Kings Dominion (KD) Discussion Thread

[Password121]

Absolutely.

[coasterbill]

Easily

[beenagins87]

So, I'm hitting up Kings Dominion for the first time Sunday. I'm not going to be able to stay all day, as we're driving to visit family outside of DC, but to make the most of my visit, I'm going to get the one day ticket and fl+ combo they have. Now, my home parks are SFOG and Dollywood, so I'm use to the qbot system, I know FL is a wristband system, my question is, does it lead you right into the station?? Also, I know SFOG has assigned rows for some of the rides on the Flash Pass like Batman and Scream Machine, what's the deal at Kings Dominion, assigned or choose your own?

[cfc]

^KD allows you to choose your own row when you use Fast Lane. For the most part, the Fast Lane Queues merge with the regular queues at the station. The FL entrance for I-305 puts you right in the station.

Edited July 14, 2016 by cfc

[Sythe]

I saw that some people are talking about Anaconda being rough. I just thought I would offer my advice: head out and lean into the turns. The roughest part is the exact middle of the butterfly element. I also recommend sitting in either the front or the back, since what I have found out about rough multi-loopers from arrow or vekoma is that they are usually rougher in the middle seats than the front or back. Oh and also, after those corkscrews it can be kind of bumpy so keep your head out then too.

And this has been happy lesson time with Sythe.

[coasterbill]

^KD allows you to choose your own row when you use Fast Lane. For the most part, the Fast Lane Queues merge with the regular queues at the station. The FL entrance for I-305 puts you right in the station.

 

It should be noted that while you can choose your seat on every ride with Fastlane, the front row of i305 isn't available because the front row line starts before the station. Correct me if I'm wrong but it might be the same on Dominator (but ride Dominator in the back... do it. Do it now).

 

You can pick all other rows though and if I305 has a short line (it usually does), you can duck under the railing in most cases for row 1 since you're not cutting in front of anyone.

[coasterfreak101]

It should be noted that while you can choose your seat on every ride with Fastlane, the front row of i305 isn't available because the front row line starts before the station. Correct me if I'm wrong but it might be the same on Dominator (but ride Dominator in the back... do it. Do it now).

 

You can pick all other rows though and if I305 has a short line (it usually does), you can duck under the railing in most cases for row 1 since you're not cutting in front of anyone.

You can also walk out of the station in the normal queue and get to the front row that way too, if you don't want to duck under the railings or if the line is long.

[coasterbill]

True, but if the line is long you wouldn't do that and if it's short I'd suggest just not using the Fastlane line if you want row one. I305 rarely has long waits.

[Geauga Dog]

IIRC from my 2012 visit, FP+ on Volcano is through the exit and you were only limited to two rides on it. There was no waiting for a particular seat as you were placed in a specific row. Has that changed?

[njcoasterguy34]

I used FastLane+ last year at Kings Dominion and I don't remember having to sit in a specific row on any of the coasters. I also don't remember only being limited to a specific number of rides on any coaster.

[coasterbill]

Yeah, you get unlimited rides on every coaster.

[Sythe]

ride Dominator in the back... do it.

Finally! Someone else that knows how to ride Dominator!!!

[njcoasterguy34]

In my opinion, any coaster that's not an airtime machine should be ridden in the back.

[LiftThrill]

^I'm the other way around. Airtime machines are back row rides and most loopers are front row. Boomerangs are back row rides and Arrow loopers are 5th car 1st row.

 

Actually, no. Old school woodies are front row rides. RMCs, Intamins, and most top tier coasters are back row rides for me. B&Ms are all front row rides except maybe the hypers.

[coasterbill]

ride Dominator in the back... do it.

Finally! Someone else that knows how to ride Dominator!!!

 

Yeah Dominator in the back is outstanding. Thanks to the pre drop it rips down the first drop in a pretty impressive way and that seat also provides great hang time in the loop and nice pop of floater air off the midcourse. The first drop is the best reason to ride in that seat though.

[beenagins87]

ride Dominator in the back... do it.

Finally! Someone else that knows how to ride Dominator!!!

