Kings Dominion (KD) Discussion Thread

[teacherkim]

On 1/10/2022 at 3:21 PM, Alex Sutcliff said:

Hello all. I'm visiting KD for the first time on Sat 11th June. We are going to hit BGW on the Monday which gives us Sunday in Richmond to do whatever. I wonder if anyone has suggestions on things to do for this day in the area? If there was a mountain coaster or an undiscovered Niagara falls for example, we would be interested.

DC and Colonial Williamsburg are both really good ways to spend the day. If you go to DC you can park at the metro station in Old town Alexandria and take the metro in to the mall, or WH or whatever monument you want to see. If you want to tour the WH, it's free but you have to contact your local congress person's office well in advance to get tickets. You can also go to Mt Vernon (Washington's home) and easily spend a day there. It's about 10 miles from DC on the VA side, has parking, a restaurant, living displays, newly refurbed whiskey distillery, etc. Down in Williamsburg in addition to Colonial Williamsburg there is also a huge living museum at Jamestown and there is Yorktown Battlefield with a very well done museum and living displays of the American Revolution. Eat at the Yorktown Pub, fresh oysters right out of the Chesapeake. 

On 1/10/2022 at 5:35 PM, bert425 said:

y'all must drive slower than we did (we did drive early in the morning . maybe that helped?)

I'm with you Bert! I drove from SFA to KD in about an hour and 45 min. It was a Monday night after rush hour so I dunno, got lucky maybe? People also told me to allow like 3 hours to get from Williamsburg back up to Reagan and it didn't take me nearly that long. Maybe I'm just blessed though, I've never had a problem driving in SoCal even though everyone else carries on like it's hell 

[bill_s]

On a Sunday morning, getting off the highway by 11 AM, KD to SFA is easy. I would prefer going mid to late afternoon depending on hours, but this will be stressful at the least. A late return is usually fine.  Weekdays are more complicated.

I caution against any park visit on a Saturday, but I can see wanting a day off. If you have season's pass, maybe get out of there and take it easy middle of the day, go back at night and stay until close, and rope drop it for a awhile, or close it again, Sunday.   

Richmond does have historical home tours and the like. The James River and Bell's Island is no Niagara., but is a good outing, and much better for kayaking.   

[RideThroughTime]

Avalanche is getting rethemed into Reptilian to fit into Jungle X-Pedition: https://www.kingsdominion.com/blog/2022/1.24avalanche_retheme

[boldikus]

Looks awesome!

Bonus points for the simple fact its going to piss off/freak out bunch of people off that are too fragile to handle any kind of change ever.

[AmyUD06]

I'm probably the biggest Avalanche fanboy on this site, and I approve.  Anything that keeps it from getting torn down.

[JJLehto]

15 minutes ago, Mike240SX said:

I'm probably the biggest Avalanche fanboy on this site, and I approve.  Anything that keeps it from getting torn down.

It's a fun ride and I'm a sucker for history (even though I get things change/wear out) so yeah glad it's still hanging around! And it looks kinda cool. 

[teacherkim]

We're gonna be there on April 2nd. Anyone heard an open (or re-open) date? Hoping it will be ready to go by then. I think Tumbili's track is complete so thinking that is a good sign for the whole rethemed area.

[VegasBaby]

21 minutes ago, teacherkim said:

We're gonna be there on April 2nd. Anyone heard an open (or re-open) date? Hoping it will be ready to go by then. I think Tumbili's track is complete so thinking that is a good sign for the whole rethemed area.

I will be there the next week on April 10th, so I'm hoping that it's open by then as well.  

[RideThroughTime]

Photo updates posted today on the Kings Dominion blog for the work on Reptilian: https://www.kingsdominion.com/blog/2022/1.24reptilian_updates

Tumbili: https://www.kingsdominion.com/blog/2021/12.7

And the overall Jungle X-Pedition land: https://www.kingsdominion.com/blog/2022/1.25junglex-progress

[cfc]

I'm glad that they're re-theming Avalanche. It never made any sense to have a Euro bobsled coaster in the "jungle."

[Zand]

It's a start. But the Dale Earnhardt coaster and the alien coaster don't make sense in the jungle either lol.

