downunder Posted February 28, 2009 Author Posted February 28, 2009 Kings Duminion Part 1 of 2 I had no expectation of this park, it had some coasters of interest - Dominator, Volcano, Flight of Fear; and many others that looked worth riding. What I didn't expect was the Jedi like mind control techniques used by their PR but I'll go into that in part 2. Onto some pics. The rather disappointed lady centre front thought this was a Girls Gone Wild audition, sadly she would have to find another way to get to California. Later I saw her hanging around the bus, she tried stowing away in the Alvey's luggage hoping she would be mistaken for a stuffed toy or a blow up doll. "VR" apparently stands for "Virginia Rednecks" (gone wild) not "Virgin Rollercoaster-enthusiasts" Gone Wild as some hoped on the Lightning bus. Scooby Doo got up on the pedestal hoping it would high enough to escape some TPR statue molestation. Another confusing sign, the line was so slow for the Scooby Doo coaster that smokers would need a nicotine patch to survive the wait without attacking someone. I think the implicit but false suggestion that you could smoke in line for a kid's coaster was so security would have an excuse to try out their new tasers. I contemplated trying to get this most forbidden credit, but there were no single MILF's to chat up. Wow, Cedar Fair running both trains - at the same time. Endorsement of a coaster by ACE is like a boys school getting Michael Jackson's endorsement. Some of the signs were a bit confusing, two to a car when there are four seats in a car? One particularly pedantic coaster enthusiast pointed this out to the ride op. The ride op head butted him and I joined in, it was like an ice hockey all in brawl where one team only had one player. Rebel Yell was hardly revolutionary and like some other coasters on the trip, it seemed to bounce on the tracks rather than coast - a roller bouncer? If you're wondering why the Grizzly is so pissed off, what looks like a pile of rocks at his feet is actually something toilet related. I've heard of sh**ing bricks, but breaking out boulders - ouch. They have Flyers but unfortunately I'm not at Knoebels, they have the Eiffel tower but unfortunately I'm not in Paris, they have Grizzly and unfortunately I'm headed for the Spinal care ward. The name may change, but trash can coverage at Cedar Fair parks remain the same. I think Dick Kinzel would love to cover the earth in CF trash cans, clusters of trash cans so huge they turn up on google earth. I love the wooded setting for this coaster, and there's a reason for the coaster being there - to drown out the high pitched screaming and cries of pain this coaster extracts from riders. I just thought they were filming Deliverance 2 in those woods. For Nath and Jes, the things you've got to do to get a credit. Well it's not like they had to offer their bodies to a toothless carnie for a dragon wagon credit but it still hurt like buggery. The Grizzly is the most dangerous bear and the Grizzly coaster is equally dangerous, we couldn't give away "fast pass" tickets for this coaster. The next Kings Dominion world first, the world's first invisible coaster. Despite the improvement, ridership for Hypersonic-XLC remained unchanged from pre invisibility levels. Adam waves goodbye before he is pounded without mercy by some rough, hard wood - why is he smiling? John puts his arms up at the front, it was one way of avoiding having both shoulders dislocated, but there was no way of avoiding having every vertebrae dislocated. Kings Dominion has been cleaning up with a wheelchair rental stand at the exit. The Togo circle of death, even deadlier than Chuck Norris's Octagon, or Stephen Seagal's ponytail combined with receding hairline (that's what makes him so pissed off). Even Lance Armstrong would wince at the sight of this bike seat, males are advised to take a sperm sample and put it on ice before riding this coaster. I had mixed emotions about this - one less credit, but also one less Togo beating. Though at this point I had absolutely no recollection of the Togo Stand Up ridden earlier at Canada's Wonderland, and I was wondering why I needed a post it notes on my forehead to remind me to wipe my bum or breathe for that matter. Josh seems to have spotted someone riding Volcano with no pants on. ERT on Volcano, we gorged like ACE'rs at the all you can eat gravy stand or TPR'ers at a porn shop. Sherri was not mistaken for a dominatrix but I'm sure if she chose that career, she would be very polite and punctual - wack, "oh sorry", wack "oh sorry". My fourth Eiffel Tower credit and I've never been to France, for the record, I've gotten Eiffel in Vegas, Orlando, Cincinnatti and now Doswell. Dominator, the world's first S & M themed coaster, the submissives in the Thunder bus had on their frilly necked pirate shirts and leather pants with the butt cheeks missing for the ERT session. Dominator was not the only world first at King's Duminion.
