Kings Dominion

Kings Dominion is an amusement park located in Doswell, Virginia in Hanover County, 23 miles (37 km) north of Richmond and 83 miles (134 km) south of Washington, DC on Interstate 95.

The 400-acre (1.6 km²) park is currently owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, and was part of the former Paramount Parks chain that Cedar Fair acquired from CBS Corporation on June 30, 2006. The park was named after its sister park, Kings Island in Kings Mills, Ohio, which opened in 1972. Both parks were originally built and owned by Kings Entertainment Company aka KECO. While Kings Island was named as a combination of Kings Mills (its location) and Coney Island (the theme park that it was built to replace), Kings Dominion's name was more than likely a reference to Virginia's nickname as the "Old Dominion".

Dominator, a Bolliger & Mabillard floorless roller coaster formerly located at Geauga Lake, opened in 2008 along International Street.

International Street

International Street is the park's main street area, which greets guests when they enter the park. Both sides of the street are lined with shops, including two park-related souvenir shops just inside the park's front gate. International Street also has one flat ride, Berserker. Originally, only the street and its shops were considered part of the International Street area "PkdPlace". 1980 Kings Dominion Map; during the park's Paramount years, the boundaries of International Street expanded to include the Action Theater."PkdPlace". 2005 Kings Dominion Map

Like Kings Island, the centerpiece of Kings Dominion is its 1/3 scale replica of the Eiffel Tower, located just across the International Street fountain from the main entrance gate. This Tower was built by the late company Bristol Steel, which was located in Richmond, Virginia. An elevator regularly takes patrons up to the lookout tower, which provides a chance to see the entire park. The observation deck offered the best view of the nightly fireworks show (which no longer runs), and the Fourth of July fireworks, which are set off from behind the Anaconda roller coaster.

• Grand Bandstand features live shows
• Eiffel Tower (opened 1975) is a 1/3 scale replica of the Eiffel Tower; guests may ride elevators up to its observation deck at 275 feet (84 m).
• Berserker (opened 1984) is a swinging Viking ship similar to a Looping Starship.
• Action Theater motion simulator attraction has been open in the park since 1993. Dating back to 1975, the park had a country-western themed show in its same location called Hoedown, although it was considered part of the Old Virginia section."PkdPlace". 1978 Kings Dominion Map In the early 1990s, this became the Country Crossroads amphitheatre."PkdPlace". 1992 Kings Dominion Map The Country Crossroads Amphitheater closed after the park's 1992 season and was replaced by Days of Thunder, a motion simulator; at this point, International Street's borders expanded to include Days of Thunder. After five seasons with the Days of Thunder film, the Action Theater received its current name and has been playing a variety of films in its two motion simulator theaters, including James Bond 007. The Action Theater is currently showing Spongebob Squarepants 3-D, during the Halloween Haunt season its known to show Elvira's Superstition.
• Dominator (opened 2008) is a floorless roller coaster built by Bolliger & Mabillard. It has five inversions, the most of any of Kings Dominion's roller coasters, and holds the records for largest vertical loop on a roller coaster (135 ft) and the world's longest floorless coaster (4,210 ft). It originally operated at Geauga Lake.

Old Virginia

Along with International Street, Old Virginia is the only original section of Kings Dominion that has kept its same name throughout the park's history; one of its current attractions, the Shenandoah Lumber Company (Log Flume), is one of the park's longest-running rides. In the 1970s, Old Virginia had an Intamin Flying Dutchman flat ride called Jamestown Landing; behind it, Old Virginia had a steam train ride, the Old Dominion Line, which ran through the woods in the back of the park. Jamestown Landing closed by 1980; the Old Dominion Line stayed in the park until it closed in the 1990s. White Water Canyon, the park's river rapids ride, opened in 1983. Since then, Old Virginia has added its current flat ride, Flying Eagles, which moved over from the park's former Wayne's World section.

