Kings Dominion (KD) Discussion Thread

[JEAPUgrad]

Random pics from my Motorola Karma.

 

Some are pretty good I think!

Though not associated with coasters, anyone who ever attended Velvet Nation or Buzz will appreciate this pic. Nation was a legendary night club in DC before the Nats stadium moved in. This was spray painted on a jersey wall today where the club's main entrance use to be. *sigh*

Playing with cell phone camera options

Love those zero g rolls more than Sonic! And that's saying something.

I'm so sticking this up as my wallpaper on my desktop

Take your pic...you can have the pig or you can have the cock!

I will never ever ever forgive Paramount Parks for removing Yogi from this attraction.

R.I.P. Geauga Lake

Would be cool shot if my mirror wasn't so dirty.

The Money Shot. My car, Tyler Xavier Ryan and Dominator

Sorry Folks, Wally World is closed today

[KDCOASTERFAN]

Just back from the park.

 

The only thing different from yesterday's photo report and what I saw today was rebar or some other steel stuff was coming out of where the lift will be. I saw one column with this!

 

There were five supports for the turn around after the first drop.

 

Though they don't look like they hug the ground quite as much as the animations depict. The track appears to be six to eight feet off the ground. SROS at SFA comes close enough to the ground that you use to be able to grab grass as you flew by before they put landscaping rocks down there to keep the grass out.

 

I stopped in the store to the right of the main entrance to check out the model of I305 and the coaster train could not complete a circuit without the help of the store's associate. Not a good sign.

 

I arrived to the park around 1pm and rode Grizzly nearly a dozen times getting many re-rides without having to get out of my seat.

 

I bounced on over to Rebel Yell and rode a half dozen times with the same circumstances.

 

By this point it was around 2:30 and the park was much more busy.

 

I took a ton of pics and will post them here as soon as I copy them off my facebook page and convert them to files.

 

Volcano had the longest line I've seen since it opened going back into the old Smurf queue. I decided to pass on Volcano and didn't even check Dominator.

 

My trip down usually takes 1.5 hours but this time it took three hours. Traveling south on I95 between the Mixing Bowl (Springfield) and Quantico was a nightmare. I got off I95 and took US 1 all the way down.

 

Squeezed in a brief stop at Sonic off exit 126.

 

Those of us who live in the Baltimore/DC region do not take for granted that we do not have Sonics around so now that there is one on the way, it's a must.

 

What is it with I-95 being a parking lot between Woodbridge & Fredericksburg?Every time we've gone this season that's what it's been & US-1 was no better last time we tried a couple weeks ago,perhaps sunday's traffic will be light enough that we won't have to go through that mess yet again.

[eddie200330]

If the park is this dead, what kinda crowds should I expect this weekend (9/05-9/06)

[pkdcoaster]

If the park is this dead, what kinda crowds should I expect this weekend (9/05-9/06)

 

Not that dead

 

Labor day crowds are weird...usually Sunday is more crowded than Saturday but Volcano will have a huge line all day...hit Dominator in the middle of the day. Short line and they should be running 3 trains.

 

JEFF

[okinawaboy11]

I went on Wednesday, it was GREAT. Volcano's line never reached out of the entrance to the volcano, everything was a walk on all day. Maybe 200-300 cars in the parking lot if that.

 

Construction on I305 was pretty much the same, a couple more supports up, and it looked like they were starting to put together the giant crane as we were leaving.

 

Thank you KD for keeping open a week after school starts.

[topthrillbran]

Hey, I'm new here and I've been following I305 since June. After watching the pov over and over on the I305 website, does anyone else think the animation is underestimating the speed? Think about it... MF's 300' drop with an overbanked turn and flat curve before the second hill of 169' and you still get "baby" airtime. I305's 300' drop with a helix directly into the second hill of 150'. So based on this, the train should be FLYING over that second hill providing major airtime. Same goes for the 2 adjacent camel humps.

[okinawaboy11]

Hey, I'm new here and I've been following I305 since June. After watching the pov over and over on the I305 website, does anyone else think the animation is underestimating the speed? Think about it... MF's 300' drop with an overbanked turn and flat curve before the second hill of 169' and you still get "baby" airtime. I305's 300' drop with a helix directly into the second hill of 150'. So based on this, the train should be FLYING over that second hill providing major airtime. Same goes for the 2 adjacent camel humps.

 

Yeah I've thought a lot about that too. The animation just doesn't look like the physics are right. I mean, that second hill is half the size of the first one. There's no way that hill won't deliver some intense airtime.

[bpmitchell]

I went out to the park yesterday as well and snapped a whole bunch of good photos. Here are my photos from the day: *Each photo is watermarked with the podcast that I do coverage for*

More of a tressel piece bolted together

flatbed at another angle

more supports on a flatbed

more of another piece with a connector

closeup of the connector

part of another tressel piece

part of a support

part of cable lift system

track piece going from double to single spine

support beams put together for tressel

[JEAPUgrad]

^nice find on the tressel pieces. I looked but didn't see them.