Speeddeamon128 Posted February 28, 2009 Posted February 28, 2009 Matt, now you've got a car, will you be seeing Busch more times? Well I will hopefully be going to Busch Gardens Europe's opening day & the Christmas event in December. This summer I'm going try & get to parks I haven't been to like Kings Island & La Ronde before West Coast so I won't be heading down there in the summer months. Another great update Brent I am looking forward to you comments with Kings Dominion's PR.
downunder Posted March 2, 2009 Author Posted March 2, 2009 Matt, now you've got a car, will you be seeing Busch more times? Well I will hopefully be going to Busch Gardens Europe's opening day & the Christmas event in December. This summer I'm going try & get to parks I haven't been to like Kings Island & La Ronde before West Coast so I won't be heading down there in the summer months. Another great update Brent I am looking forward to you comments with Kings Dominion's PR. On KD PR, do you reckon I should put that "interview" up on this board? La Ronde - don't forget the indoor coaster at the back, I totally missed it, and stay away from the hamburgers, they taste like ham. Kings Island - wheel seat on The Beast, very bad idea, I've never had a more violent experience on a coaster than the back row.
stingrock23 Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 Grizzly was running so terribly, it actually gave Son of Beast a run for its money. It didn't help that it took almost an hour to get on.
Goliath513 Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 Unlike Six Flags America, Kings Dominion did not even seem to have any potential to waste - just coasters that have mediocre potential at best and were running worse than mediocre. Grizzly was worse than it's brother at CGA. Meaning, this was worse than the woodie that has held the rank of dead last for many consecutive years. Just when I thought the pain was over, the rib-crushing-spine-shattering Hurler finished me off. Probably didn't help that I rode next to Robb on that. I can't wait to see what you post about the lunchtime interview (dear God that was horrible, and a bit scary)!
downunder Posted March 4, 2009 Author Posted March 4, 2009 Grizzly was running so terribly, it actually gave Son of Beast a run for its money. It didn't help that it took almost an hour to get on. Crikey you had to wait an hour to get on that POS, that's whack - fortunately we got there early and didn't have to wait. Later, we had fastpasses for Grizzly we couldn't give away, in fact I would have felt guilty if I did give them away because of the harm I would have inflicted. ^The Paramount parks are funny, prior to Cedar Fair they seemed to put in a lot of mediocre to crap coasters - togos, Vekoma SLC's & boomerangs, Zamperla Volare's, absolutely terrible woodies. Canada's Wonderland was like a coaster torture chamber with only a couple of exceptions. But I chose to believe everything I'm told by KD PR, on par with Disney - for sure I'll believe you, shame I don't like Disney either.
Wood Dragon 1988 Posted March 4, 2009 Posted March 4, 2009 I've been going to KD for a long time. I don't like the place too much, but I have never heard worse reports than the one's I've heard from the TPR trip. I know I need a sense of humor to read this site, but I don't know if people are just spoiled, or trying to be really funny with regards to a lot the mediocre parks on the trip. Or did they really loathe these parks this much? The East Coast has some GREAT stuff (Kneobels, Hershey, Busch, etc). But it seems like people are trying to be so darn critical of places. It's easy to say that KD has mediocre and bad coasters, but they also have rides like Dominator, Volcano, and Drop Zone, that almost everyone enjoys at least some what. Just like how Canada's Wonderland has a lot of bad stuff, but people are quick to point out Behemoth and Vortex that make the park worthwhile. Personally, I couldn't imagine myself not having a great time at KD with an hour of ERT on two coasters and TPR to hang out with. Yea I would have skipped the bad stuff, but whatever. Chris "I haven't defended KD in a LONG time" Bailey
downunder Posted March 4, 2009 Author Posted March 4, 2009 ^To get it in perspective, Quassy is better than Sydney's only amusement park, and KD is better than any park in Australia. There were certainly things I was very interested in at KD - Dominator, Volcano, Flight Of Fear. I tend to be a little on the caustic side with these reports, but there were plenty of positives - ERT on Domintor and Volcano, a dark ride challenge, fastpasses. But perspective again, I did like a lot of other parks better than KD - GAdv, Knoebels, Compounce, Busch, SFNE and so on.
