Kings Dominion (KD) Discussion Thread

[JJLehto]

BTW...has I305 reopened yet? 

Looks like I'm about to land a job soon so would love to swing by here later in the year once it is (hoping Pantheon opens but not banking on it lol ) 

[redfoot12]

17 hours ago, JJLehto said:

BTW...has I305 reopened yet? 

Looks like I'm about to land a job soon so would love to swing by here later in the year once it is (hoping Pantheon opens but not banking on it lol ) 

I rode it on June 5. So yes.

[disownedpear]

It's been almost all of June with minimal downtime for an Intamin!

[JJLehto]

13 hours ago, redfoot12 said:

I rode it on June 5. So yes.

Oh good! 

[CaptainUnknown]

I'm getting ready for my first visit to the park next week and I think my biggest question at this point is: Twisted Timber's loose article policy. AKA, if I have a phone/keys/wallet in a zippered pocket, will I still need to get a fluffy, fluffy bunny filled with medicine and goo? Will I be able to sit on/attach a hat to my belt?

[AmyUD06]

You may need to put the phone in the pouch under the seat, if they're still there.  As for the hat, your best bet is to stuff it into your waist band under your shirt before you get in the line.

[disownedpear]

TT has small free lockers you use for the phones now. They use metal detectors. 

[BigJoe123]

I know you guys would get a laugh on this one.
Someone at Kings Dominion had a bright idea to have 7pm fireworks when the park was closing, but funny thing is.... it was daylight outside. 
 

 

[coasterbill]

A smart company that insisted on budget cutting that hard would just open the park 2 hours later and close 2 hours later but I mean... you do you Cedar Fair

[Superbatboy]

Is their 4D Free Spin still sitting in the parking lot?? Lol

[KIEnthusiast]

4 hours ago, Superbatboy said:

Is their 4D Free Spin still sitting in the parking lot?? Lol

Yes

[boldikus]

1 hour ago, KIEnthusiast said:

Yes

This isn't even close to a haiku.

[jackinbox]

On 7/4/2021 at 1:41 AM, BigJoe123 said:

I know you guys would get a laugh on this one.
Someone at Kings Dominion had a bright idea to have 7pm fireworks when the park was closing, but funny thing is.... it was daylight outside. 
 

 

People can say what they want about Paramount Parks, but there's no way in hell they would have done something this ridiculous!

[hoppedup]

I was at KD Sunday. I rode TT 10x and they were allowing re-rides if there was no one waiting in your row.

There are no loose items allowed. And the lockers are for small items like cell phones and keys. If you have a bag, you can't even enter the queue. You walk through a metal detector mid-queue and they steer you to a locker if you have any loose articles. The lockers seemed to work fine for me because there was no crowd. It has to be a complete clusterfuck when the ride is crowded. One caveat, when you re-open your locker, it is easy to shut the door by mistake before you grab your stuff. I was able to retrieve my stuff by entering my DOB and symbol again. When I got my locker, it said my number was 36. When I found 36, someone else was putting their stuff in there. The person said they just assumed it was theirs because it popped open when they entered their info. I entered my info on the screen on the far right (there are three) and my locker was pretty far to the left side. The lockers have two doors and you can access the locker from the exit line. On my last ride, there was a logjam at the lockers/metal detectors, so I bailed for a tasty IPA at The Parched Pig afterward.

I checked TPR's facebook group to find that Intimidator had started running so I went over for 4x rides with no lines.

[disownedpear]

^It's the worst loose article policy I have ever experienced that's for sure. No clue what they were thinking, the locker area is way too small like you said and creates a bottleneck before the actual ride sometimes too.

It's also the perfect area for fights to break out, it's cramped and people are stressed about their expensive items. I've only seen a few aggressive arguments between guests but I would be shocked if there have been no fights there.

And the poor employees that have to work it and and have to enforce a dumbass policy that many guests will yell at them about. I get loose articles have been an issue on these RMC's, but this can't possibly be the only solution. 

[CNYCoasterguy11]

Visited the park for the first time since 2018, still sad to not have Volcano, but most of the other coasters are decent. Got on all the others aside from I305 which was down. Twisted Timbers was amazing as always but the crew was the slowest of the day. Surprise rides were the left side of Racer75 and Flight of Fear. Racer actually had decent airtime and was fairly smooth. Flight of Fear was much smoother than the last time I rode, not perfect but minimal banging around, and that launch is always amazing, it also seemed to pick up a ton of speed on the final lap just before the corkscrew, can't remember if it always was like that or not.

 

The park was pretty clean and looked beautiful, and while there were quite a few people in the park it was never really crowded and minimal long lines. I want to say TT had the longest wait at around maybe 20-30 minutes. Most others were walk ONS or station waits thanks to two and even three train operations all day. My only knock on the park would be the lack of food options open when the park opened at noon. Eventually we ate at the Country Kitchen which while not amazing was pretty good bbq (for an amusement park that is). 

 

The Carnivals offerings were nice but they had some slow lines especially the drink stand. It was a nice addition for the summer and a good answer to Busch Gardens Summer Nights. Didn't stay for the parade but the live entertainment was nice. Overall it was a good visit and a great way to start my vacation. 

[Chasehat]

After waiting years and trying to get down to the park pretty much every year for the last 3 or 4 years and never being able to, I finally made my first trip to the park on Monday and had an amazing day. 

Rides:

I305 (x7)- This ride has been the top coaster on my bucket list for a long time now and I’m delighted to say, it lived up to all of the hype and then some. This ride is absolutely f*cking psychotic. I have no other way to describe it, the thing is just the most intense coaster I’ve ever been on. Combine that with an incredible drop, that insane first airtime hill, lightning fast transitions with wild laterals and pops of ejector air you didn’t even think were possible, and you have one of the best coasters ever built. And somehow even with all that breakneck intensity, the ride still manages to be glass smooth. I truly can’t believe this ride is actually allowed to exist, absolutely mental. Superman @ SFNE  has been my favorite steel coaster for the better part of 15 years now and finally I’ve ridden a steel coaster that tops that, I never thought I’d see the day. It’s now my #2 overall just behind El Toro. 
 

