Kings Dominion - 3/29/24
Associated parks:
Kings Dominion, Doswell, Virginia, USA
It had been 15 years since I last visited Kings Dominion. And after doing some thinking, I realized I had only been there three times ever (1985, 1998 and 2009). So after debating between going back to Carowinds, which I last visited in 2022, or heading to Doswell, I decided to give the other Cedar Fair park with an Eiffel Tower a try. In hindsight, I think I maybe should have driven to Charlotte instead.
Having become a huge fan of Kings Island these past few years, it felt weird walking into Kings Dominion and seeing what I honestly believe is a nicer version of International Street. While the fountain doesn't seem as long, that makes for an easier to navigate area, and having trees line both sides really gives this area a nice visual upgrade. Unfortunately, the Eiffel Tower was closed, so no views from the top today.
As I adjusted to being in Bizarro Kings Island, and also noting that the park was just a tad busy, I decided to snag the 3 "new-to-me" credits by heading to Twisted Timbers. Posted wait time was 75+ minutes, but being a FastLane guy, I figured I'd breeze right past that and walk right on. Well, about that... Kings Dominion was only running one train. And with this being one of those crazy RMC rides where it seems like it takes way longer than it should to load, unload and dispatch, the FastLane wait ended up being 30 minutes. Not bad when compared to standby, but still, not really great either. As for the ride, I absolutely loved it. Twisted Timbers was only my third RMC (after Lightning Rod and Steel Vengeance), and while it was the smallest of the bunch, I may have liked it the best. The roll-over into the first drop offered a neat dose of hang time, then the rest of the ride was a blur of inversions, turns, and some vicious airtime. I was hoping to ride again during my time there (which was only a few hours), but the line never seemed to die down.
Next stop was Project 305, the lone giga in North America I had not yet ridden. Posted wait time was 75+ minutes. And yes, only one train was in operation here as well, which resulted in a 30 minute FL wait. This is one really weird ride. The first drop is outstanding, but to me, that is where the good things end. The subsequent "grey out" turn is indeed intense, and then the rest of the course is essentially a bunch of low-to-the-ground snappy s-bend turns. That's what surprised me- after a 300 foot drop, the ride is essentially a bunch of low level track with minimal airtime. Now, I'm not saying I didn't enjoy the ride, because I did. I just wouldn't rank it above any of the other gigas I have been on (and that includes Orion lol). Only rode once due to the line and painfully slow dispatches.
Being a fan of Kings Island's Flight of Fear, and since I had to pass the ride on the way out of P305's area, I thought I'd check the wait time. Posted wait time was 75+ minutes (I'm sensing a pattern here). I asked the employee at the entrance if there was only 1 train and he said "no, we have two!". So, off to the FastLane line and after 25 minutes of ear-splittingly loud music and sound, I finally climbed aboard. As for the ride, it seemed like this version is darker inside the spaghetti bowl, and it was nice that the train didn't stop completely for 5 seconds on the mid-course brake, which seemed to make the end run up to the final corkscrew a completely out-of-control experience. Good stuff.
My last new-to-me credit was Tumbili, which would be my first S&S Free Spin coaster. Posted wait time was 60 minutes. After 10 minutes in the FastLane queue (which was not even staffed), I was off. I was expecting to feel nauseous or queasy on this, but thankfully, that never happened and I really enjoyed this really brief ride. The car flipped twice that I can remember, and I guess since those flips are "magnetically assisted", they really pack some punch. Way more fun than I was expecting.
Since lines for the food locations were just crazy, I opted to check out the new VIP Lounge for Prestige Passholders. Located in the "Old Dominion Inn", this was actually quite a nice addition. Unlike Cedar Point's tent near Millennium Force, this former restaurant (I think) has comfy chairs and sofas to relax on, several tv's with Roku players, decks of UNO cards, and tons of historical pictures from the park. Plus, you can take a free snack-sized bag of Frito-Lay products and a water if you'd like (they have a soft drink station, but you have to have the drink pass to get that for free). I'd like to see more of the CF parks create this nice of a VIP area as it really is a nice break from the craziness of the midways.
Right next door to Tumbili is one of the park's true gems- Reptilian. As North America's lone Mack bobsled, it's a rare find and one I hadn't been on since 1998. Unfortunately, one train operations here REALLY made for a slow moving line. The main line filled the entire queue and stretched all the way to alongside Tumbili while the FL queue had about 2 dozen people in it. 40 minutes later, I finally got to ride. The kids in the row next to me had been timing the queue on their iPhone stopwatch and as they boarded, the clock said 2 hrs and 4 minutes. Ugh! Anyhow, I'll never understand why more of these weren't built in the US. Such a fun ride for the whole family. The second half really picks up some speed and you wonder if you're going to slide right out of the chute!
The lines weren't dying down on the big rides either, so I decided to take a ride on the Flying Eagles (one cycle FL wait), which run VERY fast for a Flying Scooter ride. And I closed out my visit with a ride on the Blue Ridge Tollway antique cars, which may have been the worst antique car ride I have ever had. The steering wheel did absolutely nothing no matter how hard I turned it, so my ride just had my car bouncing back and forth off the rail at every turn.
So overall, it was a pretty rough day at Kings Dominion. Eiffel Tower, Windseeker, Drop Tower, one of Racer 75's tracks, Delirium, the flume, Backlot Stunt Coaster and Anaconda were all closed for the day, so that also probably contributed to longer lines everywhere. But the one train operations is what really killed it for me. I wanted to ride Grizzly, but the line was back to the gift shop and is not on FastLane, so I passed. I understand staffing is probably an issue at this time of year, but if you're going to be open on a holiday weekend, perhaps advertise "limited operations". If I would have known that there was going to be one train ops, I probably would not have made the trip. Oh well, live and learn I guess! Thanks for reading.
Oh, and I would like to know how residents of the DC area handle that volume of traffic on a daily basis. When you see signs on I-95 that say "Next Exit: 9 miles - 61 minutes", that is pretty disheartening!
RayP1970:
And I closed out my visit with a ride on the Blue Ridge Tollway antique cars, which may have been the worst antique car ride I have ever had. The steering wheel did absolutely nothing no matter how hard I turned it, so my ride just had my car bouncing back and forth off the rail at every turn.
Yikes. That's one of my favorite antique car rides ever, hopefully you just had a defective car. They've always driven fine for me.
RayP1970:
Oh, and I would like to know how residents of the DC area handle that volume of traffic on a daily basis.
Speaking for myself, we move to West Virginia and wait for a pandemic to force us to work from home 100%.
What a bummer. Sounds like operations are pretty lousy. Hope it improves by peak season.
The few times I have been to Kings Dominion have always had below average operations. But they have never been cosplaying as a SEAS park during any of my visits. Sorry the one train ops and closed rides put a damper on things, because I have always liked that park a lot.
Thanks for the reading material. My wife and I were talking about going to Kings Dominion. Been several years we've been driving by on our way to Williamsburg. Your trip report reminded me why we drive by.
For some reason we just have a better time at Busch Gardens, and we don't have to pay for Quick queue to ride everything. I do want to get back to KD, but not without all the coasters running at least one train. 😉
I’d be pretty upset paying up charges for fast lane passes and having to wait 30 minutes even with the passes.
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