Kings Dominion (KD) Discussion Thread

[DefeatistNation]

Yeah I am actually doing bsuch gardens williamsburg the next day. Thanks for the honesty!

[dchang11]

Is this park worth a 7 hour drive from atlanta?

 

Depends...if you are getting a little sick of Six Flags over Georgia, then come on up.

[dchang11]

I'm heading to Kings Dominion with a friend this weekend. How are the crowds on Saturday at this time of the year? We are trying to hit all of the roller coasters to get our credits in. Which one should I start with?

[Password121]

I'm heading to Kings Dominion with a friend this weekend. How are the crowds on Saturday at this time of the year? We are trying to hit all of the roller coasters to get our credits in. Which one should I start with?

Just get there at 10 for Dominator early entry then ride Volcano at rope drop. After that you should be fine cruising around the park in whatever order you like, it's not hard to ride everything in a day even on a Saturday. If Intimidator is running two trains (which it should be on a Saturday) you could get multiple re-rides and I'd recommend the last row.

[djcoastermark]

I would hit Volcano first thing. If you hit it right you can get several rerides before a long line forms. Dominator has longer lines in the am as it is the first most run to, By afternoon the lines have gone way down. Also Grizzly is best after dark. (thats kinda given with lots of woodies) And 305 is cool as heck in the dark too.

[coasterbill]

Is this park worth a 7 hour drive from atlanta?

 

Only if you are staying overnight and doing BGW the next day. BGW is worth the 7hr drive. KD is not (by itself)

 

I don't agree with this. Sure it would be awesome to do both and I do recommend it but KD is a very solid park on it's own.

[RollerManic]

Is this park worth a 7 hour drive from atlanta?

Yes. It would be time and money well spent on just KD alone.

 

Do plan to go to Busch if possible as it is far more scenic park and has a *cough*better*cough* collection of rides, including a skyride if you are fanatic about those.

[djcoastermark]

IMHO, you picked the perfect way to do both parks, KD then BGW , both are worthy of full day visits. KD is more a traditional amusement park and BGW is more themed. You can't go wrong by doing both. Each has it's own special qualities and are both great.

[MScoasters]

The singing mushrooms are the greatest musical artist of our generation. They're going to be the next highly-acclaimed band by all of the coolest hipsters. Look out, Death Grips, the mushrooms are coming!

 

 

 

 

I love you, mushrooms.

There's a true fan like me^^

[bill_s]

Is this park worth a 7 hour drive from atlanta?

Yes. It would be time and money well spent on just KD alone.

 

Do plan to go to Busch if possible as it is far more scenic park and has a *cough*better*cough* collection of rides, including a skyride if you are fanatic about those.

 

Where BGW does really shine is the landscape, it's one of the few parks with hills, and they did make good use of that for some of the rides. It is a unique experience and yeah, for a one time visit I would choose it over KD. The ride collection is also slighly more unique in its high ratio of high-dollar coasters. But better? No.

 

It may have been me, but I got an impression BGW is more crowded early in the year and KD more later in the year. My guess is that the BGW locals are bored with their small number of (excellent) coasters by June. Meanwhile, people get confused by KD's large but motley collection of coasters and make comments like the above. They were racing Rebel Yell last night despite the light crowds, wonderful.... BGW does have maybe 1 more top of the line coasters than KD but they are slightly mild. If you're B&M fan, no doubt. If you want biggest, baddest, meanest, no way.

Edited May 31, 2016 by bill_s

[The Geek Mojo]

Is this park worth a 7 hour drive from atlanta?

 

 

I drove ten hours from Alabama this weekend just for KD alone and stayed two days. Most definitely worth it. And just my opinion here, but Kings Dominion is a better park than SFOG.

[The Geek Mojo]

