King’s Dominion 2025?

Too bad they don't still have their SDC Galaxi.

Vater:

The hell is wrong with just “Panther”?

Or Panther 305. Or Kitty cat 305. Or Cheetah Hunt 305. (I like the 305 part)

I'm not going to complain about this terrible coaster for a moment...

The ongoing lack of excitement for I305 is probably a big reason the park has felt stagnant over the last many years. Adding the new wing coaster and rebranding the disappointing giga in the same year is a great way to give the park a jump start.

Kings Dominion could be a great park. This shows me that they are aware of that.

I love that they are themeing the ride to something that parallels with what the ride does. It really does move like a cheetah after the initial first few hills. The name might seem lazy, but the theme seems well thought out to me.

Way to go, KD!

Here is the announcement webpage...

https://www.kingsdominion.c...pantherian

LostKause:

The ongoing lack of excitement for I305

Any lack of excitement for this ride is either in the heads of enthusiasts who thought it was overhyped or from the fact that it's 15 years old. The general public tends to eat it up still, as do many other enthusiasts.

I think most guests, upon walking up to that massive structure for the first time, would feel a little bit... Oh... I don't know... Intimidated? It's massive to look at and hardly "lacks excitement" whether you like the ride or don't. (I don't)

"Just looking at Pantherian/Project 305/Intimidator 305/Giga Roller Coaster 1 makes me feel sick"

Vater:

Any lack of excitement for this ride is either in the heads of enthusiasts who thought it was overhyped and the fact that it's 15 years old. The general public tends to eat it up still, as do many other enthusiasts.

I don't necessarily agree. At Cedar Point, even on slow days Millennium Force and Maverick have hour+ waits. At KD, I've been there days where Twisted Timbers has an hour wait and I305 was a walkon.

I can echo the near walkon status, I don't think I've ever waited in line for that ride, on any of the visits. However, that ride is also at the dead end of the path at the dead end of the park, and foot traffic as a whole back there isn't great. That shouldn't matter as people should look at the map and say, "I want to ride that" and walk over, but I don't think it works exactly like that.

Even if I were to somehow agree that long waits or walk-ons were the absolute determining factors of whether or not a ride generates excitement, I305's theoretical hourly capacity is quite a bit higher than Twisted Timbers'. Comparing onride POV videos of both, I got:

I305: 2 trains with 32 riders per train with a ride time of 1:50 (from dispatch to station brakes)
TT: 2 trains with 24 riders per train with a ride time of 2:26 (from dispatch to station brakes)

Assuming an estimated 1:00 load time for both, I305 is about 1356pph whereas TT is about 840pph.

I think its so intense that regular people don’t want to ride it more than once a day.

To expand on Vater’s point a little, if 1500 people an hour want to ride each ride - i.e., their popularity is identical - after an hour 305 will have a line of about 6 minutes; after two hours, 12 minutes; after five hours, a bit more than half an hour.

Meanwhile, Timbers’ line will be around 40 minutes after an hour, and close to 2 hours long after 3 hours - by which point it will probably max out.

Regardless of the theme, 305 is not a mass appeal coaster.

I personally do not care for defensive-riding coasters that guarantee a gray out and snap ones neck The coaster doesn’t have an amazing amount of airtime or anything else significant other than a large drop and a lot of speed

This jungle retheme seems unnecessary with FoF sitting where it is. They could’ve easily converted that area like Kings Island did to a area 51 theme with minimal changes

Does Millennium Force have any significant air? I don’t remember much, if any. There are only two possible airtime hills, right? I can understand not liking I305’s intensity and snapping laterals, but to say it only has a large drop and speed is funny to me…and it does have quite a bit of significant ejector air.

MF has 3-4 moments of air:

First hill (only in the back)

Hill 3 (going to the island)

Hill 6 (leaving the island)

Speed bump by the station

TheMillenniumRider:

However, that ride is also at the dead end of the path at the dead end of the park

That was the issue with Mean Streak as well. But it doesn't seem to ever be an issue with Steel Vengeance. Enthusiasts don't always give the average park goer enough credit. It doesn't take long for a ride to get a fairly honest reputation among guests.

LostKause:

I love that they are theming the ride to something that parallels with what the ride does. It really does move like a cheetah after the initial first few hills.

Only this is Panthro, not Cheetara.

You need to re-watch Thundercats.

super7*:

I personally do not care for defensive-riding coasters that guarantee a gray out and snap ones neck

It's hard to take any of your posts seriously when your only trick is ridiculous hyperbole.

Many people experience gray out every time they go around the first turn. The quick transitions throw one’s head side to side if not prepared. It is my opinion those two factors are the reason that rider ship is low on this coaster. It’s not the speed because the other cedar fair 300 footers are similar in speed.

Renamimg this coaster isn’t going to make more people want to ride it. Incorporating that area into the jungle theme also does not make business sense, so this does not seem like money well spent that could’ve been used elsewhere

I have no dog in this fight - have never ridden Pantera 305 - but do you see the difference between “coasters that guarantee a gray out” and “many people experience gray out”?

super7*:

Many people experience gray out every time they go around the first turn.

Wasn't this a thing on the first overbank of MF also?