KDCOASTERFAN

Yeah,especially since the coaster itself is a generic off the shelf mack wild mouse layout similar in design to Ricochet at Carowinds(KD got the custom design) so who's to say where the ride will end up in 09? Still SFI can just go to mack & request a refund of their $7.5 million explaining that the project had to be cancelled because they couldn't get the permits needed to build it rather than have to decide upon which "alternate" park to send it to for 2009.....especially since ALL of their parks,save for SFA have gotten coasters now in recent years & as much as I'd like the ride to go there I just don't see it happening.

Six flags has a suvenier pickup service thats free. They will hold on to what you buy all day and when you leave you just pick it up. I don't see why people leave glasses in the station. I wear eye glasses and ive never once had them fall off on any ride. As for the shows not all of them are videos. A lot of the Dick Clark stuff is going for there in line TV's. Its still a good move to help money being tossed down the drain. Another example of what will turn the park around is that they have crews that "own" there ride. They have them care. Heck there B&M parking lot coaster scream had balloons on its lift hill for its birthday last week. Its a little touch but the crew wanted to do it. you make your crew's care about the rides they will work hard to make it look good. Now if they can get this to happen chain wide then people would come back. People will go cause its close to home and then word of mouth will spread. Good service is good service. Thats what will save six flags. They are in a rough patch now but brighter days are ahead. It takes more than a few years to clean up 10+ years of crappy managment They could of built it into the ticket price like holiday world does with its "free drinks, parking and sun lotion" or they can charge the ones who use it a buck. That makes no real sense because they could've just installed a bank of lockers at each ride that only cost 50 cents to use,not a freakin whole dollar.Back when Batwing first opened for instance in 2001 this is EXACTLY what the park did but the lockers were removed a couple years ago when the storage bins were added to the platform. SF is just using the lockers as another way to make money at the guests expense so it's no wonder that their attendance is dropping right now & the bad economy sure doesn't help much,if at all.

Well in all fairness,at the time GL was already owned by Premier & had been since 95 but it was only after they bought SF in 98 that their problems began.Premiere was good at buying under-developed parks like GL,Wild world(now SFA) & DL & bringing them back to profitability by adding new rides as needed but once Burke got it in his head to spend too much capital on flagging these parks that's when the money began to run out(in 2001) so by 2002 he got this idea that,in order to make money to get out of the debt that was incurred they had to spend money primarily on the big 4 parks in the chain thus ignoring the smaller,underdeveloped SF parks & it's been that way ever since. KD will not suffer the same fate as GL,they're one of the top 3 most attended parks of the former paramount chain next to KI & CWL,I'd expect SFA to suffer the same fate as GL since SFI doesn't appear to be investing in the park at all & with Dominator stealing even more of their attendance base they're gonna be in real trouble if they don't do something for 2009. Anyhow I'll be heading down to KD in july for my annual trip & definitely plan on hitting Dominator first thing....since I've got a new themepark blog up on blogspot recently I'd like to post some pics there but so far every time I've tried to C&P pics for construction updates they won't show up.

Well I've seen the KD ads for this season & they did a lousy job with it by taking the SF approach & using footage from other parks(mainly KI) so I swear why can't they get it right for a change & just shoot the ads at the park they're trying to market?

I for one find that interesting. It was said somewhere that Kings Dominion opened with Rebel Yell both facing forwards, and now Thunder Road at Carowinds is opening late, having work done on it. Intresting... As of opening day the reports I heard from KD are that Rebel yell's left track is closed because they're currently retracking it....oddly enough the train is still sitting backwards in the station though.

I'm glad that CF is running their racing coasters with both sides forward(as originally intended by their designers),now if they'd just actually dispatch the trains at the same time so that the rides can actually race.

No,KI & KD were the only two that I'm aware of seeing as how KD was modeled after KI in it's overall layout & original theming....sigh it's kinda sad to see how things have changed so drastically at both parks from what their creators had envisioned back then isn't it?

Looks like they're finally making some progress....I wish the same could be said for Dominator at KD but right now crews there are busy removing HSXLC before getting back to work on Dominator.

Parks have removed rides with a history of fatalities before so this isn't unusual for SFKK to do. KD removed their Galaxi coaster within two seasons following a fatal accident in 1983 & added their togo standup in it's place in 1986.As for DZ I really hope CF isn't renaming it "Drop Tower" because that is totally non creative of them to do when they could just recycle the "power tower" name used on CP's S&S tower. Heck even a simple name like "freefall" would be better.

No, I'm just saying that KD gets one GL coaster, why should they get 2? I say put it at a park like Knotts Berry Farm! Could it be because KBF already has a boomerang?Besides the only CF parks in the chain in need of a shuttle coaster are CGA,KD & Carowinds.

I can sympathize with you because KD has changed A LOT since my first trip there in the early 80's.Gone are the following rides: Octopus,apple turnover,flying bobs,vertigo,flying dutchman(now located at SFA),diamond falls,sky pilot, all of the rides in the mountain(mine train,time shaft,haunted river,MT. Kilimanjaro) all for a mediocre & short inverted launch coaster,the Galaxi & King Kobra coasters & then there's the disgraceful changes to kidzville with the removal of the wacky wheels raceway & the king of all sacralidges...the retheming of yogi's cave to treasure cave about ten years ago. Of course however times change & we must be willing to adapt to those changes,but ONE thing that doesn't change is our childhood memories of these parks from our first visits all the way throug hto our adult years....that's something that time,along with change can never take away from us.