The Grizzly's lift hill

• Kings Dominion Theater (opened 1975 as Mason Dixon Music Hall, operated through 2007 as Paramount Theatre) is the park's largest indoor theatre and has hosted a wide variety of shows, including ice skating and musicals.
• Flying Eagles, a set of Bisch-Rocco Flying Scooters, first opened with the park in 1975 "Thrill Network". Flying Eagles (Kings Dominion) and has had several location changes and name changes since it first opened. In the 1970s, the ride was called Parrot Troopers and was located in the Safari Village section, overlooking Lake Charles. Parrot Troopers closed in the 1980s and reopened in the park's new Wayne's World section as Scream Weaver in 1994. Scream Weaver was located on part of the former Hypersonic XLC site; to make room for the new roller coaster, Kings Dominion moved Scream Weaver to Old Virginia, across from the Kings Dominion Theatre, and renamed (and rethemed) it Flying Eagles to fit into the Old Virginia section.
• Shenandoah Log Flume (opened 1975), one of the park's original attractions, is a log flume with two hills and a course that travels through the woods of Old Virginia and past White Water Canyon's queue.
• White Water Canyon (opened 1983) is a rafting ride with six-person boats, waterfalls, and geysers. White Water Canyon also has an indoor portion toward the end of the ride. In recent years, the ride has often opened at noon (along with WaterWorks) rather than at the rest of the park's opening time; the ride's popularity also gives it some of the longest lines in the park.
• Blue Ridge Tollway (opened 1975) is an antique cars ride, where riders ride gas-powered antique cars (guided by rails) around a track.
• Grizzly (opened 1982), the park's second full-size wooden roller coaster, has a Coney Island Wildcat design."Roller Coaster DataBase". Grizzly (Kings Dominion) California's Great America's Grizzly, which also has a Coney Island Wildcat Layout but is slightly taller and longer, opened four years later."Roller Coaster DataBase". Grizzly (Kings Dominion)

The Grove

The Grove, which opened with the park in 1975 as "Coney Island," was renamed Candy Apple Grove, and is currently Kings Dominion's largest section. The Candy Apple Grove first opened with an orchard theme, complete with singing mushrooms, and contained large candy apples"Webshots". Candy Apple Grove 4"Webshots". Candy Apple Grove 1 and 3 apple-themed flat rides, an enterprise called Apple Turnover, a himalaya called Adam's Apple and a Monster model known as Bad Apple."Coaster-Net". Ride Gallery > Drop Zone Stunt Tower, Paramount's Kings Dominion It lost much of this theming during the 1990s and changed its name to the Grove by 2001."PkdPlace". 2001 Kings Dominion Map

Today, The Grove is the location of the park's main midway; the park's largest arcade, which opened in the 1970s, continues to operate there. The Grove has grown several times since the early 1990s. From the 1980s to 1995, the park had a small Shady Grove section in the present-day location of Shockwave and the Showplace theater. When Nickelodeon Splat City opened in 1995, most of the Shady Grove section was demolished and the Slime Zone rose up in its place; Shockwave has since been part of the Grove. The park also operated a Wayne's World-themed section for several years, beginning in 1994 with the opening of Hurler. Hurler (which travels over part of the former Old Dominion Line site in Old Virginia) are now part of The Grove. The Grove is also known for the Rebel Yell roller coaster, the park's first full-size roller coaster; Drop Tower Scream Zone, the world's tallest drop tower; and its carousel, which was first built in 1917. In 2009, El Dorado and Americana were added.

• Carousel (opened 1975) was first built in 1917 by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company; prior to opening at Kings Dominion in the park's first season, it operated at Riverside Amusement Park in Springfield, Massachusetts, from 1917 to 1938, and at Roger Williams Park in Providence, Rhode Island, from 1938 to 1973."Thrill Network". Carousel (Kings Dominion) This all-wood carousel features 50 jumping horses, 16 standing horses, and two chariots, spread out over four rows.
• Ricochet (opened 2002) is a Mack wild mouse roller coaster. Its compact layout contains a series of hairpin turns.

