My wife and I made a trip to Paramounts Kings Dominion today to ride their compliment of coasters. We arrived shortly before 10 and made sure that we positioned ourselves at the correct gate to get to Hypersonic XLC very quickly. Gates opened at 10:30 and we headed straight for it. We were able to get the 4th train out. All I can say about this coaster is WOW. The launch is the whole coaster, but that in itself is incredible. My stomach may still be in the staging area now. It was also very fortunate we got on it that quick. After our ride we went to the Hurler (which was not nearly as good as I remember the one at PC being), directly adjacent to the H:XLC exit and by the time we had finished our walkon ride on Hurler, Hypersonic had broken and the signs were up that it would be closed for the remainder of the day. Boy were we happy that we got to ride, but also disappointed we didn't get a second round. We caught a quick ride on Rebel Yell backwards and then headed over to the Congo area. Upon reaching Volcano at about 11:20 they were putting up signs that the coaster was temporarily closed due to technical difficulties. We rode Anaconda and Avalanche while we were over there. I thoroughly enjoyed both. Avalanche was much better than the other Bobsled I had rode (La Vibora at SFoT). Anaconda was fairly smooth for a Arrow multi-looper and a great ride. We then made the trip to FoF. It was awesome. Between this ride and H:XLC I have decided that lap bars could and probably should be used on any sitdown train. I felt more secure in those trains than I have in any OTSR. After the foray into the Congo and with Volcano still down we headed to Grizzly. This coaster was great, definitely the best woody in the park. Very intense with lots of airtime. We then headed to Rebel Yell to catch it forwards and liked it even better than it had been backwards. We caught a quick break at the Latin Beats show and then tried to go ride Shockwave, but guess what, it was closed due to technical difficulties. We headed back over to Volcano and luckly it was open. After an hour wait we got to ride. It was a fun ride, and my wife thought it was great, but I was slightly disappointed. It didn't have the intensity of either H:XLC or FOF. We grabbed some lunch, and then got our ride on Scooby Doo, this is a great family coaster. We don't have a family yet, but this will be a good one to break the little ones in on when we do. We then got our ride on Shockwave which had reopened. I heard that this coaster was smooth for a TOGO. If that is true I would hate to ride one of their rough ones like Windjammer. I didn't headbang because my head was above the restraints, but I did jaw bang, a lot. We finished our day with some rerides on FoF and Anaconda, and then headed to leave. Volcano was closed again as we left. I couldn't believe the park had this many difficulties in one day, I think they should try to resolve some of these problems quick. Having problems with H:XLC is to be expected on a prototype, but having two of your other coasters down too, is a bit much. Maybe I'm just spoiled. My home park is BGW and rarely do you see any of the coasters down. My one word of wisdom if you visit this park is to get there early and get on H:XLC it is an experience you must have, and it can't be described. Do it first before it breaks for the day.
