quick Kings Dominion/Dominator update

We took a little drive down to Doswell today and took a look at the prgress down at KD. So far, there is still no sign of vertical construction, nor is there any sign of painting the track/supports that still sit in the parking lot. However, ground work is definitely underway, and a good bit of asphalt has been torn up, so at least we shouldn't end up with a parking lot floorless, ala SFMM Scream :) Not that I was really expecting that. I at least expect lots of mulch and small shrubbery, though :)

Also, for those of you who will be getting the free Cedar Fair jackets, you can pick them up at the campground next door, and you do need your pass (just as the website says). They aren't much to look at--just a basic black windbreaker pullover (no zipper or hood) with the Cedar Fair logo, and then the letters "V.I.P." below it. At least the logo and lettering are embroidered.

The new KD sign is up, and it looks pretty good. They are using the Cedar Fair font, of course, but they have the words arranged one above the other, centered--kinda like a hybrid of the old and new logos. Looks pretty good overall, though they look like they were trying to pull a little Six Flags by inserting a giant exclamation point in the center of the background--it might have been better if this had been left out, though, for the sake of looks.

*** Edited 1/6/2008 11:32:58 PM UTC by rablat5***

They should have left the exclamation point out. They want to be like Six Flags? They got the park acquisition debt down.

www.coastercrew.com has posted a construction update this evening.It looks like they're making some progress pouring footers & doing other site preps but so far no vertical construction has taken place yet.

It's such a shame that out of all the places they could've built the ride on they decided on the perimeter of a parking lot. That is a signature ride and shouldv'e had been given more consideration when they were doing the site selection for it. Oh well!!

^ But what better place to put a hot new signature ride than up front for all to see as well as passers by?

Looks like they are pressure washing those supports.

Funny that they're doing so when the support colors will remain relatively the same.

The new colors will be dark orange for the track with a lighter shade for the inversions & blue for the supports...according to Clint at coaster crew they hope to finish most of the station work soon & start vertical construction by the first of next month.

i thought they were keeping the same colors

Memorial Day for the opening? Yikes. I hope that message gets out strongly with March 22nd for the park opening. Of course, with a half-finished coaster, I think it'll be pretty obvious:)

I think the placement of Dominator could work if it becomes the anchor of a new section like Kingda Ka. Put a couple of flats (kiddy or otherwise) in there and I think it'll work just fine.

Considering how many hundreds of unused acreage Kings Dominion has, it seems very goofy to put Dominator right up on the edge of the parking lot. If they had done that with grizzly when it was a signature ride back in the 80's, it would have ruined Grizzly.

When you're on a roller coaster, would you rather see trees or would you rather see cars and asphalt?

This just seems like yet another dumb idea implemented at Kings Dominion. I think the park is cursed to be ruined by people who have no sense of aesthetic beauty. Cannibalize the mountain for one mediocre ride (replacing at least 3), carve out the woods encasing Grizzly for one boring wooden coaster, fill in the lake to cram in a tacky water park area that would have been better placed elsewhere like - I don't know - the edge of the lake perhaps? Now put a headlining roller coaster in such a place that the riders have a spectacular view of the parking lot. Brilliant.

It's lost on me. the park has twice as much unused acreage as it has used. Why do they do this over and over again?

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ErinGoBraugh said:
Considering how many hundreds of unused acreage Kings Dominion has, it seems very goofy to put Dominator right up on the edge of the parking lot. If they had done that with grizzly when it was a signature ride back in the 80's, it would have ruined Grizzly.

When you're on a roller coaster, would you rather see trees or would you rather see cars and asphalt?

This just seems like yet another dumb idea implemented at Kings Dominion. I think the park is cursed to be ruined by people who have no sense of aesthetic beauty. Cannibalize the mountain for one mediocre ride (replacing at least 3), carve out the woods encasing Grizzly for one boring wooden coaster, fill in the lake to cram in a tacky water park area that would have been better placed elsewhere like - I don't know - the edge of the lake perhaps? Now put a headlining roller coaster in such a place that the riders have a spectacular view of the parking lot. Brilliant.

