MDMC01

Hey all, this is MDMC01. I recently went to Dollywood and I'd like to share my experince with you all. Although I have written previous trip reports on my Facebook page, this will be my first KIC trip report; enjoy! After getting to the park around 9:30, I got a locker for my stuff and headed up the hill to Mystery Mine. MM was great; I was the only one on the train! I then decided to ride Wild Eagle. Having never been on a wing coaster before, I didn’t really know what to expect. The seating arrangement was not as scary as I thought it would be (I thought your body would be more exposed, like on Slingshot); it was sort-of like riding Flying Ace Aerial Chase, only the track was beside you. Overall, it was pretty fun. After this, I decided to try the Adventure Mountain ropes course. This was pretty interesting and was a bit freaky at some points. After my first run, I decided to try again because I chickened out on one of the obstacles the first time around. After the ropes course, I rode Blazing Fury. Last time I came to the park, this ride freaked me out a bit because I didn’t know what to expect. I was still a bit creeped out by the pitch dark sections of the ride. After Blazing Fury, I decided to ride Tennessee Tornado. This ride is awesome and reminds me of a cross between The Vortex and Flight Deck. It’s short but sweet. I ended up riding a second time again. After Tornado, I made my way to Daredevil Falls. While on board, I noticed it didn’t take as long to get the lift (the last time I rode, it seemed to take forever!). After getting only a little bit wet on Daredevil Falls, I decided to head to Barnstormer. Although it was a standard Screamin’ Swing, it was pretty fun. The bummer is that after the ride hits its highest point, it starts to slow down. I then headed over to the Country Fair area to ride Dizzy Disk and Lemon Twist. Dizzy Disk was fun, but the restraint always kills my back. Lemon Twist was pretty fun as well. Having circled the park once, I had pretty much done everything I wanted to do for the day. I then decided to head to Thunderhead to give it another shot. Last time I rode, I thought Thunderhead was sort of rough as I was banged around from side-to-side. I decided to ride in the very back- probably not the wisest choice. Once the train got over the hill, I was pretty much out of my seat more than I was in it. Although Thunderhead was still a good ride, I will NEVER ride in the back again. After getting roughed up on Thunderhead, I decided to get something to eat. I had an amazing pulled pork sandwich at Hickory House BBQ. After eating, I decided to walk around the nearby eagle enclosure before making my way back to Tornado again. After putting my stuff back in the Tornado lockers, I rode again. It was around this time that the park got a lot more crowded, so lines were a bit longer. After this, I rode Wild Eagle again. It was a bit rougher this time as I sat in the very back on the end seat. I then decided to try River Battle, which was awesome. I got completely soaked! I then decided to cool off on Mystery Mine again. As with Wild Eagle, I got an end seat and it was bit rough at times. I finally rode Tornado two more times to dry off some more. As I was walking out, I realized Dollywood had a roller coaster mueseum. Unfortunately, I did not have time to walk through it. For those keeping score, here’s my total ride count. Adventure Mountain (1st time): 2 Barnstormer: 1 Blazing Fury: 1 Daredevil Falls: 1 Dizzy Disk: 1 Lemon Twist: 1 Mystery Mine: 2 Tennessee Tornado: 5 Thunderhead: 1 River Battle (1st time): 1 Wild Eagle (1st time): 2 Like I’ve done in past trip reports, I’ll list the best rides of the trip. They are: Tennessee Tornado, River Battle, Mystery Mine (the 1st time), Thunderhead Finally, I apolgize for the lack of pictures. As mentioned before, my stuff (including my cell phone which has a camera on it) was in lockers for most of the day. -MDMC01

Dominator re-opened Monday: http://wtvr.com/2012/07/23/kings-dominion-dominator-reopens/.

On the forums, I call the rides by their current names. Outside of the forums, I call most of the rides by their old names (with the exception of Invertigo and Boo Blasters).

Beast and Adventure Express

I've been to Cedar Point a few times and loved it. Make sure to ride Maverick (my favorite roller coaster ever!), Millenium Force, Dragster (yes, it's a bit scary the first time, but it's sure to be a blast! ), Raptor, and Magnum. Gemini, Wicked Twister and Disaster Transport are also good. Witches' Wheel and Power Tower (both sides) are great flat rides.

I think a flat ride (I was thinking a Screamin' Swing) could fit where the trash dump is in Rivertown near Diamondback's lift (close to the basketball game/Antique pictures- I believe this is Rivertown Junction's trash dump). If this happened, the dump could be moved to be behind Rivertown LaRosa's.

My first roller coaster was The Beastie at Kings Island (now called Woodstock Express).

I think The Beast is awesome... I don't remember my first time, but I'll always rememeber that one October day where I got stuck on The Beast's first lift.

I was watching some of the Youtube video about ST:TE's last day of operation (on the link that The Interpreter posted) and I gotta say, Star Trek: The Experience looks pretty cool. I think it's really neat that the creators of the attraction put that much realistic detail into the costumes and scenery.

1. Thousand Foot Krutch (they came to KI for SpiritSong one year, but they should come back) 2. Flyleaf 3. Mutemath

Yes, it's between the Effial Tower and one of the Planet Snoopy entrances.