• Triple Spin (opened 2002) is a Huss Troika.

• Dodgem Bumper Cars opened with the park in 1975 and are located at the edge of the Grove section near the Backlot Stunt Coaster.

• Drop Tower: Scream Zone (opened in 2003 as Drop Zone: Stunt Tower) is the world's tallest drop tower at 305 feet (93 m) high. Drop Tower can take up to 56 riders at a time on its 272-foot (83 m) drop; they travel 72 miles (116 km) per hour before the ride's magnetic braking slows them. Both this ride and its sister attration, Drop Tower: Scream Zone at Kings Island claim to be the tallest drop towers in the world. In fact, both rightly hold the title. Kings Island's structure is 10-foot (3.0 m) taller than King's Dominion's. However, Kings Dominion's tower's breaks begin lower down on the structure, thus allowing riders to drop 8-foot (2.4 m) farther than riders on Kings Island's.

Hurler

• Hurler opened in 1994 as part of Paramount's Kings Dominion's Wayne's World section, which has since become part of the Grove. Hurler has a triple out-and-back layout.

• Rebel Yell (opened 1975) is a racing wooden roller coaster with an out-and-back layout that travels along one side of Lake Charles. Beginning in the 1990s, one track featured rear-facing trains, and riders could choose to ride either forwards or backwards. This feature was removed in 2008, and both tracks now have trains going forward only.

• Shockwave (opened 1986) is a TOGO stand-up roller coaster located in part of the park's former Shady Grove section. It features a vertical loop and a helix.

• Wave Swinger (opened 1975)

• Xtreme SkyFlyer (opened in 1996) is a SkyCoaster bungee jump attraction

• El Dorado (opened 2009) is a family-friendly swinging pendulum ride, themed to a 1950's style El Dorado convertible car which can carry a total amount of 40 riders up 85 feet in the air.

• Americana (opened 2009) is Kings Dominion's first Ferris wheel. It is 110 feet tall, and is located at the former location of the Launch Pad, just next to the Rebel Yell's exit.

Planet Snoopy

Planet Snoopy, a children's area adjacent to KidZville, previously opened as Nickelodeon Splat City in 1996. Following the 2009 season, Cedar Fair introduced Planet Snoopy theming and characters to the children's areas of Kings Dominion and the other Paramount Parks.

• Peanuts Meet & Greet is a meet and greet area featuring characters like Charlie Brown and Linus van Pelt.
• Peanuts Showplace is a theater with game shows and shows featuring Nickelodeon characters.
• Snoopy's Splash Dance, a maze filled with pipes shooting water in all directions, opened as Green Slime Zone and was one of Kings Dominion's original Nickelodeon Splat City attractions.
• Joe Cool's Driving School, is a ride where children can drive small cars in a confined track set up to resemble a miniature town. It was previously called Rugrats Toonpike and bore Rugrats theming.
• Flying Ace is a Chance Morgan Aviator"ThrillNetwork". Nickelodeon Space Surfer where riders board kite-like vehicles and glide through the sky at up to a 90 degree angle. Riders travel over the surrounding trees and attain almost the same height as the nearby roller coaster, Shockwave. The cars seat 1-2 riders in seats resembling those from an inverted roller coaster.
• Treasure Cave is a funhouse featuring gemstones in the walls and tilted floors. It has been renamed and rethemed twice; it was first called Yogi's Cave and has also had the name Pirate Cave.
• Boo Blasters on Boo Hill (opened 2004 as Scooby-Doo and the Haunted Mansion) is a shooting dark ride themed to a large ghost. Passengers ride in a car and shoot at objects to earn points.
• Charlie Brown's Road Rally is a small themed car ride. It has a cow that the riders pass.
• Woodstock's Swing A Round is a small swing ride located next to Treasure Cave.
• Peanuts Boulder Bumpers is an indoor bumper cars ride for children.
• Snoopy vs. Red Baron is a junior flat ride with small airplanes that goes in a circle over a creek.
• Snoopy's Space Port is a junior airplane ride previously themed to The Jetsons.
• Hot Rods, a driving ride featuring Snoopy.
• Jeep Tours is a small jeep ride for little kids.
• Junior Turnpike is a junior car ride.
• Virginia Clipper is a non-inverting swinging ship ride similar to a scaled-down, tamer Berserker.
• Snoopy's Taxi Jam Coaster is an 8-foot-high junior roller coaster.
• Peanuts Ghoster Coaster (opened 1974 as Scooby Doo, then as Scooby-Doo's Ghoster Coaster), a junior roller coaster, is located near the front of the park next to the former site of the Racing Rivers waterslides. American Coaster Enthusiasts gave the ride an ACE Coaster Classics plaque but have since removed the ride from their list due to design changes.http://www.aceonline.org/CoasterAwards/?type=1
• Planet Snoopy Gazebo is a venue for children's shows.

