palmerleeberry

All I can say is that the more photos of Kentucky Kingdom I see, the more excitable I become. I have to say something about Deep Water Dive: it looks crazy that you have a midget-looking blue slide with hills next to a very tall red slide, but I guess the small blue slide is there for people who either don't want to slide down from such a height or don't want to walk up all those stairs. Those trains for Lighting Run looks sharp! The $64 question will be "But how will it run?" And the biggest question to ask is "When the park opens Memorial Day weekend, what will the operations be like? How would the new rides and slides feel? How will Thunder Run and Lighting Run feel?" And more importantly: "How many rides can I ride the Roller Skater before I get sick of it?" ROLLER SKATER - TAKE A RIDE AROUND OUR RINK!!!

You know, I've been hearing the same things about another park that I would often visit and might visit it again this season - Six Flags America. If Six Flags America can get its Ragin' Cajun coaster running and performing well, then I guess this park will have one thing up compared to Mt. Olympus. I'm not perfect; I just love to ride!!!

Many years ago, a park called "Kings Dominion" decided to get rid of their Shoot the Chutes ride they called "White Diamond Falls", a move that stunned plenty of riders and amusement park flyers. We haven't had another park get rid of their Shoot the Chutes ride since then. Then Holiday World announced that they were removing Giraffica, and even more riders and amusement park flyers are stunned. I should be, but I rode that ride two years ago and although it was thrilling, I didn't get the water soaking I was hoping to get. And I was dressed to get wet and all I got was just a few sprinkles. I'm sure that Holiday World will put something better in its place just like Kings Dominion put in the Backlot Stunt Coaster in the old White Diamond Falls site. Tis a pity they won't be putting it in this season. So I'll settle with the Mayflower, the Mammoth, the Voyager, and the Rough Riders; and I'll try not to get upset about it.

I just visited the park on Saturday. Here are some comments about that visit. 1) The park got crowded sometime after noontime. I was seeing some lines on some coasters ( such as Anaconda and Backlot Stunt Coaster) that haven't been used since opening day being filled up. 2) The Rebel Yell was running with only one train per side, but while northside used the red train, southside used the blue train with red train on standby. Southside train would always be ahead. 3) I stayed until closing time so I could see them turn on the park lights. Rebel Yell's running lights were amazing! 4) I decided to play a game on that day since it was Easter weekend - find the Easter eggs colored to the Peanut characters. I found seven Easter eggs: Snoopy, in front of the Eiffle Tower; Charlie Brown, between a game stand and Boardwalk Fries stand; Peppermint Patty, in front of the Congo Thrills store; Lucy, near the Scrambler; Linus, in front of the Family Care Center; Sally, in front of the Carousel, and Schroeder, in front of the Kings Dominion Theater. Any Easter Eggs I missed? kiNGS dOMINION - BETCHA YOU CAN'T DO IT ALL!!!

Well, well, well, what to say, what to say . . . Well, I did enjoy your photo TR of the new Six Flags America Mardi Gras area. I know I'll be getting a Six Flags Season Pass this year ( in which I'll need for my two-day visit in Six Flags Great America), but will I get it from this park will be the $65 dollar question. And if I do decide to visit Six Flags America, when in the season will I go? Methinks I'll wait until both the water park and the two new rides in Mardi Gras are opened. The new characters inside the park give it a nice change of pace and that LOL show will truly be a hit, especially what happens in one show may be different from the next show, as it is with improv shows. And since I haven't been there in years, Apocalypse will be a new ride for me, as well as Whistle Stop Station and their rides.

Probably another wild mouse coaster that doesn't spin you around. I've been reading some posts in which many were saying I should skip this park when I visit Wisconsin Dells this summer. Well, I'm going to visit that park anyway and make up my own mind and if I go and had a bad day at that park, then I shall post back and say that "You tried to tell me so, but you told me so." Then I'll add that park to the list of other parks in which I GOT BURNT!!!

A month and a half from now, everybody will be singing - "Oh the sun shines bright at my old Kentucky Park . . ." They finally got the lift hill topped off, so you know what that means . . . it's time to pop the bubbly! POP!!! Seeing the pictures of the other rides receiving their fresh coat of paint has got me going cuckoo for coco puffs crazy, knowing that I will soon be there in June to help the other riders and amusement park flyers break in this park. Besides, Kentucky Kingdom will need all the support it can get to help support their own state of Kentucky after they lose to UConn in the basketball championship (Methinks I shouldn't have stated that, so I need to state something else that will make Kentucky feel good and UConn feel bad . . . Oh, I know) Kentucky has the ROLLER SKATER and UConn don't. That should do it! ROLLER SKATER - TAKE A RIDE AROUND OUR RINK!!!

