Tomb Raider:Firefall - I want one in my backyard

pretzel-loop · #1 03-18-2005, 11:42 PM

Tomb Raider:Firefall
Gold Pass Preview
March 18th, 2005 Time:7:45-9:00pm
Temp: 50 degrees
Weather: Clear skies, partial moon

On the way to Kings Dominion this evening, I told my wife, this ride better be worth the four hour trip from Germantown, MD (normally a two hour trip in non-rush hour but my wife is a Kindergarten teacher and couldn't leave earlier than 3:30). Boy was I surprised. This is by far the best themed ride I have seen at a mid-atlantic theme park to date!

Where do I begin, let me take you to Kings Dominion, it's dark outside. The rides in the Congo section of the park were operating and the park opened Scooby Doo for the kiddies to little to ride Tomb Raider.

The ride operator announces all clear, a few seconds later the music begins and the Huss Top Sping begins to raise. After reaching the top of the ride you quickly spin back through the ride and back to the top. A couple of blasts of the water jets and you tumble backwards several times and back up to the top again. Queue the fire and water jets and you start slowly descending back to towards it. More fire and water come up as you get closer to the bottom, the water sprays just enough to get you wet and if your on the end you might get a little more wet. The ride sequence might vary a little from what I wrote, but you get the jist of the ride. It does seem like it's a good ride program. Since I've never rode a Huss Top Spin before, I'll let those that have decide if it's insane or not. Total ride time according to my camcorder 2:22 or there abouts.

The theming of this ride is awesome!! The park really did a great job of timing the music to the ride and special effects.

However, the ride doesn't appear to be completely finished. There seems to be some sort of flame thrower on the right side of the ride that wasn't running this evening and some of the fake stones haven't been put back together. Other than that, the ride looks pretty much finished.

I did snap a few pictures. You can see them here . Sorry, my digital camera sucks at taking pictures at night and some of these are a little blurry but you will get the jist of what the ride is like. I'll have more pictures Sunday evening.

It was nice to see the park open Volcano:TBC, Scrambler, Scobby Doo Haunted Mansion and Avalanche. My wife and I had a good time this evening and can't wait to see the rest of Kings Dominion on Sunday. In the meantime, tomorrow, it's off to BGW for opening day.

Montu Man · #2 03-19-2005, 12:03 AM

Wow, I didn't expect the fire to literally explode, that looks awesome!

Pcw · #3 03-19-2005, 12:18 AM

Yeah, I never knew the fire would spread out like that. Looks really cool!

bk2004 · #4 03-19-2005, 01:40 AM

Looks great. Look how much larger the bodie of water is in front of the ride compared to the others that just have water jets. It's because of the fire.

The ride fits great in the area, and it's theming is spectacular. Now, Carowinds, take note!

pretzel-loop · #5 03-19-2005, 06:15 AM

Yeah. I read the description of the ride a second time a few days before I went. When I read it, I was like, wow! The flames and water are really going to shoot high. There were a few people bragging about how they got soaked on the ride. This is definetly a five star attraction in my book for PKD. The whole Congo area at night is going to be spectacular, with Tomb Raider and Volcano throwing flames up in the air. You have to hope they do some sort of theming to Avalanche. I don't know if there is another park that looks any better at night than PKD.

BatwingFan SFA · #6 03-19-2005, 10:54 AM

Sam had a few pics posted last night as well & the ride looks absolutely fantastic,I can hardly wait to get down there & take it for a spin myself....man july can't get here fast enough.

SFA should be taking notes on this because they could really use a top spin in their flat ride line up....granted they had a top spin sitting in pieces awaiting construction in 99 that was eventually shipped off to SFDL in 00

what a really stupid move on SF's part.

I read somewhere that Grizzly is gonna be down for extensive rennovation until May,I just hope they don't do any drastic reprofiling to it that'll ruin the ride forever.....I mean if it isn't broken don't fix it especially when they shoud be concentrating on impproving that giant piece of firewood right across the midway from it,& the only thing I can think of to fix that would be either gasoline & a match or breaking out the chainsaws!

DrachenFire96 · #7 03-19-2005, 01:35 PM

Is it me, or is it smaller than Tomb Raider at PKI? Maybe it's just me...or maybe its because it's outdoors that I am thinking that. Granted the Fire looks incredible. Looks to definately be more fun at night.

On a side note, this was an attraction desperately needed by PKD. They need MORE small/non-coaster rides, to draw guests away from the coasters some. I wanted this over a new coaster, though some of ya may think that's crazy thinking

Martin · #8 03-19-2005, 01:54 PM

Wow that looks amazing. The theming looks great and the fire explosion looks very cool. Wish I was there.

pretzel-loop · #9 03-19-2005, 07:52 PM

I think the Congo section of PKD took a major leap towards looking like a theme park for a major motion picture studio with the addition of Tomb Raider. The combination of Volcano spiting fire and The fire and water spitting Tomb Raider really makes this park stand out in my mind. Now, if they would just theme Avalanche so that it fits into the area.

BatwingFan SFA · #10 03-19-2005, 09:19 PM

PKD's model is the floorless version which is actually smaller than PKI's but not by much & the outdoor location is definitely a plus.

I think Paramount learned a lot from doing PKI's version first because most of the ride time for PKI's is actually spent in the queue looking at interactive theming with the ride itself only playing a small part in the overall experience....PKD chose to make it an outdoor model instead & decided the theme should fit & interact with the ride rather than the other way around.

**Wes** · #11 03-19-2005, 11:35 PM

wow this thing looks great.

I just might have to make a weekend trip up there to ride it this year

hulkrider04 · #12 03-20-2005, 03:32 PM

Themeing looks great!!!!!!

Johnny Upsidedown · #13 03-20-2005, 07:45 PM

Can you feel the heat from the fire as you are riding the ride?. And do the flames shoot up while riding. It does look cool and thanks for the great pics.
j

DrachenFire96 · #14 03-20-2005, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BatwingFan SFA

PKD's model is the floorless version which is actually smaller than PKI's but not by much & the outdoor location is definitely a plus.

I think Paramount learned a lot from doing PKI's version first because most of the ride time for PKI's is actually spent in the queue looking at interactive theming with the ride itself only playing a small part in the overall experience....PKD chose to make it an outdoor model instead & decided the theme should fit & interact with the ride rather than the other way around.

I thought it looked smaller...thanks for the clarification

Hector · #15 03-20-2005, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny Upsidedown

Can you feel the heat from the fire as you are riding the ride?. And do the flames shoot up while riding. It does look cool and thanks for the great pics.
j

I would say yes and yes.

Holy Crap that's a LOT of fire. Looks a lot more fun then Riptide at Knott's!