JDo217

So I'm in Hong Kong right now and planning to take a train to Shenzhen. I'm going with a group of classmates and we're probably going to spend a night there. Now I've heard some pretty nasty things about Happy Valley operations. Is this a full-day endeavour? We're not looking to spend the entire day re-riding stuff and are probably just going to ride everything once then leave. Should we get there right at opening or does it not really matter? How would the crowds be on a Saturday? I know many Hong Kong and Chinese don't have off Saturdays so Sundays everything everywhere is much more crowded

I'm finally in Hong Kong. I'm staying in the Tung Chung area with my cousin. Here are some night pics. I went to Mong Kok and Kowloon but didn't get any pics. The air was so thick, I was jetlagged, and didn't take my asthma meds so I was dizzy and on the verge of fainting. All if good now though:

um, I live on the south shore of LI. I;m one block away from the bay and some of my friends' backyards ARE the bay. I'm out of the country for the semester but the people I've been in contact with back home say my entire area is under evacuation. My elderly grandparents who can't drive are home alone, but I think my aunts are supposed to pick them up. The thing about south shore LI is that it's prone to flooding. Nevermind hurricanes, a day of steady moderate to heavy rain causes many people's basements to flood. Not even sure I'll have a basement anymore when I get home -_-

Okay so I'm not sure where this thread should go. I'm going to be studying abroad in Hong Kong and traveling throughout a lot of Asia (I'm actually flying out tomorrow night!), but there's not guarantee that I'll get coaster pics. I got a new camera so this first post is just some shots I've taken so far. The actual journey through Hong Kong will be posted when I'm there obviously. Anyway, these are some shots of NYC. I would caption them but TPR's uploading tool never seem to work for me so I have to link them

El Toro definitely isn't rough. If you want rough, head next door to Rolling Thunder. In 10 years from now though if/when KD is due for a smaller family coaster, I wouldn't be disappointed at all if they went with a mega lite. Just sayin'

Thanks! Also, if any of you guys have any tips for roller coaster pics w/ DSLRs please do share them! God knows I need them

