Do you think they installed Dominator backwards?

The loops and cobra roll face the parking lot, not the park. The brake run and lift face the park. It is more visual from the parking lot, but much less visual when you are acutally in the park. Thoughts?

Its called "curb appeal." The placement makes perfect sense to me.

Due to the semi-odd overall shape of the layout, it seems to best fit the location as-is. However, I do see what you're saying--visually, it would look better from within the park if it were turned the other way, ala Geauga Lake.

I agree! I get so frustrated with parks when they don't spend the extra bucks for theming or placement. I HATE parking lot coasters (hmmm is hate strong enough?). I love when a coaster is visible in the park and you can walk around and through it and enjoy watching the ride. I also think it builds excitement. For instance..NITRO in great adventure..outstanding coaster, crappy placement. Kingda KA..how boring to dive into a parking lot..and the spectators dont see much. At least they got most of it right with El Toro. The thing I love about Cedar Point is that all of their coasters are very interactive with walkways, etc. Top Thrill, wham you are right there. I am just as much a coaster-watcher as a rider. I can watch for hours. As my tag line says..all about the theming (of which i consider "placement" a part of "theming"...

It would be a shame if every coaster was placed right on the midway. I love it when coasters do that, like Raptor, Cali Screamin', etc. but I don't see why every coaster needs to be like that. Many of enthusiast's best loved coasters travel pretty far out, and that is definitely part of their appeal.

It all depends on the coaster. Rides like Voyage and Beast are lauded because of their journey through the woods, leading to amazing night rides. Other rides are praised for their close proximity to the queue or midway. Take Millennium Force's final bunny hop and overbank. It always feels like a victory lap to me, as everyone in line is watching you.

^^ So Kingda Ka was bad because it's in the parking lot and Nitro was bad because it was too far away? I don't get it.

neverlongenuf said:

"for instance..NITRO in great adventure..outstanding coaster, crappy placement"

I 100% disagree. To me, the best part of notro is riding it at night, and flying up and down the hills throught the dark and quiet woods.

That in itself makes Nitro one of if not my favorite coaster.

To me if Nitro's ride was as good as its location, iot never would've acquired the nickname of "Nyquil".

Having the big elements and big drops facing the lot is pretty standard, and makes me recall my those first few visits to GAdv after GASM was installed. GAm's Shockwave had the same kind of placement.

I agree 100% that it's backwards. When I was there in April all I could do was observe construction. I stared at it for a long time from the ground and the air (Eiffel Tower) and I couldn't for the life of me find a reason that they would do it that way. The lift is in the front, the first drop is obstructed from view, the loop is too, the cool as hell entrance under the speed turn is gone, and at least half of it had to be built on stilts because KD is flat and GL was not.

Facing a coaster so it's "better side" looks cool from the parking lot is just foolish. I might understand if access from the park was affected by it's placement, but all they did was cut a wide path from the Berserker to the ride and it could easily lead to the entrance queue no matter what side of the ride it was on.

I'm with ya, super7*.

It had a pretty grand feeling when you walked up to it at Geauga Lake and entered through the cobra roll. The ability to observe the coaster from the park seems to have went away too with it mounted in this direction. The curb appeal works if people stand in the parking lot and watch it.

I think it's smarter to do it this way. You get really excited when you enter into the park, and since this is towards the front of the park, it's probably the first thing you see, and you feel you need to ride it.

I think you can still see some of the ride in the park, but the loop, and cobra roll. I don't know what's so wrong about the positioning. Go to SFStL, and they have Batman the Ride on the left side. It doesn't get me ready to run to that ride because all you see is the back of it.

Before EK, and Tony Hawk, the ride that I really seen at that park was the ferris wheel, and Mr. Freeze. I'm ready for to go on Mr. Freeze, and Batman just doesn't catch my attention to much because I've ridden it before, but you really just see the back of it.

As for positioning, I don't know what is about Cedar Point, but that park is just so weird compared to all the other parks. Towards the front of the park, it just looks like there isn't that many coasters. I think it has to do with positioning. You have Blue Streak which is quite small, and it's towards the front of the park.

Wicked Twister is towards the back of the park. You have all those darn trees around Raptor, and Mantis. Millenium Force is on the right side along with Magnum. I just think they need something bigger upfront, or get rid of some of those trees. The first impression just doesn't impress me that much.

I think it has some great rides, but at the same time I think some of the other rides are not so great. I say it's overrated for having 17 coasters, and how many think are great, but that's not the point of this topic.

