KDCOASTERFAN

Huh? How do you figure the capacity on a B&M stand up is any different than a B&M floorless? If you want to talk capacity issues, then you should be finding fault with the flyers. RRv, Georgia Scorcher, & Chang all pretty much chew through the same amount of PPH that Scream, Kraken, and Hydra do. The flyers, even with the split station still seem to take way too long to dispatch trains. Now, I haven't been on Manta at Sea World yet, but I know that MM still struggles with capacity issues on Tatsu. If this thing loads similar to Baco, then I foresee capacity probably being roughly the same as most B&M stand ups or floorless. If it loads from both sides like X, I foresee a handful of capacity issues. Time will tell as we get more details on the ride. Guy "Regardless, I'm excited to see B&M moving in a new direction." Koepp Yeah but many of the flyers are in SF parks & we all know how horrid their capacity can be no matter what type of coaster we're riding....granted the throughput on Dominator has left something to be desired this season so far.

Knowing Busch they'll probably get an exclusive "no US park can build one for x many years" contract like they did for the dive machines.

Nice,I contacted the SFI facebook yesterday to let them know just how poorly they're running the place. KDCOASTERFAN. There is some possibility of SFA getting Chang. A park source told me that he spoke to someone from corporate at the park. My source is not sure if this was true or not, but they actually mentioned that the change in plans had something to do with the cancellation of Chang being built at Great America, along with the zoning. If we do end up getting Chang, I wonder if they will stick it over in Gotham City? It would be very nice for them to build it over in Coyote Creek, so that they can expand that part of the park to Gotham and complete the loop. Or do you think they will give it a DC Comic theme? More than likely SFGRADV is getting Chang even though we could benefit from it more than they would but it's SF & they don't seem to care. Now if that were to happen it'd have to go in GC as CC is filled up already & the zoning for SWT(where 2 face was) is only 140 ft. max. & Chang is 154 ft. tall.The reason SFGRAM lost it was not due to zoning but like you said the change in CEO's,the park pulled the zoning request at the last minute,probably under Webber's orders.

I'd hope they'll just remove the ride alltogether in favor of a B&M invert,or at least one of the newer vekoma 4 abreast inverts.

There have been rumours for some time now that Gardaland would get a B&M prototype, and you can clearly see the B&M backbone in the picture. True but if you look at the track in front of the train it looks less like B&M track.....someone could've photoshopped it but not saying they did. Should be an interesting concept & B&M should be able to pull it off,granted I suspect they'll use a traditional lift rather than a launch.

Nice,I contacted the SFI facebook yesterday to let them know just how poorly they're running the place.

Gonna have to check the timer on my shockwave video footage from inside the station to see how long the wait time is because with a line just out of the station for the middle of the train it wasn't too long & that was on a weekend.If only they could reconfigure the trains on togo stand ups to be less complex then it wouldn't take as long to load.

Sad to say the ONLY thing that would fix hurler would be either gasoline & a match or a chainsaw....still it might,just might prove worth the investment though.

What's the policy regarding souvenir bottles? I purchased one last week at the park & was wondering if I can bring it in & get a wristband for free refills on my next visit?

