Kings Dominion (KD) Discussion Thread

How does this sound? This is a B&M Hyper named "Centurion" I made in NoLimits 2.

Height: 230 ft.

Drop: 220 ft.

Speed: 80 MPH

Length: 6,126 feet

Angle of Descent: 81 degrees

The coaster is a cross between Intimidator 305 and Apollo's Chariot; a Fury 325 lite.

It starts out with an array of turns and over banks, pulling strong negative Gs. It then dives under a bridge, which is the entrance to the park. After a very forceful helix, it finishes off with floater air time hills.

It has the stadium style seating and the color scheme is navy blue track with neon green supports. It will be the first ever glow-in-the-dark coaster.

^ Glow in the dark coaster?

Hell yes.

This thread has gone insane!

^It has indeed, but that's what makes it a fun discussion! I love when people share their visions of what a park might/should receive. It's really fun and interesting to engage in and watch.

Okay, lets do the math (I hate math):

 

1. Cedar Fair said a budget for $120 million

2. We know of five POSSIBLE parks at this point: CP, CW, KD, WOF, and MIA.

3. Divide $120 million by 5.

4. You have $24 million for each park.

5. THERE'S NO EXCUSE that these parks could have a 2016 roller coaster.

 

Heck, you could even get a B&M coaster with $24 million! Take a look at Thunderbird which is the world's first launched wing coaster. That was $22 million! Then you would have $2 million to spend on creating the theme for the ride.

 

Now I could be totally wrong about these numbers, so don't jump down my throat about how "inaccurate" this may be, but it's something to think about. At this point Cedar Fair is carefully overlooking each park to see what the public may want, and whatever that might be I truly hope it's a ROLLER COASTER! (I also posted this on WOF thread, so . . . yeah!)

Each park is given a budget based on their performance the prev year, I think. So its not really split down the middle. as that wouldn't be fair to pump the same amount of money in to a park that did poorly as you would a park that did great. Its up to that park to use all said budget or not. It's not like one persons makes the decision as to what each park gets, they are installing coasters park by park which is evident when you see some parks not get anything. Each park has it's own business plan as cedar fair is not operated like a mcdonalds franchise.

It works like a raise on a job. The company has X amount of dollars budgeted for raises. If I did better than the next man (in the parks case if my overall profits precentage was better) my raise is gonna be higher (im gonna get the bigger chunk of the budget). Then at that point it would be up to that park to decide what they want to get with said budget.

This is my understanding of how some things were explained to me so don't take it as pure gospel lol...

That doesn't sound sensible. A park's budget should be based on a well researched projection of ROI.

Well...I didn't want to get into a long technical post covering every aspect of what determines the parks budget. I would lump ROI into prev year's profits.

Okay, lets do the math (I hate math):

 

1. Cedar Fair said a budget for $120 million

2. We know of five POSSIBLE parks at this point: CP, CW, KD, WOF, and MIA.

3. Divide $120 million by 5.

4. You have $24 million for each park.

5. THERE'S NO EXCUSE that these parks could have a 2016 roller coaster.

 

Heck, you could even get a B&M coaster with $24 million! Take a look at Thunderbird which is the world's first launched wing coaster. That was $22 million! Then you would have $2 million to spend on creating the theme for the ride.

 

Now I could be totally wrong about these numbers, so don't jump down my throat about how "inaccurate" this may be, but it's something to think about. At this point Cedar Fair is carefully overlooking each park to see what the public may want, and whatever that might be I truly hope it's a ROLLER COASTER! (I also posted this on WOF thread, so . . . yeah!)

 

Each park is given a budget based on their performance the prev year, I think. So its not really split down the middle. as that wouldn't be fair to pump the same amount of money in to a park that did poorly as you would a park that did great. Its up to that park to use all said budget or not. It's not like one persons makes the decision as to what each park gets, they are installing coasters park by park which is evident when you see some parks not get anything. Each park has it's own business plan as cedar fair is not operated like a mcdonalds franchise.