I think SFKK, and SFStL don't impress me that much from the outsides in the parking lot even though SFStL you can see Mr. Freeze. Georgia is pretty good, but you have Batman again at the back of the park which is the parking lot for the cheap people they use the most. SFGAm is really good, along with SFOT.

GL was pretty good with the boomerang, X-Flight, Steel Venom, and maybe that Double looper ride. I think it was hidden in the trees a little bit though. I can't remember if it was easy to see Dominator or not from the parking lot.

I'm willing to bet the cost of one Cedar Fair fountain drink that curb appeal had very little to do with placement---I'm sure it was dominated (heh) by a combination of construction costs and guest flow constraints.

But, this may be the first time I've ever heard anyone complain that Cedar Point had *too many* trees. ;)

I think you've definitely hit the nail on the head as to another reason why I don't think Dominator works at King's Dominion. I went down to ride it on Tuesday with my friend Jon, and both of us felt something was "off" about it.

At Geauga Lake, the coaster was placed amongst lots of other taller rides that didn't make it seem so out of place. You had Thunderhawk, The Villain, X-Flight, Steel Venom, Head Spin, and the Americana Ferris Wheel.

Up until Tuesday, I didn't really think of the placement of Dominator all that much, but you're absolutely right that it's facing the wrong direction. The ride is essentially placed in Kidzville, also making for one out-of-scale coaster.

I remember going to take a picture of what I thought was the midcourse, and that was probably another thirty-feet up, give or take that I didn't have my tape-measure with me!

I think lastly, there's no marshes, no lake to reflect off, and that it added a lot to the ride. Cedar Fair plopped Dominator down in a parking lot, added mulch to half of the ride (I sure hope more is coming), and it just doesn't feel the same. Even thought the red chaser lights on the lift are a nice touch, they look kind of bland at the same time.

You just can't please some people.

You think that placement is bad...what about what Paramount did with Back Lot Stunt Coaster? Ruined the whole area. *** Edited 6/6/2008 12:20:03 PM UTC by Bster***

That's really disappointing to hear. I always loved the layout of this coaster when it was at GL. The entrance, its location along the lake (and mostly over water) was really cool. I'm sorry to hear that it's been, well, ruined!!!!!

On the other hand, and in Cedar Fair's defense, it would be hard for any park to recreate the unique location on which this coaster was originally built. Also, this park was so embarrasingly missing a modern coaster (with the exception of Volcano, which I really liked), locals should really be rejoicing in the fact that they have this extra-long B&M floorless to enjoy. I say be grateful for what you have, most people who enjoyed Geauga Lake were really sorry to see this coaster in particular leave northeastern Ohio. There were no other coasters like it within a days' drive.

Regardless of what side of the fence you are on, the addition of Dominator to the tired KD lineup is a welcome change, crappy location or not. I've never understood all the commotion over KD - it was so embarassingly inferior to BGE that I don't know how it ever remained so popular. But that's just MY opinion.

Did I actually read a post that mentioned Cedar Point needs to get rid of some trees?

But here's the thing; I don't think KD is embarrassingly inferior to BGE. In some ways, I feel it's the opposite way around. BGE might have all the nice atmosphere and more tree coverage, but their flats are so out of date. The only good one is DaVinchi's Cradle (flying carpet).

At KD, you've got a Troika, Suspended Top Spin, Chance Aviator, flyers, Intamin Bounty (again it's old but still kind of extreme), and Drop Tower (both KD and BGE have scramblers).

There's also no wooden coasters at BGE, and probably won't ever be. The woodies--which admittedly have been sometimes bad at KD--were in great condition (with the exception of Scooby Doo) on Tuesday. The Hurler had tons of airtime, which I definitely would've re-rode had it not been for an awful storm that broke out an hour before close.

While I don't have kids, there are no kiddie coasters at BGE. It's the one thing that's always surprised me. KD gives you Taxi Jam and Scooby Doo. And for intermediate non-looping coasters, again except for BBW, you'll come up empty at BGE.

I understood they needed to move the Mack Wild Mouse at BGE to make room for Curse of DarKastle, but there's so much room they could've made room for it somewhere else instead of sending it to Tampa. KD gives you Ricochet and Avalanche.

Finally, you get a free waterpark thrown in to the mix.

I never even pondered it but that is a bit weird BGE doesn't have anything in the kiddie coaster category.

^My bet - they will, and soon. I'll even go so far as to name a manufacturer: Zierer.

The SeaWorld parks just got them first - cause kids get bored standing around all day looking at fish (and seagoing mammals). But honestly, drifting over the *big* kiddie section at BGE, the lack of a coaster for the little ones was quite strange. (And we want ERT when it opens).... ;)