Kings Dominion (KD) Discussion Thread

The million $ question is . . .

 

Why is Volcano so finicky with operations?

 

Because... Intamin.

Just for the record, the other Intamin had absolutely zero downtime the day I visited the park. So...

 

Because... Launched Intamin.

There's a chance I might be able to make it to the park on Saturday, 10/20. How are the lines with Fast Lane Plus? I know at King's Island that everything is under ten minutes with FL+, so I'm hoping for more of the same.

 

Also, how's the beer situation there? I remember during our only visit a couple years ago that we could only find one place to get a beer and you couldn't go further than the patio.

I haven't been during Halloween but fast lane plus is fantastic here because just like Kings Island almost all of the fast lane entrances put you straight into the station so I can't imagine it would be more than 10 mins for anything except maybe Twisted Timbers.

The only coaster I remember having a wait with FastLane was Backlot since the coaster was only running one train and the merge point was further back than the others.

I was told you can take beer anywhere except Planet Snoopy. I am not sure if you will be able to take the beer in lines for rides, though. There are several places that sell beer, especially near the front of the park.

Both times I've been to Kings Dominion we've drank fairly heavily and I distinctly recall beer jail both times. That said, there is plenty of places to get booze. Two years ago during Haunt they even had additional temporary bars set up that we checked out. Also, FL+ is pretty great here, it literally dumps you into the back row of I305, all the other rides the wait is minimal.

Kings Dominion has its own beer now, too. It's brewed by Center of the Universe in nearby Ashland (the IPA is petty good). This brewery has improved quite a bit in the last year or two.

COTU was one of our favorite spots we hit on our trip down to Kings Dominion this year. We weren't able to get the KD beer while we were at the park, but we made it up to the actual brewery on our day back towards home and had a great time and good brews.

Went to Haunt two Friday's ago and never posted. I didn't take too many pictures because I was busy trying to catch as many rides as I could. First of the night was Drop Tower and was the only person on it. Have to say, that was pretty surreal! Then got a back to back on 305 without having to get off at night. Super intense and as always, way better at night! After that, took two spins ones Delirium which was awesome because at the top of the swing, you broke free of the fog. Got one back row ride on TT in the dark"ish". Tons of lights on the track and from the mazes it isn't really in the dark. Last ride of the night was on Dominator which would've been so much better if they turned the bus lot lights off!

Now for the Haunt stuff. I didn't do any mazes because those aren't my thing.

Necropolis looked awesome and is always one of my favorite areas. Theming is always on point, great setting, and tons of scare actors. Didn't make it into the Lair as the people I was with took one step in and turned right back around. The amount of fog and strobe lights was impressive and I would've had a hard time walking through there.

IronWorx just looks cool. Got lucky as the fog completely settled into the walkway and you could barely see six feet in front of you. Plenty of scare actors in character!

CarnEvil was well staffed with enthusiastic characters.

The Yard had an awesome set up and was great to see them expanding a maze outside into the area surrounding it!

Didn't go through the Congo area as we just ran out of time.

Caught the Blood Drums show. Seems to be very similar to the show they had a few years ago when they had Blood Dums then. Definitely seemed upgraded with video wall panels and a ridiculously loud sound system! The video panels were definitely a nice addition to the Overlord show.

Lastly, the fog was insane! Like, way more fog than I ever remember having seen at the park. Had a great time and hope that I can make another trip before the end of the season!

View of the fountains and stage from the Eiffel Tower

Look at all of the fog coming out of the IronWorx zone!

I haven't personally been there to see / confirm it but I'm seeing some reports that Twisted Timbers now allows phones in the queue and they now have zippered pouches on the seat backs. Operators apparently check to ensure that they're zipped shut before lowering the restraint.

^Yep--they have zippered pouches under the seats now, although the "no cell phones" sign is still up at the queue entrance.

Nice photos from the Eiffel Tower. I was at Haunt on Saturday night, and I'm planning to post a TR later this week.

I haven't personally been there to see / confirm it but I'm seeing some reports that Twisted Timbers now allows phones in the queue and they now have zippered pouches on the seat backs. Operators apparently check to ensure that they're zipped shut before lowering the restraint.

Interesting approach to trust humans to not be s**theads and pull their phones our after leaving the station.

Interesting to see if this is a test and it'll carry over to Steel Vengeance. I'm personally more in favor of free lockers for certain time frame than charge after that.

^Yep--they have zippered pouches under the seats now, although the "no cell phones" sign is still up at the queue entrance.

 

Nice photos from the Eiffel Tower. I was at Haunt on Saturday night, and I'm planning to post a TR later this week.

Awesome! They had those pouches on New Texas Giant and they seemed to work well. Hopefully something like that can make its way to Steel Vengeance if it works for Cedar Fair.

fingers crossed that humanity follows the rules, and the pouches work!

they seemed to work well at Texas Giant when I was there on Labor Day - despite the sheer number of folks in the park. . everyone seemed to be following the rules and using the zippered pocket on the seat.

so I have a little tiny bit of faith in humanity based on that . . .not much, but a tiny bit.

