WAR2174
Posts: 1067
Registered: 3/6/2003
Rank: Platinum Critic
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 8/30/2005 10:36:40 PM
This trip came up out of nowhere. I was in Virginia to see a baseball game with my father. We went to D.C. to see my favorite team; the St. Louis Cardinals. They were playing the Nationals on Saturday, so we went up to catch the game. The Cards won 6-0 by the way. Anyway, on the way back my wife called with some surprising news. She got 4 free tickets to Kings Dominion. We were supposed to leave VA on Sunday to head back to South Carolina, but this changed things a little. I actually wasn't too excited about going. I wasn't looking forward to spending a day at a park and then driving 6 hours home. Besides, KD never was very high on my interest list. It didn't look very good. The trip didn't disprove that.
We got to the park around 11 in the morning. We were held up in a ton of traffic at the exit ramp. The park was just packed. Alot busier than I ever thought it would be. I was kind of impressed as we entered. The entry area is very beautiful. The nice shops next to the water with the Eifel Tower in the background is quite stunning. However once you get past this area, the park turns into a mish-mash of incoherent themed areas and a confusing layout. Our first stop was the Nickelodeon area. Which is very confusing and not very good. The kids were kind of bored with the small rides so we went on the two coasters, Scooby-Doo and Taxi Jam. Taxi Jam is very short but they give two circuits so it ends up being a solid ride. Scooby-Doo only had one train going, so the line was an hour and a half! The ride was just like Fairly Odd Parents at Carowinds. A great "baby" woodie. My wife then decided to keep the kids in the Nick area and let me go off to ride coasters (she had surgery a few weeks ago and couldn't ride anything major anyway).
So off I went to the Congo area. This is where I met Tomb Raider:FireFall (whatever that means). This is one great flat ride. I only had ridden these Top Spins in Europe and Asia, so this was a great surprise. This maybe the best flat ride out there. Great theme, music, the whole nine yards. The drawback is the unholy loading time. The wait was almost 2 hours. I timed the workers loading and unloading, it took 10 minutes to do the process. They only had 2 workers, which was a little silly. Plus the ride broke down for a while. It was getting a little tense in the line, but the ride is well worth it. Now on to Avalanche, the line wasn't too bad. It was a pretty cool little ride. A good mix of thrill and mildness, a very solid ride. Now to Volcano:The Blast Coaster. No doubt the volcano with fire coming out of the top is impressive. Seeing the track come flying out was pretty cool too. The line was another hour wait though. This is another slow loader (a common theme at this park). Once on, the launch was pretty good, but the rest was quite lackluster. A few barrell rolls, and done. Very disappointing. Not at all what I was hoping for.
Well, on to other things. I went to make the coaster circle, starting with Anaconda. Another coaster that starts out great but ends in serious pain. Now was Flight of Fear, which wan't all that bad. It would be average if not for the building it is in, which raises it's excitement considerably. Then onto Thunder Gap, err, Rebel Yell. While at Carwinds, Thunder Gap had one side broken down all day. Guess what happened at KD; one side broken down. Except this time it was the forward side. Riding backwards was pretty cool, but a little rough on the back. Overall not too bad. Then onto Shockwave, a big pile of crap. Next was Riccochet, a solid mouse coaster. Not a clone at all, a very unique ride and pretty good. Next was Hurler, perhaps the worst ride in America. It is just too rough. Next up is Hypersonic, which was very disappointing as well. The launch isn't that great, and there is nothing after that. Grizzly was after that, this is a good wooden coaster. Not among the best, but not bad either. That about did it for the coasters. Overall,<
Message updated 8/30/2005 10:49:11 PM by WAR2174
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hrrytraver
Posts: 1270
Registered: 7/16/2005
Rank: Platinum Critic
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 8/31/2005 9:57:29 AM
oops. sorry, i'm editing my earlier comment. i somehow missed all the spots where you disscussed volcano. i think i'm being thorough, but in fact i'm a pretty slippery reader. anyway, i enjoyed volcano a lot, unlike many people. growing up i loved the grizzly, and i still think it's a cool woody. but, you're right on all counts about the parks pitfalls. it's an unpleasant place to spend a day. i enjoyed it all through my childhood, but a fairly recent visit as an adult revealed to me the full scope of the paramount mediocre-izing of the place. i will likely never go there again.
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"There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know.
There are known unknowns. That is to say there are things we know we don't know.
But, there are also unknown unknowns. These are things we don't know we don't know."
-donald rumsfeld during a pentagon briefing
Message updated 8/31/2005 12:25:03 PM by hrrytraver
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fergusonat
Posts: 813
Registered: 5/2/2005
Rank: Gold Critic
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8/31/2005 10:40:11 AM
 PKD is my home park, so I know the place very well...and all of what you said is true The long lines definitely didn't help your situation, I'm sure. Yesterday I had the pleasure of being in a compeltely empty PKD, and the rides just seemed so much better without lines. And yes, Volcano is a weak ride, and everytime I ride it again, it feels even weaker. The number of launch coasters is indeed absurd. Their 3 major coasters are all launched. It's totally retarded. And guess what! Italian Job is comign next year! Another launch coaster! WOOT  Oh well, PKD sucks...I've come to accept it
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WAR2174
Posts: 1067
Registered: 3/6/2003
Rank: Platinum Critic
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8/31/2005 4:51:35 PM
PKD has so much potential. It has a nice location and some solid rides, but the bad rides way outnumber the good. I really think that they need to take out Hurler, Shockwave, and Hypersonic and replace them with monster B&M. I know that B&M's have been knocked for not being "intense" enough but a big one would offset all of the launch coasters. Perhaps a flyer or standup could do the job. They really need a ride with a high capacity to accompany their launchers.
I think that PKD could take a lesson from BGW too on customer service and themeing. No, I don't think that BGW is the say-all, end-all. It has some major faults, like too few thrilling flats. But they do alot of stuff very well. Even though, I personally think it is lazy and cheesy to do, I would think the park could use more of its movie catalog for ideas on rides. Paramounts has some great movies that could be used for tie-ins.
Volcano was pretty boring. An awesome ride to look at but not to ride.
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