Friday, May 17, 2013

Day 5: Kings Dominion


Today we woke up way earlier than needed, bummed around the hotel a bit, then headed out on the short hop up I-95 to Kings Dominion. Easily the most accessible park we have been to so far, parking lot entrance right after the off ramp.

Getting closer to Memorial Day weekend, so unsurprisingly the park was busier than the others so far. Also they still have their metal detectors in place, unlike Kings Island or Cedar Point. Tons of school trips, including some school choir/band performances that we never heard or saw.

First off, we hit Volcano the Blast Coaster. Very, very cool ride. It is an inverted coaster build around and through a volcano scenery piece, but eschews a traditional lift hill for the magic of linear induction. After you roll out of the station you turn and stop inside a tunnel through the mountain for all of two seconds before the first LIM run launches you out and through a high-speed turn. It helixes up and around into the volcano for a second LIM run that sends you arcing straight up and out the mouth of the volcano into the second highest inversion on any roller coaster. You hurtle around the top of the volcano into three sweet heartline rolls. Unlike regular barrel rolls that twist you around the track, the track twists so that your core remains in the same place. The feeling is very cool, must be something like what fighter pilots experience when they do a barrel roll. A totally awesome coaster, non-stop speed, a must-ride!

Next we wandered over to Intimidator 305. The first thing you notice is that the 305-foot tall lift hill has only two support pylons. It results in a somewhat unnerving, but undeniably cool appearance. The ride is themed after Dale Earnhardt, "The Intimidator", I do not know much about NASCAR, but even I know he was a legend in the sport, who met a tragic end. But his legend lives on, and one incarnation is the most intense roller coaster I have ever ridden on. An elevator style lift hill hurtles you upwards at a speed that I never thought I would go up the first hill at. After cresting the top, you are dropped 85 degrees to speeds up to 90 mph (140 km/h) into an extreme high-speed turn nearly at ground level. And I mean extreme. The g forces on that turn are so intense your vision will blur. Mine actually began to grey at the edges on my second ride, and before they made changes to the track two years ago some people actually would grey or black out. You actually reach over 6 g's of force on that turn. After that turn you go speeding up into a sweet air-tme hump, before hitting some more high speed turns and arcing back around into some more negative g humps, before the final twists and then a unique magnetic downhill breaking system. The speed and intensity of this ride is absolutely insane, loved it. You must ride this coaster, nothing else I have ever ridden really compares to the balls to the walls experience you get on it.

Afterwards we did the short trek to Anaconda, an older steel coaster which has the unique element of a tunnel under the water level on the first drop, before a tall loop. You are then shot up a half-loop that corkscrews out and then helixes you down, before going back up into a brake run. After almost stopping, you are dropped down again and run through two corkscrews in a row. Fun ride, little rough around the edges, but that is to be expected given it's age and design. Recommended.

Then we wandered over to Dominator, only to find it with a train sitting motionless at the bottom of the lift hill. So to kill time we went to Rebel Yell and took a ride on that. You might have noticed that I have not mentioned riding any wooden coasters yet, and that is because we are trying to avoid doing any unnecessary harm to my dad's bad back. But El Toro in Six Flags Great Adventure calls to me, and we figured it would be a good test to see how wooden coasters treat his back. Rebel Yell is an old wooden racing coaster, though only one side of it was running at the time. Fun ride, lots of humps for air time. About as rickety as to be expected for an older wooden one. Though I imagine the ride would be more fun if both trains are racing.

Next up we saw Dominator running, and I decided I really did not like having my phone with me with my useless cargo pockets with buttons spaced too far apart and too loose main pockets for my peace of mind. So we dropped off the phone in the car and got some water. It was then that we noticed Dominator had stopped on the lift hill again. This time with a full load. Right near the top. Being glad that we didn't just go rushing over there, we went back into the park and rode Intimidator again.

We saw the train finally get off the hill after a good 15 to 20 minutes sitting there. Riding Intimidator again apparently gave them enough time to check the hill and get the required test runs in, since Dominator was running when we got there the second time.

Dominator is a floorless coaster, which means you still sit on top of the track, but while at the station the boarding floor falls away and you are left with feet dangling and a clear view of the track below. Once you reach the top of the lift hill you go down a curving hill that turns you around back the way you came and into a giant loop. Then you arc up around the station and into a cobra roll. Through some more turns and a little break run before the cool interlocking corkscrews and then back to the station. Great ride, real smooth and that giant loop is very cool to go through. Must-ride.

We rode on Volcano, Intimidator and Dominator one more time each and called it a day. Doritos Tacos Locos was our supper and they were delicious! Too bad we don't have them in Canada!

Tomorrow we drive out to Six Flags New England, to pick up our season passes and ride a couple rides. Gonna be another long haul, but we should be well rested.

Record holders:
Intimidator, 8th tallest, 9th fastest
Volcano the Blast Coaster, 2nd highest inversion
Dominator, 8th highest inversion, 3rd highest vertical loop

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