I haven't personally been there to see / confirm it but I'm seeing some reports that Twisted Timbers now allows phones in the queue and they now have zippered pouches on the seat backs. Operators apparently check to ensure that they're zipped shut before lowering the restraint.

 

Interesting approach to trust humans to not be s**theads and pull their phones our after leaving the station.

 

Interesting to see if this is a test and it'll carry over to Steel Vengeance. I'm personally more in favor of free fluffy, fluffy bunnies filled with medicine and goo for certain time frame than charge after that.

We'll see, but from what I noticed, you'd have to be a contortionist to pull your phone out of that zipped pocket after the restraint was down and locked.

I haven't personally been there to see / confirm it but I'm seeing some reports that Twisted Timbers now allows phones in the queue and they now have zippered pouches on the seat backs. Operators apparently check to ensure that they're zipped shut before lowering the restraint.

 

Interesting approach to trust humans to not be s**theads and pull their phones our after leaving the station.

 

Interesting to see if this is a test and it'll carry over to Steel Vengeance. I'm personally more in favor of free fluffy, fluffy bunnies filled with medicine and goo for certain time frame than charge after that.

 

We'll see, but from what I noticed, you'd have to be a contortionist to pull your phone out of that zipped pocket after the restraint was down and locked.

To add on here, the zippered pockets are not on the seat back in front of you, but on your seat front below you between your legs. Your calves rub up against the pocket if you brace yourself in that manner.

Yeah, it's almost impossible to reach the pouch during the ride with the restraint down. They were there in August, but not being used yet.

Yep....

Before anyone freaks out about that land clearing, there was a thread in the KD FB group... the land is NOT owned by the park. Calm down.

Also, good news about the pouches. Excited to try them when I'm down there really soon.

The Winterfest ride lineup has been announced...

God I love Six Flags Great Adventure.

3/13 on coasters

I mean that's still better than no coasters but Six Flags is racing circles around them.

I'll give it to them for opening Dominator. Most surprised Woodstock Express won't be running.

Analysis of KD's Winterfest potential offerings.

 

See, I was thinking more like the attached map (red areas are closed, green circled rides are open).

 

 

Just bumping my own prediction from last year when this was announced...wasn't that far off, aside from the whole Safari Village theory LOL.

3/13 on coasters

 

I mean that's still better than no coasters but Six Flags is racing circles around them.

I understand that they have different approaches to their winter events but I do think it’s a bit insane that the Six Flags Park in Massachusetts (and likely the one north of Chicago) has a better ride lineup than the Cedar Fair parks in South Carolina and now Virginia.

Aside from that, I still find some of their decisions puzzling even aside from the coaster thing. I’m not here to tell anyone how to run a theme park because I admittedly don’t know sh*t but like, basically the entire kids area is open but the indoor family friendly shooting dark ride with heat is closed??? The Racer 75 area is open but the Ferris wheel and Windseeker are closed when everyone knows that family friendly rides that allow people the opportunity to get an aerial view of the lights are often the single most popular type of ride at holiday events (and Windseeker has the added bonus of an amazing light package that would honestly do their job for them in terms of decorating that area with awesome lights).

I don’t get it.

3/13 on coasters

 

I mean that's still better than no coasters but Six Flags is racing circles around them.

 

I understand that they have different approaches to their winter events but I do think it’s a bit insane that the Six Flags Park in Massachusetts (and likely the one north of Chicago) has a better ride lineup than the Cedar Fair parks in South Carolina and now Virginia.

 

Aside from that, I still find some of their decisions puzzling even aside from the coaster thing. I’m not here to tell anyone how to run a theme park because I admittedly don’t know sh*t but like, basically the entire kids area is open but the indoor family friendly shooting dark ride with heat is closed??? The Racer 75 area is open but the Ferris wheel and Windseeker are closed when everyone knows that family friendly rides that allow people the opportunity to get an aerial view of the lights are often the single most popular type of ride at holiday events (and Windseeker has the added bonus of an amazing light package that would honestly do their job for them in terms of decorating that area with awesome lights).

 

I don’t get it.

I agree 110% except for windseeker. Imagine spinning in circles in temperatures in the 30's, 200 feet in the air. The Eiffel tower would make the most sense. You could get a great view of the lights from there.

I'm also perplexed about the 2 indoor rides being closed. The dark ride could easily get a holiday overlay, and the "indoor" coaster is a no brainer. Also, I dont see the adult bumper cars listed.

Wow I completely missed the dark rides being closed. I thought the same about Windseeker being so high in the air, but then I remembered Great Adventure keeps their SkyScreamer open. I distinctly remember riding it while it was in the 20s.

While it doesn't top some of the Holiday in the Park lineups at Six Flags, this is still a whole lot better than what we had available a few years ago during winter.