Park Review
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Doswell, Virginia July 2, 2001 I don�t usually write trip reports about my home parks, but since Jay (of jayandkaren) specifically stated that things like that make the list what it is, I shall do one for each of my parks. For those of you who don�t know, I do not like Paramount�s Kings Dominion. For the longest time, I could not figure out why. Their employees are friendly, their operations are top-notch (full capacity when possible, speedy, promote re-rides), and two (now three) decent dark attractions (7th Portal, Smash Factory, and Flight of Fear). On Monday, it finally dawned on me why I don�t like the place: I simply do not love the coasters. Don�t get me wrong, the new Flight of Fear is awesome, but Jokers Jinx honestly doesn�t hurt me much (now that I know how to ride it). Hypersonic is the most intense launch around, but I can only ride once or twice when I go because I don�t like waiting in long lines solo. Grizzly is actually decent when lubricated (more later), but I hate that it crawls around the turnaround after the first drop. Avalanche is great! Though it is short, I really have no beef with this ride and it is my favorite "just for fun" coaster in the park. As for the other coasters, I can really live without them. Rebel Yell is okay when lubricated, but nothing special. The Hurler has a good first drop and turn, but bores me after that (or shakes me awake, more later). Anaconda is pretty painful (much worse than Shockwave, Nate ;) ). Even being an Arrow-lover, I can call this trash (looks good with the new paint, though). And Volcano is the only non-SLC invert that I would want to ride less than Raptor (and y'all know how I feel about the big green turd...I mean bird hehehe). Anyway, with all that in mind, I happened to still have a blast Monday. How you ask? Well I'll tell ya�! I left my house circa 3:30pm and got caught in the beginning of the rush hour exodus from DC into Northern VA ,so my trip that should have taken 1hr 20min was stretched into a full two hours plus. However, just as I was approaching the park, the radio station I was listening to started playing some Chicago house music (a rarity, and personal favorite) so I was hyped up and in a good mood. I got into the park and headed straight Volcano. My hope was to get an EXPRESSLANE ticket (the Paramount version of FASTPASS). I don�t like Volcano, but anything is great if you don�t have to wait. When I got there, there were garbage bags over all the ticket dispensing machines, signifying that they were all out (booo, hisss). Furthermore, I looked up and I saw an empty train cycling. Not a good sign and not a great ride, so I moved on. Passing Shockwave (stand up coaster), I noticed the African Acrobats show, but I didn�t watch, as I had bigger fish to fry. I went back to Hypersonic: XLC, again hoping for a pass, again disappointed. Oh well, I don�t really mind waiting. However, the sign out front said two hours (actually it literally said 120 minutes, but I did the math =]), so I decided to check back on it a little later. I strolled over to the Grizzly. Grizzly was running two trains even though the crowds were somewhat light. I was able to walk onto the front of the last car of the seatbelt-less PTC trains. The first drop of the ride was great, the turnaround slow, the next drop okay, and then up to my favorite part: the tunnel air-lateral. But something was wrong. First, there were lights in the tunnel (first time I saw those), and the train was fighting friction the whole time, crying for some grease. The rest of the ride was a meandering jog among the trees with no interesting forces, very Mean Streak-like. This coaster is a good performer when lubricated, but today the tracks were bone dry. After that, I took a moment to more carefully examine the H:XLC line. Sometimes they greatly exaggerate the wait time, but my inspection of the two train/car operation line revealed the 120 minutes was pretty accurate. Again, I opted to do something else. This time it was Hurler. I was able to pretty much walk onto this one as well, some random seat near the back. The Hurler coasters are fairly shaky/rough in general (they are Dinn coasters after all) but today seemed really bad. By the second turn I would have been happy to get off. The rest of the ride did nothing other than wail for graphite. As I passed by the Virginia Theater, I noticed that the show "Hot Latin Beats" was starting in about ten minutes. Truth be told, I've been looking forward to this show since opening day. Don�t ask my why, but it seemed interesting to me. The show was pretty good. There was a good amount of eye candy (i.e. scantily-clad hoochies) as well as good singing and dancing. It was a good waste of a half an hour (no sarcasm here; if you need to kill a half, this is a good way, as you'll enjoy it). I went over to the Paramount FX Theater to see if the Smash Factory movie was running yet and found that both sides were running. The 7th Portal had a line, but Smash Factory was a walk on - so I walked on. You all are going to hate me for this, but I like Smash Factory more than 7th Portal. SF is a really cheesy jaunt through a crash test facility, were you run into just about everything. Like I said, it's cheesy, but it's fun because it doesn�t try to be serious. I thought it was cool. Furthermore, it's in 2-D, which is a little better for me because the 3-D glasses never work fully for me over my regular glasses. After this, I decided to go over to Flight of Fear. On the way, I ran into an enthusiast I met at Stark Raven Mad, Kevin Page and his fianc�e, Jen. They were with three other people I didn�t know. I said hello and chatted briefly, but we went our separate ways. In the FoF queue, this guy walked through the line with that "I have friends up there" line. I didn�t say anything this time. Then right after that, these three little girls walked right up behind him, until one of them said, "Hey, you cant cut line.