Kings Dominion (KD) Discussion Thread

[coasterbill]

KD's are definitely snappable. It's no Knoebels but I can snap them and I suck.

[megametal]

Are we completely sure the park isn't in a holding pattern or were told by corporate that they had a good chance at getting what they wanted done to Hurler and so set up the separate reveal that happened yesterday, but were told at a late date that the Hurler mod was still not decided on or was a no-go this year?

 

I'm not asking this because I'm suggesting it happened. Genuinely curious, as I don't know if it could happen that way.

[jrd64fan]

This feels like one of those years where the park did one of those things they "Just had to do". It suprised me because of the presence of Hurler in the marketing and the semi recent expansion done a few years ago. Now I'm gonna whine and be pissed at the park all season, even though I realize it was the best thing to do.

 

Overall, I'm unhappy but understanding. I just want me a rollie coaster.

 

 

Yes! Exactly! You stole the words out of my mouth!

 

While Kings Dominion's coaster lineup is great,(Though not as good as BGW, imo) their lineup is starting to get stale.

 

Also...the kiddie expansion is REALLY small. 3 rides? Even if they did do a Snoopy expansion, why not add a Vekoma (or less likely, B&M) family invert or a Pipe Scream/Surf Dog/Northern Lights style-ride that they falsely advertise as a new coaster? They have a bit of space where either of those options could possibly fit. (I think, haven't really seen either of those kind of rides in a couple of years.)

 

And Kings Dominion is my (as of now) unchangeable home park*, and with its relatively large scale, I think that they should be getting a new coaster.

 

*(I can change my home park, if I ask my parents** to move because KD hasn't gotten a new coaster yet. Yeah, right.)

 

**(I<18 years old)

[ImNotOneOfYou]

Lakemont Park could use a planet snoopy

[cfc]

While Kings Dominion's coaster lineup is great,(Though not as good as BGW, imo) their lineup is starting to get stale.

 

To me, Kings Dominion has one world-class coaster (I305), two very good coasters (Volcano and Dominator), one "interesting" coaster (Flight of Fear), and two decent woodies (Rebel Yell and Grizzly). Not a bad line-up at all.

[coasterbill]

I still contend that Flight of Fear is awesome and I never understood why nobody agrees with me. I love that thing, it's probably my favorite indoor coaster in the U.S except maybe Mummy. Backlot is also a great family coaster as is Avalanche and I'm one of the eight people that actually likes Anaconda so it makes for a pretty killer lineup for me.

[Highridin]

I still contend that Flight of Fear is awesome and I never understood why nobody agrees with me. I love that thing, it's probably my favorite indoor coaster in the U.S except maybe Mummy. Backlot is also a great family coaster as is Avalanche and I'm one of the eight people that actually likes Anaconda so it makes for a pretty killer lineup for me.

 

No one agrees? I do. Flight of Fear is superb. In an earlier post, I actually forgot to put that with my must rides at KD. I wish they had enclosed Jokers Jinx too; still one of my favorites at SFA though.

[chadster]

I'm in disbelief at how much some people's panties are twisted, geewilickers. Kings Island admitted to holding out a little on what else they have up their sleeve giving everyone the major Prowlerish announcement first and a second one to come later. Makes me ponder.

 

In any event any improvement is an improvement and is always welcome. And while most enthusiasts and some season pass holders don't always get the why to an improvement, there is always a bigger picture in play, and once that picture is put on display in the gallery, it becomes clear.

Edited August 21, 2016 by chadster

[larrygator]

TBH: Free admission to anyone 5 and under in an attempt to score per cap spending from the parents sounds like a desperation move. "We built rides for kids and not enough came. Double down!"

 

I wouldn't call it desperation. Desperation is lowering your prices all around like Hard Rock Park did in its dying days.

 

It is building goodwill and trying to gain customers for life versus a quick money grab. Families will feel better spending money on games and souvenirs for kids when they haven't already spent admission for the child. It also keeps families coming back year over year as the pre-K kids grow into larger rides. They have seen a ride for years they couldn't ride and they want to go back every year to ride more.

Edited August 21, 2016 by larrygator

[cfc]

I still contend that Flight of Fear is awesome and I never understood why nobody agrees with me. I love that thing, it's probably my favorite indoor coaster in the U.S except maybe Mummy. Backlot is also a great family coaster as is Avalanche and I'm one of the eight people that actually likes Anaconda so it makes for a pretty killer lineup for me.

