Kings Dominion

Kings Dominion, for losing one of their star attractions (The Volcano: The Blast Coaster at the Kings Dominion in the Doswell, Virginia) still has a solid 1-2-3, but I feel there was a big gap between the rides that are great and I want to ride a bunch and the rest of the coasters. But first, a note on the park:

I went during their carnival festival or something? Apparently it was new this year, but it was wonderful. I didn’t actually watch any of the shows or see a parade or anything, but just seeing all of the colorful decorations in addition to the trees and fountains, especially on International Street, really made this a beautiful entrance. This kinda fell apart going back by i305, but I’ll take some prettyness over no. Also, with my home park being SFGAm, I’m very used to walking a literal mile to get from one side of the park to the other, because of the circular layout, but KD had these random paths everywhere, which made it a quick walk to get really anywhere.

Now for the main event, ordered least favorite to favorite:

Avalanche (Intamin Bobsled x1)

This was one of the coasters that I didn’t expect to be great, but I thought it was going to be fun because of the unique track style. The portion before the midcourse really didn’t do anything for me, but the second half was a little more interesting. I was going in to this expecting a smooth ride, with the transitions into the brake run being the rough parts, however I found the opposite was true. The transitions into the brake run were pretty smooth actually, but whenever there was a seam in the track there was a sizeable jolt. If they could figure out a way to put pneumatic tires on this thing, it would actually be quite fun. Most interesting part for me was the storage track, where it looked like they had a transfer track with multiple levels? Never seen that before. 2/10

Apple Zapple (Mack Extended Wild Mouse x1)

Another one of the small coasters that I was curious in checking out. As with most enthusiasts, a wild mouse is kinda boring, except the bunny hills at the end are quite fun, so I was hoping the large first drop would give me some excitement, but my hopes were dashed quickly, and the bunny hills weren’t as fun as other wild mice I’ve been on. I found the cars to be very uncomfortable, especially with this coasters emphasis on lateral switchbacks. 2.5/10

Backlot Stunt Coaster (Premier Family Launch x1)

My first of the 4, and not off to a good start. Launch was ok, and the layout up until the show scene block was pretty decent. The show scene was a dissapointment, no effects worked, and basically we had to wait for the train to clear off the next block so we just sat in literal silence for 15 seconds. The indoor section was fun, but the brakes following the drop out of the sign were harsh and caught me off guard. Thankfully these restraints gave a bit more room than FoF, which we will get to later. 3.5/10

Woodstock Express (PTC Family Woody x1)

Basically a large version of the classic kiddie PTC figure 8 layout (Little Dipper, SFGAm, or Meteor, Little Amerricka, being examples). The drop was ok, but there were a couple of pops in the back row with these wonderful buzz bars. Solid family coaster, and pretty smooth too. 4/10

Racer 75 (Racing PTC woodies, two credits but they’re the same ride experience, x3, get over the name change already)

Only rode back row. Drop was good, and I got a nice pop of air off the turnaround. Not the smoothest thing, but the vibration improved the otherwise boring ride experience for me. Also those tunnels were a bad idea, my ears were nearly bleeding from all of the noises. 4+/10

Flight of Fear (Premier Indoor Launch x1)

Gah the restraints sucked. Those foot/shin guards were awful, they pushed down on my shins and were just an annoyance the whole time. If those were just a bit higher, I wouldn’t have minded the suitcase lap bar. Anyhow, the launch and cobra roll were good, but after that it was kinda meh till the corkscrew, which had a pretty jarring transition but was still fun. Turn off the midcourse please 🙂 4.5/10

Anaconda (Arrow Custom Looper x2)

Curving drop was a lot of fun under the water, loop and immleman were forceful, and the overall ride experience was surprisingly smooth for an Arrow. The midcourse hit so hard that I got hangtime on the corkscrew, which was neat, but overall a fun (and pretty coaster). 5.5/10

Grizzly (PTC Woody x1)

Woulda been boring if it weren’t so rough. Like nearly Zeus turnaround pre-retrack rough. There were some points that it was so rough, that you jolted up and got an ejector pop on a piece of straight track. Like wtf this was absolutely amazing. I just imagine like running away from a grizzly and I was tripping and stumbling but I still escaped. Idk, the roughness took this boring coaster to a memorable coaster for me and it totally worked. Too bad the entrance is buried through a gift shop. 6.5/10

Dominator (B&M Floorless x2)

The park’s only B&M does well. Back row left seat had some nice whip on the drop, and the elements were all smooth forceful whippyness, with some solid floater off the midcourse. Probably would have a higher rating for me if I got a front row ride but idk. Cool to ride another defunct park’s B&M! (My other one is Goliath from SFNO) 7/10

Twisted Timbers (RMC Hybrid, x7)

In any other park this ride would the best ride there, but even though it isn’t number one, it’s still a 10/10 for me. Back left is by far the best ride for me. You float and twist down that drop, get some insane airtime on the three gigantic camel backs. The cutback really did nothing for me, but the real insane part of this ride for me was right after. The drop trick track double up just whips you out of your seat, while twisting you at the same time, then you take a HARD right turn (seriously I didn’t know that train could turn that tight) and then you’re whipped into a left banking airtime hill, immediatly back to the right and then you hit the zero – g roll, which feels like it’s in slo mo right after that insanity. That little part right there was absolutely fantastic, and my favorite sequence of elements on a coaster right now (TT as a whole is my #3). One more little airtime hill up into that amazingly jank looking brake run. Smooth, forceful, rerideable and absolutely insane. This is only my third RMC, but I’m addicted and I can’t get enough. 10/10

Intimidator 305 (Intamin Giga, x6)

This thing is insane. After the speedy cable lift, it’s non stop intensity. My first ride I managed not to black out, but for my other 5 rides I only managed that feat once more (It was 100 degrees freedom units and sunny, and I was a bit dehydrated). I made it the majority of the low turn right after the drop, but once we started heading up that hill, it was lights out on my vision, or my conciousness. If I didn’t black out, I would regain my vision by the end of the large camelback, but if I did I wouldn’t come around until the second airtime hill or even as late as the second whippy turn. Anyhow, I don’t remember that large airtime hill much, but it is absolutely necessary to allow people to regain their conciousness. After that, the second airtime hill is insane, really a lot of fun turning, popping into airtime, then turning again. Following that was the nearly neck snapping whippyness of a transition which was absolutely fantastic. That first one was the best of them all, but the rest were pretty great too. The trims on the last airtime hill make me wish they weren’t there, becuase I feel like it killed the ride’s momentum a little too much, but I guess I see why they exist. Whipping into the brake run finally allows you to reflect on the crazy experience you just put your body through. I’m pretty sure this ride is why Kiga will be B&M, because this coaster is so insane that the genereal public are scared away from it and is nearly always a walk-on, even on the relatively busy day I went. It was a great ride, but too intense for me to marathon for more than a 3 ride burst. I actually got to the point where I enjoyed blacking out? Is that bad? 10+/10 would destroy my body again.

Tl;dr: Definitely more of a true regional park, especially with Volcano gone. Still definitely worth the trip. They could use some more mid range coasters (I’m thinking B&M Invert (launched??), a Mack extreme (or standard) spinner, and a shuttle of some type and a B&M Hyper), but overall it’s a good park, and hopefully has a bright future ahead.

Avalanche for the cred, AppZapp for the cred, Backlot for the cred, Woodstock must ride, Racer 75 for the creds, FoF for the creds, Anaconda must ride, Grizzly if you’re not a pussy, Dominatior must ride, Twisted Timbers must ride, I305 must ride