Kings Dominion (KD) Discussion Thread

[njcoasterguy34]

^ Not before I get a chance to ride it. I wanna see what all the complaining is about.

[MScoasters]

No offense, but RMC doesn't build beautiful coasters. They build ugly, mind blowing awesome coasters.

I don't care what she looks like. Is she fun the ride?

That's a question of taste

RMCs are beautiful. No. Matter. What.

I don't think you got it and your age isn't displayed so to be careful I'll just leave it as "agreed!"

I'm 24 not your little 12 year old boy on the forums

I'm a coaster enthusiastic and YES I understand it so don't underestimate me

Better safe than sorry. My mistake.

Apology accepted

[MScoasters]

No offense, but RMC doesn't build beautiful coasters. They build ugly, mind blowing awesome coasters.

I don't care what she looks like. Is she fun the ride?

That's a question of taste

RMCs are beautiful. No. Matter. What.

I don't think you got it and your age isn't displayed so to be careful I'll just leave it as "agreed!"

I'm 24 not your little 12 year old boy on the forums

I'm a coaster enthusiastic and YES I understand it so don't underestimate me

Better safe than sorry. My mistake.

Apology accepted

[Physical]

We decided to stop in on our way home from BGW last night (seeing as we had to drive right past the park anyway, it wouldn't make sense not to stop)

 

We arrived right around 4:30, and we managed to get one loop around the entire park hitting all the coasters, the flyers, and Delirium before close. Dominator is still amazing, so is I-305. The operator on the flyers was yelling at us for "bending" the cables, which really is a shame considering last year the operators we had on the flyers were encouraging us to snap them. Guess it's time to strike off KD's flyers as one of the good ones. I just wish they would have something on the rider safety board that lets you know before your cycle that you can't snap them, that way we'd have known not to bother with them

 

On the way out, we got stuck in that storm that caused the tornado warning. I-295 turned into a parking lot for about an hour, other than extremely heavy rain, I believe there was some slight hail (sure sounded like there was some hitting the roof of my car, but there aren't any dents to knock out of it today) and very high winds. All in all, a pretty decent 3.5 hour pit stop before a looooooong drive back to PA.

[I Like Theme Parks.]

We decided to stop in on our way home from BGW last night (seeing as we had to drive right past the park anyway, it wouldn't make sense not to stop)

 

We arrived right around 4:30, and we managed to get one loop around the entire park hitting all the coasters, the flyers, and Delirium before close. Dominator is still amazing, so is I-305. The operator on the flyers was yelling at us for "bending" the cables, which really is a shame considering last year the operators we had on the flyers were encouraging us to snap them. Guess it's time to strike off KD's flyers as one of the good ones. I just wish they would have something on the rider safety board that lets you know before your cycle that you can't snap them, that way we'd have known not to bother with them

 

On the way out, we got stuck in that storm that caused the tornado warning. I-295 turned into a parking lot for about an hour, other than extremely heavy rain, I believe there was some slight hail (sure sounded like there was some hitting the roof of my car, but there aren't any dents to knock out of it today) and very high winds. All in all, a pretty decent 3.5 hour pit stop before a looooooong drive back to PA.

There are anti-snapping workers at every park, even a rare few at Knoebels! At pretty much any park, there's some operators who allow snapping, and some who don't. As long as it doesn't specifically say "no snapping" (snapping doesn't always have to involve violent sail-whipping) on the sign, I'd say go ahead. Even if they stop the ride early, you could just come back later and they won't recognize you or there will be a different ride operator. And I'm pretty sure you can't get kicked out of the park for something like that. If a rude or angry teenage worker on a "family" flat ride could ban you from the park at any moment even if it's not for breaking any rules, it would be complete chaos.

[Physical]

We decided to stop in on our way home from BGW last night (seeing as we had to drive right past the park anyway, it wouldn't make sense not to stop)

 

We arrived right around 4:30, and we managed to get one loop around the entire park hitting all the coasters, the flyers, and Delirium before close. Dominator is still amazing, so is I-305. The operator on the flyers was yelling at us for "bending" the cables, which really is a shame considering last year the operators we had on the flyers were encouraging us to snap them. Guess it's time to strike off KD's flyers as one of the good ones. I just wish they would have something on the rider safety board that lets you know before your cycle that you can't snap them, that way we'd have known not to bother with them

 

On the way out, we got stuck in that storm that caused the tornado warning. I-295 turned into a parking lot for about an hour, other than extremely heavy rain, I believe there was some slight hail (sure sounded like there was some hitting the roof of my car, but there aren't any dents to knock out of it today) and very high winds. All in all, a pretty decent 3.5 hour pit stop before a looooooong drive back to PA.

