AmyUD06 Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 Well, nothing too surprising. Just sounds like a near-complete re-tracking. If you click through for the pictures, it does look quite extensive. No mention of who's doing the work. They also mention rebuilding the PTC trains, which is kinda a bummer...was hoping for Millennium Flyers. https://www.kingsdominion.com/blog/2022/the-rebirth-of-the-grizzly---part-1 Quote Restore the Roar: Rebirth of The Grizzly - Part 1 November 7, 2022 Part 1 - A RUMBLE IN THE BACKWOODS OF OLD VIRGINIA Many online sources and coaster watchers have recently noticed that The Grizzly coaster is closed for repairs and that sections of track are missing. The theories behind the nature of the changes are as wild as the ride itself. The theories range from massive hurricane damage to large trees toppling onto the first drop and taking out a large section of track. None of these are correct. The truth is that Grizzly is undergoing extensive renovations and retracking and will re-emerge some time next season more fierce than ever before. The Grizzly closed on Labor Day of 2022 and work began almost immediately removing trains and bringing them into the Kings Dominion wooden coaster maintenance shop for their annual inspection and routine maintenance. During this process, seats, wheels, etc. are all removed and thoroughly inspected. Any worn parts are replaced, and the train is spruced up over the winter in preparation for the following season. Track work began almost immediately as large sections were removed to be rebuilt as part of the project. Stay tuned as The Grizzly Gang follows the project to "Restore the Roar" and brings you exclusive reports and photos of the work in progress. Be careful what you wish for, it’s not wise to poke a sleeping bear – especially one as ferocious as The Grizzly. In upcoming installments we'll take a look back at the 1982 introduction of The Grizzly and meet the engineers involved in the current project. Stay Tuned! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 I was hoping for new trains, too, as the old ones were pretty uncomfortable (at least to me). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KBrylczyk Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 I haven't been to KD in quite some time. Are the trains buzz bars or those godawful orange lap bars that inexplicably curve inwards to your knee? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyUD06 Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 1 hour ago, KBrylczyk said: I haven't been to KD in quite some time. Are the trains buzz bars or those godawful orange lap bars that inexplicably curve inwards to your knee? The latter. I'd be happy with buzz bars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 Can we all just stop and admire the fact that Kings Dominion is now a year-round park and they've given everyone absolutely zero indication of what that means? They've cut hours from 10-5 to 11-5, probably because they won't have anything to do but if you look at the website it would appear that everything in the park will be open this weekend except for Grizzly, Drop Tower and White Water Canyon. In reality they'll probably have 2 coasters open... maybe... I don't know. They're going to piss a lot of people off who actually buy day tickets. Carowinds seems to be doing a fine job with this. Kings Dominion is acting like they forgot that they're open for the next 2 months. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KBrylczyk Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 You'd think they'd have done a modicum of planning and research for year-round ops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 This is why I laugh when enthusiasts come out talking about parks having super-secret 5 year plans. They may for some things, but other times I feel like they get thrown things like this and have absolutely no plan whatsoever. This is a shitshow. lol 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zand Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 Given the forecast for this weekend (50ish, dry) I feel like whatever is open will be the best case scenario for the rest of the winter when it inevitably decides to actually become winter. Watching this carefully because the skiing up here in New England is bound to suck for the foreseeable future, so might as well go ride coasters instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KBrylczyk Posted January 4, 2023 Share Posted January 4, 2023 18 hours ago, coasterbill said: This is why I laugh when enthusiasts come out talking about parks having super-secret 5 year plans. They may for some things, but other times I feel like they get thrown things like this and have absolutely no plan whatsoever. This is a shitshow. lol Something about best laid plans and all that? Someone at Cedar Fair needs to read Of Mice And Men. This park is Lenny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tndank