I was lucky in the roller coaster experience department. My first roller coaster experiences were with my dad at a young and ripe age in a little town in Ohio called Sandusky, known for its great selection of roller coasters at a little ol' place called Cedar Point. Ever since then, I've been hooked on the large steel or wooden beasts, its cars barreling over a track at high speed.
I've lived several places moving down the U.S. East coast, including Williamsport, PA, Randallstown, MD (Baltimore suburb), Chesapeake, VA (Norfolk/Virginia Beach suburb) and Durham, NC. Ever since we landed in Randallstown, a little place north of Richmond, Virginia as been an amusement park destination for me, friends and family. I've seen it go through ownership changes, including Paramount's stint owning it from 1993-2006. In fact, reading through Wikipedia's Kings Dominion article, I remember the vast majority of this stuff — some both coming and going. Interestingly enough, Cedar Point's owner, Cedar Fair Entertainment Company ended up buying KD and the four other Paramount owned amusement parks (including Carowinds straddling the border of North and South Carolina).
Kings Dominion is unique in that the amusement park has a ton of roller coasters scattered throughout the park, many of which are the first of their kind. Having so many top-notch coasters aids in scattering the lines and crowds, and makes for an enjoyable time riding nothing but coasters from opening to closing — something I've done many times. Kings Dominion, across its multiple owners has been quite innovative on the coaster front as well — with the Anaconda being the first coaster to feature an underwater tunnel, the Volcano Blast Coaster, the world's first LIM-launched inverted roller coaster.
Plus, until a few years ago Kings Dominion had the prototype air-launched coaster, the Hypersonic XLC, which launched from 0 to 80 miles per hour in 1.8 seconds! Granted the XLC was prone to long bouts of interoperability in its six seasons at Kings Dominion. But such, is the fate of early adopters. I just read that the Hypersonic XLC is actually still at Kings Dominion… sort of:
On the park's opening day on March 22, 2008, Hypersonic XLC had been disassembled and was placed in a field near the Hurler.[4] In May 2009, Kings Dominion marketing representative John Pagel stated that the coaster is still available for sale, either to another amusement park or as scrap metal.
– From en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypersonic_XLC
I'm realizing it's been like four or five years since I've last been there, as last time I was there, the Hypersonic XLC was still in operation, and the Dominator and Backlot Stunt Coaster (formerly The Italian Job: Turbo Coaster). Now if not having a chance to ride
those two coasters wasn't enough, it seems a recent KD attendee got confirmation that the park is getting a is a gigacoasterc— a roller coaster with a height of between 300 feet and 399 feet, of which it would be only the third in the world, with Cedar Point, of course, having the original (Millennium Force ).
I look forward to seeing the completion of Kings Dominion's gigacoaster, and eventually hope to get Tyler into the roller coaster riding. I'm thinking in the more immediate future, trips to KD will involve more time in the Nickelodeon Central and Kidzville sections of the park. But eventually, "Volcano," "Flight of Fear" and the unnamed gigacoaster will be a fun-filled experience for father and son. Tyler's first coaster is more likely to be Scooby-Doo's Ghoster Coaster at Kings Dominion, but maybe, at some point, we'll be able to make the trip to Sandusky, Ohio as well.
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