Some of you may remember that I posted a topic a week ago about bringing a DSLR to KD. Well, that was kind of a bad idea. Since it was my first visit to the park, I was way more intent on getting rides and re-rides than actually staking out pictures. The good: I got a bunch of somewhat decent pics of i305. The bad: I was rushing really badly, didn't have a tripod, and didn't have time to really review how the shots were coming out. Trip Report I left NY at 3:30 AM since Virginia is pretty f***ing far. We arrived at 9:15 so I'd say we made pretty good time. The only traffic we really hit was along the Balt-Wash Parkway, but it was minor at worst. I was running on 4 hours of sleep though, and having to do the 6-hour drive was really draining. We headed to Volcano at opening and rode in the back. The queue was pretty awesome, as was having the ride ops come around and take your loose items from you. My friend was discussing how he thought the ride would go based on how it looked when it just up and launched The second launch was way more powerful than I was expecting too. After that, we went to Intimidator, which had a station wait and was only running one train (which I'm told is the norm for weekdays). We went on twice in a row. The first time I rode near the back and my first impression was honestly "wow, I don't see why this thing has so much hype." I literally did not feel a thing on the first drop. El Toro's and MF's first drops take my breath away, but I didn't so much as get the butterflies-in-your-stomach feeling on i305 the first two times. I did grey out really badly both times (I think I might have blacked out the second time, but I just closed my eyes on the turnaround and opened them on the airtime hill). The directional changes were awesome and I actually really liked being thrown into the restraints each time. The OSTRs were very comfortable and there was no headbanging at all. First impression: great ride, but not sure why so hyped. I did ride i305 4 more times later in the day (more on that further below). After that I was pretty exhausted considering lack of sleep and the long drive, so we just got lunch and took it easy for a while. We went on Backlot Stunt Coaster since we were still partially digesting. Can I just say how painful I thought this thing was? This ride is actually harder on small/skinny people since the seats are so hard that your back/spine really take a beating. The line was just halfway across the bridge so we waited about 20 minutes. Then we headed to the other side of the park to hit up the woodies. I was fully expecting a Rolling Thunder-esque experience on Rebel Yell but I was pleasantly surprised. There was virtually no airtime but it was a very smooth ride to say the least. There was only a station wait, but since they were only running one side and one train, it was actually a decently long wait. I didn't think Hurler was that bad in terms of roughness, but the turns were killer and the ride was just very boring. They were only running one train but even then, there was no one on line. Grizzly was pretty good. I wish I could've ridden it after dark but they closed at 8. The queue entrance was kind of difficult to find, since it's really far from the ride itself. They were running one train and the line was only in the station. Flight of Fear was my first spaghetti bowl experience and it was very good. The line was almost out into the outside area but I didn't mind since the queue was pretty cool (and fans + AC are always a plus). I rode once towards the front and it was a very smooth ride, but after the MCBR was pretty laggy. I rode again in the back and the ride was a little more jerky, but still good. I thought FoF was very well themed, especially when you consider how gaudy Disaster Transport is. Break Time After that we decided to check into the hotel room around 2(Best Western), which was probably the best possible decision we could have made. We were all drained from the early start to the day so we took a nap then went back to the park at 4. It was just so much more enjoyable after being rested. When we went back, we finally got around to Dominator. The loop was really menacing being right there at the very front of the parking lot. Everyone here said the line would clear out after 3 and it did, so we got on without waiting. I thought it was very enjoyable and smooth. I love how B&M's drops after the MCBR are so sudden and give a nice pop of airtime. The corkscrews were taken very fast (or maybe I just got accustomed to watching Anaconda crawl through its corkscrews?). After that, we went back to re-riding stuff. We went back to Volcano and it had a 30 minute line, which we gladly waited on since it was just about the longest we waited all day. The anticipation for the launch is great since you never know when it's going to come unless you're in the last car. We also re-rode FoF, which still had a 20-30 minute wait. Rides we skipped: Ricochet, Avalanche, Ghoster Coaster, Anaconda and Shockwave. My brother rode Anaconda and Shockwave though and said they were pretty painful, so I don't regret it at all. Drop Zone was down all day. A shame, since I was really looking forward to it too Intimidator - Take 2 We went back to i305 around 5 PM and they added the second train! We saw from Rebel Yell earlier on that the line was getting kind of long. With both trains on, the wait almost never left the station. Even with a one-train operation though, the line moved pretty faster. Faster than SFNE Bizarro's queue with two trains >_> We rode twice in one of the middle rows and then once in the 2nd row and once in the last row towards the end of the day. They have a weird policy where they force half the front row line to move to other rows near closing. But they still leave a ton of people on the front row line so that the last 5-6 rides of the day are literally just two people in every train. I'm used to operations at SF GAdv where they force everyone to move so that the trains are all filled at the end of the day. Anyways, I was hoping that the ride would warm up as the day went on and my early morning rides were just not in full gear yet. Wow, the ride way more than delivered! The first drop was much more intense, the black out was the same, the 2nd hill had more airtime and the turns were more intense. Basically, everything was better. I love how every row was a different experience too. In the back the first drop was the best, but in the front the first airtime hill was much better. I was a little let down by the trim on the 3rd hill though. I know it needs to be there but it was slowed to the point where there was really no airtime. The front had nothing and the back had a little floater airtime, but you could feel the effect of trims much more. All in all, Intimidator went from a 7/10 first impression to a solid 10/10 Summary This was my first time at KD and I really loved it. It's a step up from the Six Flags for sure. Hell, any park that provides any sort of shade on their queues is already better than Six Flags IMHO. Despite it being pretty far from me, KD is definitely on my list of parks to return to next summer. Here are the photos. I was a little disappointed at how they turned out. I took these in a span of like 20 minutes since we were really rushing to get in 2 last rides on Intimidator. Mind you, I had to run back and forth to the locker to get the camera then return it before getting in line. Rapid fire shots: Happy riders: Okay so I tried to get some blurred shots to accentuate the speed of the train, but it didn't work out so great since I only did two takes and didn't use the zoom lens. The gist of it was supposed to be train in focus, track out of focus. Regardless, here are a few: Close-ups: Night shot of Dominator without a tripod My friend actually took this one - the school sticker on my car:

