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Kings Dominion (KD) Discussion Thread

p. 777: I305 to become Pantherian in 2025!

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^ The park has a goal to have the whole park asphalt-free and only have pavers eventually. This season they installed the pavers all throughout the new Planet Snoopy into the Grove and to the Congo entrance.

 

The past several offseasons they have done a nice job of getting rid of a significant amount of asphalt

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I went back to Kings Dominion last Sunday and had a good day despite the park being crowded as it was ( What did you expect: it was a hot, sunny day in the middle of Memorial Weekend? ). I got to ride a total of 26 rides, including four rides on Windseeker!

 

And now it's time for some observations:

 

QUESTION - If the Hurler coaster is such a bad coaster, then why did I see a long line? I rode in the back ( On that day, I rode in the back of all the coasters. ) and I didn't think the coaster was bad at all.

 

The ride attendants at The Volcano should get a compliment on how they handled the fast pass/regular riders situation on when to release them to go to the station. I know what I was doing when I decided to get in line to ride The Volcano later in the day ( I timed myself on how long it took before I got on the ride - the results will appeat later ), and noticed that there was also a line with the fast passers ( a short line, but a line nevertheless. ). The ride attendant was releasing those that were waiting in a 1 to 3 ratio ( a total of 32 riders or two trains were released after a few minutes - at least 8 from fast pass line and 24 from regular line). Overall, I waited 75 minutes to board The Volcano while I'm sure that those in fast pass waited at least 15 minutes.

 

Didn't ride the Intimidator 305 due to the long lines and running only one train. If I was from far away and knowing it may be years before I can go back to Kings Dominion, then I would wait in line. But Kings Dominion is my home park and I have a CEDAR FAIR PLATINUM PASS, so I decided to skip this one and come back another day. Besides, I waited 75 minutes to get on Volcano and didn't want to wait another 75 minutes to board The Intimidator.

 

Did I mentioned that I rode Windseeker four times? And to think a few years ago I was against this ride being placed in the park. Try riding Windseeker at nighttime for an out-of-this world riding experience. I did - twice!

 

Don't call Woodstock Express a "kiddie coaster" because this coaster has the props and the chops to be a thrill ride with the speeds the trains seem to have. Thank goodness for seatbeats.

 

Avalanche had THREE trains running! Methinks they finally got the "Canada" car up and running. Oh, and I'll say it again like I did from an earlier post: AVALANCHE IS CELEBRATING ITS 25th YEAR OF ENTERTAINING RIDERS OF ALL AGES AND MAKING BOBSLEDS COOL AGAIN!!! SO RIDE AVALANCHE AND SEE WHY THIS COASTER IS COOL!!!

 

A miracle happened while I was in line to ride Lucy's Tugboat. I am an adult, but I need at least one child to ride with. I could have exited the ride in anger, but I happily stayed in line hoping to find some kiddie to ride with. I didn't have to wait long; behind me were three little kids, including one little one that needed an adult to ride with, but no adults were with them. So those three rode with me and we all lived happily ever after.

 

I'm hoping to come back later in June to catch the two shows that will finally be running: The Wheels show and "On Broadway" show. I hope they were worth the wait.

 

THIRTY-FIVE YEARS OF VISITING kINGS dOMINION - AND COUNTING!!!

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Could somebody tell me if there is early entrance at KD? I'm considering a trip later this summer coming from Indianapolis and would want to make use of my platinum pass for early entrance if they have it. Is it at 9:00 or 9:30 if they have it?

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Unfortunately the park does not really have early ride time for Gold and Platinum passholders like at parks such as Kings Island and Cedar Point... however you can enter the park at 10:00 and International Street is open (all the shops, restaurants, Bezerker, Eiffel Tower, Dominator) and at 10:20 you can "enter the bottom of the park" aka the center walkway at 10:20 getting a 10 minute head start to rides before the rest of the guests can.

 

Fingers crossed for early ride time coming to KD within the next few seasons...