hyyyper Posted March 4, 2009 Posted March 4, 2009 I've been going to KD for a long time. I don't like the place too much, but I have never heard worse reports than the one's I've heard from the TPR trip. I know I need a sense of humor to read this site, but I don't know if people are just spoiled, or trying to be really funny with regards to a lot the mediocre parks on the trip. Or did they really loathe these parks this much? The East Coast has some GREAT stuff (Kneobels, Hershey, Busch, etc). But it seems like people are trying to be so darn critical of places. It's easy to say that KD has mediocre and bad coasters, but they also have rides like Dominator, Volcano, and Drop Zone, that almost everyone enjoys at least some what. Just like how Canada's Wonderland has a lot of bad stuff, but people are quick to point out Behemoth and Vortex that make the park worthwhile. Personally, I couldn't imagine myself not having a great time at KD with an hour of ERT on two coasters and TPR to hang out with. Yea I would have skipped the bad stuff, but whatever. Chris "I haven't defended KD in a LONG time" Bailey KD's (steel) rides weren't that bad. It was everything else that kinda dissapointed us. From how the operate the rides to how we were threaded.
downunder Posted March 4, 2009 Author Posted March 4, 2009 Here's several ways of looking at King Dominion and my perspective: Does it have enough going for it to go out of my way (which travelling on my own would entail)? Definitely not. Would I go back? No, unless they added some serious destination attractions (in my eyes), like an intamin hyper that was something I couldn't experience at a park that was easier to get to (for me) like Great adventure. Can you have a good time at KD? For sure, but it just lacks "superstar" attractions, though Dominator is a very good addition. Did I hate KD? Not by a long shot, better than a day doing just about anything else like working. KD is a good park but there are many parks I would prefer to go to mainly on the basis of that they just have star attractions I am more interested in. Every park is fun and an adventure in my eyes just the degree of enjoyment varies.
jedimaster1227 Posted March 5, 2009 Posted March 5, 2009 ^I stand with you in your views on Kings Dominion. Our experience at the park was not terrible, but not great either. My biggest problem with the park was its collection of rides. Sure, some were unique to me like Avalanche and Volcano, but several of them were seemingly pointless to operate or market. And let me just add that the park's Drop Tower has some of the slowest operations ever (and they were only loading half of the ride per cycle). I preferred sticking to Dominator, Volcano and oddly enough, The Crypt, because each had a rideability factor that I just enjoyed. As for the rest, I could really move on without worrying about them once I had the credits.
cfc Posted March 5, 2009 Posted March 5, 2009 I moved to Virginia from California in the mid 1980s and found Kings Dominion to be, at least, on par with Busch Gardens in Williamsburg; in fact, KD may have had a slight edge, thanks to Rebel Yell and Grizzly (which were both excellent rides then) and a good selection of rides for the whole family (particularly the Haunted River and the Smurf Mountain train ride, which were both where Volcano is located today). But since then, the equation has changed. BG steadily improved and developed a solid selection of coasters (Drachen Fire being one misstep) and a world-class dark ride (Curse of DarKastle), while KD has, frankly, fallen behind--especially when it comes to customer service, food, and atmosphere. That being said, I do enjoy visiting KD. The park is at its best in the springtime, before the temperatures become brutal and the crowds too large (the staff is usually happiest then, too). And Haunt, while cheesy, is fun. Dominator and Volcano are great rides, Flight of Fear is good, and Scooby Doo's Haunted Mansion is a decent shooting dark ride. But the quality drops off quite steeply after that, I think. The park just seems so "generic" now.
downunder Posted March 5, 2009 Author Posted March 5, 2009 ^Thanks for the background CFC, it's interesting to see historically how parks have evolved or devolved. I think the park is missing a hyper and a quality invert. If Cedar Fair aren't prepared to spend Behemoth/Diamondback $$$, then how about an Intamin Megalite, and a nice tight Batman style invert would be good too. The PR were people were hinting they were getting something big in the near future but their version of reality seemed to be a bit different than ours. I'll get to that in the next report.