Posted January 4, 2023 Share Posted January 4, 2023 https://www.kingsdominion.com/blog/2023/kings-dominion-year-round-operations RIDES Americana Apple Zapple Bad Apple Berserker Boo Blasters Carousel Charlie Brown’s Wind-Up Dodgem Dominator Flying Ace Flying Ace Balloon Race Great Pumpkin Coaster Kite Eating Tree Linus Launcher Lucy’s Crabbie Cabbies Lucy’s Tugboat Peanuts 500 Peanuts Turnpike Snoopy’s Junction Snoopy’s Space Buggies Twisted Timbers Wave Swinger Woodstock Whirlybirds FOOD Apple Ida’s Funnel Cake Auntie Anne’s Boardwalk Fries (Grove and Arbor locations) Border Burrito Cinnabon Country Kitchen Foutain & Floats Grain & Grill Grove Bar Juke Box Diner Rita’s (Grove and International Street locations) Starbucks Sweet Frog Sweet Tooth Refresh Victoria’s Pizza (featuring live entertainment) World's Greatest Funnel Cakes 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyUD06 Posted January 4, 2023 Share Posted January 4, 2023 28 minutes ago, tndank said: https://www.kingsdominion.com/blog/2023/kings-dominion-year-round-operations RIDES Americana Apple Zapple Bad Apple Berserker Boo Blasters Carousel Charlie Brown’s Wind-Up Dodgem Dominator Flying Ace Flying Ace Balloon Race Great Pumpkin Coaster Kite Eating Tree Linus Launcher Lucy’s Crabbie Cabbies Lucy’s Tugboat Peanuts 500 Peanuts Turnpike Snoopy’s Junction Snoopy’s Space Buggies Twisted Timbers Wave Swinger Woodstock Whirlybirds So basically Winterfest minus Delirium and Blue Ridge Tollway plus Apple Zapple. I'm very surprised to not see Racer 75 on this list. I wonder if the list will change as the "off-season" progresses? And though I'm too much to a clutz to ever do it, I'm glad they're continuing the ice skating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pianojohn Posted January 5, 2023 Share Posted January 5, 2023 So 4 out of 13 coasters running? And the indoor one (which should be able to run in any weather) is CLOSED? Hard pass. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJLehto Posted January 11, 2023 Share Posted January 11, 2023 Yeah iunno about the parks during winter thing, much as I admire people for riding coasters, like hypers and gigas, when its in the 30s lol but I do know I'm excited for the Grizzly news. I used to love the ride in the day, superb coaster in the back row but the roughness just really sapped its life. Not even that its too rough but just sluggish now, like it rattles all its speed and airtime away. Happy its getting a touch up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted January 11, 2023 Share Posted January 11, 2023 On 1/5/2023 at 10:26 AM, pianojohn said: So 4 out of 13 coasters running? And the indoor one (which should be able to run in any weather) is CLOSED? Hard pass. Yeah, Carowinds did a good job with this. Kings Dominion is a shitshow. lol It would be fine if they communicated it, and enthusiasts might have been able to anticipate this but selling tickets, saying "We're open all year!" and then 2 days before it all started quietly throwing it on the website that only 3 coasters would be open is just going to piss people off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyUD06 Posted January 11, 2023 Share Posted January 11, 2023 On a more positive note, the park has posted its next update in the Grizzly "Restore the Roar" blog, and despite the obvious newness of their Digital Communications Manager, the video is quite informative. This is going to be more of a Beast-style re-tracking, with re-profiling of the first drop (steeper and longer) and other minor changes to the layout around the course. Gravity Group is doing the work with their "vertical wooden beam" track, but no news yet on new trains or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted January 20, 2023 Share Posted January 20, 2023 My understanding was that they were just rebuilding/rehabbing the old trains. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJLehto Posted January 20, 2023 Share Posted January 20, 2023 Always a tad skeptical of what outsiders claim (even though sometimes they are spot on, other times it turned out to be wild speculation) but I did see that, supposedly, Grizzly is getting its drop is getting steepened and lengthened, some banking and hills redone, all of which to make it smoother and faster and have some more air. Again I dont do offseason news much so I have no idea if Coasters101 is reliable but this is what they say It syncs up with that KD post (which I assume is legitimate) I hope! This would make the ride quite awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyUD06 Posted January 20, 2023 Share Posted January 20, 2023 28 minutes ago, JJLehto said: Always a tad skeptical of what outsiders claim (even though sometimes they are spot on, other times it turned out to be wild speculation) but I did see that, supposedly, Grizzly is getting its drop is getting steepened and lengthened, some banking and hills redone, all