It's lost on me. the park has twice as much unused acreage as it has used. Why do they do this over and over again?

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THANK YOU!

Finally someone with vision.

Well think about it this way,they've still got all that unused land in the back of the park to work with.

SFMM Scream now has a parking lot brother..

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BATWING FAN SFA said:
Well think about it this way,they've still got all that unused land in the back of the park to work with.

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Right, but they are cheap and probably don't want to spend additional money throwing down water & power lines and because of that you get a signature ride placed where it's most economically feasible. The down side of course it being aesthetically misplaced and not packing a greater punch had it been put somewhere else.

I dont think the general public will care that it is out in the parking lot over the fact that there is a new roller coaster.

RoarsLoudly, I think most people read from top to bottom, so was it really necessary to quote the entire post above yours just to say you agreed? A simple ^ pointing to the post above yours and saying that you liked their philosophy would have sufficed.

Anyway, I've got a big bone to pick with ErinGoBraugh. My screename came from the very ride you call mediocre. Technically, there were only two rides operating before the conversion--Time Shaft and The Haunted River, and neither one of them provide anywhere near the excitement of V:TBC.

While I think adding Hurler did ruin some of the enclosure of Grizzly, it was Hypersonic with its bright white lights that really ruined things at night, when Grizzly was best to ride. I

I also never had a problem with the waterpark. It didn't have one and the central location was a good placement for the first generation of slides.

So where would you have put Dominator? The park as far as I know isn't thinking of getting rid of Anaconda anytime soon, and that would have further added to the delay of getting the ride ready by Memorial Day. I don't even know if it would fit in the footprint anyway.

So maybe tear down Flight of Fear? They just rescued it last year from relocation so that wasn't an option. Dominator is a monstrosity. I don't think there were a lot of options as far as placement. I really don't think it's going to turn out as bad as you might think.

There's a famous proverb (or phrase) that says "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth." To break it down, it means not to reject the gift you're getting based on some problem you may have with it.

^Nowhere did I see anyone suggest Anaconda or Flight of Fear should be removed to accomodate Dominator. ErinGoBraugh mentioned that Kings Dominion owns much more land than it's developed, which to me implied there are many more options than the parking lot or on top of another ride.

I do agree that Volcano is a welcome replacement for the three mediocre rides that used to be in the mountain. I remember when I was a kid my brothers and I used to wish KD would gut the mountain and build a coaster in it. Finally happened.

^^ I'll give you a bone to pick too: I rode Volcano at the ACE Convention a few years back. What a total waste of track...not to mention a cool-looking mountain that could be put to much better use. I rode it three times during the 2 hour ERT (front seat, back seat, and middle) and then did a marathon on Avalanche, which I found to be a much, much better ride.

*** Edited 1/10/2008 5:52:31 AM UTC by Mamoosh***

Here's to Avalanche being a ride much better than its launched neighbor!

Dominator is a really big ride which takes up a large patch of land. Sticking it near the back would create a backdrop and it would be hard to build around it. Putting it near the front creates that dominance of the ride and gives those entering the park a stunt show to watch. (Think about Raptor or Face Off)

Plus, it will add ridership to the Berserker.

Im certain we will see a nice Hyper Style coaster here going through those woods here in the next couple years.

I think they will do a nice job of placing it. I would think they will put trees next to it to sepertate it a little bit from the parking lot.

^That's my thought(and hope) as well John,just save that extra land in the back of the park for something bigger & better in the future.

Keep in mind also that CF,unlike SF isn't really keen on putting in whole theme sections based around an individual ride/attraction,that's something that paramount was,and SFI is famous for however & in doing things that way CF actually retains the individuality of each park while SF parks on the otherhand are more or less carbon copies of one another.