Intimidator305

If Universal ever builds a B&M wingrider, it will of course have a Harry Potter theme...

I'm also not digging the look of the lift hill at all. To me, it looks like 3 yellow ladders leaning on each other... But, I will give Intamin credit for trying out different styles when building these lifts with first the mammoth lift track 305 used and now this. Hopefully, they'll go back to the 305-style when they build their next giant lift hill as I think that looks MUCH better.

Ghost Hunters hardly gets anything good, but I'll definitely record it on my DVR just because it's at Kings Island... I would watch it live, but Law & Order: SVU comes back on tonight.

A whole dollar... Maybe that extra dollar will go towards you all a new attraction? Over here at KD, our cheapest pass is $69.99. 10 dollar increase because you could buy 4 for $59.99 last winter.

We go to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg for a whole week each year and stay up at Starr Crest Resort (the one overlooking DW). The past several years it's been 4th of July week, but this year we are moving it up to Spring Break and going down on Good Friday (April 6th) so we can check out Wild Eagle even sooner! Have to miss KD's opening day though...

Nice trip report. I didn't realize Knott's did all that for NYE, seems like a fun way to welcome in the new year! Oh, and those pictures of Windseeker/Silver Bullet in the fog were awesome!

I actually really like the color scheme that they are going with for the "Apocalypse" theme. So far so good Six Flags!

^ Well that depends on if you are betting on the much more accurate Mitch-Hawker Poll or the very biased Golden Ticket Awards... I definitely feel like this will dominate Wild Eagle and Leviathan as far as forces come! SkyRush is looking amazing, I won't be suprised at all if it ends up being in my top-3 as it looks like Intamin has created another winner. Hopefully, I'll get to ride it within the next 2 years and that the ride is intense as it looks like it will be!

Why can't they just be equal? They apparently see a lot of potential in both parks for different reasons. I feel like KD gets bigger investments (Dominator, Intimidator 305, Dinosaurs Alive) because of the fact they have lots of competition against Busch Gardens Williamsburg. They couldn't of just put in an "okay" hyper like Carowinds did with Intimidator because there was an 11 year old hyper down at BGW... Bring in a coaster exactly 100' taller than any other coaster in the state and then they got lots of attention from people across the state. I've had tons of friends within the past 2 years take a summer trip to KD instead of BGW because of "that really tall fast coaster that you lose your vision on!". Cedar Fair is trying to get guests to return to KD and visit KD over BGW which is why these "bigger" investments are being made. On the otherhand down at Carowinds, they don't have such close competition and Carowinds rules the western North Carolina and northern South Carolina market. As long as they keep bring something into the park each year, guests will keep returning as they don't have any reason to travel the extra hours to either Dollywood or Six Flags Over Georgia. Carowinds seems to be more of a family park so a resort would be more likely to be built there instead of at KD. Up here in VA, BGW definitely has the edge of a "family" park over KD. Let's just say this, I live exactly in the middle of KD and Carowinds (just a little more than 3 hours to both parks) and I visited KD 7 times last season and only went to Carowinds once. I visited Dollywood and BGW more than Carowinds last year and they are both 60 mins+ further... To me, KD still has the better selection of rides and is a park I can spend a 2-day trip at while Carowinds is just a park that I'm done with in a day or less. It still needs 2 more "solid" coasters. IMO, at KD they have Intimidator 305, Volcano, Dominator, and Flight of Fear that really stand out from the bunch to the general public while at Carowinds they only have Intimidator and Afterburn. NightHawk is easily one of my "most-hated" coasters.

