Kings Dominion (KD) Discussion Thread

[DarkStitch626]

Another good question: How long till Prince Desmond decides to "save" the ride?

Depends would he save it for his bedroom bondage fest? and call it "The Rack".

[COASTAH FREAK]

This is just a total stab in the dark to put another idea on the table. I know it's a nooby idea, but is it possible that they could be modifying the incline of the hill to reduce forces? I mean, there's no way to tell until we see how many pieces of structure they're taking out, right? Trims would be a much more reasonable suggestion, but you never know...

[Intimidator305]

I do not think they would remove the whole front half of the second hill to put trim brackets on... That would be one long set of trims!!! In fact, it would actually be more than they have on the drop now! That would be IMO a worse feeling than trims on the drop.

 

""*Wishing KD says something and doesn't keep a dang secret"""

[Skycoastin Steve]

Definitely looks like a re-profile is on the way. Obviously, the big question is what the re-profile will entail.

[robmiester]

I'm wondering if they might be planning on just lowering the second hill to restore the airtime there...

[CardCraze]

NO!!! I may be the crazy one of the group, but I enjoyed greying out. I thought it was a neat experience.

 

But as somebody said, the parks have to cater to the GP, not us enthusiasts. I'm pretty sure most people who greyed out thought they nearly died. Still, I enjoy I-305 the way it is.

 

It should be interesting to see what develops, but I gurantee you they are responding from millions of GP complaints.

 

"Yeah, you need to fix your coaster because I nearly died when it went around the first turn. I was like so scared. Maybe you should add a loop or something to fix it, but I nearly killed myself riding your stupid ride."

[beatle11]

We will have to see if they remove any other pieces. Very interesting to say the least.

[Hayzle]

I find it funny how i got shut down when I suggested a re-profile months ago and now everyone is on board! As long as they bring back what seems like the best drop in coaster history without trims i will be very happy. Going down there sometime in the spring during college visits so this is a nice surprise.

[jarmor]

I dont think everyone is on board for a reprofile. I think everyone is trying to figure out what the heck is going on...I know thats my thought.

[KDCOASTERFAN]

That's interesting. If anyone hears any rumors, let us know. I think trims going down the second hill would be a great idea, as you'd still get the speed from the first drop with the airtime on the third hill as well.

 

Yeah but wouldn't they just have brackets pre-fabbed into the track for just such a purpose? I really wonder if the layout is gonna change & if it were to eliminate blackouts/grayouts then don't you think they would've shut the ride down during haunt rather than risk any guests being injured?

[cfc]

Gray outs did seem to be the biggest complaint about I-305 (at least outside the enthusiast community), so reprofiling to cut down on the forces would be my guess, too. We shall see.

[cooksta77]

Could it be that Kings Dominion forgot to make the payments and Intamin called the Repo man? But this is very interesting. Can't wait to find out what's really up.

Andrew "Just a little dry humor" Iorio

[robbalvey]

CALM DOWN EVERYONE!!!!

 

Before you all go jumping to conclusions just remember this kind of thing is not un-common. Do you all remember when California Screamin' had it's loop taken down?

 

 

Or the pieces of track that went missing from Revolution?

 

Or what about Thunderbolt having a chunk of track taken out?

 

Turned out it was nothing!

 

Now I'm not saying that this is what is happening here, but you all gotta remember that it could be as simple as taking down a piece of track to do an x-ray inspection, they could be adding a zero-G roll or replacing that track with nothing but trims.

 

Why does everyone always have to think worst case scenario?

 

--Robb

[Tmcdllr]

Robb, why did they remove part of the loop on Sreamin'? I missed that.

[atem122]

^They removed it for Toy Story Midway Mania construction.

[themeparkman25]

I can't believe I'm about to ask this, but does the ride still have a loop? I could have sworn it didn't, but I can't seem to find anything to back my thoughts. Maybe I am thinking of the removal of the mouse as the removal of the loop.

[jray21]

^Yep, loop is still there.

[eddie200330]

Maybe Robb is right, those track piece removals were for construction purposes. Could that be where 2011 attraction is going to be worked on? Isn't this one of the CF parks not to announce that yet.........

[andyuk200523]

A Windseeker would look interesting in the middle of that 270 degree helix

[sixflagsgadvguy1000]

I hope that they remove the trims on Intimidator 305. Even though I still blacked out with the trims, I would love to see what it would be like without them. I hear it's awesome. During the construction that they are doing over the off seasons, I hope they widen the turn a little bit or make some over banked turn like on Millennium Foce or Bizarro. I hope they don't ruin the ride. This was an awesome coaster, and hopefully still will be, I also hope that they don't change the speed of the lift hill. It was one fast ride up and I hope it stays that way.

[Astrojack]

I always thought an easy fix for i305 would be to put a tunnel over the first turn. This way people wouldn't know if they are greying/blacking out Will be interesting to see the final outcome to this project. I just expect an inclined turn up to the the 2nd hill to decrease the g's.

[alilstronger]

WOW, I can see why they are doing this. I did not black out, but I can definitely see where people would.

[Magnum PA]

Not a whole lot of stress on the incline of the second hill, which is the section that has been removed. I do think we're looking at Kings Dominion re-working the first turn to lessen the positive G's. I'm all for an overbanked turn, like Millennium Force, above Rebel Yell's turnarounds. I hope that's what's in store.

 

Kings Dominion can't be happy with the ride in its current state, with the trims on the first drop. That is the marketable part of the ride, and the best part. That drop was the best I've ever experienced back in April. It's totally neutered right now.

 

I applaud Kings Dominion for recognizing the problem and being willing to spend the money to fix it. A new coaster should have no need for trims. If they get this to work, without shaving any speed off the ride, they may have the best steel coaster in the world on their hands.

[RoCo]

 

Reverse Timothy Bottoms pose FTW!!!!

[Phatage]

Has anybody had a chance to see the area from inside the park? I know the park just closed for the season not too long ago, but I would think it would be more efficient if they poured the new footings (in the case of a re-profile) before they took down the track so that they could do the latter while the concrete dries. Cost-wise, it would be a lot cheaper for them to pour new footers than to modify the supports to stay in their current footers but be able to support an overbanked turn there instead, which will have a significantly different plan outline than the current flat turn.

 

I think the most realistic outcome is that the turn will not be overbanked but widened (and still be flat). Designing an overbanked turn there to literally make ends meet would be extremely difficult, much more so than the Maverick retrofit. A widened flat turn would be much easier to design and implement, and it would still make sense considering what track has been removed so far, although they would have to remove the entire current hill if they wanted the final hill to be symmetric geometrically and in terms of g-forces.

 

There are larger implications to this; we will most likely not see a coaster like the original Intaminidator 305 again. Obviously no coaster before this combined such speed with such sustained g's, and I've seen quotes by Intamin alluding to that they took a risk with this design. But like any business, this industry is controlled by costs, and parks are going to keep this in mind when asking manufacturers for coasters in the future.