Kings Dominion 1978 Video

[Wood Dragon 1988]

My family was watching home movies a few weeks ago, and to my delight there was one about an amusement park. So, here it is, Kings Dominion in 1978 from an old-school movie projector.

 

[montezooma]

That is SO Awesome on so many levels...I just wet myself. I hope you find more!

[linearinduction]

That is SO Awesome on so many levels...I just wet myself. I hope you find more!

Are you sure that wasn't just from putting down umbrellas in that rain/hail storm we dad today?

 

- Sid

[eddie200330]

I so remember being scared out of my mind when my parents dragged me on the Galaxy every time we went. (Mind you I was younger than 10 at the time LMAO). I really miss the old days at the park when times were slower and the old rides were still there.......

[Wood Dragon 1988]

^I would agree with that. At least I would think I would have enjoyed KD in the 70s and 80s more than I do now. Sure I would miss Volcano and FOF, but I have heard Rebel Yell and Grizzly ran amazingly back in the day. I think the whole place seemed to have had a lot of character back then, albeit if it came from "gimmicks" used to entertain people due to lack of ride quantity.

 

That is SO Awesome on so many levels...I just wet myself. I hope you find more!

 

Thanks! It's nice to know I impressed the creator of the best old-school thread ever.

 

All credit goes to my grandfather though, for dragging that huge camera through Kings Dominion with 6 kids.

[griffon]

It's weird how as a kid one of the most lasting memories of KD was those singing mushrooms and frogs... and now they tend to show up in a lot of pictures and videos from back in the day. Obviously people enjoyed them which makes you wonder why some things had to come out.

 

Cool video, thanks for posting that

[Wood Dragon 1988]

^You're the first person on three sites to mention the frogs. That's the only thing my dad (very non-enthusiast lol) was impressed with in the video!

[eddie200330]

KD was really fun back then. The Lost World was an imposing site to a youngster when it first was built. I would really like them to have left that alone and found some other way to incorporate Volcano into the lineup. They had to get rid of 4 good rides for 1?? Now it just seems like an "action" park, not much to really leave a lasting impression as far as I am concerned. It really lost a lot of its character when Paramount got in and started commercializing everything.

[cathyJ]

KD was really fun back then. The Lost World was an imposing site to a youngster when it first was built. I would really like them to have left that alone and found some other way to incorporate Volcano into the lineup. They had to get rid of 4 good rides for 1?? Now it just seems like an "action" park, not much to really leave a lasting impression as far as I am concerned. It really lost a lot of its character when Paramount got in and started commercializing everything.

 

I'm not sure if it was on this site or another one but I remember reading a post from someday who claimed that despite the Volcano as recently as two years ago The Time Shaft and parts of Smurf Mountain ( the track ) were still there !!!!

 

I remember the press release that KD had sent out about the construction of the Volcano but as I recall KD mentioned that the man-made mountain was just sitting there. How many years were between Lost River/Time Shaft/The Smurfs to the construction of Volcano? Also I wonder what made KD to close those original "mountain" rides?

[eddie200330]

I can remember riding the Haunted River right up until the year or maybe 2 before Volcano came about. Mt. Kilimanjaro had no reason to disappear as it was no hinderance to either Volcano or Flight of Fear. Also, I don't believe the path of Volcano would've hurt Time Shaft either as it seems to follow where the flume dropped out of the mountain.

[swampfox]

Well, Time Shaft, which was on the right side of the current first launch of Volcano, and Haunted River were the last two attractions left in the mountain. They closed a full year before Volcano opened. The mountain sat dormant for a year.

 

Smurf Mountain went away way back in 1994 I think, and Mt. Kilimanjaro... I don't remember that one, but the mini-mountain that it was half-enclosed in is still there. Surprisingly, I have never seen a single photo or a confirmed tear down date for Kilimanjaro. It's like a lost ride, there being no pictures and all. That ride and the Adam's Apple which you can only see for a few seconds in Rollercoaster. It's weird that a few of the rides have not lived on even in pictures.

[KDCOASTERFAN]

KD was really fun back then. The Lost World was an imposing site to a youngster when it first was built. I would really like them to have left that alone and found some other way to incorporate Volcano into the lineup. They had to get rid of 4 good rides for 1?? Now it just seems like an "action" park, not much to really leave a lasting impression as far as I am concerned. It really lost a lot of its character when Paramount got in and started commercializing everything.

 

I agree but the technology of those attractions was outdated & probably impossible to maintain.....I just wish they'd left the mt. kilimanjaro ride alone however.

[cathyJ]

Well, Time Shaft, which was on the right side of the current first launch of Volcano, and Haunted River were the last two attractions left in the mountain. They closed a full year before Volcano opened. The mountain sat dormant for a year.

 

Smurf Mountain went away way back in 1994 I think, and Mt. Kilimanjaro... I don't remember that one, but the mini-mountain that it was half-enclosed in is still there. Surprisingly, I have never seen a single photo or a confirmed tear down date for Kilimanjaro. It's like a lost ride, there being no pictures and all. That ride and the Adam's Apple which you can only see for a few seconds in Rollercoaster. It's weird that a few of the rides have not lived on even in pictures.

 

You are right about Kilimanjaro being a lost ride as far as pics goes.

 

The only time I can remember seeing that ride in a pic form was actually in a TV commercial. Sometime back in the late 70s, maybe it was the early 80s, Richmond's Q94-FM radio was sponsoring a concert featuring The Village People. While most of that commercial was for Q94 and "the Q Morning Zoo" and the Village People belting out "In The Navy" and "YMCA", some of that commercial featured the attractions of KD and a good many of those scenes were from that mountain including Kilimanjaro.

 

Alas..I bet that footage is lost too unless KD keeps their old TV commercials in some sort of archive form at the park or elsewhere ( I wonder if any park does this?).

 

Q94 has since been bought by Clear Channel Communications and since Clear Channel is known to not really care about the past f their radio stations..ah I very much doubt Q94 has a copy of that commercial. Hell I doubt they even remember the concerts they had sponsored at KD back in those days.