Congo

Congo is Kings Dominion's westernmost and predominantly African-themed section. It was inspired by one of the park's original attractions, the Lion Country Safari. Containing a boat ride and a monorail train through a nature preserve, the safari attraction closed in the 1990s. The Congo section remains and now contains some of the park's most technologically innovative rides, such as Volcano, Anaconda, Flight of Fear, and Intimidator 305.

• Avalanche (opened 1988) is, as of 2009, the only Mack bobsled roller coaster remaining in the United States; the cars in its trains are themed to Olympic bobsleds from five countries.
• Scrambler (reopened 2003), one of the Congo's two flat rides, is a classic amusement ride similar to a Huss Breakdance. It was originally located on International Street and was moved to Candy Apple Grove in 1993, near the location that the Drop Tower occupies today; it was moved to the Congo section in 2003."PkdPlace". Other Attractions: Scrambler

Anaconda Roller Coaster, viewed from its queue

• Anaconda (opened 1991) continues to be well-known for its tunnel, which travels under Lake Charles. The ride still traverses most of its layout over the lake. When Anaconda opened, its four inversions were the most of any roller coaster in the park.
• Backlot Stunt Coaster (opened 2006 as The Italian Job: Turbo Coaster) was Kings Dominion's third LIM-launched roller coaster. It is themed to a car chase and is a nearly exact replica of rides found at Kings Island and Canada's Wonderland. Originally themed to The Italian Job, it was the last ride with Paramount theming to open at the park and was renamed in the 2007 offseason.
• The Crypt (opened 2005 as Tomb Raider: Firefall) is a suspended Top Spin originally themed to the film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. It still has the same physical theming but was renamed in the 2007 offseason after the park's change in ownership.
• Volcano, The Blast Coaster (opened 1998) was the second of Kings Dominion's LIM-launched roller coasters, it is also the park's fastest roller coaster (after the removal of Hypersonic XLC). The ride, occupying the former "Lost World" mountain, is notable for two launches, the first being 70 mph (110 km/h).
• Flight of Fear (opened 1996 as The Outer Limits: Flight of Fear) is one of the first two LIM-launched roller coasters in the world, along with Flight of Fear at Kings Island, with which it shares the same theming and layout. It is an indoor coaster in complete darkness, themed to an Area 51-style military installation. It was renamed in 2001 when Paramount lost the right to Outer Limits. Also in 2001 the over-the-shoulder harnesses were replaced with lap bar restraints after 5 seasons from guests complaining of a rough ride experience.
• Intimidator 305 (opened April 2010) is the second giga coaster in North America (third in the world), after Millennium Force at Cedar Point. The ride, named and themed after late NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, Sr., sits on land initially used for the Lion Country Safari that had gone unused since the Safari closed in the early 1990s. Utilizing a similar cable lift hill system to that of Millennium Force, Intimidator 305 takes riders 305 feet up before they descend an 85-degree, 300-foot first drop. Its height matches the overall height of Drop Tower: Scream Zone, and its first drop equals the first drop of Millennium Force. It has the steepest drop to date on a giga coaster. The ride's maximum speed of 94 miles per hour is the fastest attained by any ride ever located at Kings Dominion and makes Intimidator 305 the fastest gravity-driven roller coaster in North America.http://www.thestreet.com/story/10717263/1/kings-dominion-introduces-intimidator-305.html

