitter (which of course makes it true) that the ride is from RES

It seems each summer I keep saying I am going to finally visit Coney Island and make stops at Rye Playland and American Dream. Obviously that hasn't happened, but based on Bill's (and others) comments, it sounds like I should just go to Coney Island. Oh, and maybe Adventureland to ride that bizarre RES Fireball "coaster"...

I hope they roll these out at all CF parks this year. About time they had something like this!

I thought it already had been closed... Regardless, whatever is left will be gone soon and in its place a shiny new music venue (which I thought was already something there, but again, shrug!) Coney Island to close permanently

Been a few years, but according to the park’s facebook page and an email sent to Seabreeze passholders, the park will be installing a Zamperla Windstarz ride in 2024. Unfortunately, this new addition comes at the expense of the park’s Flying Scooters. . Nice to see the park adding something new though, and I have a feeling this ride will be well received by the family crowd that Seabreeze caters to. Seabreeze new Windstarz for 2024

Apparently Primordial is now open to season pass holders: Primordial open i didn’t know it was going to be like a bigger version of Wonder Mountain’s Guardian, but that is what it sounds like based on the article. It’s been 11 years since my first and only visit to Lagoon. I loved the park and really enjoyed the SLC area. Guess I need to start saving!

Tornado at Stricker's Grove. Who knew a wood coaster built in-house at a park that is only open to the public 4 days a year would have a jolt of airtime that will shock the heck out of any new rider? Definitely was not expecting that!

If there was ever a time for the shrug emoji, this is definitely it. Tall enough for a 65 foot tall StarFlyer, but not for a slow-moving dark ride. Quite odd indeed. Nice TR. It's been 17 years since I have been to HW. I think I need to get back there again sometime soon.

I just noticed that wooden "mine" coaster has what looks to be a spiral lift hill. Wonder if they would consider a Canadian Zambezi Zinger-type ride. Thinking about it, CW really needs a good wooden coaster. Both MineBuster and Wild Beast are horrendous, so something like this would probably be a welcome and popular addition. And to also add to what Bill said, why would they even consider turning Wonder Mountain, the park's longtime icon, into a Volcano-type ride? That looks hideous. At least with Vortex and WMG they aren't visible from International Street and don't interfere with the mountain's aesthetics. This would change the park forever, and honestly, I don't think in a good way. Just my two cents as usual.

I absolutely love the on-board audio concept for the launched wing coaster. The options for Canadian music are endless. Corey Hart, Men Without Hats, Glass Tiger, The Tragically Hip, Alanis Morissette, Trans-X, Platinum Blonde... I guess you could throw Rush in there since they seemed to have a few hits over the years Just leave Nickelback out. Never got into them even before they were cool to hate!

As a frequent visitor to southern Ontario, I usually come back home with at least 30 or so candy bars (which usually gets a question or two from the border agent!). I have been an Aero bar fan since I was a kid. I found some unique ones at the Duty Free shop on my last visit that were chocolate mousse flavoured and also ones that were black forest cake flavoured. I am also a fan of Mirage bars (basically just a thicker Aero) and Bounty. Big Turk bars are, well, weird to say the least! Something else I really enjoy up in Canada is the McChicken sandwich at McDonald's. They aren't quite the same as they are here (which is a good thing) and while I have no idea what kind of "meat" is in that patty, it sure is tasty!

You’d be surprised. . Iron Dragon had a 45 minute wait (2 train op, which I believe is all they have now) on Memorial Day. Mine Ride usually isn’t too bad. Most I’ve seen that line in the past few seasons is about 20-25 minutes. And yes, if you have early entry, go directly to Wild Mouse at opening. When running, the line does move pretty quickly thanks to the cars moving through the loading area. As for the FL lines, Blue Streak, GateKeeper, Raptor, Magnum, Pipe Scream and Gemini are all usually 15 minutes or less. Steel Vengeance, Valravn, and Millennium Force can sometimes reach an hour, but are more often than not 15-30 minutes. Maverick is the one I can never figure out. Sometimes the standby line is 2 hours and the FL+ line is 5-10 minutes. Other times, FL+ is an hour or more. So if the line is long when you get to the ride’s entrance, maybe ride something else in the area (or have a bite to eat at the Farmhouse) and then come back and see if the wait time has gone down any. Hope you guys have a great time!

Edit: Sorry- just saw Bill's message. There's mostly repeat info here. Flat Ride recommendations: Sledge Hammer (world's only Huss Jump2), Skyhawk (Gerstlauer Sky Roller), and Wild Knight Mares (rare Huss UFO). Fun Tip: Get to the park at opening and head directly to Wonder Mountain's Guardian (left side of Wonder Mountain). If it's not open, go around to the other side of the mountain and try Thunder Run. Both rides are not on FastLane and are low-capacity and get long lines, so knocking either (or both) out early is what I try to do. And while in this area, if The Fly does not have a long line, I'd grab a ride on it as well as it too is not on FL. Obvious Tip: Buy FastLane Plus. It will get you onto the 3 B&M's relatively quickly and allows multiple rides if you like them well enough. It also comes in handy on Vortex, Backlot Stunt Coaster, Boo Blasters, and some of the flats. Obvious Tip 2: Unless you absolutely need the credits, Flight Deck and Time Warp are completely skippable! I'm a big fan of Wonderland as they have a unique selection of rides and coasters. Getting there is a pain as traffic is usually a mess (and if you take the 407 ETR, it can be a $70 USD price tag for a roughly 60 mile round trip) and long gone are the days when the park was surrounded by trees and fields, but the park is clean, has a great entrance plaza, and the employees are friendly and seem to do a good job of moving people through the ride lines. Food lines on the other hand... not so much! Enjoy your trip!

^ Looks awesome, and while the theming isn't much, they did a nice job in making the ride fit in with the rest of the Frontier Canada area. I will probably get sick on this, but I'm going to definitely give it a try when I hopefully visit next week. Thanks for the pics!