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^I remember a few years ago when those that had the gold passes could enter the water park earlier than the rest of the visitors. Plus, there were early ride times on Volcano. But this was when Kings Dominion was known as Paramount's Kings Dominion and it's a pity that Cedar Fair won't reinstate that priviledge for the Gold and Platinum pass holders inside Kings Dominion.

 

There is another discussion I would like to bring up: Kings Dominion has this tradition of introducting a new ride or attraction every year. Since Planet Snoopy is considered a major attraction ( and a much needed one to boot ), it might be in 2015 before another major attraction comes our way. So what do you think Kings Dominion might do next season that will be minor, but will draw crowds?

 

Here is my speculation: First, take out Wave Swinger and put a brand new type of flat ride that will fit comfortablely in its place. One ride I believe would be perfect is a ride by Chance called "Freestyle" - ( http://www.chancerides.com/rides/freestyle.html ). Then how about adding another ride to Planet Snoopy called "Sally's Swingset"? Dorney Park has one. Then finally, add another showplace in the Congo area ( Kings Dominion could use another showplace). Those additions would be great in the next season, but this is just speculation and I have no idea what Kings Dominion would do.

 

How do the rest of you Kings Dominion lovers out there feel?

 

35 YEARS OF VISITING kINGS dOMINION - AND STILL COUNTING!!!

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Looks like my plan to visit the park tomorrow will be washed out. Option B is a credit run on Sunday, is this still a reasonable idea given Coasting for Kids is happening? I don't mind paying for fast lane as I'll probably only have 3-4 hours at best.

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^If they run Coasting for Kids like they did last year, they'll use those riders to fill empty seats; so, it shouldn't affect your day at all.

 

Speaking of which...how does it work? Split into groups? How do the rides work?

 

Thanks for the help!

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^Yup. Thought we might head in and try to get a few rides in but they are shut. Fortunately I checked the park's FB page before we left. Udvar-Hazy centre made for a decent alternative... not every day you get to see a space shuttle and the Concorde! Didn't help my coaster count much though...

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I LOVE Kings Dominion so much, but the entire Congo area just seems messy. Avalanche, Flight of Fear and I305 have absolutley NOTHING to do with Africa. I say what they should do is re-theme Anaconda to a NASCAR theme and call it something like "The Test Track" (Ideally, brand new Vekoma built trains with more comfortable OSTRs like on Sidewinder at Hershey that look like little DeLoreans, but that's just my idea of a perfect world.)

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Hey guys, just wondering if you guys could help me out a little. Heading to KD for the first time next week and was wondering if anybody knew of any discounts on admission to the park. Bring a coke can, online coupons or anything of that nature? I found a discount on their website awhile ago but It would have needed to be used before I actually arrived for vacation so that didn't work. I'll be with my wife and 18 mo. old so we'll be doing a "baby swap" for the rides and I don't mind waiting in line so it is really the cheapest entry ticket I'm interested in and not any flash pass or anything. Anything else I should know about this park or how the crowds will be next week? (6/15 to 6/21) Any info you guys provide is greatly appreciated... thank you so much in advance.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was at the park on Monday, and the park was dead, i think the longest i waited was like 20 min for front row on Intimidator and Volcano i loved both rides. Intimidator is a crazy ride lots of G's. I really enjoyed Volcano Just a really fun ride.

What i want to know is what all did they change when they fix intimidator after the first year?

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I drove down from Cincinnati on Monday night and spent all day Tuesday at King's Dominion. Weather was perfect and crowd's were very small. A huge rain storm came and washed the rest of them away. I bought fast lane plus before i left for my trip, but did not need it as i305 was a walk on all day!

Speaking of i305....INTENSE! Whoa! I got 35 rides on it, greyed out 32 times and completely blacked out three times. This is a serious machine. I loved it. My new favorite. I loved it so much that I went to Busch Gardens on Wednesday, stayed 3 hrs to get the coaster credits and then left and drove back to KD to ride i305 some more. Crowds were bigger on Wed and I only got 4 more rides.

