Yesterday I went out to Kings Dominion for the first time in a couple seasons with my family. The weather was HOT! Unbelievably hot! I arrived around 9:30, got my Cedar Fair Maxx Pass processed, then proceeded in to the park.

We waited about 20 minutes until it was 10:30 and the rest of the park beyond the entry area was open. Obviously 95% of the guests ran straight for Volcano, we calmly walked back and joined the line just outside the station. After waiting about 6 or 7 trains total I was in the front seat.

This ride was a very pleasant surprise. It was smooth as glass and I had totally forgotten how intense the blast out of the top of the mountain was. This ride all in all never did a lot for me, though. It’s a fun ride and I enjoy it, but I always felt outside of the huge first inversion it wasn’t a really fantastic ride. The heartline rolls are pretty fun, as is the final drop onto the brakes, but it just isn’t too much to get excited about if you ask me. Still a fun ride that deserves an 8.5 out of 10 I’d say.

Next up I walked across the path and got on Tomb Raider Firefall with no wait. This is a pretty insane flat ride, extremely intense flips. The effects are pretty neat as well. I enjoyed it a good bit.

After this, I got my only new coaster credit for the day on Italian Job Turbo Coaster. There was about a one-train wait for the front seat. The launch isn’t very intense, but the train really ends up flying into the helix. The helix was unbelievably intense to me, I wasn’t expecting so much g-force out of it, and I think I even grayed out a little. The rest of the ride is a step up from your average family coaster, some of the drops and turns are pretty exciting, the highlight for me was the helix at the beginning and pitch-black tunnel to finish it off. Although it’s a short coaster, it’s still a blast. I’ll give it a 7 out of 10.

Next up was Anaconda. I walked right on my favorite row, first row of fifth car. The first half of the ride was pretty good, it didn’t bang my head or neck up too bad at all, and the vertical loop and sidewinder in particular were pretty sweet. After the midcourse brake though everything went horribly wrong. I don’t know if it was just my ride, or if Cedar Fair made a permanent change, but the mid course brake wasn’t nearly as strong as in the past. This resulted in a severe beating through the second half of the ride. This also ruined the normally great corkscrews at the end. Rather then barely hanging in my seat, the train had much more speed then normal thus taking away most the hang time. It was pretty sad. Also, they added seatbelts? What on earth is up with that? I give it a 6 out of 10.

After this I went over to Flight of Fear. I waited 2 trains for the front seat. The launch was great, and the first three inversions were really intense. It was interesting, rather then having near pitch-black lighting, they had a couple reddish/purplish lights placed around the course that lit the ride up reasonably well. I think a mechanic also forgot to turn off an obnoxious fluorescent light in the corner of the ride around the transfer track down by the corkscrew… The mid-course brake still just about stops the train completely, resulting in a fairly boring second half of the ride (minus the corkscrew finale). The inversions are fun, though. But Flight of Fear can’t compete with SFA’s Jokers Jinx in my opinion. Either way, I give it an 8 out of 10.

After getting just about all of Congo done very quickly we got some lunch at Bubba Gump’s. Its pretty good food, but I still think they give you less shrimp then they did when the restaurant first opened.

Next up was Shockwave. I waited about 30 minutes for the back seat. I really wish they could do something to make these stupid TOGO standup trains load faster… Anyways, the ride wasn’t too horrible. The first drop and loop were still great fun, the helix banged me up a little bit, and of course the final turnaround and bunny hop are still as horrible as always. And of course they cap it off by having you sit in the sun for 10 minutes waiting for the other train to dispatch from the station. I guess a 4 out of 10 is fair.

I took a ride on Drop Zone next. There was no wait what so ever which was a great surprise. I also got to sit in my favorite section, the seats facing Volcano and the water park. I forgot how unbelievably tall this thing was, pretty great stuff. The ride itself and the lack of a line was great, but the attendants they had working this ride were pretty bad. The guy telling people where to go seemed to have a hard time counting the people off and the guys actually checking restraints were much slower then they used to be when this ride first opened. Still my favorite drop ride, though.

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Rebel Yell is better backwards.

Now it was time for Rebel Yell forwards and backwards. Backwards was great, no wait for the very last seat. The last seat is a must for the great visuals and the killer airtime coming off of the first drop and especially the turnaround. Forwards was less stellar (as always). I sat in the fourth row, it was smoother then I remembered, but had basically no airtime at all and the entire return trip after the turnaround was really pretty boring. Backwards gets an 8, forwards get a 6.

I got on Ricochet next, that’s always a pretty decent fun time, there was about a 5 minute wait. The first drop is still really fun, but the best part was the lack of trim brakes during the first set of turns, there were loads of fun laterals. This was a big improvement over the old heavy trims that ruined the wild mouse aspect of this ride by slowing the cars down way too much. The rest of the ride is decent, some nice dips and turns and such. I give it a 7ish out of 10.

Hurler was next. I waited one train for the front seat. This ride was MUCH better then it used to be, the work they did on it before last year was definitely beneficial. It was smooth, fast, and had great airtime on some of the hills. I give it an 8 out of 10.

