How was opening day at Kings Dominion today?

We saw Shockwave "testing" a few times during the day on 4/2, but never saw anyone riding it.

I forgot to add that the first turn on I305 still makes me grey out. It's hardly changed in that regard. I'm curious if the minor change in forces will be enough to keep the wheels from overheating. Also of note, they were not spraying the wheels on Sunday.

And we rode Shock Wave on Sunday. Drop Tower was still down though.

Volcano had the longest wait Saturday. We waited about 35 minutes for a front seat lap. I don't know why they don't run 3 trains on there anymore. The last 2 rows of each train were out of service, and that doesn't help for a ride that doesn't have great capacity to start.

I have not ridden I305 but the sound of speeding along and taking Maverick type twists does not excite me at all and it sounds like it is bad from some comments. Those twists were a neat idea but the practial application is awful in my opinion. I no longer ride Maverick due to that and nor does my family. Nothing like getting your neck snapped and head banged and I can not imagine it with speeds like I305.

It was bad with the hard OTSR, but the new soft restraints make the twists tolerable to fun.

I would love to see Mav get these in the future. The turn after the trim on the second launch is the one that always gets me.

I no longer ride Maverick due to that and nor does my family.

I like the family solidarity on this issue.

The Intamin OTSR isn't a reason not to enjoy Maverick or I305. You just have to know how to ride them. Hershey being my home park, and riding Storm Runner & Fahrenheit a lot has taught me the defensive way to ride. The trick is to move your head into the direction of the turn or inversion.

The complaints about Maverick and I305(when it had them,) were problems I never had with either ride. I understand why people feel that way about them, but to me it's far from a reason that makes the ride enjoyable or not.

Look at the positive side. They make the coaster able to accommodate larger people that wouldn't be able to ride with the T bars. If they had those people would be complaining that they were turned away for being too large to ride. Just ride and quit complaining. ;)

Or Intamin could have just properly designed some T-bars that didn't eject people, but I guess that would be asking too much.

^^ I'm a big Maverick fan, and do ride it 'defensively' like you say, but the same technique didn't work for me on I-305 because the transitions were SO fast. We were even toward the front and could clearly see the upcoming track. Maverick's twists were downright gentle in comparison! (IMHO, YMMV, to each his own, etc. etc.)

Coasterfantom2 said:
The Intamin OTSR isn't a reason not to enjoy Maverick or I305. You just have to know how to ride them.

Not really a huge fan of coasters that you "have to know HOW to ride". I prefer to be able to secure restraints and "let loose".

Agreed. I love me some Maverick, but the shoulder part of the restraint (that really doesn't do much in terms of safety that I can see) aren't that comfortable. I'm not bashing OTSRs here, just those. They were ultra painful on Kingda Ka last September (And those ones were literally just removed from I305 and installed on Ka).

If Intamin is going to have a shoulder harness, they should make them all like what is on I305. I'm now excited to ride it.

Coasterfantom2 said:
The Intamin OTSR isn't a reason not to enjoy Maverick or I305.

Speak for yourself. Just because you are not adversely affected by it doesn't mean everyone else isn't. We all experience the same ride differently based on our body shape, height and weight. It's just like how I don't find The Voyage the least bit rough and can ride it all day long, yet others say it's too rough to ride more than once and they can't wait for the new Timberliner trains to make the ride so much better for them.

When I305 opened, my friend Steve said he didn't get his head/neck banged one bit ("it's smooth as can be" he said), yet it beat the crap out of me. However, when Maverick opened, we both got our heads/necks beat up. The experience isn't even consistent between the same two test subjects from coaster to coaster.

The thing is, the shoulder component, at least of the hard OTSR's, serves no role in actively restraining anyone. The bar sitting on your lap does all of the work. The flexible, tighter ones I suppose do actively keep your body positioned, but I haven't sat in one.

^Good point - the OTSRs are redundant. Also notice, they look to be easily removable - just a few bolts (perhaps an option for the parks or later changes, etc.).

(edit - I still think OTSRs are obnoxious, painful, and in many cases, distract heavily from ride enjoyment.)

(edit-we know)

^Billy is NOT the only one... ;) :)

The old i305 (and other Intamin coasters) restraints were awful and the shoulder part clearly did nothing except appease insurance companies. The new bar, while it does apply a bit of pressure to someone tall like myself's shoulders (6'3"), makes it impossible to get the head whacked so you're free to throw your hands up without fear of injury. It's a definite improvement.