 

I enjoy Flight of Fear, too--but it can give you a good bone shaking from time to time.

[Highridin]

I still contend that Flight of Fear is awesome and I never understood why nobody agrees with me. I love that thing, it's probably my favorite indoor coaster in the U.S except maybe Mummy. Backlot is also a great family coaster as is Avalanche and I'm one of the eight people that actually likes Anaconda so it makes for a pretty killer lineup for me.

 

I enjoy Flight of Fear, too--but it can give you a good bone shaking from time to time.

 

Ha! Should've ridden it when they had over the shoulder restraints. It really sucked hard then.

[cfc]

^Oh, I did--one and done until they changed the restraints.

[Highridin]

Oh, ok..lol..I can still feel my ears throbbing to this day.

[DirkFunk]

I wouldn't call it desperation. Desperation is lowering your prices all around like Hard Rock Park did in its dying dies.

 

It is building goodwill and trying to gain customers for life versus a quick money grab. Families will feel better spending money on games and souvenirs for kids when they haven't already spent admission for the child. It also keeps families coming back year over year as the pre-K kids grow into larger rides. They have seen a ride for years they couldn't ride and they wan to go back every year to ride more.

 

Theme parks are inherently money grabs. You don't usually start letting people of any class in for no money at all because you're seeing that demographic spike in interest. You do it because they aren't coming and you need to lure them in. Maybe it creates a consistent Kings Dominion consumer because that market is extra special different than any other in the chain, or maybe BGW is eating their lunch for families with young kids, and giving away the gate for 3-5 year olds is the best strategy they have right now to lure them over to Doswell. I'm guessing it is the latter. It makes a whole helluva lot more sense. And you do it for all the reasons previously prescribed over the last 15 years of "family ride" discussions on the internet.

 

Cedar Fair also did something comparable back in the Kinzel days when they dropped prices on some of the goods in park at Cedar Point like popcorn and cotton candy to ultra low levels. My recollection is that attendance fell that year and they never repeated it.

 

edit: In regards to market research, I'm sure a lot of people on their Facebook complain Kings Dominion costs money, as they do any service or product on the face of the earth. Additionally, if they went out to an market research/survey firm, paid 50-100K for them to look at what families wanted, and their consultants came back with "Make admission free and build more rides," I'd laugh my ass off. If I had to do everything all over again, I'd enter that industry and happily accept money to tell corporations incredibly obvious things.

Edited August 21, 2016 by DirkFunk

[PhantomPoster32]

I still contend that Flight of Fear is awesome and I never understood why nobody agrees with me. I love that thing, it's probably my favorite indoor coaster in the U.S except maybe Mummy. Backlot is also a great family coaster as is Avalanche and I'm one of the eight people that actually likes Anaconda so it makes for a pretty killer lineup for me.

 

I enjoy Flight of Fear, too--but it can give you a good bone shaking from time to time.

 

I like it too, but it's not tall person friendly. I have to really fold up my 6'4" frame to fit. Sometimes it's pretty uncomfortable.

[Tee1999]

Well I gotta admit i was disappointed with the announcement and like everyone else, I was expecting the reveal of a new hurler But I guess this'll do for the kids. But still, I have hope they have something up their sleeves and they're gonna announce something big unexpectedly. Has a cedar park ever did that before?

[BigBad]

I can see some brilliance to letting little kids in for free. All these families from the area take their kids to KD when they're really young and too short to ride much, but the kids see Volcano and I305 from the Eiffel Tower and beg their parents to take them back when they're tall enough to ride. Then everyone pays full price. Meanwhile, kids play games and eat candy and spend money that way. The parents also have to pay for their own admission tickets, even if the kids enter for free.

 

So you entice more families to come by not charging for their two kids, but you don't lose everything through that because the kids will buy candy at the park, and then you get everyone back a few years later at full price.

[DirkFunk]

I can see some brilliance to letting little kids in for free. All these families from the area take their kids to KD when they're really young and too short to ride much, but the kids see Volcano and I305 from the Eiffel Tower and beg their parents to take them back when they're tall enough to ride. Then everyone pays full price. Meanwhile, kids play games and eat candy and spend money that way. The parents also have to pay for their own admission tickets, even if the kids enter for free.

 

So you entice more families to come by not charging for their two kids, but you don't lose everything through that because the kids will buy candy at the park, and then you get everyone back a few years later at full price.

