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Park News - (7/19/10) CoasterCrew has relaunched their website and took on a new domain name in the process. Check it all out at CoasterCrew.net.
    (7/15/10) Kings Dominion fans, Theme Park Review will be holding the East Coast Bash 2010 event taking place at the park on August 22nd. According to the details posted a Theme Park Review the event will include ERT on Dominator, Rebel Yell (Racing!), Volcano, Flight of Fear (Lights On) and of course… Intimidator 305. All this and more… read up on the details here.
    (7/9/10) When Intimidator 305 opened, they had a special coaster themed cake on display that actually included a working Coaster Dynamix model coaster that climbed to the top and tunneled through an actual hole in the cake. This cake was the subject of it’s own TV special as part of the Food Network’s Ace of Cakes show. You can find out more about this episode here, and it will re-air on July 11th at 4pm (EST).
    (6/28/10) Coaster Crew is looking to raise more money for the Singer Riders charity event for Give Kids The World and has posted a few collectible items on sale on Ebay. The items include a large sized Kings Island park map once on display in the park, a Dominator ad, Intimidator 305 Media Kit, Italian Job Stunt Track RC car and a “running board” from a GCI Millennium Flyer train.
    While on the subject of GCI and Kings Dominion, it seems the constant mentioning that someone from GCI was at the park during the event was kind of an inside joke. Someone from GCI was there, but only to hang out… not on business. Such a shame too as Grizzly and Rebel Yell could use some GCI help based on how they ran the last time I visited. As for Hypersonic… it’s been confrmed elsewhere that the ride was scrapped. It seems the price of strap steel went up quite a bit so the timing was just right to have it removed.
    (6/24/10) If your looking for Hypersonic a local source tells us that the ride was mainly scrapped as far as they’ve been told. Nothing much is left it seems.
    (6/23/10) A guest visiting Kings Dominion not long ago reports that the “remains” of Hypersonic XLC were no longer visible in the boneyard behind Grizzly and Hurler. Anyone else seen them lately? Were they scrapped or are they still hoping to sell the ride?
    In other news I’ve been told that someone was GCI was at Kings Dominion this week… though I’m not sure why.  With more wooden coasters than most other parks already (4) I find it hard to believe a new woodie is in the works. Instead I’m more willing to bet that GCI has been brought in to oversee an off-season rehab to one of the parks existing wood coasters… either Grizzly (because it needs it!!) or Rebel Yell… since GCI has been doing such a great job on their multi-year rehab of Carowind’s Thunder Road. Stay tuned!
    (6/22/10) According to one reader, it sounds like things are back to normal with Volcano and they have returned to loading the last row of seats once again.
    (6/14/10) So far all reports from the weekend claim that Volcano seemed to be running well again… with no more rollbacks.  However… for days now we have also heard that the ride has not been using back row of seats either…. Likely to lighten the load on the back of the train. 
    (6/11/10) Kings Dominion has announced the details of their latest enthusiast event, HurlFest 2010 on June 19th. According to the official event page the morning ERT will take place from 9:30 to 10:30am on Intimidator 305, Volcano: The Blast Coaster as well as the rare experience of Flight of Fear with the LIGHTS ON. The nights ERT (10pm to 11pm) will feature Hurler, races between both sides of Rebel Yell, Ricochet and some discounted Skyflyer rides.
    (6/10/10) While Volcano was reported as being open on Tuesday, we also heard that it suffered yet another rollback during the day, but was open again later the same day.
    (6/9/10) According to a reader report, Volcano: The Blast Coaster may have suffered a Roll Back on Monday. Anyone drop by the park on Tuesday to see if it was running again?  In other news we’ve heard that some of the brakes on Intimidator 305’s first drop may have been removed to speed it up a little bit, however insiders report that it isn’t expected to ever run full-tilt again due to the number of complaints from guests about blackout/grey-outs during the ride as well as some rumored mechanical concerns.
    (5/7/10) CoasterCrew is looking to build a team for the Single Rider charity event at Kings Dominion. Click here to read more about it.
    (5/6/10) CoasterFusion has launched a new HD Video section of their site, starting with a fun video featuring Kings Dominion. Check it out.
    (4/5/10) While we haven’t heard any pre-season reports from Kings Island or Canada’s Wonderland, a picture was sent out on Twitter by one of our readers showing off the make-over given the Backlot Stunt Coaster trains at Kings Dominion this season. First take a look at the finely themed Mini Cooper trains that the ride opened with when it was called The Italian Job. Though the name of the ride changed to Backlot Stunt Coaster when Cedar Fair bought the parks, the coaster cars stayed the same… until now. Take a look at the new cars... very bland… almost a hot wax mold shiny looking appearance, with very fake looking body panels. So very sad… but we can’t place the blame on Cedar Fair here really, as I know Mini Cooper was already after Freestyle Music Park for using mini-cooper looking trains on their Round About coaster, formerly known as Maximum RPM when the park opened as Hard Rock Park. Chances are they sacked Cedar Fair with a lawsuit as well, forces then to change the look of the cars.
    (3/10/10) KDFansite has posted details about a special overnight Tailgate Party taking place on April 1st and 2nd leading up to the season opening of the park as well as Intimidator 305. You can read all the details here.
    Meanwhile the park has also posted details about the Intimidation 2010 event taking place at the park on May 1st. You can read up on all the details on their Facebook page.
    (1/20/10) The Kings Dominion website has now listed the new name for the former Scooby Doo dark ride attraction, calling it Boo Blasters on Boo Hill. Sigh... this is a bad name, even for Cedar Fair. Well I guess we can consider ourselves lucky that they didn’t call it the Fright Deck. Meanwhile the former Scooby Doo Ghoster Coaster will now simply be the Ghoster Coaster.
    (1/15/10) Kings Dominion will be hosting a coaster enthusiast event (Intimidation 2010) on May 1st which will include ERT on the new Intimidator 305. You must be a member of either the Coaster Zombies or Coaster Crew to attend, but members can bring one guest. Watch for more details to appear here soon.

