Kings Dominion (KD) Discussion Thread

[Sir Clinksalot]

I didn't find Anaconda to be THAT bad, not great, but certainly not the worst Arrow I've ridden.

 

It's a pretty big plot of land there though. would be interesting to see what they do with it.

[coasterfreak101]

Oh man, they can really open up the view of Intimdator across the lake.

 

I won't miss Anaconda much, honestly. I definitely preferred Vortex and the forces it's got. Anaconda's drop and first two loops are okay, and the tunnel is cool, but it's just so awkwardly placed over the lake and so unpopular nowadays that I won't be surprised when it goes.

[cfc]

^See that's interesting. Granted, it's been about four years since my last ride on either, but if I took that last ride I easily preferred Anaconda to Vortex. Vortex tried to kill me and left me with one of those day long brain stem Voyage headaches.

 

I thought Vortex was bearable when I rode it in 2009, but hardly one of my favorites (I think the best of those old Arrow loopers is Viper at SFMM). I may have just been lucky, too.

 

Anaconda, at least to me, has always been wretched (at least once you get past the intial drop and tunnel, which was always its best feature).

[dippindotsguy8]

I haven't ridden Anaconda or Vortex, but considering the flack all the old arrow loopers get, and how decent I've actually found some of them to be (I love SFMM's Viper), I don't wish death on them yet. I'm sad to see the end of an era, and I hope this isn't happening. However, I respect the company's decisions if it needs to be done.

 

On another note, I sure hope we don't lose Corkscrew over at Valleyfair... it's still our only looping coaster (where were we in the early 2000s?) and is one of the most tolerable arrows I've been on.

[historyfreak92]

Why are they taking out these Arrow Dynamic Loopers, this is breaking my heart!

[Voxelmatic]

Why are they taking out these Arrow Dynamic Loopers, this is breaking my heart!

Considering there's no way to get parts for a good deal of the loopers, they need to decommission at least a few of them to get enough parts for the rides to run much longer. They've also been overshadowed by larger, more modern rides, such as most Intamin or B&M rides. I would assume that parks want to have fun, smooth rides, not boring, rough ones.

[cfc]

^^I'm fairly sure it has to do with decreasing popularity combined wth higher maintenance costs. It it's any consolation to you, BGW maintains that the Loch Ness Monster isn't going anywhere.

Edited November 6, 2012 by cfc

[BigDipper 80]

Although I enjoyed Anaconda's first drop from the Magic Seat, I found the rest of the ride pretty unbearable. What is it with all of the Arrow loopers crawling through the second half of the course after the MCBR? I think the slow speeds through the awkward coat hanger-ish turns just made the ride even worse.

[redfoot12]

Anyone know if Dragon Fyre (CW) is on the chopping block too? That park isn't known for removing coasters.

Kings Dominion has only removed three, and they have 14 now... so there's a possibility that we could have almost no Cedar Fair-owned Arrow Loopers anymore.

Every time I go to Kings Dominion, even with a hour wait for Dominator, Anaconda was always walk on. Perhaps they could be like BGW: Pull it out on a anniversary. As much as I like the ride, though, it seems they always had their worst operators there. It would be a smart (but somewhat upsetting) move for the park in my opinion.

 

2011 would have been its 20th. I don't want to wait until 2016 for them to get rid of this not really classic ride!

[bull24471]

Andaconda was the second looping coaster I rode first being Lochness. Since it open Andaconda has been one of my favorites. This past season I can say the coaster is way beyond her prime. Chain slipping, nasty rattle from train undercarriage, to low ride count has plagued the ride. I hate to see it go but as long as it is replaced with something worthy of the almoßt 10 acre plot ok by me. Just make it fat person friendly though.

[chapinsousa]

I hope the rumor for the four loops and under Arrows isn't true. Those are what made all of those parks great. Carolina Cyclone was the kick-ass coaster at Carowinds for 12 years until Vortex came along in 1992. Save the Arrows!

[Intimidator305]

Vortex has to be one of my least favorite coasters, ever. I don't find Anaconda to be that bad, but only ride it 1-2 times a season as I feel stupid riding it when Intimidator 305 is a few feet away...

[Ed Farmer]

According to an anonymous spy source, Cedar Fair is said to making plans to retire Vortex at Kings Island (1987) and Anaconda at Kings Dominion (1991) sometime in the next few years. Apparently they seem to believe that these two old Arrow coasters may be close to reaching the end of their practical lifespan, mixed with issues like increasing maintenance costs and declining guest popularity.

I have to admit that locally, I’ve heard first hand rumors claiming that Carolina Cyclone at Carowinds (1980) isn’t likely to be around in another five years. Makes me wonder if Cedar Fair may also be looking into removing the Corkscrew coasters from Cedar Point (1976), Michigan’s Adventure (1979) and Valleyfair (1980) and there are progressively fewer and fewer 70’s era Arrow loopers still running.

Source

It would be a shame if that's true! I always ride Anaconda on my visits to the park, and although I'm not in love with it, it's still a solid ride. It would make sense though, it's not really a draw for the park... but neither are Shockwave and Hurler, two much worse rides than that. Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

 

No!