Okay, I was there at Kings Dominion on opening day, and all I can say is "Kings Dominion - Well Done!" 1- At the log flume, the new water wheel looks great. 2- At the Rebel Yell, I noticed that only the section from the station to the top of the lift hill received the fresh coat of paint. Mewonders if they are going to paint another section of Rebel Yell or just leave it as it is. Plus, it was good to have them racing again, but both coasters were red instead of one red against one blue and the south side coaster would always be first to the end because its lift hill is slightly faster compared to north side's lift hill. Methinks I shouldn't care about those facts for Rebel Yell is still a good ride no matter which side I choose. 3- I decided to stand in line for Volcano at around two o'clock to test out whether or not the queing lines would be faster. It took me fifty minutes to get to the station, but not all the lines were used and I don't know how many fast passers there were, so I need to run more tests. 4- Waited a while for the singing mushrooms to perform, and when they did the show was over in less than five minutes. 5- Certain rides have large TV screens showing Fun TV. It plays music videos, presents a weather report, and other fun things. 6- Nice to have the Clown Band back. 7- I was done by six o'clock, so if they did turn on the ride lights by that time, then I missed it. I have to revisit the park when it'll be open pass dark. kINGS dOMINION - BETCHA YOU CAN'T DO IT ALL!!!

Please Kings Dominion, stop it; you're starting to spoil us all with all these new improvements!!! Or how about this response: Gee, I don't know if I can handle all this excitement. Or maybe this response: OH YEAH!!! For my response, I'll just go there on opening day and have a great time! kINGS dOMINION - BETCHA YOU CAN'T DO IT ALL!!!

Oops, my mistake, but that ride looked like a giant to me.

After hearing the report about this accident, you can bet that I am concern because I plan to travel to Wisconsin Dells this summer and Mt. Olympus is on my list of places to visit. And when I do visit Mt. Olympus, I might decide not to ride their spinning mouse coaster unless I'm convince otherwise that its safe. I hope the poor man wakes up from his coma.

I love the Troika, whether if I'm riding the Troika at Cedar Point, The Shake, Rattle, and Roll at Kings Island, or the newly-named Bad Apple at Kings Dominion. I also love riding the Giant Frisbee, but I would have to go to Six Flags New England to ride it; it's the closest to where I live.

To celebrate the return of the color scheme on the Rebel Yell, I decided to do this dance - kINGS dOMINION - BETCHA YOU CAN'T DO IT ALL!!!

Holy Moly!!! Did they actually repaint the Rebel Yell to its original color scheme? I was looking at the three photos from Kings Dominion Golden Years facebook page, and I thought it was some old photos of the Rebel Yell back when they had the original color scheme. But stop the presses, folks - methinks I see in one of the photos the metal arch of the Extreme Skycoaster and the base pole of the Windseeker, meaning to me that photo isn't old, but taken recently. I sure hope that's the case, because then that would be freakin' awesome!!! So Kings Dominion repainted Rebel Yell and didn't inform us about it. Mewonders what other surprises await for us as we pass through those now-open doors for the 2014 season? Do you think they put in another ride and decided not to tell us? Well, that's wishful thinking, but like I said it before in an earlier post: if Kings Dominion repaints Rebel Yell back into its original color scheme, then I don't care if we get a new ride or not because Kings Dominion has restored the glory to that coaster once more. They also restore the singing mushrooms and the water wheel to the Log Flume, so that is TOO SWEET!!! kINGS dOMINION - BETCHA YOU CAN'T DO IT ALL!!!

^Well, if Action Zone is to undergo a name change, it should have a Halloween name, the area of the park in "witch" every day is Halloween. You already have the scary-looking rides, so give them scary names and repaint the area so it can look "spooky". It is about time another park had a Halloween-themed area besides Holiday World.

Wow, what a ride I had on the simulator! Cannot wait to ride the real thing if Knoebels go by that design. The corkscrew near the end caught me by surprise and the helix reminds me of the ending part of the old Galaxy coasters. When the park puts that coaster in next season, then I feel that Knoebels will be the place to go to ride a top design coaster, to ride some classic rides, ride their famous dark rides, ride not one but two carousels, ride not one but two of their trains, and ride some rides you don't see other parks offer (I mean - what other park can you drive a motorboat and ride the Looper?). And when you need a break, break out your quarters and play some Pokereno and Fascination and win tickets to trade in for some cool prizes. KNOEBELS - IT'S HAPPENING!!!