2010 - Planet Snoopy - Confirmed - (8/25/09) The Kings Dominion website has revealed a new secret for the 2010 season… that Planet Snoopy is on the way. On the new season pass pre-sale page it confirms the news by saying that “Snoopy, Charlie Brown and friends are moving into their new home and taking over Nickelodeon Central and Hanna-Barbera Land. Kings Dominion’s newest arrival lands on Planet Snoopy in 2010!”

2010 - Intimidator 305 - (6/28/10) Good news for Intimidator 305 fans… the coaster’s trains have been modified to now feature a new ‘strap’ style shoulder restraint system instead of the old hard OTS bar system. A good video all about the new strap system has been uploaded by Coaster Crew and embedded below. From the sound of the report the restraints are a major improvement to the ride, eliminating the annoying head banging issues during the more violent transitions.

    (6/23/10) Screamscape sources tell us that new changes are expected to be coming to Intimidator 305 before the end of July… changes for the positive for once it seems. What could it be? I’m guessing that we’ve already had a major hint already in the form of the new restraint system put on display briefly on I-305’s test seat last month, only to vanish into thin air. More as we find out!
    (6/5/10) Ever since the new trim brakes were put on Intimidator 305, people have wondered just how much they have slowed down the ride. About a week later, even more trims were added it seems, but the official word in the park at that point in time was that the speed was unchanged. We know that isn’t possible and according to the latest rumors the speed of the coaster may have actually dropped down to around 79mph from the former top speed of 92mph. I guess this may put the other Intimidator at Carowinds in the lead now as it’s listed top speed is 80mph.
    (5/26/10) The latest episode of In The Loop over at Coaster Crew features Kings Dominion’s PR guru… John Pagel who talks briefly about the changes taking place on Intimidator 305.
    (5/24/10) I’m not sure what’s going on at Kings Dominion, but remember that new test seat restraint system was that spotted last week at I305? Well the seat was back to it’s normal Maverick style restraint system as usual this weekend.
    Riders were also in store for new surprise this weekend as trim brakes were activated going down a good portion of the first drop, really slowing down the ride experience.  Rumor has it that a good number of the general public were complaining about near grey and blackout experiences during the high speed twists and turns and they decided to try and slow things down a little bit. The early reports so far indicated that it did improve the later portions of the ride quite a bit, though at the expense of some airtime loss. A video and good picture showing off just how long of a trim-run was added to the first drop can be seen at Theme Park Review.
    (5/18/10) Is something up with the restraints on Intimidator 305? Check out this picture of a revised “test seat” now installed in front of the ride. Yep… this one has those seat-belt style shoulder restraints that were rumored all along. Anyone know more?
    (4/12/10) A fun mini Documentary all about Kings Dominion and Intimidator 305 has been embedded below where they confirm that the concept of Intimidator 305 was the idea of merging the best features of Millennium Force and Maverick into one ride.

