Jump to content
  TPR Home | Parks | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram 

Kings Dominion (KD) Discussion Thread


Recommended Posts

Its official from the "In The Loop" podcast:

NEW FOR 2011 - Snoopy's Starlight Spectacular!

 

New for 2011!

Snoopy’s Starlight Spectacular!

 

America’s favorite Beagle, Snoopy, will light up the nights in 2011 at Kings Dominion with “Snoopy’s Starlight Spectacular,” a million dollar nighttime walk-through light and sound experience featuring Snoopy and the PEANUTS™ gang.

 

Designed using a dazzling mixture of low energy and high efficiency LED lighting, this immersive light and sound spectacular will be located along the park’s center walkway, from the Eiffel Tower to The Grove area, and features more than a one million LED lights adorned from the trees and the Eiffel Tower. The entire experience will be accented by vibrant animated and stationary light displays, vivid theatrical lighting and other cutting edge special effects, all orchestrated to a custom designed audio soundtrack.

 

Snoopy’s Starlight Spectacular will begin to dazzle June 18, 2011 and will run every night of Kings Dominion’s 2011 season when the park is open until 10pm.

 

I believe several of us including myself predicted this one a couple months ago!

 

I personally think KD/CF couldn't of picked a better location for the show! Central walkway (path from the Eiffel Tower to the Carousel) has nothing on it and is covered in trees and should look awesome all lit up in lights! Then on one end of the path will be the Carousel lit up like always and on the opposite end the Eiffel Tower will more than likely be lit up like the one at KI.

 

I'm satisfied with this investment after getting a 25 million dollar giga and a kiddie section retheme.

KD11.jpg.e3fcfcc3e244a6117a8dc857f4a5b981.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^I don't think we're going to hear anything definitive until either the park announces what's going on or we see track reappear. Without being inside the park, it's impossible to see the bottom of the first drop and turn, and that's obviously where the work is being done. We might see something happen with the 2nd hill, but my guess is the majority of the work is happening at that first turn.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^ We can always rent a helicopter!

 

We could probably raise more money and support for that than has been raised for saving the big dipper.

 

I would really like to know what is happening with I305 too. However, I agree that until either the park announces something or they put up pieces high enough to be seen from the road (because we know some of the locals are probably driving past every day hoping to see something ) we will just have to wait. I can't wait until opening day, though, to ride the new and improved (???) I305!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This isn't RCT how can they just widen the turn and expect it to line back up with the airtime hill? I know in no limits I've made elements that were alittle to tight tried to widen or enlarge the element and it's almost darn near impossible to get it to reconnect. I know using no limits makes me no professional but it seams to me like alittle more to this mod then just widening the turn and it's fixed.

 

Imo I believe the easiest fix would be a huge overbanked turn, but they're the pros so if widening the turn is going to work without a problem then who am i to say it can't be done.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This isn't RCT how can they just widen the turn and expect it to line back up with the airtime hill? I know in no limits I've made elements that were alittle to tight tried to widen or enlarge the element and it's almost darn near impossible to get it to reconnect. I know using no limits makes me no professional but it seams to me like alittle more to this mod then just widening the turn and it's fixed.

 

Imo I believe the easiest fix would be a huge overbanked turn, but they're the pros so if widening the turn is going to work without a problem then who am i to say it can't be done.

The same way a heartline can be replaced with a s-turn, a loop can be replaced with a straight section. I dont think they said they are starting at the bottom of the turn to where it starts to go up. Remember the pictures so half of the second hill gone. I personally think an overbank would be harder than widening the turn.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

screamscape's source indicates they wanted to achieve the speed it was designed for and to keep a consistent high speed throughout the ride, an overbank would kill the speed. I may just have to drop by KD next year to try it out dependant on what all takes place, and since Screamscapes sources are usually reliable, and considering no other part of the ride outside the hill have been visibly messed with, I think this is entirely plausible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If this is what they are doing, sounds great! I guess we will have to wait to find out for sure, but widening the turn sounds reasonable and a bit less Intimidating (excuse the pun) than re-profiling huge sections of the ride.

 

David

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How is that MF overbanked turn doesn't kill the speed of the ride

 

You are probably right an overbanked turn probably would be harder to do then widening the turn, I'm no professonial coaster designer, my simple mind just that it would seam easier to over bank then to widen I have no problem with admitting I could be wrong or I am wrong.

 

The changing a barrel roll seams easy it's in a straight line, the loop removal I don't know seams like it would have to be some mods made to get the track reconnected

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This sounds good to me. I am looking forward to trying it out next summer. It will be very interesting to see how they do it. It seems like another turn would have to be added to make it line up but I could be missing something obvious. The trims coming off the drop is the best news ever.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The turnaround doesn't have to be circular. It could be clothoid (like a loop) which would make the forces more tolerable and probably pose less of a challenge to reconnect. If they do keep it as a circle, I'm going to guess that they would increase the radius by a third. If it's currently pulling 4 G's (just a guess), than a simple circular motion kinematics calculation would say that a one third larger radius would reduce the force to 3 G's.

 

Interested to see what happens.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This isn't RCT how can they just widen the turn and expect it to line back up with the airtime hill? I know in no limits I've made elements that were alittle to tight tried to widen or enlarge the element and it's almost darn near impossible to get it to reconnect. I know using no limits makes me no professional but it seams to me like alittle more to this mod then just widening the turn and it's fixed.

 

Imo I believe the easiest fix would be a huge overbanked turn, but they're the pros so if widening the turn is going to work without a problem then who am i to say it can't be done.

 

I would think widening a turn would be the easiest modification they could make to the ride. All you would have to do is stretch the transitions and it would fit right in. And I think an overbank would be the hardest thing to do. It would require making another crap load of supports, making a lot more track, and dealing with a lot more forces rather than just basic lats. If they simply widen the turn, they could easily just use the supports they already have, just move them and maybe add three or four more. Overbanks have a completely different geometry in all 3 dimensions from a flat turn, it would be ridiculous, really...

 

^Making a flat turn clothoid doesn't decrease forces. The point of a clothoid is that the track is changing vertically and the speed of the train is decreasing and increasing relative to gravity. Gravity doesn't change anything in a flat turn.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^You make a good point, but a flat clothoid would still make a difference. If I recall correctly, Schwarzkopf got the idea from German exit ramps. It would not decrease the maximum force, but it would lower the forces in and out of the turnaround, leaving a intense but short section of force in the middle. I think the problem wasn't the magnitude of the force, it was the duration over which the force was sustained. I think they could design a turn that pulls the same (or just slightly higher) magnitude of force as before for a short segment and rider discomfort would not be too much of a factor. I don't think it's the optimal solution, but it just came to mind because it seems like it could solve the space issue. I would personally prefer an overbank, but that seems too complicated to substitute in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another solution, similar to the clothoid shape, could be starting the turn with a wide radius that gradually tightens as the turn progresses. This would solve the alignment argument while decreasing the amount of time intense forces are sustained, but keep in mind the first half of the second hill was also removed. The track doesn't have to line up at the bottom of the hill. The designers also have that incline to work with.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use https://themeparkreview.com/forum/topic/116-terms-of-service-please-read/