 

I've had some not-so-good rides on Vortex, but those were outweighed by the oh-so-good ones. I've not yet made it to Anaconda, but have been meaning to for the last couple of years. I hated reading this, but after the two Six Flags megaloopers were scrapped, it was going to happen sooner rather than later. The corkscrew/loopscrew models I couldn't care less about- shut them and cannibalize them for parts if they're so difficult to come by.

 

If Vortex is running on borrowed time, could Top Gun be that far behind (or Dragon Fyre/Canuck Vortex for that matter)? At Kings Island, that would be three major removals in a relatively short period of time. That's a pretty big facelift.

 

This does allow me to dust off the old pipe dream I've had in which rather than getting outright scrapped, Arrow megaloopers get the Morgan/Phantom treatment. Since Phantom's Revenge has opened, we've seen Drachen Fire, Shockwave, Orient Express, and Great American Scream Machine leveled. Other than GASM for Chantern at Great Adventure, they've each been replaced with fluff and baddity.

[Intaman]

Arrow loopers would be a good option for me if I enjoyed pain. Both Anaconda and Vortex gave me neck pain and headaches.

[mark549]

^^I'm fairly sure it has to do with decreasing popularity combined wth higher maintenance costs. It it's any consolation to you, BGW maintains that the Loch Ness Monster isn't going anywhere.

 

I have read (here, somewhere else?) the suggestion that Loch Ness Monster is much smoother than some other old Arrows because the layout is relatively simple. It doesn't have corkscrews, spiral drops and other sections that are harder to make out of coathangers ...

 

I found Anaconda more tolerable than Carolina Cyclone at Carowinds, which I regretted riding midway through (earlier this year).

 

I'm nostalgic about Arrow coasters but I only rode Anaconda once when I went to KD to ride I-305 and Dominator. I hope when it is scrapped they build a new upside down ride over what's left of the lake.

[vacoaster09]

If they take out Anaconda, does that mean they will go through with the station overhaul on Volcano. They annouced last season that they would be closing Volcano to do work on the station to increase capacity... what ever happened to that?

[ernierocker]

Anytime you take a significant ride like Anaconda out of a park, there are going to be some people with their feelings hurt, but lets be honest here: There is a lot Kings Dominion could do with the real estate opened up by removing the ride. Same deal with Vortex.

[cfc]

^^I'm fairly sure it has to do with decreasing popularity combined wth higher maintenance costs. It it's any consolation to you, BGW maintains that the Loch Ness Monster isn't going anywhere.

 

I have read (here, somewhere else?) the suggestion that Loch Ness Monster is much smoother than some other old Arrows because the layout is relatively simple. It doesn't have corkscrews, spiral drops and other sections that are harder to make out of coathangers ...

 

I found Anaconda more tolerable than Carolina Cyclone at Carowinds, which I regretted riding midway through (earlier this year).

 

I'm nostalgic about Arrow coasters but I only rode Anaconda once when I went to KD to ride I-305 and Dominator. I hope when it is scrapped they build a new upside down ride over what's left of the lake.

 

In addition, Loch Ness Monster, with its interlocking loops and eccentric layout, really is an "iconic" ride for Busch Gardens (even more so than the Big Bad Wolf was).

 

Anaconda was always more of an endurance test.

[UrbanLegend]

I actually rather enjoyed Anaconda when I rode it last summer. I would be a little sad to see it go, I feel like it adds more diversity to the park’s coaster collection. I just hope that if they do remove it then they put in something really cool over the lake… A wing rider that comes close to skimming the surface?

[coasterbill]

I didn't hate Anaconda but I think it's because I'm pretty tall and Arrow loopers don't pound my ears the way they used to. I rode it with my girlfriend this year and I thought it was decent so in the brake run I said something to that extent and she looked back at me like I was crazy and said it was the worst ride she had ever ridden. I'll trust her judgement... tear this ride down.

[StarTrekGeek]

Hopefully Anaconda is gone soon... the ride sits on some real estate that can be put into much better use. Rode it in summer 2011, and it's probably one of the most boring coasters I've ridden (didn't even bother with it last summer). It just didn't do much to me (and it's certainly not smooth either).

[vacoaster09]

A intamin 10 inversion/12 inversion coaster would be a nice replacement and keep the snake theming.

[fraroc]

I already predicted this but something told me that either Shockwave or Anaconda were on borrowed time. I liked Anaconda when I went on it this summer. The Loop/Immelmann combo was very intense but I didn't like those banked turns before the corkscrews because they caused my neck to whack against the harness (sitting in the front seat prevents this btw) And the corkscrews surprisingly had some pops of airtime.

 

While I have nothing against Intamin, B&M, Mauer-Sohne, MACK or Gerstlauer. It just breaks my heart to see that one day Arrows and Schwarzkopfs will become extinct

[cfc]

^I wouldn't call those turns "banked"--I would say "contorted" or perhaps "misshapen." I think that bit before the corkscrews is the most messed up mass of coaster track in the U.S.

[QueenMadz]

It would sadden me if Anaconda went down (as well as any of the Kings Dominion rides), because even though there are the rough rides, it is a ride that I grew up with. However if the park can't afford to keep up with it, then they should put the ride down if need be. I love all the rides at KD, and for any of them it would be sad to see any of them go. (Yes, even the Grizzly )