 

While checking out the webcam, I see the supports have gone up from the brakes to the turn around into the station.

 

Any body know when we'll see track attached to the supports?

 

Will they put most of the supports up (minus the lift hill) before track goes vertical?

 

And finally, is it true that the brake run is usually the last section of track installed in case they need to make any adjustments from the rest of the layout being slightly off?

[KDCOASTERFAN]

^nice find on the tressel pieces. I looked but didn't see them.

 

While checking out the webcam, I see the supports have gone up from the brakes to the turn around into the station.

 

Any body know when we'll see track attached to the supports?

 

Will they put most of the supports up (minus the lift hill) before track goes vertical?

 

And finally, is it true that the brake run is usually the last section of track installed in case they need to make any adjustments from the rest of the layout being slightly off?

 

I just checked the webcam a few minutes ago....looks like those footers off to the left of the station will probably be for the transfer/storage track.

 

Great pics Brian....any chance of posting them on KDfansite?

[bpmitchell]

Intamin assembles differently from B&M. All of the supports will be put in place before we see any track go up.

[bpmitchell]

^nice find on the tressel pieces. I looked but didn't see them.

 

While checking out the webcam, I see the supports have gone up from the brakes to the turn around into the station.

 

Any body know when we'll see track attached to the supports?

 

Will they put most of the supports up (minus the lift hill) before track goes vertical?

 

And finally, is it true that the brake run is usually the last section of track installed in case they need to make any adjustments from the rest of the layout being slightly off?

 

I just checked the webcam a few minutes ago....looks like those footers off to the left of the station will probably be for the transfer/storage track.

 

Great pics Brian....any chance of posting them on KDfansite?

 

no I do not post to KDFANSITE, as a matter of fact, I am disgusted at some of the chat going on that site. IF I FIND ANY OF MY PHOTOS ON KDFANSITE I WILL REPORT THE SITE AND I WILL REPORT YOU!

[DiSab]

Those are some really funky-looking supports. I'm assuming that most of those off-looking braces and such will end up on the lift-hill truss supports, but they're still really odd-looking. But I'm really looking forward to seeing this thing completed. It should look awesome.

[haux]

I've probably missed this conversation because this thread exploded, but I'm really wondering about Intamin's switch from years of one style of track and tubular supports to this crazy double spine and square supports. I wonder what prompted the change. The cost of steel?

[topthrillbran]

I've probably missed this conversation because this thread exploded, but I'm really wondering about Intamin's switch from years of one style of track and tubular supports to this crazy double spine and square supports. I wonder what prompted the change. The cost of steel?

 

I like the new tracks! They look a lot smoother. Plus it looks like no more Intamin rattle (jk, they're not as bad anymore).

[HCLcoasters]

We shall see how they turn out. I love how they look though.

 

They probably made the switch because it's cheeper for the park. If you look at the price of MF vs. I305, MF is around 10 million dollars more expensive for a ride with around the same ammount of track. Sure it was a prototype but still.

[dougstanton]

We shall see how they turn out. I love how they look though.

 

They probably made the switch because it's cheeper for the park. If you look at the price of MF vs. I305, MF is around 10 million dollars more expensive for a ride with around the same ammount of track. Sure it was a prototype but still.

 

Huh? I305 is the same price as MF and 1500' shorter.

[DBru]

^He might be talking about how much MF would cost if it were built today vs. the cost of I305.

[tanthonyam]

I would have loved to see this element featured somewhere on the ride. On the left side, where it looks like you almost invert.

[themeparkman25]

^That is known as the stengel dive, and I really wish to ride that coaster someday! It looks so awesome! TPR TRIP 2010 hint hint!

[traincrossin]

^&^^ Isn't there a stengel dive into the brake run?

[DiSab]

^Not that I can see. It looks highly banked, but not more than the 90* it would need to be to be classified as a Stengel Dive.

[themeparkman25]

^^What do you mean into the brake run? I have only ridden youtube povs but from what I remember I thought it just hooked left and then a semi circle right into the brakes, all of that without gaining or losing any elevation.

[Guest]

He was talking about Intimidator's quick little transition into the brakes, not Goliath.

 

About the new track, could it be because the trains going fast through the whole ride? The ride is low to the ground pretty much the entire duration, so with the speed being kept up pretty much the whole time, they need extra bracing on the track, something like that.

[JEAPUgrad]

Oh I forgot to mention the other day that while riding the Eiffel Tower to the top, the elevator operator said the Tower was 331'6" with the viewing platform being at 275'

 

That was a debate pre I305's announcement and no one had a concrete answer on the total height of the tower.