TR: My family and I decided to make the ten hour trip from North Alabama to Doswell, VA this holiday weekend. Last time we went three years ago, we mixed in BGW too, but this time around, we just made it all about KD...And it was most definitely worth the trip. KD is a beautiful park and had plenty to keep us busy for two days straight. We started our Saturday morning off with breakfast at the Denny's beside the park inside the Best Western. It was one of the better Denny's I've ate at. We got to the park at 10am and showed our platinum passes and got in 30 minutes before non pass holders. We headed straight for Volcano. Marathoned it three times and then headed for the best ride in the park and THE BEST RIDE IN THE WORLD (imo), Intimidator 305. I'm okay if people disagree with me or call me crazy, but I'm just a fan...I305 is just simply the best. We went to Carowinds last month, so to judge if fairly, I had Fury 325 freshly on my mind. But after riding I305 again for the first time in three years, it quickly reminded me it was far superior. Fury is a wonderful ride and not taking anything away from it, but it's going to be #2 from here on out. Maybe I just love intensity and crazy ejector time over everything else...I305 brings that! Anyways, moving on. After hitting the two best rides in the park multiple times, we went to the water park and got in 30 minutes early again with our passes. It really helped because it was very crowded and it allowed us to get the perfect spot by the wave pool before the mad rush of people flooded in. Looking at the map of KD's waterpark, I wasn't sure what to expect...But after experiencing it for the first time, I was really impressed. It was a super nice water park. Way better than Cedar Point's imo. We made a full day of it. The slides were crowded, but the lines moved pretty quick. We were able to hit all the slides in the eight hours it was open. If you haven't been to KD's waterpark, I'd suggest staying at the first wave pool you come to. The one in the back looks a little older and doesn't have as nice as chairs as the one closer to the front does. Also, the pool side bar is nice...Beer definitely helped me deal with the massive crowd that was there Saturday. One thing I would like to point out, KD's food isn't the best in the waterpark. I'd suggest eating outside the waterpark for better food options. Moving on...After the waterpark closed, KD was open for two more hours, so we closed Saturday out by taking a ride up to the top of the Eiffel Tower and a ride on Dominator. What's cool about KD, they don't close the coasters during fireworks, so having that view is just amazing.

 

Sunday, we made it a dry park day. It was cloudy most of the morning up until about 2pm. And then the rain happened, and happened and then happened some more. It definitely cleared the park out. We also left, but only went to the Burger King across the street and dried off and ate. When the rain stopped pouring, we came back and basically had the park to ourselves for about 4 hours. We rode everything in the park and didn't have to wait once...It was awesome! Even Volcano was a walk on and ride...Thank you rain!

 

Final impression of the park...It's definitely one of my favorites in the Cedar Fair chain. Beautiful, plenty of shade and great atmosphere. The park really went out of their way to celebrate Memorial Day Weekend. They had really great fireworks and I kinda felt bad for the park Sunday night, because there wasn't hardly anybody there to watch them...But the show still went on. And as for their rides...the new one, Delirium, it was awesome! After riding Max Air at Cedar Point two weeks ago, it felt like it almost went as high. Delirium is a great addition and by far a better ride than Shockwave. KD really has a great collection of flats...finally got a chance to ride them all on this trip. I know Cedar Fair has been removing Top Spins at other parks, but hopefully they leave The Crypt alone...It's definitely a great ride and deserves to stay. Also, I'd have to say that they probably had one of the best Boo Blasters I've experienced yet. As far as coasters go...Didn't miss Hurler at all. Grizzly is an awesome coaster on the front car. KD's Ricochet is better than Carowinds version. Rebel Yell was rough as Hell. Didn't ride any of the kiddie coasters. Dominator is by far my favorite B&M floorless I've rode. Backlot is the same as the rest...Just a clone. Anaconda has a lot stronger G's than I remember last time I rode it. FOF was the same as KI's but still an awesome ride. Avalanche was a lot of fun...I love Bobsled coasters. And of course Volcano and I305 were amazing. One last thing, I am very impressed with Kings Dominion employees, they were all very very friendly and just nice. Same goes for other Cedar Fair parks I've visited lately, just nice people. Maybe it's still early in the season, but so far, so good. Thanks KD for an awesome time!

[Infinity]

Is this park worth a 7 hour drive from atlanta?

 

My dad and I had driven 6 hours to Kings Dominion and it was very much worth it. We enjoyed the park and Intimidator 305 wasn't even open.

[nicman]

So, anyone thinking a new roller coaster at kings dominion? It's been since i305 if i am correct.

[RyanTPM]

^It has been since Intimidator 305 in 2010 yes, but no, no ones thinking a new coaster, not for 2017 at least. Obviously it can't be ruled out until all 2017 announcements have been made, but we've seen nothing that indicates one at all.

[bill_s]

^^-- that's not been exactly agreed upon here. I'm looking forward to riding an almost-new-again Hurler but actually haven't seen any activity on it yet. I don't necessarily expect to see any for while if they have the whole year, but could be they haven't actually decided its fate and just decided (correctly) it wasn't operable as-is.

