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Kings Dominion (KD) Discussion Thread


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So Backlot decided to valley again today. Not very good news for the ride..

 

I hear that volcano had a rollback again too.

It's just the cold. I remember seeing on a special about Cedar Point many years ago if it was cold they would have to add weight to the coaster trains to make sure they don't valley.

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Yes, it has been unusually chilly in Virginia today.

 

In addition to that, I don't know about Doswell but here in DC it's been very windy these past few days. Coupled with the cold, this just hasn't been good weather to be running rides in! But like someone said, this weekend is supposed to be mid-seventies and sunny, so hopefully we'll see some better days coming!

Edited by coasterfreak101
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^ I definitely think that is exactly what the park needs. KidZville is definitely the next section of the park that needs attention and 2013 would be a perfect year to do it. One large, fun, colorful Planet Snoopy like KI and DP have would be awesome here at KD.

 

In 2013, it will be time for another "family" attraction since the park got the very thrilling Windseeker this year. KD has typically been alternating every year for the past few years between thrills and family attractions. Plus, a kiddie expansion would be a great addition before 2014, which should definitely be some type of a coaster. Finally, Busch Gardens Williamsburg shouldn't be getting much in 2013 as well since they are spending an estimated 50 million on Verbolten, so the competition won't be getting anything too thrilling to draw the thrill seekers.

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^ I definitely think that is exactly what the park needs. KidZville is definitely the next section of the park that needs attention and 2013 would be a perfect year to do it. One large, fun, colorful Planet Snoopy like KI and DP have would be awesome here at KD.

 

In 2013, it will be time for another "family" attraction since the park got the very thrilling Windseeker this year. KD has typically been alternating every year for the past few years between thrills and family attractions. Plus, a kiddie expansion would be a great addition before 2014, which should definitely be some type of a coaster. Finally, Busch Gardens Williamsburg shouldn't be getting much in 2013 as well since they are spending an estimated 50 million on Verbolten, so the competition won't be getting anything too thrilling to draw the thrill seekers.

 

I agree they do need to update and redo the kids area. There are flat rides there still from when I was a little Bull.

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^Kidsville could definitely use a good freshening up, and a Planet Snoopy makeover would be ideal. It would be nice if they did something fun with the old Treasure Cave, too.

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^ I definitely think that is exactly what the park needs. KidZville is definitely the next section of the park that needs attention and 2013 would be a perfect year to do it. One large, fun, colorful Planet Snoopy like KI and DP have would be awesome here at KD.

 

In 2013, it will be time for another "family" attraction since the park got the very thrilling Windseeker this year. KD has typically been alternating every year for the past few years between thrills and family attractions. Plus, a kiddie expansion would be a great addition before 2014, which should definitely be some type of a coaster. Finally, Busch Gardens Williamsburg shouldn't be getting much in 2013 as well since they are spending an estimated 50 million on Verbolten, so the competition won't be getting anything too thrilling to draw the thrill seekers.

 

That & the two competing parks(BGW & SFA) will have just come off of heavily marketing their coaster additions for 2012soit's be a good way for KD to answer back.

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Went today and crowds were extremely light. Everything was two train operation except Rebell Yell, Hurler, Grizzly, and Intimidator. Lines were minimal on all rides (We did ride Volcano in the morning so I'm not sure if the line was longer in the afternoon.) Operations were pretty good. Nothing to complain about. Backlot was down. I tried to see if the train was still valleyed from the Eifel Tower, but no success.

 

Windseeker - Let me just say, I was pretty scared to ride this ride. I know it isn't very fast but I'm afraid of heights unless I'm on a coaster for some reason. When we got to the top the winds really started to pick up, and one point the seats in front of me almost came back and hit my knees. You could tell the seats are designed to swing a little bit forward and back to prevent stress, but man did it scare the crap out of me! Overall, I think its a great ride.

 

Dinosaurs Alive - I had zero expectations for this, considering it was an up-charge, and I figured it was just another scheme to get money. Boy was I wrong. The walk was a lot longer than I imagined as well and gave awesome new angles of Grizzly. Definitely would recommend this to anyone with children going through the Dinosaur phase. It was very clear that a lot of the kids walking through were having a blast.

 

Here are LOTS of pictures of Dinosaurs Alive.

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Edited by okinawaboy11
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^I still don't get what's up with backlot's white train since it's valleyed twice now in the span of a couple days...I guess red is still on storage while blue has yet to be added for the season.

 

Nice to hear that you rode windseeker & found it to be a good ride,I noticed the same thing with the seats swaying too since it was rather breezy up there but it never did get close enough to hit the knees fortunately...now I'm just waiting to snag a night ride on it.

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^^Really enjoyed the DA pictures...thanks for posting! It definitely seems to fit in well and appears to be a great addition. I'm not into dinosaurs and never really was, but I think it would be more than worthwhile to check out! I'm sure it will be a hit with families.

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Thanks for sharing all the photos of Dinosaurs Alive! I was at the park opening day/weekend, but didn't check out the walk-thru. It definitely seems like families are interested in this as there were large lines at both the ticket booths to buy tickets for the attraction. My only question is, with KD being a regional park with many frequent guests, will guests pay to see this on a yearly basis? I guess we'll just have to see how busy DA is at Kings Island this year since it is its second year...

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Thanks for sharing those DA pictures! Since I probably won't be paying for it, I am glad that I know what it looks like, as I know i'd be curious otherwise.

 

For all KD regulars: I am heading to the park Sunday. What do you think crowds will be like?

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^ Since it is the last day of spring break, it's questionable. If I had to guess, I'd say it won't be too bad and since you're going on the weekend, they will be running 2 train ops on all the rides so lines should move quickly. Even if the park is semi-crowded, the best part about KD is that they have so many rides that the crowds really spread out. Be sure to get there at opening if you want to ride Volcano. Even on a slow day that ride has atleast an hour wait when other rides are close to walk-on due to low capacity and it's still the most popular ride in the park.

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Definitely would recommend this to anyone with children going through the Dinosaur phase.

I had almost forgotten about the Dinosaur Phase. Now I'm sad this kind of thing wasn't around when I was little.

 

That does bring to light why these attractions are so successful, though. My local zoo has brought in animatronic dinosaur exhibits at least twice in the last few years.

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Great photo walk through of Dinosaurs Alive! I was just wondering, do they hand out any sort of pamphlet with the same information found on the signs? I found myself going TL;DR for many of them in your pictures because there's just so much text on it. I can't imagine a park guest standing there reading these long signs. I think it would be a great idea to hand out some sort of literature with the same information so kids can read it while in queues or on the drive home.

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