[CoasterNerd87]

That's because they aren't, sorta. Yes, they are on the Safari side of the park, but their walkways are very clearly themed to the rides.

Back Lot Stunt Coaster is very obviously in the Safari section and just clashes with the theme. 

[CoasterAuditor]

I feel like KD can get away with FOF and I305 in the back corner of Jungle-X.  They feel very isolated from the rest of the section honestly.  Backlot definitely could use a retheme though.  Luckily it is kinda also tucked in it's own corner from the rest of the area with trees obstructing its presence if you aren't right next to it.  But I certainly think they could just retheme it to a temple of some kind and call it a day.  Whether they do or not though I am skeptical, that would not be the cheapest retheme.  

[swfan1988]

Hmmm...anyone got any ideas? I got nothing on this one.

 

[AmyUD06]

If I had to guess, I'd say a rename/re-theme of Scrambler to fit the overall vibe of the area.   EDIT:  It can totally use it, too.  I'm pretty sure it's still rocking its original lighting package from whenever it was originally built.  At one point it was called Witch Doctor, which while I guess now isn't too PC, would be a good fit.

Redoing Backlot would be major work that I'm sure they would have announced more than 3 weeks before opening.

[BotanicalStig]

Glad this part of the park is finally getting love. Avalanche is one of the best rides in the park (definitely the best family ride). Thrilled to see that they are working on it rather than ripping it out. 

[RideThroughTime]

The Scrambler is being rethemed to Arachnidia for Jungle X-Pedition: https://www.kingsdominion.com/blog/2022/aannouncement

[AmyUD06]

1 hour ago, RideThroughTime said:

The Scrambler is being rethemed to Arachnidia for Jungle X-Pedition: https://www.kingsdominion.com/blog/2022/aannouncement

Good news.

[KBrylczyk]

So, what, are they gonna shoot silly string at you while you ride?  Because I'm OK with that.

[John Peck]

Part of me was hoping they were finally going to put up the old Geauga Lake Spider that they have had since the park closed, but I think they might have sold or scrapped it.

[mhuffva]

KD received the Spider, El Dorado, and the Americana Ferris Wheel from Geauga Lake.

From what I heard in the park rumor grapevine, KD inspected each ride when they arrived. It was determined that the Spider was not in good shape and the park never installed the ride. El Dorado and Americana were added the same year.

I am not sure if El Dorado was in the best shape either. KD kept that ride in operation for 3-4 seasons. It was removed when Wind Seeker was added to that spot.

So, out of the original three rides, only Americana Ferris Wheel still operates at KD.

 

[John Peck]

^ I had also heard that as well that the Spider wasn't in good shape despite being refurbished. At GL the Spider was probably the most "moved" ride that they had, with at least 4 or 5 locations that I can remember. El Dorado had some refurbishments, but it was only a shadow of its former self from when they installed it in 1991. The Giant wheel at GL was taken down to its A-Frame in the winter of 2004-2005 and given an extensive refurbishment and that's why it most likely still runs today. Cedar Fair is accused of doing many things to GL, but one thing that was certain is that they poured a ton of money into many of the rides there.

[mhuffva]

It sounds like the rides had long lives while at GL. Were any of them already used rides when they were at Geauga Lake? Or, were all new?

[cfc]

21 hours ago, mhuffva said:

KD received the Spider, El Dorado, and the Americana Ferris Wheel from Geauga Lake.

From what I heard in the park rumor grapevine, KD inspected each ride when they arrived. It was determined that the Spider was not in good shape and the park never installed the ride. El Dorado and Americana were added the same year.

I am not sure if El Dorado was in the best shape either. KD kept that ride in operation for 3-4 seasons. It was removed when Wind Seeker was added to that spot.

So, out of the original three rides, only Americana Ferris Wheel still operates at KD.

 

El Dorado was prone to breakdowns (I was riding it once when it did).  It was fun when it worked, which was rarely.

[garyman6]

I'll be traveling to Richmond at the end of March.  I'll be coming in on a sunday.  I see that the park is only open on weekends so far and closes at 5 that night.  I probably wont get to the park till after 1:30 pm.  Is it possible to get all of the major coasters in in about 3 hours?  If so, how should I plan to do that?  Thanks for any help.  It will be my first trip to KD.