Kings Dominion (KD) Discussion Thread

[yankees15]

^That is great to hear! I'm really looking forward to riding Dominator on my next visit to KD, it looks like a great ride. I probably won't get back down there for another year or 2 though.

[bpmitchell]

that is awesome to hear jeff, how did you find out the news?

[pkdcoaster]

Friend of mine who works there.

 

I might go up there this weekend to see it run if I do not have to work.

 

JEFF

[RinkyDink94]

Can someone please record the testing.

[pkd804]

I will be there tomorrow. I will record the testing of it. (if it even tests)

[alpengeist04]

Thanks for the testing update, Jeff. It always good to hear that testing has begun.

[pkdcoaster]

I just saw a testing video from a cell phone from a friend that works there and GOOD news!. It appears the MCBR (for now) is on as light as it was at GL leaving the Awesome ending intact.

 

Also for those going tomorrow (or tonight) from what I hear is they are painting till 5pm then testing resumes around 5pm. I believe VA requires at least 100 hours of testing. Depending on when I get home from work tomorrow I might head up there to get some pics & video.

 

that is all, JEFF

[Clint Novak]

Well as most of you know Dominator started testing on Thursday. It did a few runs on Thursday and ran most of the evening Friday.

 

 

Saturday they added the second train to the tracks along with the B&M maintenance ball.

 

 

 

The park guests also had a chance to see Dominator in action as it started testing well the park was still open.

 

 

 

 

 

More pictures at the Coastercrew.com photo gallery

 

You can also see a lot of landscaping taking shape. Lots of trees, bushes, and flowers are now seen around the coaster.

 

 

 

The path is also almost complete.

 

 

And new Dominator gear is out! You can get all Dominator shirts for $12.99 in there "Buy it before you ride it" sale.

 

 

 

 

Please feel free to check out the Dominator Testing video at our In the Loop page at CC.com!

[angryemobeaver]

Nice pics!

[vacoaster]

Nice pics and thanks for the video report. That is some awesome footage and I can see the pop of air coming off of the brake run. It seems as though they are creating some type of plaza area in the area inside of the loop and stairway to the station. I also assume that the ride will exit into this area seeing as though the gift/photo shop is being build there. Has anyone found out WHAT THEY ARE GOING TO WITH THE RAILS?. They look terrible and what about the top portion of the loop? All in all I'm excited. I love VA, proud to be a Virginian. If it wasn't for Florida we would be the roller coaster haven of the east coaster IMO.

[KD4me]

It looks like KD still has about 4-5 days of painting to do on the track. The biggest part left to do is the lift hill itself (the first drop from the top of the lift hill to the bottom is done). Followed by the turnaround over the station, the track from the final brakes to the transfer table brakes, then the top half of the loop. Finally, there are 3-4 short sections on the cobra roll and 3-4 short sections on the interlocking corkscrews to finish painting. My guess is that KD will be done with the track painting by mid-May (15th-16th).

 

The track rails themselves I think are going to be left the natural metal color. I could be wrong.

[nomorefloor]

i've seen this so many times and i don't know what it is

on rcdb there is a good photo of this from wild fire

...can someone tell me what it is?

[bgeguy]

^It's used for maintenance to get around the track. When it goes through an inversion, the ball rotates so the worker stays in place.

[Clint Novak]

They still have a lot of painting to do. More then 4 or 5 days. And they cant paint and test at the same time. They are going to work as hard as they can to test at night and paint in the day.

 

I don't know what the official name of it is but I like to call it the B&M Maintenance ball. The like a go cart the maintenance department can take out on the track to get up close and personal to see things that are not easily accessible.

[bgeguy]

^Do you know if they are leaving the rails the way they are?

[WillMontu]

That last picture reminds me of a similar shirt I saw last year. Is this a chain-wide thing, or is it just for KD?

[RinkyDink94]

Thanks for the video, it was awsome!

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

^Do you know if they are leaving the rails the way they are?

I doubt it. I'm sure the rails will be painted. It's just that for a while B&M would not let parks paint the rails. This ride originally opened before B&M gave a green light for rail painting.

[FeelTheFORCE]

^Do you know if they are leaving the rails the way they are?

I doubt it. I'm sure the rails will be painted. It's just that for a while B&M would not let parks paint the rails. This ride originally opened before B&M gave a green light for rail painting.

 

Medusa (GADV), which opened in 1999 (one year before Dominator), had painted rails, so did Kraken, which opened in 2000 (the same year as Dominator). Perhaps they suggested that the parks not paint them, but they still could if they wanted to.

 

Medusa

 

Kraken

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

^I know at some point it was an " absolutely not" thing about painting the rails Now it's more of a "If you must" thing. In either scenario, Dominator needs a makeover.

_____________________________________________________________

 

On a side note, I thought I'd be cool if Cedar Fair Licensed characters the same way other parks have to theme rides after. I mean, Camp Snoopy for the kids is great, but for major rides, It would be cool if they had Licensed characters to theme around. It's just a thought.

[Sticky Nicky]

B&M first allowed the painting of rails in 1999 with Medusa.

[Jekoon]

Does anybody know the reason for not painting the rails? I'm curious to how painted rails affected the coaster.

[THE ONE]

That last picture reminds me of a similar shirt I saw last year. Is this a chain-wide thing, or is it just for KD?

 

It's a chain wide thing, I have seen them at Cedar Point and Valleyfair to.

[vacoaster]

I dont mind if the rails weren't painted... It's just that in Dominator's case. The painters have done a terrible job as they have paint blobs where the ties meet the track. It looks crappy! I know .... from what we've see with all the other relocated rides (Fire hawk especially since they painted the whole ride and) that they could've done a better job. I really hope that they either remove the paint blobs are just go over the rails with paint perhaps the support color, or the light purple color thats on the train base, or even the just plain orange anything but this paint job that really is starting to look rushed. However to play devils advocate with even myself... this will not stop me from ridding lol! I'll ride it ... but since we're talking about the rails I'm just speaking my opinion.

[carolinacaniac]

Personally, I am just ready to check out the ride in it's new home, if they have a few blots on the rails, I am not going to ride it and think "Ahhhhhh.....wait, there's a paint blob.........AHHHHHHH!!"