Wood Dragon 1988 Posted March 5, 2009 Posted March 5, 2009 My biggest problem with the park was its collection of rides. Sure, some were unique to me like Avalanche and Volcano, but several of them were seemingly pointless to operate or market. Yea, from an enthusiasts point of view the rides are nothing special. But for Richmond/DC locals the place is awesome. I've been on several church/school trips to the park, and everyone loved the place. If it wasn't for the amazing time I had on these trips as a kid/young teen I probably wouldn't be an enthusiast now. Much like how the locals at Carowinds seem to love the place. I spent four hours there, got the credits, thought it was kind of lame, and left. The former Paramount Parks never really tried to be destination parks. But if you look at their history (I know at least KD's), they've added a new attraction EVERY YEAR of their history. They've developed a solid local fanbase and that fanbase hasn't given up on the park (at least not yet). Oh yea, and Drop Towers capacity is very lame. I don't understand the point of building that, when they could have built a simple Giant Drop for much less cost I would think.
downunder Posted March 5, 2009 Author Posted March 5, 2009 ^Good point, jaded enthusiasts make up an infintessimally small percentage of KD's market. If the jaded enthusiasts stay away I don't think they'd mind too much - they've still got that other 99.999999999% of people to market to. Most of the regular patrons wouldn't know who the hell Dick Kinzel is, or why he has a fort named after him.
downunder Posted March 6, 2009 Author Posted March 6, 2009 Kings Dominion Part 2 (of 2) Perception is reality, but I’d like to send out a big ground control to Major Tom to the PR Department. To be fair the ERT was generous, the dark ride challenge was nice and the fast passes were appreciated. I may be a big dumb white guy but WTF: KD is better than Busch Gardens Eurobeer, I guess it comes down to how you define better, maybe more is better - more mediocre rides, more physical trauma, more slow lines and so on. They are much better. KD is on par with Disney, ummm, there are mad cows in England who wouldn’t even think that. The first loop on Domintor was incongruously left a different colour to the rest of the supports. Oh we deliberately did that to make the loop stand out – looks more like you ran out of paint. We don’t believe in fast passes and won’t introduce them at KD, we were then presented with fast passes. A+ for irony but huh? We’re getting something big - maybe the Beaver ride from Geauga Lake is still available, Dick (Kinzel) might like it and name it after himself. I don’t think Bolliger or Mabillard are doing any overtime, probably. Anway the coasters: Dominator: one of the better floorless coasters. Volcano: great until it escaped the mountain and then it got very tame. Flight Of Fear: I really like this coaster, not everyone does, but I do. Backlot Stunt Coaster: fun but you can find it at several better parks. Grizzly, Hurler, Rebel Yell: terrible woodies that may have been good once, give maintenance some petrol, and a lighter and stop the pain. Avalanche: bobsled and boring. Richochet: wild mouse, snooze. Scooby Doo: kid woodie, uhhh. Shockwave: togo standup, mercifully closed. Taxi Jam: 4 foot too tall too ride and too ashamed to abduct a child to get a ride. Yes and come back when you get out of hospital. An Eiffel Tower without the french can’t be bad thing. Paramount seemed to have a thing about water features in their former parks, so what’s the marketing angle? Running water, go to bathroom, buy more overpriced drinks. Good looking but ultimately unsatisfying, but it’s hard to feel good about any coaster just after riding Dash, Toro and Supers (and later Phoenix). Why can’t they have a park with just Phoenix, Superman Ride of Steel, El Toro and Boulder Dash – they could call it Mitch Hawker land. I’d just go there. Grizzly hid in the forest awaiting it’s next victims, it looks so good there in the forest, though it was a bit like waking up with the best looking girl but with a bad and painful social disease. I don’t know why Kinzel didn’t have the drop tower themed after him – Dick The Ride. That’s crass, even for me. I wonder what I would find in that forest (other than howls of pain from Grizzly riders) if I was to go for a hike? Intamin track, I can dream, but no, not even rusty Dragon Wagon track though KD PR could make a Dragon Wagon sound like coaster apocalypse now. I just renounced my Intamin fanboy status - this coaster was excellent until it went out of the Volcano and then it became a Vekoma Suspended Family Coaster. Most B & M coasters with inversions