KDCOASTERFAN

Yeah considering Dominator's crew used to be quite fast but now they're just unmotivated.

I agree that the Dominator crew has been really slow this season especially compared to I305's crew & Dominator should have better capacity with three trains going.

I wonder if we'll be seeing Pink's opening chainwide in the coming years? KD could use another hotdog venue now that alpine deli is history.

For some reason I can't shake the feeling that we'll be looking at yet another reprofiling in an effort to keep the G's under control as well as to reduce wheel wear during the 2011/2012 offseason.

Had the same problem when I rode in the back during my last visit so I think I'll stick to the front or middle for the time being.Was gonna go on saturday but something's come up so looks like I'll have to wait a week....at least grizzly should be up & running by then.

I'm guessing the invertigo with a new paint job? That is one butt ugly color scheme...blue on blue just doesn't go well together.

In 1990, construction began on the Anaconda and halted as the 1990 season was underway, thus giving its visitors a first-hand glimpse of the upcoming coaster that was being built over Lake Charles. After the season was over, construction resumed. In 1991, as visitors flocked to the park to ride the brand new Anaconda, they also saw half of Lake Charles gone as construction was underway to build Typhoon Lagoon, Kings Dominion's premier water park. In 1992, Typhoon Lagoon opens to the public. The expansion (and name change) would occur years later. I hope that help answers your questions (I should know; I was there when it happened). As for parks removing their lakes to secure more space, Kings Dominion isn't the only one to have done that (does anyone remember the lake at Kings Island that was shrunk down so they could add the Diamondback? Or how about the island and surrounding water at Carowinds where Nighthawk stands today?), but it was the first park to have done so. It's a pity that the Lake Charles is no more; I miss watching the water skiing shows. "And I miss you in bed. Come on and make me happy!" Actually the waterpark first opened as Hurricane Reef in 92,not typhoon lagoon.

I would would want to see some solid construction before putting much stock in that rumour. The rumour of a floorless going to Wonderland has been going around for quite a long time. I can remember those rumours being thrown around pre Cedar Fair even. For some reason CF doesn't seem that interested in the floorless concept as they've only got two in the entire chain with Hydra & Dominator.

Actually weren't the M-flyer trains based more on the Prior & Church models of the 20's?

I agree,they could've put the waterpark on the southside of rebel yell & left the lakeshore alone but alas that's not how things turned out.

@Real:How'd you get the colors for Patriot into NL?

I was wondering why they were doing this at KD on DT,thanks for the answer.

That's something I'd like to know too as Dominator's rattle seems to be coming back.

I agree with pretty much everything you said in your post. The thing is, for the crowds SFA draws, it really is a HUGE park. In mid-summer how many rides actually draw a line, even with their terrible operations? From my experience, not many. I don't really see why they would invest in a new ride when they can't even fill their existing ones. There's been a steady decline in attendance at the park over the past decade which could explain why rides aren't as full as they once were.Management should realize this and suggest putting in a few new rides(not rethemed ones passed off as "new") & see what happens,obviously KD is still drawing a crowd if any of you have been to the park lately,just this past weekend KD was extremely busy with lines for most rides well outside their queues. CF at least does believe in adding a few new major rides to their smaller parks like WOF & even VF knowing that these additions will help grow attendance over the years,hence the reasoning why WOF has since gotten a rather nice invert & woodie over the past few years while SFA hasn't gotten anything "new" since 08 that turned out to be nothing more than yet another waterslide.

^^Talk about minimalist seating...those seats don't seem to have much of anything aside from the restraint to make the rider feel secure but the positive side of that is there will be no bulky sidewalls to obscure the view from 300 plus ft. in the air.

Good lord is that blinding!!! Looks good though. I'm in favor of an SOB reprofile,kinda how they took the one element on I305 that was causing problems last season & devised a simple solution,granted it won't be as easy,or cheap to do on a ride as massive as SOB but it can be done.

Shapiro did t he same crap with SF t hat Burke did which was adding major expenditures to the spoiled parks at the expense of the smaller parks that Burke & co. overlooked & in the end it didn't seem to work otherwise he & Snyder wouldn't have been ousted to begin with so I do not want to see him running CF.

Right attitude? All he did was continue the same pattern of crap at the parks as his predecessors...the same parks got spoiled while the same continued getting neglected.CF has done a better job running their parks,in particular KD than Shapiro did running the SF parks,in particular SFA.

^^ So you visited yesterday right? It was packed to the gills on saturday.

Wow...two hour wait for Dominator in 80 + degree heat? No thanks. Guess if it is that busy when we're there next Sunday, we may just end up hitting I-305 and maybe a couple other coasters and then take the kids on all the kiddy rides. We're getting too old to deal with anything with much more of an hour wait for any coaster (or ride). Too bad the water park doesn't open till the 28th of May...we'd probably spend most of our day there like we did last year! Edit: I see that the Dominator line was 2 hours at the beginning of the day...typical (I suppose) because it is near the entrance. I usually avoid those front of the park rides at the beginning of the day. Still not sure I would wait over an hour for anything @ KD though...maybe I-305. I hear ya.I got in line for the ride at about 12:30 or so & didn't get off until around 2 pm or slightly afterward & the crew was running extremely slow too.

Went yesterday & the park was busy. Rebel yell north went down in mid to late afternoon & didn't reopen,Dominator had about a two hour wait when we first arrived but was about a two train wait by 9 pm with three trains running whereas there were only two running earlier while hurler & shockwave had the longest lines of the day....even the flats were nearly full as it took about two cycles to get on triple spin. I think I'll stick to the middle on 305 as riding inthe back was way too extreme for my taste,especially in the twisties....I did have an opportunity to run into Tasha there & complimented her on the job she & the crew were doing.Didn't get home till 12:30 despite getting on the road shortly after 10 pm & boy I'm beat.

Late may?They must be doing some extensive retracking to open that late. Anyone going tomorrow?The forecast is for a high of 80 with partly to mostly cloudy skies & a 20% chance of rain.I think it's a safe beet that it'll be ok tomorrow.

Dominator had a horrid rattle towards the end of last season but I didn't notice any rattle on my opening weekend rides. Anyone know what the weather forecast for KD is on saturday?I hope to go to the park that day as long as it's not gonna be raining all day.

That's the problem. By the time the current owners got to it the park had fallen into a general state of disrepair & neglect,it was ten years ago back when Burke/Story were running the place that they got it in their heads that they should focus capital on SFMM,SFGRAM & SFGRADV at the expense of their other parks just so SFMM could win a stupid "most coasters in a park" title & get on those discovery channel coaster shows each year. Along came Snyder/Shapiro & we thought that the park would finally start to rebound what with Snyder's stadium up the road when it turned out to be more of the same,instead he focuses more capital on SFNE & why?Because Shapiro has got family that he wanted to impress(and spoil) up there so once again the other parks suffered & here we are with the current owners & nothing so far has changed. SFA was just starting to go from a local amusement park(which it always really was) to a growing recognizable park that would've grown & improved with proper investment but the owners dropped the ball & as a result I don't see them being around much longer.

^^Anaconda was partially repainted(on the brakerun) last season but they still have yet to finish the rest of the ride & Grizz won't be open for another few weeks as they're doing retracking. I so hate it when families or groups try to synch up on coasters at KD.I always find myself telling them while in line that it's easier to just have the members of your party wait for you at the exit instead of all that crap.