Dominator trains now on site at Kings Dominion

Kings Dominion

Screamscape has a brief update on KD's 2008 additions that seem to confirm where GL's Dominator is going.It looks like Dominator's trains have now arrived on site at the park & it shouldn't be long until we see some track being delivered as well.

No big suprise.

I imagine that it will be announced soon.

Dominator in my opinion just isn't needed at PKD. They already have Anaconda and Flight of Fear. Worlds of Fun would have been a better bet, but I don't think they get the attendance to support a ride like that. Cedar Point would have been another good choice.

So we know what is happening to Dominator and Thunderhawk, but what about the other coasters? Any ideas?

Cedar Point would not have been a good choice for any of the coaster at GL, other than maybe their kiddy coasters. The park has enough coasters right now. The park really needs to just needs to work on its "family image" and spruce up a couple things for the next few years.

John, I strongly disagree with you. Dominator is absolutely needed at KD. There are just too many low-capacity rides there, and the park gets busy.

Anaconda is a typical Arrow with some really bad transitions (Do I have to mention the butterfly turns?). It doesn't draw in the crowds like it once did. VtBC took care of that.

Flight of Fear will be twelve-years old next year, and is no longer cutting-edge.

Hypersonic might be on the chopping block (it's for sale), it's uncomfortable, and its capacity sucks.

So, the most cutting-edge coaster we have there is Volcano the Blast Coaster introduced at the tail-end of 1998 (not that I'm complaining-that's where my screen name came from). You've got a really short ride that doesn't eat people either.

Let's look at the other steel coasters that everyone can ride:
1) Shockwave-Not everyone likes standups, and it takes a while to load
2) Richochet-Even with the extended layout, it's still a mouse and capacity is low. It's also a low-intensity ride
3) The Italian Job (well, not for much longer) Again, low-capacity and while a fun ride, again, not a high-intensity ride.
4) Avalanche-The only Mack bobsled in America, it too has low-capacity due to the train design. Again, a fun ride, but not very intense.

And why John does CP need another coaster? They just got Maverick. Why John can't we have a fast coaster with a midcourse that is also smooth? WoF already has Mamba. Sorry John, you're just going to have to accept that this is the right decision and will bring a solid boost of people to the park next year.

I do think this ride will eat Anaconda faster than Fahrenheit will take down StormRunner...at least SR does something different/better than Fahrenheit, there really is NO reason to ride Anaconda now save for the tunnel, LOL.. ;)

The capacity is a plus for PKD (and having it as the "new" ride means shorter lines for Avalanche)... :)

*** Edited 10/18/2007 1:20:28 AM UTC by rollergator***

Also, track for thunderhawk is now in michigan as seen here.....

http://miablog.markscns.net/miapictures/v/Thunderhawk_Construction/

I agree with you Intamin Fan. Kings Dominion does need a ride like Dominator. It's definitely going to draw a lot of people at the park. They can easily market it as a brand new coaster much like they did at Kings Island with X-Flight or Firehawk.

^Of course & that's the whole idea...I mean the next closest floorless coaster in the mid-atlantic market is Medusa at SFGRADV & hardly anyone from the Richmond area probably makes the 6 hour commute all the way up there so it'll be a new experience for them.

Besides after all the low capacity launchers the park has added recently something with a lift,and of significant duration will be greatly appreciated by the locals....now if they can just get a hyper to go along with it in the future. :)

Definitely happy about this. Double happy it actually has a lift hill.

Well BatwingFanSFA, I guess you forgot about Griffon already (Actually, I think a lot of people have already forgotten about Griffon. I know if you asked me what stood out of what I rode this summer it was Maverick and the former Dominator).

Sure, Griffon is ten-wide as opposed to four, but it's still a legitimate floorless coaster. But that's where the comparisons end. There really isn't a whole lot to Griffon element-wise, but with "whatever they're calling it," there's a whole lot of action going on.

I agree Vater that it's nice that there's a lift as opposed to a launch (not that there's anything wrong with being launched, but there are four launchers in the park), as that first drop is very steep into the 130ft. tall loop.

