SonofBaconator

Oh I didn't know that. There was a period where I wasn't on here as much before he left.

I don't know, I feel like his trolling was harmless. I've seen worse. Heck I think his name was on a tombstone for Banshee's teaser

Bring Gerogia Scorcher to KI. I've heard its one of the best standups out there and it would be cool for KI to a stand-up in their line-up again.

accidentally hit b instead of v

Bavarian Beetle, Bat, Demon, King Cobra, Ghoster Ghoster, Son of Beast, Firehawk, and now Vortex. Would you argue KI to have the most famous collection of defunct coasters or should that title be given to a different park?

I've been wanting to discuss how Kings Dominon is going to do this next decade so I'm going to do it on here. Kings Dominion has a lot of competition with its main competitor being Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Like @Benjamin22 mentioned on the KD freespin thread, BGW is becoming more of a high thrill ride park with additions like Tempesto, Pantheon, and the rumored shuttle coaster. Sure they also got family friendly Invadr but they've still been heavy on coasters since 2012 with four (five if you include the rumored) Now look at Kings Dominion whose lost a great deal of coasters and attractions in the 2010s. I'd argue the 2010s were a great decade for BGW and a bad one for KD. Even without Busch Gardens, Kings Dominon also has to compete with other parks in the east coast- Six Flags, Hershey, etc. Cedar Fair doesn't seem to be a driving force in the east like other chains do. So what does the chain do with Kings Dominon? Go smaller! I think Kings Dominon could benefit from going smaller. I've never been to Kings Dominon but like @rhyano said, Intimidator 305 might not have been as much of a success as they wanted it to be. Fast forward to today where there's rumors of KD getting a clone of a wing coaster and a 4d freespin. I'd argue if KD went the Six Flags route and aquired some small clones from across the globe, they'd certainly be doing something different thn BGW. Imagine a more family friendly KD where their coasters are smaller and less expensive. I think if they got reliable clones from parks around the globe (parks most Americans have never been to) that would be an ace up their sleeve. Besides that, I think they need to keep focusing on the family aspect. Its a shame Paramount took out a lot of the park's charm by removing their train ride. I think having a train, along with other family type attractions, would help them out greatly. If Cedar Fair treats KD as a mid teir park that's not meant to have KI type attendance I think they'll be prosperous. Trying to take down BGW seems like a poor move when you can just change your target audience. Try to bring in more families and become THE Virginia family park while Busch Gardens continues to focus on high thrill rides.

I'm gonna continue this on the kd thread I created so this thread can be for wing/4d talk

I wonder what Cedar Fair thinks of this park. Its got a lot of competition with BGW not to mention the Six Flags parks only hours away. Do you try to compete with BGW or do you try to change your target customer base?

If one comes to Kentucky Kingdom I'll ride it. Its crazy to think that Kings Dominion might get CF's 1st 4d freespin

@Waltny I'm glad I'm not alone in thinking this. You can't just replace a defunct coaster but Vortex should be an exception. I'm sure @VortexBFForever would agree

Also remember a lot of GP grew up riding Vortex as their 1st looping coaster. Its was as important ans noatalgic to guests as The Beast is. That being said, whatever we get needs to be heavy on inversions. @Benjamin22 and Rivertown Rider I think KI has a bigger following than CWS does so maybe Mack would get a better reception at here. I know CF is trying to build up CWS but it there's not a whole lot of fan loyalty to that park like we have.

Those are flats though

My advice would be to not get your hopes up when it comes to speculating a date for opening day. Things could change in one night.

**BREAKING** I think the park is planning on opening next week: Here's the link if anyone wants to find out more

And I'm not saying it HAS to be a B&M floorless or sit-down but there's not a lot of other options out there- Cedar Fair hasn't worked a lot with S&S so I don't think they'd want to risk getting a coaster like Steel Curtain Vekoma is still building up their reputation with newer products, as is Intamin RMC hasn't even made a T-Rex model yet so I don't think Cedar Fair would take risks with them. I'd also doubt they'd build ground-up hybrid or a raptor. Gerstlauer makes smaller sized coasters so if we do get one from them with a lot of inversions, it'll be a lot smaller. Plus their models traditionally have around 16 person trains Mack is another candidate that seems to be a hot choice but they manufacture their track overseas which makes their coasters a little more costly If anyone wants to argue these points please go ahead, I'd love to hear another logical and well-thought perspective that isn't fueled by NoLimits 2 fantasies or limitless money. Until then I'll consider a looping coaster by B&M to be the most logical choice.

That's true but Vortex outlived all of them so I personally would want to see a modern looping coaster take its spot. Like what @Benjamin22 said, and what I've been arguing for months, is that KI lost a ton of inversions these past two years- 11 to be exact. If we don't get a coaster that has at least 6 inversions I would be a little disappointed

Its about time they come out with a new model. They started their coaster career with a stand-up model so I would like to see that perfected. While I still believe they could try a 4d model, I think they're another decade or so from attempting that. There's a reason why there's not a lot of large scale 4d coasters out there.

I chose a floorless because it would be the closest modern replacement for Vortex in terms of coaster types. Well technically a B&M sit-down would be closer but there was only 5 of those ever built. I love the experience of a traditional chainlift coaster with 6+ inversions and a B&M sit-down/ floorless would be the only type that would fit that profile. Sure we could get a wing, dive, launched, etc but at the end of the day I'd still think there'd be something missing.

It doesn't help that theres a whole section of it's Wikipedia page dedicated to "Safety Incidents"

Possibly a new version of a stand-up

Yes, I'm aware, I'm just saying foundations of any kind need to be inspected to determine if they're able to still serve their purpose. Some work fine, like with Verbolten, and others don't.

I think its up to the people who inspect the foundation. Also here's a crude concept I whipped up for what I'd expect a floorless (or even just a sit down looper) to look like in that plot of land. (Yes thats Dominator)

If you want to look at a good flat catalog, look at some of the flats Canada's Wonderland has added in the past decade

I've keep looking at the little midway between the old Vortex spot and BLSC and think it would be reworked. If you relocate the 3 point challenge somewhere else in the park and cut into a chunk of the underused BLSC plaza, you could add a flat or two and really take advantage of the abundant space.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately- Dinosaurs Alive was a good idea if you think about it. When I heard the park was getting DA, I was originally under the impression that it wouldn't be connected to the main park and you'd have to get a seperate ticket to get in. I sometimes wonder how things would've been different if this were true. In a few ways, I'd argue it would make more money. I think having it in the park was a huge turn off for guests and school groups. Most guests didn't want to pay the extra $5 to get in and school groups didn't want to pay for park admission if they wanted to see just the dinos. If they had it seperate from the park where people would pay, say $20 for adults/ $10 for kids (ballpark price) I'd argue it might've seen higher foot traffic. The biggest issue though would be to put it somewhere where people could enter seperatly, installing plumping for bathrooms, installing eateries, etc. It could've been a more popular attraction but I understand they had a contract with the company who supplied the dinos so I always kinda knew it wasn't going to be permanent.