 

It isn't that I don't understand the rationale of "Make it cheaper and build more rides." If next year, attendance is up 1% and per cap spending is down due to having let in 10,000 (pure spitballing here; likely more than that, but a good number for the example) kids for free that you would have previously scored $45 a person for minimum, how long do you keep up the experiment in the hopes that you build up a new base of regular consumers? Remember that you don't have the same degree of information about your visitors as Disney does given the many modes by which an individual can buy tickets to the park to track their trends directly.

 

The obvious metric they're going to use here are season pass sales for success. If they see a significant increase in those, it might be a big win that is likely attributable to the Pre-K pass. But that also suggests volume as growth driver over individual sales, which is more the Six Flags model than Disney.

[larrygator]

It isn't that I don't understand the rationale of "Make it cheaper and build more rides." If next year, attendance is up 1% and per cap spending is down due to having let in 10,000 (pure spitballing here; likely more than that, but a good number for the example) kids for free that you would have previously scored $45 a person for minimum, how long do you keep up the experiment in the hopes that you build up a new base of regular consumers? Remember that you don't have the same degree of information about your visitors as Disney does given the many modes by which an individual can buy tickets to the park to track their trends directly.

 

I'm not disagreeing with you with either of my posts (except your use of the word desperate), just adding more points to ponder in this rational discussion.

 

Then the park also has to factor in, we just let in 10,000 kids (I know it's a made up number) for free, but how many families that never visited before just paid for two adult tickets. You are right it is not anything that outsiders like us can know for certain. We just have to wait to see how it plays out. Does Kings Dominion continue the strategy next year, does it expand to other Cedar Fair parks. Maybe it is critical in Richmond since their population has increased by 15% over the past 15 years.

 

I'm sure many questioned parks going from pay per ride to Pay One Price. People questioned when Cedar Fair took the high road with repricing their Platinum Passes a few years ago. Many questioned the addition of water parks. Many questioned the inclusion of paid skip the line services. People question all you can eat plans.

[FeelTheFORCE]

Some prices will probably quietly rise in other areas to compensate. Whether it's food, merch, whatever.

[bert425]

While Kings Dominion's coaster lineup is great,(Though not as good as BGW, imo) their lineup is starting to get stale.

 

To me, Kings Dominion has one world-class coaster (I305), two very good coasters (Volcano and Dominator), one "interesting" coaster (Flight of Fear), and two decent woodies (Rebel Yell and Grizzly). Not a bad line-up at all.

 

 

a great junior woodie in Woodstock Express too.

 

and we enjoyed the bobsleds very much

[ripleybl]

I was at a bachelor party all weekend and forgot to check the announcements for 2017 this Saturday... Thanks KD for making my Sunday hangover even worse by this let down! Man, I was praying and wishing for a new coaster or even an RMC Hurler. Guess I'll have to patiently wait for 2018

[BotanicalStig]

I'm just bummed that Hurler will remain SBNO. I just hate seeing a plot of land with a dead coaster on it in such a great park- I don't care what they do to it, but it's dead, it needs to be dealt with. How long can they keep an inoperable coaster standing before we call the park, "janky"? 2 years, 5 years? I don't know, I just hope they don't keep it around long enough to find out.

 

These will definitely be welcomed improvements for young families (my wife and I do not have kids yet, but those who do definitely deserve to have fun too). I love what CF has been doing these past few years to spruce up their parks and make them more family friendly. I think it has paid off well for them, their parks are welcoming and we enjoy every visit. CF is my favorite chain, they've been "killing it" all around, lately.

 

It's just weird to me that they don't care about the DEAD COASTER just sitting there, rotting away

[FSUFanChris]

I'm just bummed that Hurler will remain SBNO. I just hate seeing a plot of land with a dead coaster on it in such a great park- I don't care what they do to it, but it's dead, it needs to be dealt with. How long can they keep an inoperable coaster standing before we call the park, "janky"? 2 years, 5 years? I don't know, I just hope they don't keep it around long enough to find out.

You must have missed the part on their website where they say Hurler will likely reopen next season?

[Afterburner]

I still contend that Flight of Fear is awesome and I never understood why nobody agrees with me. I love that thing, it's probably my favorite indoor coaster in the U.S except maybe Mummy. Backlot is also a great family coaster as is Avalanche and I'm one of the eight people that actually likes Anaconda so it makes for a pretty killer lineup for me.

 

FoF is my #3 at KD. Maybe #2 if you want to factor in Volcano's abysmal wait times. Backlot is #4.