WaterWorks

WaterWorks, Kings Dominion's water park, can be thought of in terms of its two sides, Northside which was formerly known as Hurricane Reef, and Southside which is the newer section of WaterWorks. The rides that WaterWorks had as Hurricane Reef in the mid-1990s are all located in front of the Rebel Yell roller coaster; the newer rides are behind the Rebel Yell and are accessible by walking under the Rebel Yell on a walkway between Baja Bends and Shoot the Curl. The original Hurricane Reef attractions received new names when Kings Dominion renamed the water park WaterWorks in 1999.

• Lazy Rider (opened 1992 as Lazy River) is a lazy river which travels around the center of the water park. With the exception of FreeStylin', all of the remaining slides that originally opened with Hurricane Reef travel over Lazy Rider, which allows the lazy river to have several short tunnels during its course. As of 2005, the Lazy Rider's entrance and exit were located on different parts of the river, which kept riders from making more than one lap of it without having to exit.
• Baja Bends (opened in 1992 as Pipeline) is a set of four green open water slides located behind the Lazy Rider and in front of Lake Charles. The Baja Bends slides travel over Lazy Rider and end in a splashdown pool.
• Spiral Chute (opened in 1992 as Torrential Twist) is a pair of enclosed slides that wrap around each other in a spiral manner. The queue for Spiral Chute passes under Anaconda; the loading station for the slides was built over the lake. Spiral Chute was closed for part of 2005 because a construction road for the Backlot Stunt Coaster was cut through its queue, making the station inaccessible."Coaster-Net" The slides reopened in 2006, however Spiral Chute was not open for the 2009 season, due to structural deficiencies of the platform structure, and is now standing but not operating.
• Shoot the Curl (opened in 1992 as Cyclone) is a set of three enclosed blue slides located in front of the Rebel Yell; the slides travel over the Lazy Rider. The center slide is a free-fall slide, though not as tall as Night Slider on Pipeline Peak. The other two slides mirror each other and feature 360-degree helixes.
• FreeStylin' (opened in 1992 as Tidal Wave) is a pair of white open slides, which riders ride on one-person inner tubes; the slides end in a splashdown pool. Because the riders each carry their own tubes, the ride has two separate loading stations on connected towers, and the queue, which starts as one queue, splits in two part of the way up.
• Big Wave Bay (opened 1999), the park's first wave pool, holds 650,000 gallons of water; its wave machines generate four-foot waves."Ultimate Roller Coaster". Kings Dominion's WaterWorks Water Park Opens May 14
• Surf City Splash House (opened 1999) is a multi-level water play structure with several smaller slides and an 800-gallon bucket which dumps all of its water on guests every several minutes.
• Lil' Barefoot Beach (opened 1999) is a smaller water play structure for young children.
• Pipeline Peak (opened 2000), the park's largest slide structure in 2006, is a set of four enclosed slides manufactured by ProSlide. The top level of the tower features two body flumes: Night Slider, which, at 77 feet (23 m) tall, is the world's tallest free-falling dark water slide, and Power Plunge, a long, twisting slide which is 77 feet (23 m) high at its beginning. Turbo Twister and Rip Slide, which are at the tower's 50-foot (15 m) lower level, are two-person raft slides which open in several places in the middle of their course to splash water on riders.
• Tidal Wave Bay (opened 2007) is the park's second wave pool. Several other Cedar Fair parks include multiple wave pools. Dorney Park opened a second wave pool in 2006; California's Great America will also open their second wave pool in 2007, and Michigan's Adventure has three wave pools of varying sizes and depths.
• Tornado (opened 2007) is a 65-foot-tall slide which deposits riders into a large funnel. ProSlide Tornadoes have opened at many Six Flags parks and several other Cedar Fair parks in the early 2000s; Kings Dominion is the second former Paramount Park to receive a Tornado."ProSlide". Installations: ProSlide Tornadoes
• Zoom Flume (opened 2007) is a four-person family raft slide.