Dominator was awesome. Forceful and snappy. Great layout, great paint, nice speed. It felt like Gatekeeper to me without the wings. Anaconda was your normal Arrow looper. (I prefer Vortex at KI). Hurler was painful. If it was as fast a Son of Beast it would bruise your internal organs. Ricochet was closed and I did not get a ride. Grizzly was Ok and had a nice head chopper element that took me by surprise. Rebel Yell was smooth and nice. (Much better than the racer at KI) Backlot Stunt Coaster and Flight of Fear are the same as KI so not much to compare. King's Dominion has Flying Eagles so I rode them a bunch. The KI flying eagles were removed in 2004 and I'm still sad about it. The Berserker is AWESOME! Why does KI only get a dumb back and forth ship and KD's Berserker does 360's?? Also, that crypt ride with the flips,fire and water is sadistic.

I had an excellent time and would drive back again in a heartbeat for more i305 rides. You all have a world class coaster down there. Great park. Very clean. Friendly people and staff.

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Oh, Volcano Blaster was thrilling in the front row and rough in the back. It was Ok i guess. The supports for it were a tangled mess and it would be more aesthetically pleasing with a better looking support structure. Shockwave was fun! The first drop and loop were smooth and great, the rest of the ride was painful. Not many of those operating these days so glad to have gotten a ride on it.

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Yes, that was me! Were you the one that commented on the shirt? If so, small world! Busch Gardens was very pretty and well maintained but seemed to be geared more for older people and children. The coasters were all good and fun, just not jaw dropping. Verbolten was interesting theming wise. The Bat t-shirt gained extra power being at the former site of Big Bad Wolf! Alpengeist has the best name ever, but is kind of forceless but fast.

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Yep that was me

 

The park is definitely geared more towards families than thrillseekers like KD is, but it's still an awesome park. I'd personally recommend coming back and staying longer to see the shows and sights.

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What exactly was causing the damage to the trains? The the sheer force or was it something with the shaping/snap?

 

I believe the track put too much friction on the wheels, causing them to basically melt away.

 

Pretty much, yup. It's the combination of the high forces and the duration they're applied - plenty of coasters pull 4-5G's, very few of them do so for more than a second or two at a time. I305 pulls that straight through that entire turn, and before the reprofile that was probably somewhere around like 7-8 seconds worth. Now it's probably closer to 4, and then the forces begin to decrease a bit as the train loses speed. It's still enough to force all the blood in your brain down and cause the greyout, but it's done wonders for the wheel longevity!

 

Reason why on warmer days there is water sprayed onto the track between the brake run and station......

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I drove down from Cincinnati on Monday night and spent all day Tuesday at King's Dominion. Weather was perfect and crowd's were very small. A huge rain storm came and washed the rest of them away. I bought fast lane plus before i left for my trip, but did not need it as i305 was a walk on all day!

Speaking of i305....INTENSE! Whoa! I got 35 rides on it, greyed out 32 times and completely blacked out three times. This is a serious machine. I loved it. My new favorite. I loved it so much that I went to Busch Gardens on Wednesday, stayed 3 hrs to get the coaster credits and then left and drove back to KD to ride i305 some more. Crowds were bigger on Wed and I only got 4 more rides.

Dominator was awesome. Forceful and snappy. Great layout, great paint, nice speed. It felt like Gatekeeper to me without the wings. Anaconda was your normal Arrow looper. (I prefer Vortex at KI). Hurler was painful. If it was as fast a Son of Beast it would bruise your internal organs. Ricochet was closed and I did not get a ride. Grizzly was Ok and had a nice head chopper element that took me by surprise. Rebel Yell was smooth and nice. (Much better than the racer at KI) Backlot Stunt Coaster and Flight of Fear are the same as KI so not much to compare. King's Dominion has Flying Eagles so I rode them a bunch. The KI flying eagles were removed in 2004 and I'm still sad about it. The Berserker is AWESOME! Why does KI only get a dumb back and forth ship and KD's Berserker does 360's?? Also, that crypt ride with the flips,fire and water is sadistic.

I had an excellent time and would drive back again in a heartbeat for more i305 rides. You all have a world class coaster down there. Great park. Very clean. Friendly people and staff.

We'll be there early August and posts like this get me reeeal pumped... I'm a CP and KI veteran and this will be my first trip to KD. Very excited!

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