There are anti-snapping workers at every park, even a rare few at Knoebels! At pretty much any park, there's some operators who allow snapping, and some who don't. As long as it doesn't specifically say "no snapping" (snapping doesn't always have to involve violent sail-whipping) on the sign, I'd say go ahead. Even if they stop the ride early, you could just come back later and they won't recognize you or there will be a different ride operator. And I'm pretty sure you can't get kicked out of the park for something like that. If a rude or angry teenage worker on a "family" flat ride could ban you from the park at any moment even if it's not for breaking any rules, it would be complete chaos.

 

I know in PA with the PA rider act of 1994 if you ignore the instructions of a ride operator you can get kicked out of the park and the park is /technically/ supposed to press charges. Virginia had a few signs regarding following the instructions of the ops, so if the operator says something over the mic during the cycle, you don't really have a choice if you want to stay in the park.

[Vonni]

Has there been any noticeable activity at Hurler?

[vcgjr76]

Has there been any noticeable activity at Hurler?

 

I just got home from the park. Nothing new with Hurler. Not even flags or markers.

[njcoasterguy34]

Has there been any noticeable activity at Hurler?

 

I'm pretty sure that if and when there is activity in that area, someone will post about it.

[coneyislandchris]

Has there been any noticeable activity at Hurler?

 

I just got home from the park. Nothing new with Hurler. Not even flags or markers.

Did 305 ever open yesterday? I was at the park from 10 to 4, and aside from a few test trains being sent early in the morning, there was no activity. Was contemplating sticking it out a bit longer, but it's a heck of a drive back to NY.

[vcgjr76]

Has there been any noticeable activity at Hurler?

 

I just got home from the park. Nothing new with Hurler. Not even flags or markers.

Did 305 ever open yesterday? I was at the park from 10 to 4, and aside from a few test trains being sent early in the morning, there was no activity. Was contemplating sticking it out a bit longer, but it's a heck of a drive back to NY.

 

I305 opened up around 5. That's some bad luck for you but hey, you have to drive back home at some point.

[coneyislandchris]

Did 305 ever open yesterday? I was at the park from 10 to 4, and aside from a few test trains being sent early in the morning, there was no activity. Was contemplating sticking it out a bit longer, but it's a heck of a drive back to NY.

 

I305 opened up around 5. That's some bad luck for you but hey, you have to drive back home at some point.

I thought I wanted to know. Now I realize I didn't really want to know. Thanks for the info though.

[madmax]

Has there been any noticeable activity at Hurler?

 

I just got home from the park. Nothing new with Hurler. Not even flags or markers.

 

Please tell me this means they're using it as firewood.

[ImNotOneOfYou]

Has there been any noticeable activity at Hurler?

 

I just got home from the park. Nothing new with Hurler. Not even flags or markers.

 

Please tell me this means they're using it as firewood.

 

What if it isn't the type of fire you've been wanting?

[madmax]

Has there been any noticeable activity at Hurler?

 

I just got home from the park. Nothing new with Hurler. Not even flags or markers.

 

Please tell me this means they're using it as firewood.

 

What if it isn't the type of fire you've been wanting?

 

Any type of fire would do.

[Sythe]

Has there been any noticeable activity at Hurler?

 

I just got home from the park. Nothing new with Hurler. Not even flags or markers.

 

Please tell me this means they're using it as firewood.

 

What if it isn't the type of fire you've been wanting?

 

Any type of fire would do.

As long as a certain type of bear isn't affected by this fire!

[madmax]

Any Hurler updates?

[coneyislandchris]

Any Hurler updates?

Just the news you've been waiting for.

[ul9601]

went today as my first visit - Intimidator is a real something! Quite enjoyed it. It's crazy though, front row had 30-45 minutes wait all day and the rest pretty much walk-on. And no Fast Lane to the front row was definitely disappointing.

Volcano was also pretty good - Dominator was ok and backrow on Rebel Yell was a surprising backbreaker - didn't expect that.

Hurler wasn't going and someone hurled riding Grizzly so I gave it a miss.

By the way Rebel Yell operation was a right mess - they were running two trains but for some reason one train was walk-on or half empty and the other one had the station full and ops didn't do anything about it.

Overall operations weren't as slick as the likes of CP...

[njcoasterguy34]

Any Hurler updates?

 

If and when there are any updates, you can bet someone will post them here without waiting for you to ask if there are any updates.

[bill_s]

went today as my first visit - Intimidator is a real something! Quite enjoyed it. It's crazy though, front row had 30-45 minutes wait all day and the rest pretty much walk-on. And no Fast Lane to the front row was definitely disappointing.

Volcano was also pretty good - Dominator was ok and backrow on Rebel Yell was a surprising backbreaker - didn't expect that.