• 1974: Preview Center opened featuring a movie theater, a kiddie style wooden coaster (then called the Scooby Doo), and Lion Country Safari. (At that time, visitors had to drive their own vehicles through the Safari section, later to be replaced by a monorail system a few years later.) Rebel Yell wooden racing roller coaster had been completed at that time but did not open until spring of 1975 along with the rest of the park.
• 1975: Park opened in spring of 1975 (one week after Busch Gardens "The Old Country" in nearby Williamsburg, Virginia)
• 1975: Apple Turnover (Enterprise style flat ride)
• 1977: King Kobra (steel coaster)
• 1978: Kings Dominion Campground opened
• 1979: Lost World themed area, featuring Journey to Atlantis, Land of Dooz, and Time Shaft (a Rotor ride)
• 1980: Haunted River replaced Journey to Atlantis
• 1982: Grizzly; Showplace Amphitheatre also opened
• 1983: White Water Canyon; Galaxie Closed
• 1984: Smurf Mountain replaced Land of the Dooz; Berserker
• 1985: Diamond Falls; Scooby's Play Park
• 1986: Shockwave; King Kobra removed
• 1987: Racing Rivers
• 1988: Avalanche
• 1989: Sky Pilot (flat ride took the place of Apple Turnover)
• 1990: Hanna-Barbera Land expansion
• 1991: Anaconda
• 1992: Hurricane Reef water park
• 1993: Days of Thunder (motion simulator theater)
• 1994: Hurler; Old Dominion Line steam train removed
• 1995: Nickelodeon Splat City; Showplace Amphitheatre reopened as Kingswood Amphitheatre; Smurf Mountain is removed
• 1996: Flight of Fear; Xtreme SkyFlyer
• 1997: Taxi Jam Coaster; Hanna-Barbera Land renamed KidZville
• 1998: Volcano; Action Theater replaces Days of Thunder
• 1999: Expansion of Hurricane Reef water park to WaterWorks
• 2000: Nickelodeon Central; Pipeline Peak added to WaterWorks
• 2001: HyperSonic XLC (Xtreme Launch Coaster)
• 2002: Ricochet; Triple Spin; Diamond Falls closes
• 2003: Drop Tower; SpongeBob SquarePants 3-D in the Action Theater
• 2004: Scooby-Doo and the Haunted Mansion
• 2005: The Crypt; kids area of WaterWorks is removed
• 2006: Backlot Stunt Coaster; Flight of Fear shut down until mid-August, when it reopened; FearFest's last year before stepping to a new level of fear, Halloween Haunt
• 2007: Tidal Wave Bay, Tornado, Zoom Flume added to WaterWorks; last year for Hypersonic XLC; Halloween HAUNT
• 2008: Dominator (B&M Floorless Coaster from Geauga Lake)
• 2009: El Dorado & Americana (Both relocated from Geauga Lake), Grizzly retracked
• 2010: Intimidator 305 (Intamin AG giga coaster), Planet Snoopy (Retheme of Nickelodon Central & KidZville.), Rebel Yell retracked

• 1975-1983: Galaxie (Galaxi) made by S.D.C.
• 1977-1986: King Kobra (Steel Coaster)
• 1979-1980: The Lost World Mountain: Journey to Atlantis, The Mine Train, and Timeshaft (located in the mountain of Volcano)
• 1980-1997: The Haunted River (located in the mountain of Volcano)
• 1984-1997: The Time Shaft (located in the mountain of Volcano)
• 1984-1995: Smurf Mountain (located in the mountain of Volcano)
• 1985-2002: Diamond Falls (Big Splash ride) (located where Italian Job sits)
• 2001-2007: Hypersonic XLC compressed air-launched coaster made by S&S Power