I totally believe KD owns 400 acres. They don't even use half of it... The "shaded" regions are the areas KD owns. "BG Europe Fan" photo from KDFansite. As for WindSeeker and Dinosaurs Alive... Last I heard, WindSeeker's concrete base/pad is being worked on (from Coaster Crew). I've heard all the dinosaurs are in place and assembled (only took 2 weeks to install) so the company is out and the park does the rest of the landscaping, paths, signage, ect. Also, it has been said that instead of doing a "Dino Store" crappy looking tent like at KI, KD is transforming the hardly used Grizzly Arcade into the "Dino Store" for tickets/merchandise. It should look better and they just have to change Grizzly's exit ramp for this to be done. That just makes me worried about the future of the Haunt maze "The Asylum". Finally, after seeing Coaster Crew's last update, it seems like there will be some unique angles for photos in the early spring/late fall for shots of Grizzly within the Dinosaurs Alive pathways.

"Interesting" seems to be the word I'd use to describe it up to this point also. It sure will be the most heavily themed coaster around, but as far as the actual ride goes, hopefully it will be enjoyable and atleast be on par with BBW (which wasn't that good in my opinion).

213 days. "The Dark Knight" is my favorite movie ever... I'm wondering if this will beat it.

That's because unlike B&M, Intamin actually makes intense rides that really push the limit...

^ Some B&M trims are hardly noticable while some are quite strong (Intimidator at Carowinds). Nobody will really be able to tell until they actually ride the ride to see how hard they actually "slow" down the train. Speaking of Intimidator at Carowinds, Leviathan just looks like an epic version of that alright hyper. However, I do feel like these low turns/gradual hills is what will make Leviathan stand out from your typical B&M hyper.

Atleast that bright orange VW bug will go with all the bright colors that they recently splattered all over OctoberFest... I actually love the old luggage, televisions, and antique theme that they are going for in the queue and station, but I'm still a bit puzzled about how a random broken bridge is going to look.

Does anyone know the angle of the lift hill? It looks odd since it isn't nowhere as steep as Intimidator 305 and Millennium Force's 45 degree lifts. Looks somewhere about 30+ degrees to me?

Pompeii looks absolutely amazing in that photo! As far as Verbolten goes, we know the color of the track is a forest green now, but do we know the support colors yet???

I'm thankful for Intamin making my #1 coaster at my "home park"!

The trench could be there to make the drop 300'... Remember, the ride should be 306' tall from directly under the crest. The parking lot could be 6' higher in elevation than at the moment where the crest is causing the need for the trench to make it a true "giga". The drop going over that hill with the trees between the parking lot and Dragon Fire is messing with the perspective... Would Cedar Fair really let another ride beat the record of MF? We have to remember we are dealing with the company who made Intimidator 5 feet shorter and Leviathan 4 feet shorter than MF!

Carowinds is posting pictures of dirt and stakes in the ground which is exactly what KD said they wouldn't do. Here is their Facebook status from 11/8/11:

That last picture really shows how much Cedar Fair has improved the Canada's Wonderland skyline. I like how WindSeeker kind of has the colors of Behemoth's supports and Leviathan's track.

For those few of you who are actually looking forward to Dinosaurs Alive!, Kings Dominion has now posted the area map for it. http://dinosaursalive.kingsdominion.com/dinosaursalive/explore/map.cfm

^ I think it is more than roughly 78%... I would also really love a B&M invert at KD, but I'm not going to mention it weekly. As far as WindSeeker goes, I wonder if they are going to replace some of the asphalt with brick pavers on the south end of the Grove as it would make it look much better than the "asphalt jungle" is where XLC's tower and turn used to be. KI replaced nearly all of the asphalt in the Coney Mall section when they added their WindSeeker.

Once they tear Anaconda down, I say leave the lake alone and just build some type of flat where Anaconda's station and brake-run is and put in a huge fountain like the lake used to have. Something like a S&S Giant Swing or Huss Frisbee? They could "swing" over the lake... I say this because the Congo is mostly coaster dominated and KD could use another flat or two to round out their selection of rides. If they did that they could remove the wooden fence surrouding the 305 plaza and it would open up that area more allowing better views of 305 from the park and the park from 305.

Cool? Sure. Likely? Nope. If they plan on keeping Anaconda for atleast a short while, they definitely need to paint it this offseason. I would hope if they do they go with a different color scheme as the one it has now doesn't go well with 305 in the background.