New Kings Dominion Roller Coaster?

---

rollergator said:
After riding PCar's wooden selection in '03, and PKD's (which is *remarkably* similar), I have no qualms about saying outright "there is NO comparison, PCar takes MUCH better care of their wood). The Hurlers seemed like two completely different rides, Thunder Road beat Rebel Yell by a WIDE margin, even the junior woodie was way better in Charlotte.

---

I absolutely agree! The *really* bad thing about it is that I *know* the PKD woodies are at least above average. I know this because I've ridden them early in the season (opening day even) fresh off of the annual rehab. They run like fine lumber should. No shuffling, excessive shaking, or squeaking. But once the April rains (monsoons?) wash off all the graphite and the warm summer sun bakes the timber a bit, ALL BETS ARE OFF. Then they edge closer and closer to fodder for kindling (though I still like Mr. Grizzly no matter what).

lata, jeremy

--not a fan of Hurler though

I agree. PKD wood on opening day is good stuff. Later in the season, it's hit or miss. I've had mind-blowing rides on Grizzly, and love Hurler when it's "on".

Obviously, I need to make the trek down to Carowinds someday to see if they're really that much better. If so, I can't WAIT to ride their Hurler...

---

I hardly think they'd recieve a "hand me down" coaster from one of the other parks,altthough I wouldn't mind seeing GL from PGA find it's way to the park...they could retheme it as,you guessed it King Kobra to try & recapture the park's early years when that ride was still around & was one of the most intimidating attractions PKD had during it's day & age

---

.

Won't happen since SF now owns TW/GL. Unless Paramount would like to buy it back!

I was half-kidding about the hand-me-down comment, although I'm sure its not out of the question. Judging by the direction that the Paramount parks have been moving in, I wouldn't put it past them to install another family coaster before another thrill coaster. There are quite a few interesting ones out there and I'm sure that one (or more) of them will be finding their way to Paramount parks in the not-too-distant future.

PKD being my home park, I would assume they could use all the land behind Volcano, FoF, and ANaconda for a hyper or anything else big. That area used to be the animal safari monorail so im quite sure they still own all of the land. I agree the execs should lose the hardon for launchers, we have enough already. If not a hyper, Id love to see them have Intamin do a junior hyper, ala Expedition GeForce or Goliath *DROOL*

I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds the PKD wood needing some smoothing. I do think they could use a good hyper. Steel Hyper. :)

Brent, some people like it rough, some don't. My experiences on Hurler were nothing short of bone breaking. I don't mind a rough coaster, but each time I have went on Hurler I thought I was going to die. Maybe it was a bad day, maybe not. I'm not a regular to PKD so I don’t know how it should be (or was).

And I guess I prefer airtime over out of control. I would take any of Kennywood's woodies over any of PKD's. Just my preference.

---

Coaster Art Guy said:
And I guess I prefer airtime over out of control. I would take any of Kennywood's woodies over any of PKD's. Just my preference.

---

You definitely didn't hit Hurler on a good day, then. When it's running well, Hurler is all about airtime.

I skipped Hurler on my PKD trip last summer because I've ridden the Carowinds version so many times. I usually have great rides on PCar's Hurler, smooth, and airtime filled. Last time I rode it it was pretty rough, but I didn't get a chance to go this summer and ride it with the new retracking work. Maybe this coming summer when I go check out Borg Ass...

Grizzly at PKD wasn't all it was cracked up to be when I rode during the day, but in the back at night.....big difference.

Personally I think that PKD and PKI both need a B&M floorless.

I dunno about early-season rides being good... our visit was late April (fairly close to the very beginning of the season), and Rebel Yell seemed to be running quite poorly. It wasn't rough or anything, just a little bumpy, which caused the ride to sleep slow and uneventful. Of course, I do take into consideration the cold weather- I never had lackluster rides on Hershey's always-phenomional Lightning Racer until a chilly October day last year, when the ride seemed slow and bumpy.

I'm rarely impressed with Rebel Yell and Hurler much, and PKD is my home park. Rebel Yell's best spot to ride forwards is in the front, because its smooth and their is massive airtime going into the far turn. For backwards, its the back where its smooth and the airtime is leaving the far turn.

Grizzly is an excellent ride both in the back and in the front. The only problem with the night rides is there are lights shining on the structure, which I rather see turned off. One day, they even had lights on in the tunnel! I wasn't pleased.

For 2005, I'd like to see a Hyper Coaster or a Floorless. Hyper tickles my fancy more though.

---

Impulse-ive said:
PKD's wooden seleection is a-ok by me. Maybe its cause I rode Grizzly at night, but I thought Hurler and Grizzly were two of the best wooden coasters I've ever ridden. Sure beat the pants off any other Paramount wooden coaster that I know of, and a lot of Six Flags ones too (although my selection of wooden Six Flags coasters is a little short - I've yet to hit their "all stars")

---

Uhhhhhhh..... have you ever rode beast or SoB?

There definitely weren't any lights on Grizzly when I was there at the end of June. It was dark, and excellent. *** Edited 1/25/2004 1:10:53 AM UTC by Travio***

You must remember Son of Beast Rocks that most people hate Sonny. It's not a great arguement point. I have sonny as my number 1, but I parade it around as a joke(even though it does rock my socks).

--------
As for the beast: That ride's just torturous.

But then again most people who dont like SOB like beast so the argument still stands (The Beast is my favorite wooden coaster due to a special night brakeless ride a couple of years ago). *** Edited 1/25/2004 1:47:09 AM UTC by Touchdown***

Yeah the beast half of the arguement stands, but that's because there are only a few people who dislike it in comparison to the people who do.

Sonny is generally hated, so you can't use it as an arguement to why the park's woodies are good.

-----------
Ugh. I can't even imagine how painful a trimless ride on the beast would be.

I agree RCTFan...Grizzly is a great ride day or night but due to HS:XLC's close proximity they went & cleared way too many trees from that side of the coaster.

As far as I could tell when last I rode "the Grizz" at night(back in 01) there weren't any lights on in the tunnel that I could recall,too bad I missed a night ride this paast season(I was too busy on DZ & the park was jam packed the day I went)but if I go this season(which I'm sure I will)I'll be sure to give "the Grizz" a couple of night rides to make up for last year.

Well, I got about 4 times a month to PKD, when its open, and Grizzly definately had lights during CoasterCon. They are by the big turnaround after the drop. I don't remember exactly when I saw them again, but I'd imagine they have been there the many times I've ridden it (100+ this past season).

The removal of trees for Hypersonic is a loss, but again, we did gain Hypersonic. Station lights do light some of Grizzly, but its not that bad. I do remember during Coastercon that is was darker though (that seems like a contradiction).

I'm looking forward to this next season though, with new seats on Hypersonic, the ride should be better....view. I welcome the paint jobs, of course, as long as they don't paint the Effiel Tower or Scooby Doo, Shockwave colors.

Amen there...SGC's last paint job of blue & yellow was pretty bad & before that it was red/orange & yellow.

That color scheme may look good on Anaconda but it just doesn't on a woodie,woodies should either be white like Rebel yell or Wild one or they should just be left uncolored like Roar & Grizzly.

As for Eiffel tower I'm quite sure it will get the same paint scheme it has always had...I mean that attraction is somewhat of a virginia landmark & is one of the first things you see upon approaching the park when driving down I-95 so I don't think they'd have the desire to mess with something as important as that do you? *** Edited 1/25/2004 6:39:46 PM UTC by BATWING FAN SFA***