Twisted Timbers (x2)- I’ve always been an Intamin fanboy and have found most coasters by RMC wildly overrated (including Steel Vengeance). This most definitely isn’t. This is easily my new favorite RMC (yes, I think it’s better than Steel Vengeance). Those first 3 camelbacks are reminiscent to El Toro’s first two hills, albeit at a smaller scale. I also think the quality of airtime on this is better than any RMC I’ve ridden. Part of that could be because I avoided getting stapled which I never seem to avoid on RMCs. At most parks, this would be the best coaster, but it’s shares this park with that gigantic red and yellow psychopath.

Dominator (x1)- I’m a huge fan of B&M floorless coasters, I just find them to be very fun and relaxing rides and this one is no different. This one has a bit more bite to it than the others ones I’ve ridden. Not really sure if I like this or Bizarro @ Great Adventure better but they’re both excellent rides. 
 

Flight of Fear (x2)- I’m not sure if it’s a popular opinion around here but I absolutely love these rides. I rode the one at KI back in 2018 and loved it and this was no different. 
 

Backlot Stunt Coaster (x1)- once again, rode its clone at KI. Fun little family launch coaster, not much else to say.

Racer 75 (x2, both sides x1 each)- This ride was surprisingly fun. Didn’t really expect much but had a couple decent pops of floater air and it’s relatively smooth. 
 

Grizzly (x1)- I’m honestly not really sure what I think of this ride lol. It’s pretty rough in some spots, it’s quite aggressive, has a couple decent moments of airtime. I think I liked it but at the same time it did bash me around a bit lol.

Anaconda (x1)- It actually wasn’t the horrific trash that I thought it was going to be. I mean it’s kinda shakey and has those wonky Arrow turns but it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as a lot of people say. 
 

Windseeker (x1)- my girlfriend loves the Star Flyers at six Flags parks so we rode this so she could take a breather after I305. It’s a fun ride. No where near as good as the star flyers but still really fun none the less.

 

We didn’t do much for flats. I’ll be honest I don’t know much about KDs flats so I’m not sure if I missed anything I shouldn’t have? I’ve done a lot of the other flats at CP and KI and didn’t really feel the need to do them again.

Really awesome day! I’d been waiting to get to KD for years, mostly for I305 and it lived up to every bit of the hype. I want to try and get back down there for Haunt so I can get some I305 night rides. 
 

now for some pictures (beware it’s mostly just I305 lol)

me and the girlfriend, very pretty entrance walking up to the ride for the first time, just like Millennium Force I can’t get over just how massive the structure looks

I can’t get over this part of the ride. This transition is so fast and so violent I can’t believe it’s actually legal lol.another angle. Just absolutely absurd lol.yes, I’m aware there’s other coasters at this park, this ones pretty spectacular as well.These 3 hills back to back to back feel like mini El Toro hills, so good. Some more RMC pornGreat B&M!some more Intimidator because we’ll, it’s just spectacular in every way.

Alright one more, even the hill into the brakes has a pretty wild pop of airtime lol. This ride is just ridiculous 

[VF15]

Probably going to visit KD next week on Wednesday or Thursday. How busy has the park been on weekdays lately?

[prozach626]

Glad you liked it.

The one real tragedy about I305 is its dead end location, out away from the park. Just imagine how much better it could be if it interacted with the park, even a little bit. I think that's part of why it isn't as popular as it seems like it should be.

[AmyUD06]

9 hours ago, VF15 said:

Probably going to visit KD next week on Wednesday or Thursday. How busy has the park been on weekdays lately?

Queue Times crowd calendar for the month of July looks pretty good for mid-week days.  Next week's daily operation was a late addition to the calendar, so they don't have predictions yet.

EDIT:  In other KD news, Haunt has been announced and the calendar updated - Friday/Saturday/Sunday in October, 7-Midnight on Fridays, 2-Midnight on Saturdays, and 2-10 on Sundays.

[disownedpear]

Has anyone else noticed the operation change in Racer this year? It seems some operators are manually lining trains up on the lift somehow! It's badass and my train was within a foot of the other one for the whole first half of the ride. Only saw it on one visit however, wonder how they do it. Made the ride twice as enjoyable. 

[tndank]

They installed a lift system a couple years ago that  syncs them when it's turned on. They can launch at different times and they will sync on hill. 

[coasterbill]

Who’s exited?

[bert425]

^ I'm sure they're excited they can list the Jesus Chicken under restaurants, since these dates are Wed-Fri.

 

If I had a pass tho, I'd go just to ride Dominator, Woodstock Express, Delrium, and Bad Apple. 
(tho very very strange they aren't opening Racer or Twisted Timbers. . since both are right there.  (the Windseeker too)

[AmyUD06]

*sigh* Oh Cedar Fair, what are we going to do with you?

From a practical perspective, it makes sense to not open your two biggest draws (I305 and Twisted Timbers), because they're in areas of the park that are easy to block off.  From that list, it looks like the entire "left" side of the park beyond Planet Snoopy will be closed, as well as the entire "right" side of the park....leaving only the middle and the "bottom" part of Candy Apple Grove.  Logistically, that requires fewer barriers to block off the closed sections, and it's easier to do that than have guests be able to wander everywhere (even if nothing is open you'll still need cleaning crews and security patrolling those areas).

From a fan of the park's, not even an enthusiast's, perspective, this is beyond stupid.

But hey, better open than not I guess?