Planned Kings Dominion trip April 1-3, 2013

Agreed, absolutely Volcano first. The queue is so long and the ride so popular that even with a Fast Lane pass you are limited to how many times you can ride it. I ended up purchasing a Fast Lane pass in order to get in as many rides as possible overall and was surprised to discover that according to the terms of the pass I was limited to two rides on Volcano, whereas I was permitted to ride I305 as many times as I like. (So I rode Volcano twice and I305 7 times.) Go figure! Because I305 is my 3rd favorite coaster of all time (after El Toro and Millennium Force), I would expect it to be more in demand than Volcano (also an excellent ride) but this is obviously not the case.

RCMAC said:

I missed a coaster at SFGrAdv, Bunky. Batman dark night flight, whatever that is, the wild mouse in the dark. I just forgot it was there, I knew that Chiller had been there and was gone. I never went around the corner from Nitro and Batman TR, though.
Dammit. Now I have to go back. :-)

please tell me you're not thinking of going back just because you missed the P.O.C. in the Box.

Last time I went to Kennywood, I forgot about...and never even noticed..Noah's Ark, which I love to death.

Bobbie1951 said:

ABecause I305 is my 3rd favorite coaster of all time (after El Toro and Millennium Force), I would expect it to be more in demand than Volcano (also an excellent ride) but this is obviously not the case.

It probably is more in demand than Volcano. Problem is, with 16 seats per train, Volcano's "supply" is far less than I305's.

Mike, I am sure that is not the only reason to go back to Great Adventure.

It probably is more in demand than Volcano. Problem is, with 16 seats per train, Volcano's "supply" is far less than I305's.

That and the launch intervals aren't exactly fast. However when I was there in early spring Volcano was about a 30 minute wait in the morning with two trains running, I-305 was a walk on with one train running, empty seats, and a couple groups re-riding.

That's because I305 sucks. :-P

Grizzly on the other hand was worth the price of admission on its own.

Wait the extra 90 minutes for the very front of Volcano. Speaking of which, what ever happened to the dual loading station they were supposed to work into the ride? That was a big deal when the new guy took over.

If you like Maverick, you may like I-305 :) Let us know what you think...

By dual do you mean a separate load/unload area? If so, they had that the last time I was there. The bins were like portable trays on wheels, and some poor ride op had to roll it back and forth between the two areas. They blocked the area, it was confusing, the slo-azzd ride op showed up late with it, all in all an inconvenience. But what else to do?
I liked the ride ok, it was unique for sure. The blast was fun and the rolls seemed really high up there. But by the time it really got going again it was over. Too short.

^I was under the impression they were going to have a "double station" or dual loading/unload (maybe with 3 trains?). I'm sure someone else can explain it better than me.

How are the restraints on Volcano compared to Wicked Twisters, as far as accomodating to larger riders?

It's sounds like a great park. One last thing, how does the season pass center work? We're planning on getting our Platinum Passes processed there.

JW Addington said:
How are the restraints on Volcano compared to Wicked Twisters, as far as accomodating to larger riders?

Same. Not accommodating. The fact that it was tight was ok with me though, rolling around so high up.

Maverick - I went so early in the season that Ohio parks weren't open yet, so they let me use the previous years pass to get in. I almost bought my new pass there, but it seemed like a crush at the processing center so I didn't. You might want to get there really early.

Definitely gonna echo what others have said... go to Volcano first.

I was at the park Saturday and they were holding the queue at the top right before you go down into the cave, not sure if this is a new thing, but it makes the line seem less awful than in the past... still, I went to the ride at 11:00 and already there was a 30 minute wait for it with two trains. Go to it first or you may not be able to ride.

Avalanche opens at noon.

My very helpful tip is that if there is an earthquake, stick around. When I was there, an earthquake cleared just about everyone out of the park. They made an announcement that rides would not open until they all received an inspection, and that guests could go to guest relations for a free ticket for another day. Just about everyone herded out of the park, while we watched Snoopy dance on the midway for an hour. Then, the rides slowly re-opened one-by-one with no wait. It was a very bizarre and surreal experience.

Now for some serious tips:

As has been stated, get to Volcano first, and I'd probably say Avalanche second. The Avalanche wait was deceiving and one of the longest of the day for us. It didn't appear very long, but that line absolutely crawled since very few were sitting on each other's laps.

I'm not sure if they changed I-305's queue, as this seemed so silly when I was there. But, the I-305 queue line split very early on for "Front Seat" to the right, and all other seats to the left. As you can expect, many people behaved like mindless sheep and would just randomly walk to the right, disregarding the signs. With only 2 trains, about half the people were waiting for the very front seat, and half were waiting for all other seats.

So, there was about a 2-train wait for all other seats, or a 1-2 hour wait for the very front seat. I can't even begin to imagine the wait for the front seat on a crowded day. So if you want the very front of I-305, you might want to make this the ride to run to in the morning. Otherwise, I found I-305 had a surprisingly low wait of a few trains for "all other seats" the whole day.

For I-305 - the second row usually has a very short wait due to the way the line for the front seat snakes in and restricts access. This is our go-to lane if we're looking for front of the train action without wanting the seriously way-too-long wait for the front seat.

And if you're a single looking to ride in front, you can just hang out around the 2nd row queue and wait for a single to open up in the front. I can usually get on the front of B&M in 2 or 3 trains that way. 2 across seating can be a crapshoot.

The last 2 times I was at KD, both last year, for Memorial day and a random August weekend, the park wasn't very crowded. Except Volcano. Go there first and get it out of the way, run around and get another shot and then forget about it.

I305 likely won't have a terrible line simply because its a people mover. If Grizzly has no line, stay there for a while. Ride it as much as you possibly can. I like Kings Dominion.

Granted, his trip is over now, so I hope he took everyone's advice, but I'd say it wasn't too too busy.

Yes, after all this, Maverick00, let's hear!

Well we had a change of plans and went yesterday and part of today instead. Yesterday was about 55 degrees and sunny. It was cold in the morning so many rides didn't open until later. Some kids got stuck on Volcano so unfortunetly we didn't get a ride on it until today. Volcano was much better than expected, even better than Intimidator. Intimidator was a good ride but I think it would be better with one more hill, I was surprised at how short it was. Avalanche was also a very nice surprise. Here's my total ride count,

Intimidator - 4
Dominator - 2
Volcano - 1
Rebel Yell - 2
Flight of Fear - 2
Hurler - 1
Ricochet - 1
Anaconda - 1
Backlot Stunt Coaster - 1
Eiffel Tower - 1
Avalanche - 1
The Crypt - 1

Overall, it wasn't that crowded but most rides were only running one train or didn't open until noon. The park was very clean and I loved the pathway leading up to the Eiffel Tower from the back. I also rode Americana for the first time since it was at Geauga Lake. I never saw Grizzly operating and WindSeeker was closed but its evac system is behind Hurler.

I just rode about 70 rides in a four day period at carowinds when I was at the park for only a total of 20 hours.

That's only 2 days worth of park time with 70 rides; most of them coasters. You guys only wish you knew my strageties.