should be called Deja Vu – drop, vertical loop, cobra roll, loopey bits out the back. Oh hell, I just realised I’m an Intamin fanboy, not that there’s anything wrong with that. Given the dearth of self serve laundries on tour, the Paramount lap pool was a great place to wash my undies. At this point of the tour, so many coasters had been ridden that all B & M's coasters were indistiguishable. It was Dawn of the Dead with coasters. Dominator has a wonderful sandlot setting, I believe the Sandlot Kids are buried there because of failure at the box office. The Cedar – would you like bulls*** with your buffet? It went down, just like our opinion of KD with their inspired operation of this ride. I think the ops had converted to communism and were ignoring our “fast passes” until we had waited as long as everyone else. Anaconda – soon to be renamed “Flight Deck of the Snakehawk”. I knew it - Denise Richards, Julian Clary and Ben Harper are aliens. The crowd looks on in amazement, “wow, this is like Disaster Transport but good, I love Kinzeland”. Doswell, Virginia becomes Roswell, the alien’s came to earth, discovered trade unionism and then walked off the job. The scary part is these barrels were found discarded behind the Fried Dough stand. Hmmm, Kinzeland doesn’t have quite the same ring as Disneyland, but wait a minute Kings Dominion is better than Disney – sorry I just had my mind taken over for a minute by the KD PR department. I believe this was some kind of smurf mountain prior to Volcano. Smurfs living in a volcano, they’re even dumber than hobbits. While Six Flags are adding flame throwers to their coasters, Cedar Fair seem to be leaving Volcano dormant. The instructions to ride Avalanche were like an exotic sex position manual. Yes, the back person definitely gets in first. Avalanche had colourful trains, was a unique ride, a wet dream for any credit whore, it’s just a shame it put the “eh” in meh. I’m sure big Dick Kinzel is thinking, “how do I re-vitalise this ride? I got it, Disaster Transport Mission 2 – we’re going to Alaska, again”.
cfc Posted March 6, 2009 Posted March 6, 2009 Those barrels in Flight of Fear's queue are actually part of a Haunt maze--they never took it down after setting it up in October 2007. It really screws up FoF's queue.
krazekiddd Posted March 6, 2009 Posted March 6, 2009 Kings Dominion Part 2 (of 2) KD is better than Busch Gardens Eurobeer, I guess it comes down to how you define better, maybe more is better - more mediocre rides, more physical trauma, more slow lines and so on. They are much better. KD is on par with Disney, ummm, there are mad cows in England who wouldn’t even think that. The first loop on Domintor was incongruously left a different colour to the rest of the supports. Oh we deliberately did that to make the loop stand out – looks more like you ran out of paint. We don’t believe in fast passes and won’t introduce them at KD, we were then presented with fast passes. A+ for irony but huh? The Q&A was amazing! First, the on par with Disney made me laugh! When he said that I was cracking up. Second, when he was discussing Fast Passes. "We don't believe in fast passes and we don't think the people already waiting in line would be too happy." After, here are some fast passes for the rest of the day! I loved it! Though all the fast passes were for the rides I had already rode.
Speeddeamon128 Posted March 6, 2009 Posted March 6, 2009 Great job Brent. That conversation with the PR was hilarious. You forgot to mention how angry the GP got when some of us used fast passes to get in front of them on Grizzly. I thought someone was going to get stabbed
cfc Posted March 6, 2009 Posted March 6, 2009 ^And to be fair to the ride ops at Grizzly, a lot of the group did descend on them there at the same time. Still, they seemed pretty puzzled by the "exit passes."
hyyyper Posted March 6, 2009 Posted March 6, 2009 The ride-op told me he had never seen those passes. He called his area-sup and in full amazement found out that those passes were legit. The people in line where not to happy, though. The suddenly clever ride op only let a few of us on the train each cycle, hoping to stop the crowd from starting a riot.
downunder Posted March 6, 2009 Author Posted March 6, 2009 I can understand why the ops may not have been familiar with the passes, I think they were some deal on wednesday for Platinum Pass Holders - so I doubt they see them too often. The fast passes were a bit redundant for me too, because I had ridden everything they were for, except the drop tower. I'm wondering if I should post my made up "interview" with Dick Kinzel (which I have put up on facebook) here - it was a inspired by the KD people.