One thing I do like about Lighting Run on how close it will be running next to the Pirate Ship. During the old "Sick Flags" years, that poor Pirate Ship was all by its little lonesome, wondering if there would be anyone that would walk the long distance from the other attractions so they could ride it, making it feel like it isn't part of the park. Now that Lighting Run has its tracks nearby, Pirate Ship doesn't feel so lonely anymore. "Arrh," it replies gleefully. "I'm finally feel like I'm part of the park again with all the closeness I'm getting." I also noticed that the other rides are feeling this closeness to one another. T2 is looking to part of the park too, even though it will be closed for this season, and I'm sure once work begins on the Twins, they'll build it so it'll feel closer to the park rather than feeling like its off the beaten path. With all the rides coming closer and closer together, I'm sure this whole park will come together on Memorial Weekend. ROLLER SKATER - TAKE A RIDE AROUND OUR RINK!!!

All I have to say is this: Kings Dominion will be opening its doors for the 2014 season next week!!! Will you be ready? kINGS dOMINION - BETCHA YOU CAN'T DO IT ALL!!!

I was thinking about another topic that could be related to this one: about the possibility of visiting a park too many times during a season. With my Kings Dominion Gold Pass in hand a few years ago, I ended up going to Kings Dominion a whooping eight times! I don't mean spending eight days in a row either, but visiting the park one day and waiting a while before returning for another visit. And I went to Kings Dominion during Easter weekend, when the water park opened up, a few more times in summer, and two more times during Hallo-weekend. But methinks there is a difference between spending consecutive days at a time compared to multi-visits during a season. One difference would be avoiding burnouts when you allow yourself time to recover in-between visits. But like I have mentioned in a earlier post a few pages back, it all depends on the park and the crowds. "Suffering from burnouts? I'm your cure!"

^I think that is the most possible reason why that piece of track is missing, although my first guess would be that there was something wrong with that piece and the crew decided to remove it, take it to their workshops, and fix it. I'm sure that whatever the reason, they'll put it back before the Bat begins flying once more.

Just one thing missing besides the coaster - all the rides up and running. I'll bet it'd all look great on the outside with all the rides in operation and the screams of all the riders. And even better, me taking another spin on the ROLLER SKATER as I take another ride around their rink.

That's right, way back in 1994, when the park was known as "Paramount's Kings Dominion", the powers-to-be had some very deep pockets in order to expand the park and add another area called "Wayne's World". This was to be the "most awesomely" area of the park full of rock 'n' roll, the return of a flying scooter ride dubbed "The Scream Weaver" ( In which I thought was a play on words from the Gary Wright's song "Dream Weaver"), grab an ice-cold Coke-a-cola from Stans, and to ride the ultimate coaster to end all coasters, The Hurler. Party on, Wayne!!! Well, that ended after the 2000 season when both Wayne's World and Candy Apple Grove combined and simply became "The Grove". Now that area is more themed to the Golden Oldies. Now that Candy Apple Grove is back, who knows what will become of that area: will it stay the same and undergo a brand new theme? kiNGS dOMINION - BETCHA YOU CAN'T DO IT ALL!!!

Oh Yeah!!! My first week in June getaway is looking to be one awesome trip. Besides visiting Kings Island, I will first be visiting Holiday World and Kentucky Kingdom. If you can imagine all those rides, both wet and dry rides, is it any wonder I'll be either all rode out or all washed up or maybe both. In other words - another satisfied rider and amusement park flyer.

You know, I thought so too. Maybe Storm Runner's track was always red when the ride first debuted and the paint start fading into that dull orange color. But the fresh coat of paint does make that coaster look great and soon the park will be filled with screams of riders once more.

After the recent events concerning other coasters that were thought to be on the chopping block ( like the Anaconda and Shockwave), I might have to concur with bill_s that Hurler's days are numbered. Both Anaconda and Shockwave a fresh coat of paint, so it would be silly to remove them so soon. Two things could happen to the Hurler: it could either get the RMC treatment or be demolished to make way to a new coaster/attraction. Or we all could be wrong and Kings Dominion decides to retrack the entire coaster. Whatever it is, something's gonna happen in 2015 and the speculations about it are gonna start now. As for new improvements that are ongoing, Shenandoah Lumber Company ( log flume ride ) has been missing its water wheel for too long. Well, that's gonna change; the water wheel will coming back! As for the rides in the returning Candy Apple Cove section, Triple Spin will now be called "Bad Apple". Bad Apple sounds like a good name for me. Mewonders if the Drop Zone will get a new name as well ( I'm thinking of the 'Green Apple Drop')? kINGS dOMINION - BETCHA YOU CAN'T DO IT ALL!!!