Got stuck on the lift of Nitro for 15 minutes last year. Not sure what happens but it's the only time I've ever seen it down

Well, I made it out to KD for my first time ever today and I can honestly say that it's one of my favorite parks. I left NY at 3:30 AM and made it to the park by 9. Basically followed the park guide and everyone's suggestions here and did Volcano first, followed by Intimidator. Then we just did whatever in a random order. I'll post a quick experience but I have some pics of i305 that I'll post in a separate TR and write-up. Intimidator: I rode it twice very early in the morning near the back and while I liked it, my initial thought was "wow, why do people praise this thing so much?" It was odd - on the first drop, even in the last row, I didn't feel anything. No butterflies in stomach or nothing. Then I rode it later in the day (btw, they added the second train in the afternoon! not sure if that's normal but it definitely sped things up) it was a OMFG experience in every row. Every part of the ride was way more intense. Went from like 7/10 in the morning to 10/10 later We got one of the last rides in the evening and I have to say, they have a weird policy for the front row towards closing time. They basically made half the line move to other lines, but even then once the queue was closed, every row except the front was empty. And they just kept dispatching trains with only 2 people on them -_- Also, I blacked out every single time except the last, when the train was 3/16 full and I sat in the 2nd row. Volcano: launch was sudden and the 2nd launch was great too. We even waited 30 minutes for a second ride later in the day. Dominator: pretty relaxing. That has to be the biggest loop I've ever seen, and the corkscrews had a real snap to them Flight of Fear: pleasantly surprised by this. Waited around 20-30 minutes and went on it twice. I didn't really mind since it was indoors and there were fans/AC Rebel Yell was surprisingly smooth, but didn't have much airtime (I sat in the second to last car). Hurler was pretty rough. It wasn't bad because it was slightly painful, but more because it was just really boring. Grizzly was pretty fun too. I didn't ride Riccochet, Anaconda, or Shockwave. I don't really regret not riding any of those except maybe Shockwave. I just found Green Lantern and Mantis to be so forceful on the legs that I was steered away from stand-ups All in all, an awesome day with minimal waits

Is it just me or does the track look a little wider than i305's? Maybe because of the new trains? Taken from the Project 2012 fb page:

The day is fast approaching - going to KD for the very first time ever on Tuesday. How are the lines typically throughout the day? If I'm there at opening, I'm heading straight for i305 and Volcano. Also, the weather forecast is saying scattered thunderstorms/showers. I can't cancel my hotel reservation at this point so hopefully it only drizzles a little or is overcast and scares the crowds away...le sigh.

Does HP still run the misting fans on Fahrenheit's queue? The one thing I like about Hershey is that all of their queues are pretty much shaded except for part of Great Bear's queue and like all of Fahrenheit's

Hershey put up the Q&A video but I'm still a little confused about the station loading. He says "there will be a separate queue line to get into the front," which is like how many loading platforms are set-up. But then he says something like "and then we have individual seats on one side." So is it basically like a normal station?

wow, I'm an idiot -_- but yeah, the all-day locker sounds good to me. Also, my friend who is into photography gave me some advice. When she has to leave her camera/lenses in the car for an extended period of time, she puts all of the equipment in the Nikon/Canon/whatever bag then puts it in a cooler with ice packs. She swears by this and nothing has ever happened to her camera. Just wondering if anyone has ever tried this.