The convoy ride was once in LTMT & the balloon ferris wheel was once in olde boston. I'm not sure if any of the other attractions are new or not aside from the thomas train that loops around that area of the park though. Now even if they start adding new rides to the park it will take a few more management/operational changes to get me to return....first off getting rid of flashpass would be a good start & make everyone wait in line as equals.Things really got bad over at superman with the ops being forced to run one train for flashpass riders the last season I visited the park(three years ago) & if no flashpass users showed up they ran the train completely empty.The "you know what's" are the next thing that HAVE to go,with Snyder & his greedy money making motives out of the way there's simply no real need for them as KD doesn't force their guests to use them when riding their attractions but SF parks(not just SFA) do which effectively turns them into pay per ride attractions. I have to say that me and KDCOASTEFAN agree upon the same thing. I have never liked the flash pass and the fluffy, fluffy bunnies filled with medicine and goo. I think everyone should have to wait in the same line, unless they want to try and single rider kind of thing. I've noticed a lot with SFA rides, that there are always trains that leave with empty seats. Make a single rider lines for the rides and let the empty seats be filled. It would get more people coming there on weekends if they did not have to wait an hour and a half just to take one of the empty seats. And getting rid of fluffy, fluffy bunnies filled with medicine and goo would be a good start. I like how KD just lets guests put their things in the cuby boxes, guests sit down and then it's on to checking seats. Not to mention their rides can fit a lot of bigger people in. I've noticed a lot with SFA rides, that they only seat small people. I feel sorry for the bigger people who can't ride, which is why I think more people end up at Kings Dominion. And KDCOASTERFAN, Dan Snyder lost his seat as chairman some time ago. Not sure what kind of position he has with the company now, but I don't think he is in any position to make decisions for the company. So the best thing for Alexander Weber to do is to get a chairman that he use to work with in Paramounts. That would make a great team up. If not that, replace the whole board of directory with his former Paramount buddies. I know about Snyder being removed from the board,along with Shapiro...now it's time for Webber to start reversing some of his assinine polices & to start investing in all of the parks equally. I feel that,had premier parks never purchased SF from Time Warner in 98 then SFA/(Adventure world as it was known then) would've recieved more attractions....attractions suitable for a park of it's size.They were on the right track in the years between 92 & 98 by adding rides that Wild world's owners couldn't afford but that went downhill once they took on the task of managing too many parks at once.

The convoy ride was once in LTMT & the balloon ferris wheel was once in olde boston. I'm not sure if any of the other attractions are new or not aside from the thomas train that loops around that area of the park though. Now even if they start adding new rides to the park it will take a few more management/operational changes to get me to return....first off getting rid of flashpass would be a good start & make everyone wait in line as equals.Things really got bad over at superman with the ops being forced to run one train for flashpass riders the last season I visited the park(three years ago) & if no flashpass users showed up they ran the train completely empty.The "you know what's" are the next thing that HAVE to go,with Snyder & his greedy money making motives out of the way there's simply no real need for them as KD doesn't force their guests to use them when riding their attractions but SF parks(not just SFA) do which effectively turns them into pay per ride attractions.

Flight deck & vortex aren't sand filled & yet they were permitted to be installed....I just don't get why there are complaints now when the park has been in business for well over 30 years without any problems concerning noise.

Yeah if it weren't for the max height restriction of 200 ft they could add a giga. Now I mentioned SFWOA in my last post because,like SFA they recieved new rides through the 01 season but when the 02 season came around Burke & co. focused all of their efforts on the so called "big four" parks & the rest got next to nothing.Anyone recall how adding Scream to SFMM 7 years ago didn't produce the attendance increase they were looking for?That was a prime example of money wasted on a ride that would've been better off going to a smaller park. By adding a major new ride,be it a flat or coaster & advertising it to the local market people would begin to return to the park. parks like SFGRADV didn't get where they are from their first season after all & ONLY get people through the gates by offering a new ride expereince at least every other year....this is something that the owners have failed to realize with the smaller parks in the chain & if given enough time & money SFA could grow to become a park of the same caliber as SFGRADV. I agree with you. A ride like (Scream) would work well at SFA. If not that, something like (The Voyage) or (Lighting Racer). Anything that is unique would do well at SFA. The park has the more than enough space for anything you can think of. In my opinion, if we were owned by a company that made good investments in us, our park would be one amazing place and a must see attraction in the MARYLAND area. I wonder if Paramounts would do well buying SFA and turning it into a movie park? They could keep the top coasters there and knock down some of the buildings so that the layout of the park could be modified. Unfortunately Paramount parks as it was in the US market no longer exists...remember they sold KI,KD,GA,CWL & CW to CF because they were looking to get out of the theme park business. Now look at the thomas town addition this year,most of the "new" rides in that section are just relocations from elsewhere in the park...apparently SFI went the cheapo route once again rather than invest money in rides that were new to the park & in the process has left a few more bald spots in place of rides that were once there.