Hurler wasn't going and someone hurled riding Grizzly so I gave it a miss.

By the way Rebel Yell operation was a right mess - they were running two trains but for some reason one train was walk-on or half empty and the other one had the station full and ops didn't do anything about it.

Overall operations weren't as slick as the likes of CP...

 

Of course fastlane doesn't include front row, I certainly hope no parks do that. Back row of RY is back row of a car, "wheel seat", always worse on every conventional wood coaster in the world. The sides have seperate entrances and exits, there's nothing that can be done if people don't choose the shorter side (the sides would have to be a lot different for me not to prefer the "losing" side anyway). They don't have to be as quick as CP, that place is way more crowded (according to reports, I'll probably never go there).

 

Re: Hurler, new ride announcements are usually in August, if it goes that way.

[ul9601]

^ usually front row queue starts in the station, not all the way out like I305, so you can still save some time - why would you spend megabucks for Fast Lane if it doesn't save you time on the marquee ride of the park?

And IIRC other racing coasters have a single queue splitting at the station - otherwise it's stupid. They stopped running the other train because hardly no one was showing up for the other train.

[Bmanscool]

I once saw the regular line shorter than the Fast Lane line for Windseeker!

[7flags]

I could be mistaken but I believe the trim brakes on the drop of I305 have either been removed or just weren't turned on. I visited both Memorial Day weekend and the trims were running but yesterday the ride seemed much more intense. I can normally resist graying out through the first turn but I almost blacked out on my first ride and every positive G moment after the first turn also caused me to gray out. In addition to the unusual intensity I noticed that the pictures weren't timed correctly (the last few showed just the track, no train) and there was water sprayed on the wheels in the station. Either a bunch of coincidences, or no trims.

[Password121]

Just got back from the park after an afternoon/late night visit with my riding buddy of sorts.

 

We arrived around 4:30 and started with a quick meal since we were hungry and to get some use out of the dining plan. After a 'meh' chef salad we started with Delirium as he hadn't ridden yet this year, then continued with a walk-on to Grizzly and on to the rest of the park. Some miscellaneous thoughts...

 

--Delirium is a really fun ride and even better at night. The entire park has a nice atmosphere at nighth that I really dig.

--Grizzly sucks. I know this ride has its following but after the first drop its just too jarring for my taste (I know some say this adds to the ride but I call BS) and nothing really redeeming that warrants riding every visit.

--Backlot surprises me every time. Really enjoy this little ride.

--Flight of Fear isn't really "rough" but it's not as smooth as Joker's Jinx up at SFA and for how disorienting it is this takes away from the experience. Also the midcourse blows.

--Volcano goes down for weather and other operational stuff way too often. It's my third favorite in the park so I always ride it (front row this time) but it went down 30 minutes for someone spotting lightning after sending one train of riders after ending down all day until 6.

--Dominator was running really well today. A definite second favorite in the park and a really solid B&M overall, especially in the back.

--Woodstock Express is my favorite wood coaster at Kings Dominion. Haters gonna hate but everything else sucks, including Rebel Yell which we didn't bother riding this time.

--We ended the day with a nighttime ERT of sorts on Intimidator 305 from 9 to 10. We rode the back every ride except the front once (only a three train wait at 9:45) and wow, holy crap. This ride is crazy intense in the back and was running really fast at night. After tonight I would say it's solidly my number two behind El Toro but in three weeks I could easily say it's my number four after revisiting Cedar Point. I'll just say it's a top five ride for sure.

--Maybe I haven't had enough good barbecue but I'm going to Country Kitchen every visit now. Wow the pulled chicken sandwich with baked beans, cole slaw and corn is by far the best food I've had at a corporate amusement park. Everyone needs to go there when you visit Kings Dominion and even though it would be expensive without the dining plan it's a lot of food and very filling. Can't say enough about that meal.

 

Ride count

 

Delirium 2x

Grizzly 1x

Backlot 1x

Avalanche 1x

Volcano 1x

Woodstock Express 1x ( )

Flight of Fear 1x

Dominator 2x

Intimidator 305 7x

Can't complain about these crowds

Crazy fast. Crazy intense.

Down all day until around 6. Got there right in time to watch one train launch and then go down for "weather," but operational after another 30 minutes. Fun in the front row, but I'm not a huge fan of the heartline rolls which is essentially half the ride. Definitely prefer traditional inverts but still a fun ride with a good couple of launches.

I guess this is kinda cool? It's a quirky thing about the park but it seems nobody actually cares about these for how much people seemed to love the idea when they were announced.

Night rides? Don't mind if I do!

The line at 9:45 before our 7th ride. Thanks for a great day Kings Dominion!