[Ranmann]

Ok so i was at kd yesterday. As usual the volcano got stuck so i waited in line so it could be fix. So glad everyone else left cause it got fix in a in 30 mins. But the security people was telling me they was building something next year. He said go to the eiffel tower to if you see anything. Well i didnt go there just rode i305 it was a little bit of land clearing. Just don't know how true it is

Edited June 5, 2016 by Ranmann

[Philrad71]

^ If I am reading your post correctly, security said that there would be something new next year and to go to the Eiffel Tower to see what it is? Are you sure this person wasn't wearing a Dippin' Dots shirt under his security uniform?

 

While we didn't go up in the tower during our last visit in April, we did ride the ferris wheel where I was looking around for markers, coaster track or any signs of future expansion. I didn't see any type of land clearing you mentioned...was that next to I-305?

 

I am still with some of the others in that the new "addition" might likely be a remake of Hurler - either a complete RMC make-over or a Ghostrider-type of revamp. I'd be fine with either one - although tearing it down and building something else wouldn't hurt my feelings either.

[dchang11]

I went to Kings Dominion yesterday. The crowds were decent. Most of the coasters had an average 20-30 minute wait. We started off with Intimidator 305 and rode the coasters in the vicinity before going to wooden coasters and Dominator. There crowds went to Dominator when the park opened so we decided to start in the back and loop around. We left the park at 5pm.

 

Ride count:

 

Intimidator 305 x2

Flight of Fear x1

Volcano x1

Avalanche x1

Backlot Stunt Coaster x1

Rebel Yell x1

Grizzly x1

Dominator x1

[Ranmann]

^ If I am reading your post correctly, security said that there would be something new next year and to go to the Eiffel Tower to see what it is? Are you sure this person wasn't wearing a Dippin' Dots shirt under his security uniform?

 

While we didn't go up in the tower during our last visit in April, we did ride the ferris wheel where I was looking around for markers, coaster track or any signs of future expansion. I didn't see any type of land clearing you mentioned...was that next to I-305?

 

I am still with some of the others in that the new "addition" might likely be a remake of Hurler - either a complete RMC make-over or a Ghostrider-type of revamp. I'd be fine with either one - although tearing it down and building something else wouldn't hurt my feelings either.

 

 

I dont know if he was but next to 305 there was a bulldozer with a little land clearing. Idk if thats kd property or not. He said he could tell much though

[dchang11]

Ok so i was at kd yesterday. As usual the volcano got stuff so i waited in line so it could be fix. So glad everyone else left cause it got fix in a in 30 mins. But the security people was telling me they was building something next year. He said go to the eiffel tower to if you see anything. Well i didnt go there just rode i305 it was a little bit of land clearing. Just don't know how true it is

 

Where are they clearing land? I was at the park yesterday and I didn't see anything.

[Ranmann]

Ok so i was at kd yesterday. As usual the volcano got stuff so i waited in line so it could be fix. So glad everyone else left cause it got fix in a in 30 mins. But the security people was telling me they was building something next year. He said go to the eiffel tower to if you see anything. Well i didnt go there just rode i305 it was a little bit of land clearing. Just don't know how true it is

 

Where are they clearing land? I was at the park yesterday and I didn't see anything.

 

I was there yesterday it was next to 305. Its not big just a little space. Like i said i dont know how true it is the security guy just told me to look

[Philrad71]

I'm not sure if they own the land on the left side of I305, but if they did, that could be a nice area for an expansion. I wouldn't think that there would be much room on the right side with Anaconda, the lake/swamp right there and Rebel Yell's turnaround in the general area.

 

Even better would be if they could expand over in the log flume/WWC/Grizzly area without destroying the heavily wooded/shaded areas. I really love that area of the park (especially on scorching hot days), but other than those three rides (and the Sky Coaster & Flyers), there really isn't much to do over there.

[jarmor]

Am I the only one who remembers hurler is closed right now, so we should expect a "new" coaster in that aspect as it should get the ghostrider treatment.

[BeansproutMidget]

I was at the park yesterday as well. I saw the land clearing, although it didn't look that big. I'm curious just to see how it would connect back to the park. No idea what would go there, certainly not a coaster.

 

Am I the only one who remembers hurler is closed right now, so we should expect a "new" coaster in that aspect as it should get the ghostrider treatment.

 

^This