Yeah if it weren't for the max height restriction of 200 ft they could add a giga. Now I mentioned SFWOA in my last post because,like SFA they recieved new rides through the 01 season but when the 02 season came around Burke & co. focused all of their efforts on the so called "big four" parks & the rest got next to nothing.Anyone recall how adding Scream to SFMM 7 years ago didn't produce the attendance increase they were looking for?That was a prime example of money wasted on a ride that would've been better off going to a smaller park. By adding a major new ride,be it a flat or coaster & advertising it to the local market people would begin to return to the park. parks like SFGRADV didn't get where they are from their first season after all & ONLY get people through the gates by offering a new ride expereince at least every other year....this is something that the owners have failed to realize with the smaller parks in the chain & if given enough time & money SFA could grow to become a park of the same caliber as SFGRADV.

I was there thursday on a group outting & the park was somewhat busy,ended up stuck near the top of 305's lift on the 2nd ride we took right when it started raining...we were in the silver train I believe.

Yeah it was supposed to be a Renegade clone set to open in 09 but alas the heighbors complaints about noise killed it for CGA.They need a new coaster & other new attractions to keep the crowds returning but I think what makes it so difficult for them to get new rides is the fact that the park is boxed in by all of those office complexes & residential areas.

Ok so then why did SFWOA fail? Part of the reason for the failure was lack of continued investment in the park....even CF couldn't repair the damge that SF had done to the place,mind you it wasn't just the lack of new attractions but the way in which management & staff were running the place & SFA does have the same problem I'll admit however when even the GP see that nothing new is added for years on end even they get tired of the park & go elsewhere instead. The reason why there's been so much downtime there lately is because the maintenance budget has been cut,when rides like wild one,which had hardly no downtime in years past begin to suffer extended periods of downtime then you know that there's a real problem in the way the maintenance dept. is able to handle things.

That's the thing that we've been complaining about for years & SFMM is a prime example of how far some of the SF parks have gotten out of balance,Shapiro wanted to create a family image which is important but unfortunately fell short of that goal.If you don't like coasters but have a family to bring then SFMM isn't the park for you. The parks need to strike a balance & too much in any one direction of focus disrupts that balance,SFA was given water rides recently & at most once every 2 to 4 years while other SF parks were given flats or coasters on the average of every other year & why? because it was cost effective. For instance SFI spent on average $200 million per year prior to 02 which was enough to cover rides for most of the parks but starting with the 02 season that budget was cut in half with a good percentage of that going towards two or three expensive coasters(usually B&M's at 20 million a piece) plus the 25 million wasted on that maintenance nightmare known as KK for 05 at SFGRADV resulting in next to nothing for the other parks,that coupled with ride removals at parks (cough SFA cough) left guests with even less to do than before & that's why parks like SFA are seeing a decline in attendance much more than the parks in the chain that are adding new rides & coasters on a consistent basis.

It's kindof semi-dark, at least the times I went. It's very dimmed, but lights are on. Reason why I asked is because a couple times I went last summer, they were completely off. It made it more fun. It was pretty dark when I rode a couple weeks ago. Just got back an hour ago from my group trip to KD today & man was it hot!!!! not to mention suprisingly busy for a thursday but not as crowded as a saturday.Got in two more laps on 305 with the 2nd being a ride in the brief shower that hit the park & ended up stuck near the top for about a minute.I also finally sucked up to it & rode WWC for the first time ever & man was it great to be able to cool off from the insane heat,we only stayed til about 5 pm or so but I've got another trip planned in a couple weeks.

