We visited Kings Dominion on June 19. It wasn't originally intended to be part of our 11 Parks in 11 States Tour, but we had such a good time at Kings Island that we took the opportunity to make a bonus visit! Here's our review of the day:
The two theme parks share many similarities, from the charming International Street with its water fountains and the one-third replica of the Eiffel Tower, to having many of the same rides including Flight of Fear, Backlot Stunt Coaster, Drop Tower, Planet Snoopy, Boo Blasters on Boo Hill, Delirium, WindSeeker and a Soak City water park.
Dominator is the world's longest floorless roller coaster, and it was our first ride. We opted for the front row, a must on this type of ride, and found it thrilling with five inversions including the fourth tallest vertical loop in the world. However, it's completely devoid of any any theming and just plonked down on a flat grassy area next to the car park, so consequently it can't compete with the fantastic Rougarou at Cedar Point.
We really enjoyed Volcano, The Blast Coaster. We had a long-ish wait due to a breakdown, which is very common on this ride, but by not leaving the queue and having to start again we saved time. The duel launch sections inside the volcano are great and shooting out vertically from the top is a lot of fun. The multiple inline twists above the volcano are very smooth and deliver quite the thrill. Overall it offers a unique experience that was worth visiting for alone.
Having never experienced a 'grey out' before, Intimidator 305 made quite an impression. This roller coaster is a sort of mash up between Millennium Force and Maverick at Cedar Point. It has the big airtime hills and banked curves of the former and the tight twists and low to the ground turns of the latter. It's stunning to look at, and we loved the second half of the ride but the intensity of the first part as your body is put under strong g-forces, blurring your vision, was too much even for us! It's also a very different roller coaster to Intimidator at Carowinds and given it is located in the Safari Village area of the park it should have been called something else to help distinguish them better and to fit in.
There are wooden roller coasters here too, the racing Rebel Yell is very similar to The Racer at Kings Island, but The Grizzly is no match for The Beast. An interesting addition is the classic bobsled Avalanche, well worth a ride.
The staff were mostly friendly and helpful but the ride operations weren't the best, with all the roller coasters going out with lots of empty seats, including plenty of vacant front row seats as the ride operators failed to identify the many single riders waiting in line. Kings Dominion also has some shows, although not to the same extent as Kings Island, and the Cirque Imagine acrobatic performance that we caught was entertaining enough.
Overall, we're very pleased to have been able to add Kings Dominion to our tour. It's a solid regional theme park with some unique rides and attractions.
