We pulled up to PKD on a semi-hot day, and saw a large amount of people dressed in orange shirts getting out of cars. To our dismay (mostly mine) we found out that they were all part of a Baptist Conference going on in the area, which meant there would be a lot of them. Not that I'm against the conference, after all, I'm a Christian as well, but did they all have to go to King's Dominion on the same day as us? ;) About 1/3 of the people there were wearing the orange shirts. *sigh*
We walked back to Hypersonic XLC, and saw a 2 hour line, mostly orange. We decided to wait, since we were there an hour after opening, and the line wasn't going to get much longer anyway(or so we thought)
Coaster #76- Hurler. We rode this one in the back first, and I didn't think much of it. Okay airtime, but it was slow and not too great. It turns out we rode it in the front later on, and it was great! The trains are easy to not get stapled in, and the airtime in the front was very generous. The turns seemed more vicious there too. Ride this baby up front! 7/10
Coaster #77- Grizzly was very hidden in the woods, which adds to the ride experience, but since I like to take pictures of the coasters I ride, I was kind of sad that I couldn't get a real view of the ride. Wow, how different this Grizzly is from the one at PGA! The first drop was great, and the only slow part was the first turnaround. After that, we drop into the best part, a very low tunnel that has two unexpected hills in it, and then a fast turn, some hops, and another turn. This was a fun wooden coaster, and again, it was easy to prevent stapling in the train. Good airtime in spots, and the tunnel and woods really helped. It's no CCI or GCI, but still a very enjoyable ride. 8/10
Well, we walked past hypersonic, and found a 3.5 hour line. I don't care what anybody says, NO RIDE is worth a 3 and a half hour line. Things were looking bad for our getting on the newest ride in town. :(
We lucked out to get fastpasses for Volcano, because we got there at 11:30 AM, and they were already giving them out for 8 PM! Wow, those things go fast. Since the line was 2 hours, we decided to wait for our fastpass time.
Coaster #78- Avalanche. This ride was comfortable, and much more fun than La Vibora at SFOT. I liked the swooping turns, and the unsettling feeling that there is really nothing holding the cars on the track. Quite fun for a bobsled ride, we all enjoyed it more than we thought we would. 7.5/10.
Coaster #79- On to Flight of Fear, one of the most anticipated (by me) coasters. I loved Poltergeist, and this was going to be more fun, I thought. My brother didn't fit, he found out, after and hour in line. The stupid foot pads prevented him from crossing his ankles, which he has to do on most rides to get the upper bar over his knees. I was very angry, and this tainted my experience on an otherwise great ride. The launch was amazing, and doing the inversions with no OTSR's was quite fun! The room wasn't as dark as I thought, and completely stopping the train at the mid course brake run was unnecessary. Fast and fun, and the last corkscrew was great, however. 9/10 (minus .5 points for my brother's inability to fit)
Food here was the worst I'd ever seen at any park. Basically you could get a burger, chicken burger, or pizza. I like to eat healthy, since I have some major stomach problems, so the best I could do was an undercooked, and extremely small chicken burger. Yuck.
Coaster #80- Anaconda. I like almost everything by arrow. With that in mind, I knew I was in for a treat. I was right. The first drop was shallow, but the cool underwater tunnel made up for that. The regular up high loop was very smooth, as was the next loop/corkscrew(don't know the name of this inversion)The brakes were on tight, but they were needed to keep the butterfly turn from being too painful. During the unique butterfly element, there was one time I smacked my neck on the restraint harder than I ever have on any other coaster. However, on future rides, I was able to brace myself during this element, and I found it to be enjoyable. The corkscrew was great, as it is on all arrows, and the fact that the whole thing was over water really increased the experience. 8/10.
Coaster #81- Rebel Yell. We decided to ride on the forwards side first. We sat in the back, and again I prevented myself from being stapled. Oh My Goodness. I was literally standing up on the first drop. I wasn't expected much air at all, but that was the most massive air I've ever gotten up to this point, save the great air on Ghostrider. The rest of the trip out was rough yet fun, with some short hops and bigger drops, and some more good air. After the turnaround, the rest of the drops had no air. Since I don't care that much about air, I still found the ride home to be quite fun. Especially the unexpected tunnel drop right at the end. 8/10
Then we went to backwards side expecting great things, but while in line, that side broke down and never reopened. More terrible news as we found they had closed Hypersonic, and it wouldn't reopen that day. NOOOOOO!
We then did some rerides and rode a fun yet dirty watered log ride. The tower offered a great view. Then my sister and I went on Shockwave while my brother waited.
Coaster #82- Shockwave. I wanted to cry. The restraints were rock solid, and I wasn't standing up quite all the way. OUCH. I had to grit my teeth very tightly during the whole ride. The entire train shook as we ran the course. Bang, pow, biff! I was getting so stinking beat up. I am not one to complain about pain. I enjoy frequent rides on Flashback and Psyclone at SFFM, and the Mr. Freeze duos are two of my favorite rides. However, Shockwave, was outrageously painful. The course wasn't even that fun anyway, mainly a loop, a helix, and two hops. I will never, ever, ride a TOGO standup again, not even to increase the count. I value my life too much. 0/10.
After a few more rerides, we went for our fastpass time on Volcano.
Coaster #83- Volcano: The Blast Coaster. An Intamin my brother can fit on. Cause for celebration. After waiting 3 minutes, we got on a train, 2nd row, ready to go. Good heavens. Well, this coaster is insane. I have a new favorite steel coaster. This thing completely took my breath away. Amazing. I love how the train doesn't even stop after the slow turn out of the station. It's still rolling at about 5 miles per hour, and then you are launched. The launch was amazing, kind of what I was hoping v2's launch would have been like. The sound effects worked for me, as they only added to the excitement. Into a highly banked turn, another banked turn, and into the mouth of the Volcano. This part was really fun, as you find another launch inside, and we blast out the top of the mountain going straight up into a loop/twist. I was already loving it. I am a sucker for inverts with inline twists. That is why I LOVED the rest of the ride so much. Inline twist to the right. Fast, banked turn. Twist to the left, looks like you're going to smash into the Volcano on this one as you twist around the rock! Wow! Turn, another inline twist, and another turn. AHHHHHHHH!!!
This thing is FAST until the end. It doesn't give you one moment to take a breath, or even think. I laughed the entire way on Volcano. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is definitely a winner. A coaster you walk away from, and your pulse is still pounding for ten minutes! We bought the pictures, and immediately got back in a 90 minute line to ride again. In the dark this thing is even better. It is pitch black during the first two turns. Perfect! Perfect!! Perfect!!! Okay, I'm done ranting and raving. You're all wondering what rating I'm going to give this, huh? Well after that, the only rating I can give it is 10/10.
Overall, although it was fairly crowded that day, we got on many rides. The food was bad, but the rides were for the most part, very good. This park now has the interesting title as the one that has my favorite steel coaster and my least favorite steel coaster! Shame about missing Hypersonic.
Coaster count:
Hurler 3
Grizzly 2
Flight of Fear 1
Avalanche 2
Anaconda 3
Rebel Yell Forwards 2
Shockwave 1
Volcano: The Blast Coaster 2
*** This post was edited by saviourmachine on 8/8/2001. ***
I heard from my coaster enthusiast friend that Hypersonic was closed all day Saturday. And I hear that they're still not running all four trains. And I thought Batwing was the only coaster having problems.
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Batwing-Bow Down