Dominator is going in the front of the park in the former bus parking lot just north of the scooby doo coaster & toonpike rides but won't be a parking lot coaster as they're going to landscape the area around the ride. As for what will replace HSXLC,while there are rumors that headspin from GL may replace it for 2009 we'll have to wait & see.I'd much rather see a hyper that starts where HSXLC's station is/was & turns left going north throug hold virginia,sure they'd probably have to get ride of blue ridge tollway but it's be a good ride for that side of the park IMO.

Well I for one am glad to see it go as I've never really liked the ride from day one.....now if only they'd take out hurler along with it.

As well as steel venom at valley fair. And as far as thunderhawk being the only ride without a new paint job it looks like dominator isnt getting one either last I checked. Wrong,Dominator's new colors will be orange track/dark blue supports.They're probably gonna begin repainting it after construction though much like what they did with Firehawk.

^Nahh it probably looks crowded because of the extremely long path....Hurler & Rebel yell at KD are pretty much the same setup in terms of overly long physical path length from the midway to the station.

Well I'm sure they'll begin advertising for it soon enough,from what I hear vertical construction should begin by early february & right now they're busy trying to finish as much as they can on the station first. As for HSXLC I'm not upset to see it go...not in the least,now if only they'll take out that piece of firewood known as Hurler while they're at it.

The drastic reduction in hours,along with the lousy waterpark addition for 2008 is just the writing on the wall for this park.I expect them to go the way of GL within a year or at the most two year's time. Good thing I didn't waste money on a season pass for SFA this year,instead I'll go to KD where they're adding something that I actually want to ride.

Well I waited for SFA's 2008 attraction announcement to make up my mind on getting an 08 season pass(for the first time in a decade I'll not be getting one) so some people,not all do base their pass purchases around new cap ex plans. Now that said:go back & review the chainwide press release that CF issued a while back & you'll notice that KI,WOF & VF are not on that list for a reason & that reason is because these three parks are taking the 2008 season off from adding major rides.Remember,KI added Firehawk in 2007 & VF added renegade in 2007 so both of these parks don't need new rides in 08 to keep patrons coming through the gates. Now obviously WOF is still marketing patriot as a new ride & based on the public's reaction to it when it first opened I'd say that they don't need to add anything major for a good while....hence the reason for them not getting anything new or major in 2008.

SFA is synonomous for having the most closed rides of any park in the chain.Now my question is:when the heck are they gonna add something new to the ride side of the park for once? It's now been five years(that's half a decade) since the last ride(a stupid water ride no less) was installed in the theme park side of the property.

Along with.... Hay Bayler http://www.intermarkridegroup.com/used-rid...horn-mj969.html Balloon Race http://www.intermarkridegroup.com/used-rid...race-mj954.html Scrambler http://www.intermarkridegroup.com/used-rid...bler-mj959.html Sea Dragon http://www.intermarkridegroup.com/used-rid...agon-mj960.html Tea Cups http://www.intermarkridegroup.com/used-rid...-cup-mj956.html Time Warp http://www.intermarkridegroup.com/used-rid...rter-sp965.html Clown Ride http://www.intermarkridegroup.com/used-rid...ound-kd957.html Spider http://www.intermarkridegroup.com/used-rid...ider-mj958.html Grizzly River Run http://www.intermarkridegroup.com/used-rid...ride-mj962.html Balloon Spin http://www.intermarkridegroup.com/used-rid...usel-kd955.html And.... -Double loop -Raging Wolf Bobs -Villain -Big Dipper -Beaver Land Mine Ride Note: Head Spin El-Dorado Americana RipCord Shipwreck falls Texas Twister Carousel Yo Yo Thriller Bee's KIDWORKS kidde rides Are not on the "For Sale" site Well rumor has it that at least one other ride from GL will debut at KD in 2008,possibly thriller bees but I'm setting my hopes on Americana.Headspin is rumored to be replacing HSXLC in 2009.

They're setting themselves up for failure.Lord knows after the lousy addition to the waterpark at SFA in 2008 I'm DONE with six flags & won't be returning,at least KD is building something that I actually WANT to ride as opposed to SFA,which I see as suffering the same fate as GL did within a year or two.

Well they're making more progress with getting TH up than KD has so far with Dominator....so far all they've managed to get done was ripping up the asphalt in the parking lot where the ride will sit.

Funny how KI had so many problems with their version of FOF but KD's version didn't.....now Volcano on the otherhand was a complete disaster for the park & didn't open until august of it's debut season due to problems with the LSM launch system Intamin had designed for it.

The cable snapped on the way up & like Gordon Bombay said wrapped around her legs just before the catch car released. Now what I would like to know is how can they simply reverse the catch car to bring the gondola down for an emergency evacuation?

I saw this on the KD source forums this morning & I'm like "come on CF where's the creativity?" I mean I can deal with the crypt for their top spin but I would've preferred a name like Xcelerator for IJ:TC.....just replace the mini cooper themed cars with hot rod themed ones like those on Xcelerator at KBF.