Intimidator 305 Media Day

My wife called me at work to tell me she saw our local Fox news station broadcasting from Kings Dominion. I caught the tail end of the segment online where the reporter Holly Morris rode the coaster. If I'm not mistaken, I think Ken (ridemcoaster) was sitting up front with her.

Right now there's a couple videos up, one of which has a nice POV; they may update the page later with the media/VIPs taking their ride:

http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/mornings/holly_live/holly-morris-kings-d...ion-040110

Looking forward to riding this tomorrow. :)

Edit: The 3rd video is now up...I had no clue that Jeff was there also!

Wow. That does look like a fun ride. I'm kind of disappointed that I'll be going right past it in a few weeks and won't be stopping for a ride, but I'll get over it.

Thanks for the video. The one thing I took away from this is that those snappy transitions don't look nearly as dramatic in the POV as they did in the original animation. This should make for a much better experience IMO, as you won't have to anticipate them as much. Also, is it just me or did that trim on that second big airtime hill really slow the train down?

Faster and tallest on the East coast...except Kingda Ka. :-P

This thing looks great! Can't wait for my Memorial Day weekend trip to Busch Gardens and KD. :)

ApolloAndy said:
Faster and tallest on the East coast...except Kingda Ka. :-P

That claim is qualified with the term "gravity-driven"...meaning lift hill, not launch. The PR guy and the news reporter both said it, IIRC.

Awesome video with Jeff and Ken. Too hilarious.

LOL. That was pretty funny/awesome.

All I can say is WOW! I can't wait to ride that awesome ride!

Oh, and the Charm City I-305 cake is kick ass.

Way to represent.

Looks like a great ride. I can see why they'd only run 2 trains with the ride time being so short. So anyone who's ridden want to review it?

The only people who've ridden it so far rode it today. But maybe I'll post a TR after my visit tomorrow. Or at least a blurb on how the ride was.

From what I've been reading - "the sensation of speed" is the ride's bigest asset by far. Sounds way more MF than RoS...as anticipated.

Raven-Phile said:
Oh, and the Charm City I-305 cake is kick ass.

So do the women who work at Charm City. ;)

My verdict: If Millennium Force and Maverick had a giant baby, it would be this ride. You will gray out on the first turn. It's the longest sustained G's on any ride I've been on. Two of the transitions do require a little defensive riding because if the restraint. They are not a deal breaker, but they hold it back ever so slightly from being the perfect ride.

And by the way, KD has "arrived." Haven't been there in nine years, but the park is beautiful, and this ride makes it a worthy destination.

I'm not sure I'd say that the sensation of speed is as high as MF, in part because it changes direction so much. And I can't wait to hear the bitching begin about the trim.

Speed may be this rides biggest asset, but I am still interested in hearing what the airtime is like. The air time hills look remarkably similar to the ones on MF.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7FKUswQ2r0

Here's another POV with a reverse POV after it.

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-427493

POV doesn't really tell you jack (it never does). The air time is pretty insane at every point, far more ejector type than MF. Think about that second hill being as small as it is after coming off 300 feet. And depending on where you sit, there are weird pops you wouldn't expect, like the entry into the final brakes (think Legend when it runs well).