Kings Dominion Trip July 12-13

[Bansheelover]

This summer we made a huge trip through the Mid-Atlantic visiting Flight 93 memorial, Gettysburg, Philadelphia, Ocean City, NJ, and DC.  As proud Platinum pass holders we visited Dorney Park (will receive own topic), and Kings Dominion.  Kings Dominion is a beautiful park in Virginia.  Upon entering we were greeted by their beautiful International Street. It had very big, and old trees with lots of shade. I truly enjoyed it more than Kings Island's I-Street. We spent a lot of time exploring the shops, and eating the various treats.  It was interesting though how close some rides were to I-Street such as Berserker and Dominator.  I also enjoyed their apple area along with the singing mushrooms.  It was an interesting park with a lot of shade on the southern side, but a lot ton of open area near I-305. I only mention this because of how hot it was when we where there.  

Rides.

They have three stand out coasters, Intimidator 305, Twisted Timbers, and Dominator.  The kids loved Apple Zapple which is a very fun ride, and we really enjoyed it. They kept saying we wish KI had one. I had the goal of riding I-305 ten times, as I have rode Fury, MF, and Orion all over that amount. However the intensity and gray outs effected my ability to accomplish this. I305 is a fun ride, but not one I'd want at KI because in my opinion it cannot be marathoned. Twisted Timbers is the star of park. I enjoyed all 4 of my rides, and really would like to see KI get something like it. Dominator is the best floorless coaster I've ever rode.  KD also has clones of BLSC, and FOF. Grizzly and Racer 75 are wooden coaster. I liked their Racer, but Grizzly is the worst roller coaster I've ever rode.

 

Employees where not very friendly, but if you engaged them they would smile, and become friendly. However the group at the Grain and Grill were fantastic. They loved my Cincinnati Bearcats shirt, and how the Cats beat Georgia in the Peach Bowl. (I didn't have the heart to correct them) 

The Grain and Grill was our favorite place to eat we ate three of our four meals there. A huge variety of food, with good portions. It was very tasty. Our 4th meal was at the hot dog stand and it too was very good. 

 

The thing that made me sad about KD is you could tell it runs on 1/4 budget compared to Kings Island and Cedar Point. I would like to go back someday to get a ride on the new coaster.

[IndyGuy4KI]

Thanks for sharing your experience!

[JimParker85]

Grain and Grill was outstanding. Combine that with their burrito/bowl place on the other side of International Street (complete with indoor air conditioned seating) for the two spots we ate at during our 1.5 day trip this summer (3 meal redemptions). 

[DeltaFlyer]

On 9/18/2021 at 2:58 AM, JimParker85 said:

Grain and Grill was outstanding. Combine that with their burrito/bowl place on the other side of International Street (complete with indoor air conditioned seating) for the two spots we ate at during our 1.5 day trip this summer (3 meal redemptions). 

Agree with this! We did the same. The roast I had at Grain and Grill was fantastic, and so was the au gratin potatoes. I wish the sirloin at Coney BBQ was as good as that roast was (though I will still get the sirloin  ) The portions at the burrito bowl place on the other side of IS were very large- more so than Hank's. I couldn't finish my bowl. 

On 9/15/2021 at 12:42 PM, Bansheelover said:

Grizzly is the worst roller coaster I've ever rode.

Grizzly is, hands down, the worst wooden coaster I have ever been on. This year I got two more rides on it, for an all-time total of 7. It still earned that dishonor before, but this year was on a different level. The layout is really nothing too spectacular- especially the first drop that goes right into a slow turn-around. The roughness was just brutal.  Rougher than Mean Streak or SOB on their worst days. If it were to get re-tracked (completely) AND get new trains, it might stand a chance at being decent. Reprofiling some of the turns and hills might give some semblance of airtime, instead of feeling like sitting on a washing machine full of rocks and getting punched by Ronda Rousey.