^Yes & that's what I was getting at. Grffon doesn't offer much in the way of elements while Dominator obviously does & like I said to get a similar experience to Dominator you'd have to go all the way up to SFGRADV.

They need that coaster, since their attendance dropped 25%. Go figure.

This coaster will be a good fit for King's Dominion. Because it is an original design. The park has several clone coasters such as Rebel Yell, Ricochet, Hurler, Grizzly, Italian Job, Scooby Doo, Flight of Fear and Shockwave was a clone. The arrow loopers other than Dragon Mt are really the type of coaster if you rode one, you have ridden them all.

The park's original coasters are Avalanche (excellent) Volcano (very original) and Hypersonic (problem filled and very low capacity). This gives them another great, original coaster.

Living in Ohio, the floorless from Geauga Lake was the best coaster in Ohio IMO. I hated to see Geauga Lake undermined to non-existance like it was, and hate to see this coaster leave. But it is a HUGE plus for the park that gets it.

Lets just hope that when they add it, they don't just plop it down in the parking lot and do some landscaping and build a berm around it and try to give it some kind of theming and name that fits in with international street instead of they typical Cedar Fair generic name.

Kings' Dominion has some theming flaws due to Paramounts reign (such as the go karts in Old Va and Flight of Fear and Italian Job in the Congo), but out of the Paramount owned parks this park has managed to keep most of it's integrity and has a great isolated feel when you are in the park. A parking lot coaster would definitely take away from the feel of the park.

Dominator coming to Kings Dominion is an awesome idea. It was my favorite coaster at Geauga Lake, and now its going to be in my back yard.

It seems everyone has forgotten about "The Mythical Griffon". To be honest it kinda turned out to be a dud here with locals.

Some of the comments made were; "It took 8 years to come up with this", and "This ride is way to short and boring"

Personally I like Griffon, although it comes no where near my most favorite coaster. I do enjoy the vertical drop although not new to me or anyone who had ridden a coaster built within the past 10 years.

Dominator is a much larger ride than Griffon. It has five awesome inversions, the worlds largest loop, speeds of 65 mph, it is still the largest floorless coaster in the world, and something no B&M at Busch Gardens has, that amazing "roar" that B&M coasters are famous for!

If marketed correctly "Dominator" could very well be the biggest draw in Kings Dominion's 33 year history.

Now what are they going to name it. I think Dominator is fine, really. A nice bright red, and yellow color scheme would really brighten up International Street!

Can you imagine pulling up to Kings Dominon and have this amazing coaster greet you! (huge smile)!

2008 is shapping up to be a great season for new installations!

I don't agree with you at all... KD is in need of a B&M and has been for a long while. From what I understand Busch Entertainment has an exclusive with B&M and they were not allowed to build anything within so many miles of BGE. But sense this is a used ride and is being moved and not actually being built at KD by B&M they can do it.

Dominator will be the longest coaster at KD and believe me, they are in need of something lengthy. I think KD is the perfect place for Dominator to go.

I too had heard the trains were on site now. I think we will see a November announcement.

Danny

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john peck said:
Dominator in my opinion just isn't needed at PKD. They already have Anaconda and Flight of Fear. Worlds of Fun would have been a better bet, but I don't think they get the attendance to support a ride like that. Cedar Point would have been another good choice.

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The below isn't exaclty true... Lets not forget the tallest floorless of all, right down the street at BGE! Hey, its still floorless...

Danny

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BATWING FAN SFA said:
^Of course & that's the whole idea...I mean the next closest floorless coaster in the mid-atlantic market is Medusa at SFGRADV & hardly anyone from the Richmond area probably makes the 6 hour commute all the way up there so it'll be a new experience for them.

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If they ran V:TBC like they should even 2 train op would move mad people.

Red & yellow don't make for the best color combination IMO....you know if they position the ride just right they could easily expand international street with some flats in the future to go along with the ride as well although I still believe that it'll just sit with the station being parallel to Scooby doo rather than with the lift going out toward the parking lot.

That's the best way to leave as many parking spaces on that side of the lot as possible even with the ride going in there.