 

It works like a raise on a job. The company has X amount of dollars budgeted for raises. If I did better than the next man (in the parks case if my overall profits precentage was better) my raise is gonna be higher (im gonna get the bigger chunk of the budget). Then at that point it would be up to that park to decide what they want to get with said budget.

 

This is my understanding of how some things were explained to me so don't take it as pure gospel lol...

That doesn't sound sensible. A park's budget should be based on a well researched projection of ROI.

No, the budget is neither divided by percentage, nor evenly per park. It's all mainly based on what each park will require for the year. This is roughly how the budget has been used the past few years:

• $25-30mil for one park to receive a major coaster addition.
  
• $5-10mil for secondary additions in the chain such as Larson Flying Scooters, Zamperla Disk-O's, or Planet/Camp Snoopy expansions.
  
• $8-10mil for all water park additions.
  
• $10-15mil for one park to receive a dark ride addition or a coaster.
  
• A large percentage can go towards a major chain-wide additions such as the FUNtv system.
  
• The remaining amount is divided based on the need for general improvements by a park-by-park basis, such as ride modifications, infrastructure upgrades, etc. The new associate training centers being built at Michigan's Adventure and Valleyfair are a perfect example of what would fall under this category.

Basically, all of the parks give Cedar Fair a "wish list," so to speak, for what they would like to happen for the next 5 years (which we're currently in the middle of one right now) then the capital budget will be divided out depending on what each park will need for those years and when Cedar Fair decides what parks receive major additions for that year. Most of the budget planning will be done by June for the following year, so not only do they have to worry about getting a lot of the parks open around this time, but also corporate themselves have to get the budget for 2016 ready as well.

So, essentially, since there's no dark ride for 2016 being built, the budget for that can easily go towards another coaster in the chain. Unfortunately, this means that only 3 parks in the chain could receive coasters ($16mil already going to Cedar Point, Michigan's Adventure possibly with $7-10mil needed for theirs, then the other $10-12mil for another park.) So to put simply, these massive coasters many people are speculating for Kings Dominion and Canada's Wonderland for 2016 are not going to happen.

Why in the world would you put two B&Ms with similar elements practically on top of each other? This is Cedar Fair, not SeaWorld.

I'm trying to figure out what Seaworld park you're referring to.

Seaworld Orlando: Kraken (Floorless) & Manta (Flying); nothing like each other & not that close to each other.

Seaworld San Antonio: Great White (Invert); no others.

Seaworld San Diego: No B&M.

BGT: Montu (Invert), Kumba (Sit Down) & SkeiKra (Floorless Dive); none are near each other and all different ride type.

BGW: Alpengeist (Invert), Griffon (Floorless Dive) & Apollo's Chariot (Hyper); while Alpengiest & Griffon both have Immelmanns, they are all completely different ride types.

I guess you would be referring to BGW but still those are different experiences.

^^that budget thing is really interesting. I imagine cedar fair dealing out piles of money to the different parks like in the mafia or something llol in a dark room with just one lamp and a bunch of guys with briefcases and straight faces taking this money away lol.

See...now I was informed, by park personnel, that its the parks themselves that determine what they get. Not cedar fair as a whole. I was advised its not a list sent up to cedar fair stating what they want and cedar fair hands out additions like chtisgmas morning. I think there should be an interview to see how things are determined with some ceo's of parks lol...

See...now I was informed, by park personnel, that its the parks themselves that determine what they get. Not cedar fair as a whole. I was advised its not a list sent up to cedar fair stating what they want and cedar fair hands out additions like Christmas morning. I think there should be an interview to see how things are determined with some ceo's of parks lol...

I don't know....

If I had to guess, I'd say that Cedar Point gets a dive machine 2016, and Kings Dominion might get an invert or hyper (or a combination of the two, that'd be pretty hype) or a Triotech, but KD is definitely due for a coaster-like contraption of some sort. In 2017, I think that Kings Island gets a Fury-esque B&M giga and that Valleyfair gets a Triotech.

In the next ten years or so, I would expect to see a Triotech at each Cedar Fair park.

In the next fifteen years, I think that we'll see a gigacoaster at each CF park, since they're expensive but are nice draws.