    (4/5/10) A bit more footage from Intimidator 305 can be found at Theme Park Review this week.
    (4/2/10) Big props to Kings Dominion for opening Intimidator 305 to the media yesterday and according to those I’ve hear from who have ridden it… it blow away Millennium Force. Yep Point Fans… You’ve been served.
    You can find a photo report already posted to Coaster Fusion but you’re going to watch to check out the video embedded below first, showing off a POV of the ride experience, and then a reverse POV hosted by Robb from Theme Park Review who too reports that Intimidator 305 “craps all over Millennium Force”. Wow…

    (3/16/10) Behind the Thrills has posted a few new shots of Intimidator 305 testing, as well as their own video clip to enjoy. However there is one stand out feature in the photos that is going to interest everyone… you can finally see the restraints used on the trains. Click on the vertical photo that shows Intimidator 305 going down the first drop and then compare it to this picture of Maverick at RCDB.
    Yep… those look the same to me, despite the assurance given to us by John Pagel (KD Marketing) who told us back in August ’09 that, “The restraint system will not be like the ones seen on the animations and on Maverick.” I know things are always subject to change, especially when guest safety issues come up, so obviously Cedar Fair and Intamin decided to (correctly…) use to their most secure guest safety system. It just makes me wonder what was really planned, because they were so sure that they were going to be using something else.
    (3/15/10) Intimidator 305 has finally made a test run which was caught on tape by The Coaster Crew and posted to YouTube. Embedded below… Enjoy!

    (2/20/10) Intimidator 305 has begun some initial testing this past week according to the pictures posted to Behind the Thrills. No full speed tests yet, but they’ve been doing a pull-through of the train on the tracks.
    (2/12/10) A couple of teaser photos showing off the back of a new Intimidator 305 train have been posted to the official I305 Construction Gallery.
    (2/5/10) The auction to be one of the first riders on Intimidator 305 has been announced in time for the coaster’s grand opening on April 2nd. Kings Dominion has partnered with the Dale Earnhardt Foundation to raise money for the Make-a-Wish Foundation, Challenge Discovery Projects and USO of Hampton Roads. The auction has now started and will continue through to the end of March 25th. Read all the details and bid here. While you wait, a few new pictures of Intimidator 305, covered in snow no less, have been posted to Behind the Thrills.
    (1/26/10) A few new pictures of the massive looking Intimidator 305 have been posted to Behind the Thrills.  I gotta say, that is a scary looking first drop for sure.
    (1/15/10) A new video showing off the now complete Intimidator 305 has been posted by KDFansite here.
    (1/14/10) We’ve got two incredible pictures of Intimidator 305 to enjoy today, thanks to KDFansite.com. Make the jump over there to see even more!). The trackwork for the coaster is now also complete.
    (1/7/10) Kings Dominion reports that they hope to have the last pieces of Intimidator 305 track installed by the end of this week. You can find a good new construction video of the coaster on YouTube this week, posted by KD Fansite.
    (12/23/09) Check out Intimidator 305 in the snow at the official construction photo gallery.
    (12/17/09) A new Intimidator 305 construction update has been uploaded by Coaster Crew and KDFansite, and embedded below.