� I guess they caught the scowls of the other people around who were already not pleased with the guy who went through. The three girls stopped right next to me, and I let them get in front of me (I was not in a mood to argue). However, these girls were all as excitable as little girls can be. I was thinking that this was going to be a long 30-minute wait! Of course, inside the building the pre-show is going through its motions. I was 21 when I first saw the pre-show so I just thought it was cool. But it really unnerved these eight or nine year old girls, especially when the lights went out. They got scared and asked me about the ride. I tried to explain it to them in such a way that they wouldn�t be too spooked (whenever I see little girls I think about my God-daughters and I get all wussy...). Anyway, one in particular was really freaking out, so I offered to hold her hand through the ride. To sum up, she rode like a champ. I don�t know if she wanted to do it again, but she seemed okay, just a little dizzy. That put a smile on my face (It doesn�t take much), so I was ready to brave Anaconda. There was actually about a three-train wait for the ride with two trains running. I was thinking I didn�t want to wait long for a beating. However, I noticed that they were dispatching as the other train was in the corkscrews. The train would then coast through the final brakes and straight into the station. I took a seat in the very back for the drop and vertical loop. I was greeted with a relatively painless ride. I mean, any Arrow coaster will let you know you just went through something, but there was practically no headbanging. I was impressed (even thought I still don�t like the ride). I did a quick check on the Volcano and Avalanche lines, and both were longer than I really felt like waiting. I walked back up the midway where I saw Kevin & company again. I didn�t catch them until they got in line for H:XLC. I was properly introduced to Mike, Tim, and Vicki, some coaster lovers from the Cincinnati area. We had some pretty decent conversation. H:XLC had a brief TD (technical difficulty) while we were in line, but we weren�t really mad because that just meant that we would get a real night ride (it was about 9:15 now). We decided that we would wait for the front seat. It was really dark when we got on the ride (really close to the 10pm closing time), but I can�t say the darkness affected the ride any. It was the same intense experience. The funny thing is that even after six and a half rides, I am still amazed at how fast that sucker accelerates and the extreme ejector air at the top. Whew! Hypersonic is a bad mutha� (shut yo' mouth). At that point the park was closed. Jen & Kevin (who are from New York) and Mike, Tim, and Vicki all stated that they were going to go to Six Flags America (my other, and closer, home park) the next day. I told them that I would try and meet up with them some time in the afternoon. We exchanged information and I said I'd call from work (that's another trip report). And with that, I said goodbye to PKD for another indeterminate amount of time. I've actually now done everything at the park that I wanted to (Hot Latin Beats & Smash Factory being the final pieces), so I don�t have to go back. But we'll see. Well this trip report (once again) is too damn long. I know I type slowly, but I've gone through the whole Eminem "Marshal Mathers LP" so I'll end it here. You should get a medal or something for getting this far =]
I'll holla
On Friday, I canceled by trip to Six Flags Great Adventure and Nitro. I just wasn't up to driving three hours up and back just to hang out in the rain. Plus, I had mad work to do, so I figured I'd go to work early, then head on down to Paramount�s Kings Dominion. About 11:30am, I called down there and they said Hypersonic: XLC would be running and that they had added cars (yes, she said cars with an ��!) I got a little giddy and asked how many were now running. She replied that she didn�t have that info. I took it at that, did a little more work, and then headed to the park. I got to the park at a little before 3pm and headed straight for Hypersonic. The attendant handing out the tickets at the beginning of the queue said it would be about three or three and a half hours (yeah, like I cared ). I took my ticket and joined the line. As I entered the queue, I noticed that they are running two trains (cars), numbers one and four. Two and three were calmly sitting on the transfer tracks. Because there was (another) cheerleading competition and the weather was fairly warm, PKD was pretty busy. Hypersonic pretty much had a full queue. However, the line moved pretty quickly. Now one thing to note, the last stretch of the queue, right before you enter the station, is situated right alongside