 

Yeah Dominator in the back is outstanding. Thanks to the pre drop it rips down the first drop in a pretty impressive way and that seat also provides great hang time in the loop and nice pop of floater air off the midcourse. The first drop is the best reason to ride in that seat though.

 

I just got off of Dominator in the back, and Jesus it was an amazing expirenced, I rode it in the second row before that, and it was good, but nothing outstanding. The best part about the back is everyone holds up the front of the que, so if you have fast lane the back is a one of two train wait.

[bill_s]

^^-- Row 2 isn't anything like the front row, and everything row 4 and back is sort of like the back row, just not as good. But if you ride the other rows a bunch, then rows 2 and 3 seem enjoyably weird.

[beenagins87]

Dominator is currently down, they have an empty train in the station, and the other one right behind it, it's weird seeing a B&M go down in the middle of the day.

[Intimidated305]

Dominator is currently down, they have an empty train in the station, and the other one right behind it, it's weird seeing a B&M go down in the middle of the day.

Similar thing happened to Intimidator yesterday. Empty train with restraints open on the brake run, and an empty train in the station. Dominator was for some reason running three trains yesterday, which they really shouldn't have done. I'm glad I was there for two days, because yesterday was just a mess. The heat on both days never helped, either. Also got my first rides on Delirium. Fun ride, but arm room is extremely tight. If it wasn't for that, I would've ridden it a lot more than I did.

[beenagins87]

Dominator is currently down, they have an empty train in the station, and the other one right behind it, it's weird seeing a B&M go down in the middle of the day.

Similar thing happened to Intimidator yesterday. Empty train with restraints open on the brake run, and an empty train in the station. Dominator was for some reason running three trains yesterday, which they really shouldn't have done. I'm glad I was there for two days, because yesterday was just a mess. The heat on both days never helped, either. Also got my first rides on Delirium. Fun ride, but arm room is extremely tight. If it wasn't for that, I would've ridden it a lot more than I did.

 

I didn't see anything else go down, Dominator opened back up around 530, I'm not sure how long it was down for. I was surprised to see Grizzly running two trains and Rebel Yell running two on each side, I never once saw more than half a full train go out all day.

[JRice92]

On the subject of trains I'm heading to the park on Friday, my last visit in 2014 there was 1 train running on every ride except Volcano & Dominator. At this point in the season would I305 at least be running both? That's where I'll be spending most of my time.

[defrocker]

It's hard to tell. I would imagine so, but it doesn't really matter as it won't have much of a line either way. Last time I was there in late May, they were running 2 trains and didn't need to be. There will be more crowds due to the time of year, but I wouldn't fret about getting to ride what you want.

[beenagins87]

On the subject of trains I'm heading to the park on Friday, my last visit in 2014 there was 1 train running on every ride except Volcano & Dominator. At this point in the season would I305 at least be running both? That's where I'll be spending most of my time.

 

Yesterday when I was there nothing was running one train. Rebel Yell was running all 4, I never saw a full train on Grizzly or Rebel Yell go out, in fact the most I ever saw on Rebel Yell was maybe half of a full train.

[Password121]

On the subject of trains I'm heading to the park on Friday, my last visit in 2014 there was 1 train running on every ride except Volcano & Dominator. At this point in the season would I305 at least be running both? That's where I'll be spending most of my time.

Even on weekends, I305 rarely has any sort of wait and you can usually wait a few trains to make it into the almost empty station. On the rare occasion the park is very crowded, they'll run both trains--but that's a rare occasion.

 

Btw, were you working Millennium Force last Friday? I think I may have seen you. We were also last train of the night on Thursday if you were there.

[Kinematics]

On the subject of trains I'm heading to the park on Friday, my last visit in 2014 there was 1 train running on every ride except Volcano & Dominator. At this point in the season would I305 at least be running both? That's where I'll be spending most of my time.

 

There are two reasons why we would run two trains.

1. When the guests in the park reaches a certain threshold

2. When the queue reaches 45 min

 

With that said, a second train doesn't increase capacity by that much (about a few hundred), as we cannot dispatch the second train until the first reaches the block before the station. A much more effective method of increasing capacity on I305 is increasing the amount of operators, along with support from riders.