Goliath513 Posted March 6, 2009 Posted March 6, 2009 The interview was the most memorable part of the day. I'm wondering if I should post my made up "interview" with Dick Kinzel (which I have put up on facebook) here - it was a inspired by the KD people. At least post a link to it. That was almost as funny as the real one. I posted a made up interview in the thread for my Cedar Fair bashing RCT2 park (*loosely* based on that KD PR interview) not too long ago.
downunder Posted March 8, 2009 Author Posted March 8, 2009 This is not a real interview, this was inspired by the KD PR Department. This is fictitious and intended as satire. I thought I would do my own Q & A with Dick Kinzel, given he is a busy man, running a monster company that operates amusement parks, I have also provided the answers on his behalf. Q: So what is your vision for Cedar Fair? Dick: Two trashcans for every guest at our amusement parks, even on busy days. We hate trash at Cedar Fair. Q: Even white trash? Dick: I'll have to give a big negatory to that one, we do own parks in Virginia and other parts south. Oh, I meant I don’t know what you’re talking about. Q: Speaking of your Virginia park, I've heard from your PR people it's better than Disney, do you agree? Dick: Guest perception is a very subjective thing. A person, as in a guest, can certainly perceive our Virginia property as being better than Disney, it is possible. There is also the guest demographic to consider - though I have to admit I have heard disturbing reports of men using the ladies bathroom in the area and other general confusion. On the plus side we do have a world first at that park, an invisible rollercoaster - Hypersonic XLC. Q: Wasn't the Hypersonic XLC coaster removed? Dick: No, it's invisible now and it's still providing as many rides for guests as it did when it was visible according to the park's PR. Q: But isn't that because it didn't work when it was "visible"? Dick: Look son, let's not get bogged down in semantics here. I love that word by the way, I'll have to look it up sometime. Our PR department are probably better equipped to handle this line of questioning. Q: Since your Virginia park is "better" than Disney do you expect similar size attendances to Disney in the future? Dick: Better doesn't necessarily equate directly back to higher attendance. For example, a Ferrari might be the best car but it isn't the highest selling car. Q: But many more people would own a Ferrari if they could afford it, your Virginia property doesn't charge 20 times as much as other parks for admission? Dick: True, but not everyone appreciates the finer things in life, we like to think of the guests at our Virginia Property as connoisseurs. Q: Connoisseurs who don't know which bathroom to use? Dick: Well that's another perception thing which we will leave up to our guests and the courts if necessary. Q: Overall, how do you feel about your purchase of the Paramount branded parks? Dick: Ecstatic, guest to trashcan ratios are way up. We think that is what is driving the improved attendance at many of the former Paramount properties. Q: Using the example of your Canadian property, you don't think the addition of the $20 million Behemoth rollercoaster has increased attendance? Dick: Possibly, but we think it's more trash cans, especially in Canada, they’re a very clean nation. Q: You've stopped building the world’s biggest coasters, like Top Thrill Dragster, why? Dick: The doctor gave me these blue pills and after that, undertaking large projects of this nature didn't seem to have such a strong business case. Q: Your flagship property Cedar Point, what's the future? Dick: Given that the property is surrounded by water, global warming and the associated rising sea levels will be forcing us to relocate Cedar Point to our Michigan property. Q: Cedar Point is surrounded by Lake Erie not the ocean, so rising sea levels shouldn’t be an issue? Dick: But that water around Cedar Point is so big, it should be an ocean, they reckon you can see Canada from the top of our Magnum XL-200 coaster but I've never been able to see Canada. Are you sure that isn't an ocean out there? I thought it went all the way to England. Q: I'll double check on Google Earth later and let you know. Dick: Thanks. Q: On a more personal note, what does it take to get so big, Dick? Dick: What does it take? It's the American dream - anyone can get to where I am. Forget talent, drive, vision or connections, it just can happen to anyone and I'm anyone, I think. Q: Thanks for your time Dick. Dick: No thankyou, and don't forget to get back to me on whether Lake Erie is an ocean or not. Q: I sure will Dick. If you have any questions for Dick let me know, I am sure I will know the answer.
ratdogg68 Posted March 8, 2009 Posted March 8, 2009 ^ that was too great man, as well as your pictures.
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