of which to make it smoother and faster and have some more air. Again I dont do offseason news much so I have no idea if Coasters101 is reliable but this is what they say It syncs up with that KD post (which I assume is legitimate) I hope! This would make the ride quite awesome. If you watch the video in the blog post that I linked, the constuction manager confirms that there will be re-profiling on the drop and some turns. You don't need to rely on some YouTuber who posts everything for clicks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoasterNerd87 Posted March 19, 2023 Share Posted March 19, 2023 Anyone else notice this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyUD06 Posted March 19, 2023 Share Posted March 19, 2023 Yeah. Though nothing has been announced, the prevailing theory (based on that site as well as the hours posted in the calendar) is that they're going to a "separately gated event" model like Carowinds or the Universal Parks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarmor Posted March 21, 2023 Share Posted March 21, 2023 Great news to separate Haunt like Knotts and Carowinds. Hopefully this means they are upping the quality of the event as well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyUD06 Posted April 7, 2023 Share Posted April 7, 2023 Hey, it's on topic! Check out my last report from possibly the last day of the last Kings Dominion Haunt before they make it a separately ticketed event! Oh, and what's this? I have an almost-forgotten Winterfest report as well? Hot damn! Who doesn't love Christmas in April? Photo TR: Kings Dominion Winterfest - Tuesday, December 20th, 2022 I arrived a little before 5:30 (for a 6:00 opening), and found the outside-the-gate tree properly decorated. I of course snapped a picture of Dominator that everyone takes from the smoking zone. And a shot of the nobody-sees-these-decorations. As always, hats off, KD. They opened the gates at 5:30, and allowed people in. Enjoy a bunch of pictures from the International Street area. Yep, it was a cold and ride-less night for me. Unfortunately, the frosted pretzels were pre-frosted, so I couldn't re-create my high-school "frosting on a normal salted pretzel" delicacy. Still good though. Awww, cute little mini-tower. Seriously, who rents these igloos? There were some delays before the opening show, but it still went off without a hitch. Of course, a video of the whole thing: Opening Show - Trim.MP4 Next up was the 2022 version of Tinker's Toy Factory, thankfully now indoors at the Kings Dominion Theater as opposed into the semi-outdoor theater in Planet Snoopy. Maybe something similar to the Halloween show happened where the production company bailed out, because this lost a lot from last year's show. Like...there was no positive message. Santa got hurt, elves freak out, turns out he wasn't as hurt as everybody thought he was. What's the message here? Trust people when they tell you things? A lot weaker than last year's theme of "even the simplest things can being people happiness." Did not cry. Anyway, enjoy some highlights. Tinkers 1 - Trim.MP4 Tinkers 2 - Trim.MP4 Tinkers 3 - Trim.MP4 Tinkers 4 - Trim.MP4 Tinkers 5 - Trim.MP4 Yeah, like I said, no coasters tonight. The star at the top of the Eiffel Tower has seen better days. At least the lights streaming down from the tower were refreshed, now with the newer high-resolution version. Big Tree - Trim.MP4 Candy Apple Grove's light-to-music synchronization has gotten better, but still nothing like it was when Winterfest was first a thing. Candy Apple Grove 1 - Trim.MP4 Candy Apple Grove 2 - Trim.MP4 Still the extent of their "winter holidays other than Christmas" display. Weak. Some of the other musical acts (that were totally not my speed). And finally, a bunch of pics of the various decorations across the park. I left before the parade, but I'm sure it was the same as last year's. See you next year (maybe), Kings Dominion! Thanks for reading everyone. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xVicesAndVirtues Posted April 19, 2023 Share Posted April 19, 2023 Hey folks, I'm planning a visit to the park next month, probably the second or third week of May before Memorial Day/summer crowds start to hit hard. I read online that the park has yet to open i305 for the season. Does anybody have any idea when they plan to do so? It seems the year-round operations really change up how they run the park in the spring. Thanks in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tndank Posted April 19, 2023 Share Posted April 19, 2023 The park removed I305 from the ride closure list this week. People are optimistic it opens soon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob325 Posted May 2, 2023 Share Posted May 2, 2023 Per queue-times.com, I305 has been open the past two weekends (with very short wait times!). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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