Then I waited 45 minutes for Hypersonic, I hate this rides line, its stinking’ hot as heck and slow moving with the small eight passenger cars… At least it didn’t break down and had fast moving attendants. I sat in the back seat. I really wish this ride didn’t receive “coffin cars” with HUGE covers all over the back of the seats making it impossible to see anything if you aren’t in the front seat. The launch was amazing, faster then anything I’ve ever experienced. By far the most intense launch out there. The vertical hill was also very awesome. After that though, you get beat up real bad and it just isn’t much fun at all. Still though, that launch and hill is crazy. I give it a 7 out of 10.

Grizzly was next, I waited a couple trains for the front seat. It was extremely awesome, this is still one of the best wood coasters I’ve been on, it’s so fast and the tunnel is too ridiculous. There was loads of airtime, laterals, and all that good stuff. I give it a 9 out of 10.

I couldn’t leave without getting on all the coasters, so next we headed up to the front of the park to get on Scooby Doo’s Ghoster Coaster and Avalanche.

Scooby Doo was pretty fun in the back seat; the only real problem is with how small those trains are… I have to sit sideways and use an entire row for myself. It gets a 6.5 out of 10.

Avalanche was about a 15 minute wait for the front seat and was still very fun. The final two helixes are surprisingly intense and is the highlight of a fun ride. I’ll give it a 7 out of 10.

After Avalanche we called it a day and went home at about 4 o clock.


All around it was a fun time. Kings Dominion is a great park and I can’t wait to see what Cedar Fair does to improve the park (hopefully a B&M coaster?). The only real bad thing I could find were less then satisfactory employees in some areas. Some rides had less energetic and fast moving ops and attendants on the coasters then I’m used to seeing at Kings Dominion… But going on a Saturday, let alone during Memorial Day weekend, and getting all the coasters done with little to no waiting was a very nice experience.

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Rebel Yell is better backwards.

Sounds like you had a good time. I really enjoyed this park when I visited it for my first time back in the Fall.

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Something Wicked This Way Comes

Glad you had a good time, I agree with you on some of the employees. I thought the ops on Hypersonic were fast, but the ones on shockwave were terrible.

Weird, you said FOF was lit up very well inside this year, when I went back in April it seemed much darker and almost pitch black IMO, much darker than in years past.

I totally agree on XLC, the launch is out this world crazy and the hill too, but after that, hold on for dear life b/c its nothing but shakiness and headbanging.

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Depression sets in-its the off season!!

Sounds like you had an awesome time. I hope sometime I can go to Kings Dominion, ifI don't get a chance to go to Kings Island, which is about 4 hours closer.

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When I went to PKD a few weeks ago I thought I was hanging out of the corkscrews enough in Anaconda . It was one thing I see differently than you in enjoying the ride. Perhaps they made an adjustment in the last few weeks on the brakes.

The launch on the XLC is amazing but the coffin car wacked my head on the hill. I do not like the ride from there on.

Grizzly is a really great woodie. There was some violent shaking in the tunnel but the ride is way better still.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Rookie Year CHILLERLC1
Philadelphia Phillies - the 2008 World Champions!!!
SF: Obama Windmill Energy Spin Coaster?

I'm suprised that they finally reopened shockwave....after the accident in Japan earlier this month I don't have any plans to ride the thing anytime soon though.

I was wandering if it was going to be open at all on my trip... That thing is pretty bad, I would rather them remove that ride then XLC.


I didn't notice the bizarre braking on Anaconda even when I was watching the ride run some cycles, so it may have even just been a bizarre ride for me. Eiither way, those brakes need to be on hard otherwise people are gonna get beaten to a pulp on that thing. I was thankful I'm tall enough that my head goes over the restraints...

The tunnel is the highlight IMO on Grizzly, the airtime and laterals combined on the hill in there is insane.

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Rebel Yell is better backwards.

The element in the tunnel was a sure surprise on Grizzly.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Rookie Year CHILLERLC1
Philadelphia Phillies - the 2008 World Champions!!!
SF: Obama Windmill Energy Spin Coaster?

So are you saying just because the one in Japan derailed that the togo here is going to screw up, lol thats a pretty lame reason not to ride it. So if a B&M crashes over in Calafornia, are you going to stop riding the B&Ms here?

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Depression sets in-its the off season!!

Normally when a type of ride from any given maufacturer has a major problem like a mechanical failure, ALL the similar rides are forced to close down. Like last year when the Premeir launchers had a chasis issue on one ride, they were all forced to close down. The same thing also happened with the Vekoma SLC's a few years back.

It was not that far fetched that there could have been a more wide spread issue with TOGO axels in general, so its not a bad idea to show some level of concern and close all the rides down to insure another terrible accident doesn't happen.

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Rebel Yell is better backwards.

Well keep in mind that they already had one fatality on shockwave back in 99 so the ride itself already has a blemish on it's record.

I'd remove the ride & replace it with something more smooth & with better capacity because it really is a waste of space when a nice B&M could fit in there,possibly stretching over to the HS:XLC area as well.

What fatality was that? I hope its not the one where a teenager crawled out of his restraints b/c thats not the ride's fault.

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Depression sets in-its the off season!!

whether or not it was the rides fault isnt that big of deal sad to say. Because the GP still has the same reaction. "Like OMGZZzzz someone DIED on that THing!!!11one"

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