Either that......or they were looking for the best place to run the bulldozers through first. LOL j/j I definitely want to see all the Six Flags parks succeed but I know one thing they'll have to do is get rid of some of those horrible employees. I'd like to see the parks succeed as well but if they continue down the path that Burke & later Shapiro put them on then they won't. Burke's biggest problem was overexpansion of the chain a decade ago when Premier aqquired SF from TW...more parks meant more money had to be budgeted for cap ex,maintenance of existing rides,theming etc. & then the big mistake of purchasing parks overseas made all of that worse.Snyder had his own motives(most likely due to SFA's proximity to his stadium) for taking over & ousting Burke & made an already bad experience worse by instituting mandatory "you know what's" instead of allowing guests to bring items onto ride platforms as a means of making money & that just turned people away more. SFA's best period was probably the premier era (pre SF) as the park was making improvements & adding new rides that fit for a park of it's size but when they tried their hand at the SF conversion they failed due to a lot of factors such as the economic downturn(which happened the same year that batwing was added) along with 9-11 making the economic situation worse resulting in Burke resorting to playing the favorites game of adding expensive rides to only 3 primary parks counting on those investments alone to carry the financial weight of the entire chain & it hasn't paid off & never will.

http://www.weather.com/weather/wxdetail/USVA0223?dayNum=1 That's not too bad but we'll have to see what happens.At least the crowds should be light compared to on saturday's when I usually hit the park.

Anyone know what the weather forecast is for the park tomorrow in terms of high temps? I'm supposed be going with a group tomorrow but they plan to spend time in the waterpark if the temps are too high & I'm not sure yet wether some of us in the group will be permitted to just go off on our own to enjoy other rides while the rest remain in the waterpark.

While that may be true then WHY is it that other parks in the chain seem to be following the exact opposite of this by adding coaster after coaster & all the fanboys are saying "ohh SFMM or SFGRADV needs it more than SFA"? Honestly when Shapiro started removing rides that were addmitedly problematic but not taking the time or money to replace them that's when this park's days have become numbered.It sends the message that corporate has given up on the park & feels that no matter what new attraction they install would not be enough to lure once loyal customers in the region back from their competition which has more in the way of rides to offer their guests.

Yea, but that mega coaster is now 10 years old and people are not really thrilled with it anymore. What's the crime of adding another thrill ride to the park? Everyone knows loads of people will start coming back if it's good. If they keep adding small things then they will only get small crowds. I'm telling you this from what I see. Adding another small addition is going to drive more people away and give Kings Dominion the edge of receiving more people for 2011. We just had a huge family addition, which was Thomas Land. So why not add a coaster for 2011. Then in 2012 we can add another family addition and then follow it up the next year with replacing Tower of Doom with a few flats in it's place and then building a huge drop tower ride in Gotham City. Drop Towers are much cheaper than coasters. Now let's talk about improving Fright Fest. I got some real good ideas. They need a new coaster desperately right now since they lost 2face as well as some thrilling flats.I agree how on earth do they expect to compete with KD when over the past two years they've installed a floorless(thanks to GL) & now a giga that are both partly responsible for the huge increase in attendance at KD. For those who say the park doesn't need a new coaster let me ask tou this:Why then does SFGRAM or GRADV need a coaster every time they're given a new attraction when that's all they've gotten for the most part over the past decade? what makes them more deserving than us? They don't need a new coaster to keep or bring in the crowds if,as so many fan boys of these particular parks say they already have high attendance rates....if attendance levels alone are the determining criteria for wether or not a park gets a new ride well then many of the parks in the SF chain may as well just close down alltogether because as I & SFA Regular have pointed out no new attractions = no new guests & very few repeat guests.

I doubt you're getting Chang because Great America has had plans for it for a long time. That was before Shapiro & Snyder quit/got canned so under Webber's leadership those plans may have changed & just because GASM is leaving doesn't neccessarily mean that chang,or another coaster for that matter is taking it's place as they very well may be adding some flats to the park,which they need more at this point than a new coaster. After going to KD alot this year that's something I've noticed is that they too could benefit from some more flats as well seeing as their coaster collection is pretty well rounded out at the moment with this year's addition.Parks aren't just about coasters & need to strike a balance in terms of ride offerings in order to provide guests with a complete experience as NOT everyone comes to a park for just coasters.