    (12/9/09) KDFansite has posted a construction update for Intimidator 305 this week with a ton of new pictures. If you prefer pictures that move, then check out the video version of the construction update.
    (11/24/09) Kings Dominion finally did it… they topped off Intimidator 305. You can check out a video of the action as well as some pictures over at KD Fansite.
    (11/23/09) Looks like the crews at Kings Dominion are working late to get the top piece of Intimidator 305 ready for topping off. A picture was just uploaded a few hours ago by the park showing off the top piece rigged to fly into place.
    (11/12/09) Lots of updates from Kings Dominion this week, thanks to KD Fansite. Track work has begun on Rebel Yell, plus Intimidator 305 construction updates.  A video update can also be found at YouTube.
    (10/28/09) CoasterNet has posted some new Intimidator 305 construction pictures this week.
    (10/22/09) A new Intimidator 305 construction update has been posted to KDFansite.
    (10/14/09) A new video construction update can be found posted over at YouTube.
    (8/28/09) A reader sent us a link to check out a better photograph of Intamin’s ‘shoulder strap’ harness system as used on Inferno at Terra Mitica. This is most likely what we will see from Intimidator 305.
    (8/27/09) After all this talk and second guessing about the restraint system that will be featured on Intimidator 305, I went right to the source and asked John Pagel, KD’s Marketing Manager, to try and clear up the issue for us. According to John, “The restraint system will not be like the ones seen on the animations and on Maverick.” Now this is where things get tricky, as even John isn’t 100% certain exactly what it will be as the only official descriptive information they have right now is what’s on the website that labels them as, “over the shoulder straps”. So until the train actually arrives on site at the park, we wont know anything for sure. HOWEVER… I’m going to make an educated guess that what we’ll see may end up being the new “should strap” looking version of the restraint just installed on Bakken’s new spinning coaster, Tornado. You can see them quite well in this Tornado video clip down below. If anything, the new belt looking system will fit the NASCAR theme quite well.

    (8/23/09) There has been some debate about the style of restraints to be used on Intimidator 305 ever since the announcement. The first press release that came out really said nothing about the restraints, but the video animation clearly showed off Intamin’s current style of OTS restraints. Once the Intimidator305.com website went live, it confused people a bit more by mentioning that the restraints would only be over the shoulder lapbars… which seemed to imply they may have been more like the system installed on Pilgrim’s Plunge. However the site has been updated once again to more clearly label the restraint system as featuring an, “overhead lap bar with shoulder straps”. Meanwhile you can see a bunch of new pictures posted to Coaster-Net and Coaster Connection.
    (8/21/09) The big news of the day… and I mean BIG… is Intimidator 305, the new coaster going into Kings Dominion for 2010. The coaster was named and themed after famous NASCAR racer, Dale Earnhardt, with the trains being decorated to resemble is classic black #3 car. As you can see in the artwork, the layout kind of a hybrid of Millennium Force mixed with the popular Mega-Lite layout.  It will feature a quick cable lift taking you 305 feet into the sky, dropping you 300 feet to the ground at 85º where you will rush around through turns and air-time hills at speeds up to 92mph. There are many videos on the official site, but I’ve embedded one I found on YouTube below for your immediate enjoyment down below.
    One more thing… if you take a look at the trains you will notice that they feature Intamin’s current over the shoulder restraint system instead of a simple lap-bar. This has caused quite a few people to wonder why… and while the park made no statement about it, the true meaning is clear and cuts to the bone.  After ten years of complaints from larger american’s not being able to fit on Millennium Force and Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point, it seems they just chose to avoid the problem just as Six Flags did with Kingda Ka, and install the more roomy OTS restraint system instead. The OTS are much more accommodating for larger riders… but are still too tight a fit for many. Chances are, if you fit in a Big Boy seat on a B&M like Dominator, you will probably just fit on Intimidator. Oh… and a few new construction pics were also posted to Behind the Thrills.