the launch strip. I think this was a great move, because just as people are starting to realize they have been in line a while, FWOOM!, they get to see the launch up close and personal. That helps to keep them motivated. It took about two hours (a little less) to get from the queue entrance to the station platform (not bad for only two cars). While waiting in line, the wind shifted and the temperature began to drop, an omen of things to come. Like I said, after two hours, I reached the station platform. There was about a five-minute delay, where the train was just sitting on the weigh station. Then it went ahead and launched. I was about to hand the guy my ticket when, all of a sudden, I heard this big "ohmygosh" sound from the entire queue line. I quickly whip my head around and saw the recently launched train running backwards!! That's right sports fans (coaster fans), H:XLC rolled back. The brakes on the launch strip caught the train and it came to a final rest just ahead of the �weigh station�. Well, this certainly caused an uproar in a queue full of GP members. Some were cheering, some were puzzled, and some were downright afraid. I mean, people had already been remarking about the train creeping over the top. Now they were very concerned. Well, after about twenty minutes of downtime, they finally start cycling empty cars. You should have heard the cheer that went up from the (now halfway full) queue when the train made it over the top. After a few more empty cycles, they sent off the "All Clear" warning horn and re-sent the riders who had gotten the "preview" ride. And all worked well without another hitch. It was (finally) my turn to ride. As I have stated before, the ride was lovely in the back. This time I wanted to try (closer) to the front, so I queued for row two. There was also a single rider on my train in row three, so to do my part to help with capacity, I hopped back with him and let the people behind me get into row two. We strapped up, got weighed, and were off to the launch strip. It's kinda� weird sitting up there with everyone's eyes trained on you. I was on the side nearest the queue, and everyone was really focused on the launch. The people in the queue were egging us on to put our hands up (as if I needed any coaxing). I felt the sled latch on, and thrust my hands skyward, eyes trained on the "Christmas tree" racing lights. Pre-stage, stage, yellow, GREEN, FWOOM! We were off and we were cooking. Into the vertical ascent and all I saw is clouds and sky. I began to brace for the extreme ejector air. I felt the floaty air pre-cursor, then wait � we were slowing down. The thought went through all our minds: "We�re not gonna� make it!" We went just far enough that the nose got to the top, then gravity took over. The brakes on the ascent side of the tower immediately began the process of slowing us down, but we still hit the launch strip brakes kinda� hard. The girl behind me (who was a little apprehensive at the start) was done - she wanted off. She quickly composed herself, but a second attempt was out of the question. It's funny, but once again there was a general cheering mood from the crowd, not a fearful one. They unloaded us and had us walk back to the station (a short walk), where they gave us the option to ride again after a little testing. Five of us said yes, while my riding partner and his two friend behind us just decided to leave. In his words, "I just wanted to do the launch anyway". Well said. After another ten or fifteen minutes, they re-boarded us, along with 3 "new recruits". This time the launch was sufficient. We made it over the top, where we were all greeted with "Get yer� hide outta� da� seat" ejection air (man, I love that!). We cruised through the turn, over the bunny hop, and into the breaks. I turned to the new guys behind us and asked, "Was it worth it?" One replied, "Hell yeah!" and the other came up with the quote of the day: "Whoever designed this thing has a disease!" After my ride, it was now almost 6:30pm and I only had one (well, one and a half ) rides on H:XLC so I wanted to do a couple of thing before I left. I hopped on Hurler since I didn�t ride it last Sunday when I was there (too busy with Flight of Fear). As soon as we were halfway out the station, the op stopped the train. I said (rather loudly) that I didn�t want to get stuck on a second coaster. Three little kids heard this and one of them recognized me from the rollback. So I told them how it was and that it wasn�t really scary, blah, blah, yadda. Anyway, mid-Hurler-ride, H:XLC rolled back again! (That's three for those keeping score at home). As you can guess, I was through with H:XLC for the day. Anyway, I got two more re-rides on Hurler and headed to FOF. On the way, I saw an Outer Limits: Flight of Fear hat (yes it actually said �Outer Limits�). It was only two bucks so I had to scoop it. Anyway, the FOF line was about an hour and a half (now 7pm, park closes at 8pm). I said �screw it�, bought myself a long-sleeved H:XLC tee and a funnel cake, and left the park. Season passholders appreciation day is on Monday (April 9th) so I'm thinking about going (10am-6pm). We'll see. It is good to know, though, that barring failures, a full H:XLC queue is only about two hrs with two trains. Hopefully that will drop some more with the addition of the third.
later days,
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