Thanks guys. I think I will go with the security box option. The only flaw I can see with the lockers is that I have to go back when the time runs out, and it might be in an inconvenient location. Does anyone have a link to the pricing on the security boxes? I can't find anything on KD's website, only that they have lockers. I'm still debating how many lenses I should bring. I have a 18-55 mm VR lens that came with the camera, an old manual film SLR 105 mm lens, and an old 180 mm lens. The VR is great because it's so versatile, but I love the old manual ones. The only reason I'm considering bringing the 180 mm is because I want to get some shots off of the observation tower

My friend and I are heading down to King's Dominion next week. I wanted to bring my DSLR (Nikon D3100) along to take some nice pictures. I also found some very old (but nice) lenses lying around but the thing is, it's a lot to carry. The last thing I want to do is leave everything in the car with the insane heat. Right now, I was thinking of bringing a backpack to the park and just throwing it in a locker, but I'm not sure if that will get too hot either. To those of you that do like to bring nice cameras to parks, what do you usually do? Keep in mind, I also don't have anyone to hold the stuff for me while I'm on rides ahhhh, I want to make a mad dash to i305 at opening too since this will be my first time at the park!! The enthusiast and photographer in me are at odds!

If you buy tickets online from KD, do you need to have the credit card you paid with with you at the ticket gate that day? Also, I have a choice between the $38.99 Pink Day tickets (have to specify which day you're going) and the $43.99 tickets (have to buy at least a week in advance but aren't limited to a specific day). I'm assuming the Pink Day tickets are the way to go? Only flaw is that if I get rained out, I'm screwed

I'm not sure if KK is running, but if you want the shortest lines, head to KK and El Toro first thing in the morning. Then hit up Bizarro (you can walk under Toro to get to it faster). Take sky ride to the other side of the park and take care of Nitro, Batman, and TDK. I've only done Green Lantern once on opening day, so I can't really tell you much about how the line is. I'm guessing it would probably be shorter right at the beginning of the day though

So does the $25 million price tag include the costs of the changes to the Comet? I guess this costs the same as i305 and MF because of all the terrain and pre-existing rides/structures they have to deal with

1. That picture of Comet and SkyRush really puts it into perspective just how much they intertwine. IMO, part of the charm of comet hollow comes from the compactness of SDL, Great Bear, Coal Cracker, and Comet so this will only add to that 2. Just like everyone else, very interested to see how they handle queuing in the station. Two lines for each row might be very confusing, as a fair amount of theme park goers have trouble getting into the correct row when it's laid out right in front of them. Maybe they could throw all 4 people in one line, number spots on the floor for each person to stand on, and also clearly number each seat in that row. I know some drop towers (Lake Compounce) do this. 3. What exactly does "270 degree panoramic view" mean? 4. Is the lift speed 26 feet of track per second? If so, that's almost 18 mph. Blink and you'll be down the first drop already!

Oh man I'm psyched. What's going on in the live stream? I don't have access to a computer and tried accessing on my smartphone but it won't even load, guessing the traffic is insane

Just curious - did the retracking on i305 make any difference at all in the blacking/greying out or has KD pretty much given up on trying to alleviate the number of people that black out?

One last thing, I read in this thread that they only run one train on i305 on weekdays. Is that policy still on effect? How does it affect the wait?

Hey guys, I'm planning on going to KD for the first time either the second or third week of August. Originally, I wanted to do just a day trip because of cost, but I come from pretty far away (NY, so it's a 6-6.5 hr drive each way) so I realized that just wasn't possible. I only want to spend one night, so I was thinking this would be my plan of action: drive out to KD early --> spend entire day at KD --> check into hotel for the night --> drive home next day honestly, the drive + spending the entire day at the park will be fine for me since the tiredness only hits me once I'm settled down (ie driving). I don't think that spending a whole day at the park and then doing the drive home would be good even though I have someone to trade off driving with. -Anyways, as to the park, what's the best plan of action? I'm not trying to get every single credit in. I can spare the rough woodies and the stand-ups -Crowds on a tuesday/wednesday? The only CF park I've been to is CP and basically every time I go the lines are 1-2 hrs each even on weekdays. Praying this is not the case with KD :/

Maybe it means 4 lucky people who have been playing the game the whole time will get the first ride on it? Thought I'm not sure why it would only be 4...