On a side note, Kings Dominion and Carowinds both applied for new coasters in 2014 and 2015. Guess which park got the coaster? Park execs request roller coasters all the time, but only corporate CF can approve these requests.

I don't think they both applied for new coasters in 2014 and 2015. I think, from what I read, cedar fair was looking at both parks to see which park it would develop more into a destination park. Carowinds won that battle probably due to its good relations to city and county in both north and south Carolina. In return, carowinds got the tax incentive money for building fury which caused some locals to say " tax money paid for fury 325". The pitch was more people would visit which means more people revenue for the city. At carowinds media days, its swamped with politicians and tourism affiliates from both states. It also seems every one of them has somethingvto say which makes it longer lol. Would fury 325 had been built without the tax money...yep but cedar fair knew carowinds relationship is great. Will kings dominion be developed, yep but not at the rate of carowinds because not on are they using cedar fair money, they are using tax money from north and south Carolina!

I don't think they both applied for new coasters in 2014 and 2015. I think, from what I read, cedar fair was looking at both parks to see which park it would develop more into a destination park. Carowinds won that battle probably due to its good relations to city and county in both north and south Carolina. In return, carowinds got the tax incentive money for building fury which caused some locals to say " tax money paid for fury 325". The pitch was more people would visit which means more people revenue for the city. At carowinds media days, its swamped with politicians and tourism affiliates from both states. It also seems every one of them has somethingvto say which makes it longer lol. Would fury 325 had been built without the tax money...yep but cedar fair knew carowinds relationship is great. Will kings dominion be developed, yep but not at the rate of carowinds because not on are they using cedar fair money, they are using tax money from north and south Carolina!

You have a very solid point there.

Sorry to go off topic, but this is soo.... cool that it must be posted sooner rather than later! Ya'll have to check out these awesome neon lights built into the new "Thunder Falls" waterside as part of the new "Hurricane Heights" slide complex in the new

Kings Dominion Soak City!

-Posted by Aquatech Solutions Facebook page.

That slide looks AMAZING. Looks like I have to go to the water park this year!

The great thing about it is a lot of existing slides can have a section or two removed and add a section with the translucent r1ngs since it requires no electricity to make it look like lights!

Did anyone see how the ending on the Crypt is a little different now? It like locks inverted before ending.

Huh. I wish I was on that ride. But, that is weird. I don't think the ride normally does that. Maybe they're trying something new?

Did anyone see how the ending on the Crypt is a little different now? It like locks inverted before ending.

I'm at least 99% sure that it's always done that and I highly doubt that the ride motion is able to be modified on such short notice.

P.S. Who even rides the Crypt? That piece of scrap metal is empty on the Fourth.

I'm at least 99% sure that it's always done that and I highly doubt that the ride motion is able to be modified on such short notice.

P.S. Who even rides the Crypt? That piece of scrap metal is empty on the Fourth.

I rode it today. It's probably my favorite flat in the park, other than Drop Tower. It's always a crapshoot with whether friends will ride it or if they're too frightened, which I think highly contributes to its usual short lines. I don't think there's any ride at KD that gathers a bigger crowd to watch. I wish more parks had this model instead of the normal Topspins!

I'm at least 99% sure that it's always done that and I highly doubt that the ride motion is able to be modified on such short notice.

P.S. Who even rides the Crypt? That piece of scrap metal is empty on the Fourth.

 

I rode it today. It's probably my favorite flat in the park, other than Drop Tower. It's always a crapshoot with whether friends will ride it or if they're too frightened, which I think highly contributes to its usual short lines. I don't think there's any ride at KD that gathers a bigger crowd to watch. I wish more parks had this model instead of the normal Topspins!

You should see Everlands 13 inversion cycle, they run on their version.

I think this would be a great location for a new coaster.

I think this would be a great location for a new coaster.

How would you get to it?

That would be the last place the next coaster will go. It financially doesn't make sense to remove and rebuild the largest building (the park's warehouse) for a coaster.

If the Shockwave rumors are true, expect the next coaster to go there and branch outward around the site.