My first Diamondback ride was Opening Day 2009. I waited 10 minutes because I went through the single rider line. I remember it being a great ride but I wished the drops were a bit lower to the ground. When I got off, I got a "First Rider" T-shirt (which was an unexpected surprise).

Here's what I think about the three rides that are being discussed: -I think that even though The Racer is a bit bumpy at times, it's still a great ride. Other than roughness, I haven't noticed much wear and tear. -Adventure Express is very jerky; though I do enjoy the effects in the last tunnel. -I enjoy Flight Deck and try to ride it every time I go. In fact, I've ridden Flight Deck more times than any other ride this season. I also don't mind the long walkback.

I remember the first time I rode Son of Beast. I was so nervous because I had never been on a looping coaster before and I ended up loving it. Althought I didn't realize it until later on, Son of Beast was also my first hyper coaster.

Here's my list: FAMILY RIDES (15 rides & attractions) Backlot Stunt Coaster Zephyr Monster Adventure Express Scrambler Shake, Rattle, & Roll Congo Falls Viking Fury Eiffel Tower Dodgem Boo Blasters on Boo Hill White Water Canyon K.I. & MV Railroad Grand Carousel Thunder Alley ($) My Score: 15/15 THRILL RIDES (15 rides & attractions) Diamondback The Beast Delirium Drop Tower Firehawk Flight of Fear Invertigo The Racer: Red- Backwards and Forwards The Racer: Blue Vortex WindSeeker Flight Deck Sling Shot ($) Xtreme Skyflyer ($) Son of Beast (SBNO)- w/ and w/o loop My Score: 15/15 Planet Snoopy (18 rides & attractions) Surf Dog Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown Flying Ace Aerial Chase Peanuts 500 Kite Eating Tree Joe Cool's Dodgem School The Great Pumpkin Coaster Peanuts Off-Road Rally Snoopy's Splash Dance Charlie Brown's Wind Up Woodstock Express Woodstock Whirlybirds Sally's Sea Plane Linus' Beetle Bugs Snoopy's Junction Linus' Launcher Snoopy vs. Red Baron Character Carousel My Score: 9/18 Soak City WATERPARK (16 slides & attractions) Note: Link to KI Soak City page for pictures to help determine what is what as this may confuse some- I am aware most people don't remember waterslide names: http://www.visitking...-city-waterpark Aruba Tuba Breakers Bay Tidal Wave Bay Castaway Cove Splash Landing (I'm confused as to which kid's attraction this is, so I'm not counting it) Coconut Cove Lookout Lagoon Pipeline Paradise Mondo Monsoon Zoom Flume Paradise Plunge Thunder Falls Rendezvous Run Tropical Twister Pineapple Pipeline Splash River My Score: 11/16 Dinosaurs Alive! (2 attractions) Dinosaurs Alive! ($) Dinosaurs Alive! 3D My Score: 2/2 Total Score: 52/66 rides, slides, & attractions BONUS!!!: DEFUNCT RIDES: (9) Tomb Raider:The Ride/The Crypt Scooby's Ghoster Coaster Antique Cars Flying Eagles Scooby Doo and The Haunted Castle Spongebob 3-D Kenton's Cove Keelboat Canal Kings Mill Run/Crocodile Run (the old lazy river) One of the Fasttracks slides- I think it's called The Streak? (the one on the extreme left side) My Score: 50 Total Score with Bonus: 59

I think KI did a pretty good job with transforming Nickelodeon Universe into Planet Snoopy, but I really liked when the kid's area was Nickelodeon Central/Hanna Barbara Land. Nick U was pretty good, but they changed (what was then called) The Beastie's name.

I'll add something: When I was at the park the last week, I was having sort of a bad day. The first ride I rode that day was Flight Deck and while in line, a ride op dispatched a train by saying "Bob Saget". I started laughing and it totally made my day Also, Soak City looks awesome!

Whoops, totally forgot about Six Flags Great America's awesome moments... -Viper's airtime -Revolution (especially when you really get spinning before the ride slows down)

I love Dollywood. Mystery Mine is my second favorite roller coaster of all time and Tennessee Tornado is awesome too

I have a theory about the circles... I feel like it's about your ranking. For example, I have 1 dot because my ranking is KIC Tourist (KIC Tourist is the first "level"). I've noticed others who have 2 dots next to their posts and they are the next ranking up, and some with 3 dots that are in the third ranking and so on and so forth. I've also noticed that the dots might bottom out at a certain ranking (like others have said). Don't know if this is right, but just a theory...

Here's a few of mine: -Vortex's first drop in the backseat, no hands, legs out... you get the best airtime -Top Thrill Dragster's launch is amazing... you really don't know how fast 120 MPH is until you've ridden Dragster. -Cresting Maverick's first drop when you get mass ejector air -Crusing around Flight of Fear's bowl after the first two inversions -Beast's double helix is awesome too -Mystery Mine's intro to second drop/second drop

I saw the Geico plane when I went to the park yesterday.

Agreed. I also think Vortex's lift would be scary to walk down as well.

I've often thought about (and feared) an evacuation when I'm on Vortex, but the train makes it safely up the lift every time

True; I usually don't spend that much when I go to the park.