KD and Dominator TR

[coastergirl26]

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Went to KD yesterday and had a blast!! The crowds were pretty light with of course Volcano being the longest wait with about 40mins in mid day. 20 mins after 4pm. Flight of fear was closed all day which pissed me off but I soon got over it. Can somebody tell me why their newest roller coaster Dominator does not open til 12noon? That is so crazy. It was hot and humid yesterday, so we took a ride on the log flume too, white water canyon was closed as well. I swear every time I go, KD always has some of their major rides closed. Anyway I still love the place. Heres a report on the rides 10 being the best.

 

 

Dominator-10/10 25min wait mid day-3min after 3pm Man this thing was great. It was alot faster amd more intense than what I was expecting. The drop was insane and the loop felt like we were in it forever. The cobra roll was awesome and the train felt like it was hauling butt the whole time. The ride was a good lengthy one too, I guess so with over 4200ft of track

 

Volcano9/10 40 min wait Still one great ride with a awesome launch. Just needs to be longer. Surprisingly I didnt notice any rollbacks or downtime for this ride. Big shocker

 

Anaconda 7/10 walk on- I like this Arrow for the most part, the drop and the first 2 loops are great but gets kind of bumpy after the brake run but the corkscrews are good because you go so slow thru them so you get some good hangtime.

 

Backlot stunt coaster 6/10 3min wait The helicopter never works when I ride, that sucks lol. My friend thought he was gonna black out on it after the launch.

 

Shockwave- 8/10 10MIN wait Man this thing was really slow loading and dispatching trains. We sat on the break run I know at least 3mins waiting to get back in the station. Trust me the sun was baking us too. Anyway I like this standup better than the B&M version. The only thing I can say that I like better than B&M lol.

 

Drop tower- 10/10 5min wait I couldnt believe they were actually running this at full capacity. On a Tuesday. Breath taking drop, this thing still scares the hell out of me every time I ride it.

 

Rebel yell 5/10 2min wait Alot rougher and bumpier than what I remembered I rode in the 3rd seat too. OK JUST OK

 

Ricochet-8/10 walk on this is one of the most unique mouse coasters that I have been on.

 

Hurler- 7/10 2min wait Very good pops of airtime but of course it is rough.

 

Grizzley 8/10- 2min wait Not as rough as when I rode back in march, maybe the weather has something to do with it.

 

Spongebob 3D-5/10 5min wait The audio on this really sucks, u cant hear it all when it first starts then its still not loud enough and the 3D effects are just not all that anymore. I think spongebob has done his time in the theatre.

 

 

Everybody GO RIDE DOMINATOR you will love it!!!

[palmerleeberry]

Thanks for your report (I was there on May 24 to be one of the first riders to ride Dominator). Dominator isn't opened until noontime? I find that surprising because when I got to the park at 10 a.m. Dominator was up and running with a long line. Perhaps this coaster is opened earlier on weekends.

 

By the way, did you have a chance to check on the status of Avalanche? For one reason or another, this ride isn't opened until noontime and they are only running one train (last time I was there).

[Footballteen58]

If you like Shockwave more than B&M standups I NEVER want to go on a B&M standup!

 

-Football *is having horrible cringing memories of Shockwave* teen58

[coastergirl26]

I actually got in line for Avalanche around 12:30 and the line was already long and they were only running 1 train and I didnt feel like waiting that long for that ride.

 

I have only riden 1 other stand up, Vortex at Carowinds, and it was alot rougher than shockwave IMO

[pkdcoaster]

Dominator opens at noon during the week for the next couple of weeks so they can finish painting the rails and supports. on the weekends it opens at 10am.

 

It looks fantastic now with the rails painted silver. It really looks brand new.

 

Also their dispatching has iproved tremendously since they allow glasses now and spiel more about the loose articles.

 

JEFF

[Groteslurf]

Thanks for the report.

We're just back from KD and crowds were even lighter.

Volcano had no waiting line during the day. 5 minutes for frontrow.

Dominator is great and had a wait of max 5 minutes.

Longest waiting line was for Avalanche as they were running it with only 1 train. Biggest surprise on that ride was the complete stop at the mid course trims

FoF was closed as well today and Rebel Yell was running only the left side.

[pkdcoaster]

Sadly Avalanche is having alot of problems, It is going to run one train for a while (no other operable trains). Due to other problems, expect the MCBR to be hard for a while.

 

FOF takes alot of Staff and they are just short right now during the week with high schoolers still in school.

 

But when there are less than 5 min waits for Volcano and Dominator, I am not complaining.

 

JEFF

[KD4me]

Dominator is opening late on the weekdays for completion of the painting of the rails and supports as stated above.

 

I was wondering about the Avalanche running a one train operation since the 2008 season opening. It sounds like there are issues with the trains and track. I hope that the park can work with Mack, (if they are still around), or get the people with the ride engineering plans and get the ride repaired and fully operational.

 

The ride originally came with 5 six car trains in 1988. The ride could not operate with 5 trains due to blocking limitations. So KD took the 5th train apart and added a car to each of the other 4 trains making each train 7 cars long.

 

Sometime in the early 90's, 2 of the trains collided. The resulting damage caused KD to rebuild 1 train from the 2 damaged trains and the 2 cars leftover from the 5th train. The ride currently has 3 trains.

 

Maybe KD is having issues getting replacement parts for the other trains or, if this 1 train operation is due to track issues, maybe KD is having to get new track/supports fabricated to replace the failing structure.

 

It would be nice to get the Avalanche back up and running a 3 train operation again. It is a very popular ride with everyone of all ages. Even with a 1 train operation, many people were waiting to ride it.

[KD4me]

As far as the attractions not being open during a weekday, its basically due to a staffing shortage. This happens during the first 2 weeks of June and the last 2 weeks of August. The latter part of August is not as bad as in the beginning of June due to the foriegn workers staying through Labor Day weekend.

 

Usually, by now, KD has its complement of foreign workers at the park training on the rides and in the restaurants, shops, and games. I don't know if the economic situation is causing the park to cut back on foreign workers (travel expense / lodging) or not.