greenspandan Posted June 2, 2009 Author Share Posted June 2, 2009 I have to agree that Busch Gardens is the overall better park.King's Dominion could've continued to add rides while keeping some of it's old school charm. Time Shaft, Haunted River, and Smurf Mountain were highlights of my childhood. Smurf mountain was a horrible ride, but does anyone remember the very beginning turn where everyone would leave their gum....all the olors gave it a rainbow look. two words: singing mushrooms. man i miss those guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slacky McSlackAss Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 double post. ren fails at life. Tell me something I didn't know I always preferred KD over BG. But then again, I havent been to KD in 4 years, Busch Gardens it has to have been atleast 8 or 9 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renaissance Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 was just there this past sunday avalanche and xtreme flyer were there but I think they got rid of the hypersonic ride Is Hypersonic that one that just shoots you up the one hill then you go back down? I always thought it was pretty lame how they just kind of stuck that over between Wayne's World and the Sky Flyer thingy. A great example of poor planning on their part. Maybe I'm remembering it wrong though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slacky McSlackAss Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Is Hypersonic that one that just shoots you up the one hill then you go back down? I always thought it was pretty lame how they just kind of stuck that over between Wayne's World and the Sky Flyer thingy. A great example of poor planning on their part. Maybe I'm remembering it wrong though. Yes, Hypersonic is the one that just looked out of place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 They have a relatively new ride there called the Dominator. It's really fast and some have said it's better than the Volcano. I'm reserving judgement until I ride it a few more times. http://www.thecoastercritic.com/2007/10/dominator-kings-dominion-new-coaster.html I loved the Dominator and cant wait to go back. KD has more then just Volcano, though Volcano is awesome in itself. The Grizzly is an awesome old rickety wooden rollercoaster. great ride, and never a line for it anymore. The Anaconda is also a pretty decent roller coaster and an honorable mention to the rebel yell when they had the one car going backwards... Shockwave is too short. its like a whole 15 seconds of stand up fun. Dominator is awesome though and worth a trip back for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOF44 Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Remember Yogi's cave?? I used to LOVE the room at the end with everything tilted that made you dizzy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattFancy Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Remember Yogi's cave?? I used to LOVE the room at the end with everything tilted that made you dizzy. YES! That was awesome! KD was money back when I was little lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjah Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 It's not better than Magic Mountain or Six Flags over Texas. I'll give you Texas, even though the Texas Giant itself doesn't match up to El Toro's standard. Probably a wash. Magic Mountain has perhaps the 2nd largest coaster collection in the country -- it has been a while since I paid attention to the numbers -- but it is operated so poorly I'd almost call it dysfunctional. If they got their operations in better shape they'd be the best park in the chain hands-down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenspandan Posted June 2, 2009 Author Share Posted June 2, 2009 hypersonic xlc was an amazing launch (0-80 in 1.8 seconds) and nothing else. on top of being a gimmick and looking out of place, it was also expensive to operate, broke down constantly, and had extremely low capacity (meaning the line moved super slow). i believe it was actually a proof of concept prototype that KD just moved from the manufacturer's warehouse to their park. probably thought they were getting a bargain, but you get what you pay for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenspandan Posted June 2, 2009 Author Share Posted June 2, 2009 Remember Yogi's cave?? I used to LOVE the room at the end with everything tilted that made you dizzy. i believe that's still there too! except its' no longer "yogi's" cave, since they don't have the hanna-barbera rights anymore (except for scooby doo). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renaissance Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 The Anaconda is also a pretty decent roller coaster and an honorable mention to the rebel yell when they had the one car going backwards... Shockwave is too short. its like a whole 15 seconds of stand up fun. The Rebel Yell doesn't have the backwards track anymore????? I actually used to love that coaster. The first time I rode it with my then sister in law it just had the single bar that came down for each car. I was really little at the time so the bar was like a good 3-6 inches above my legs so I would fly out of my seat going down all the hills - like to the point that my sis in law put her arm around me and grabbed on to the bar bc she was scared I was gonna fly out of the car!! And I remember when a dude died from falling out of the Shockwave. Also I'm pretty sure my brother was kicked off of both of those rides at one point - the Rebel Yell bc he stood up to touch the sign at the top of the first hill, and the Shockwave bc he lifted his feet :doh: Remember Yogi's cave?? I used to LOVE the room at the end with everything tilted that made you dizzy. And YES!!!!!! I tried to describe this to my friend to see if it was still there and she thought I was retarded. haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenspandan Posted June 2, 2009 Author Share Posted June 2, 2009 The Rebel Yell doesn't have the backwards track anymore????? yeah the philadelphia toboggan company called up KD and was like "uhhhh fyi we didn't design that train to run backwards like that, so if someone dies, don't look at us." so they turned it back around frontwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renaissance Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 yeah the philadelphia toboggan company called up KD and was like "uhhhh fyi we didn't design that train to run backwards like that, so if someone dies, don't look at us." so they turned it back around frontwards. Wait are you serious???????????? :doh: If that is true then seriously, KD fails at life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenspandan Posted June 2, 2009 Author Share Posted June 2, 2009 pretty much, yeah. personally i think it was fine, but you know how lawyers are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 pretty much, yeah. personally i think it was fine, but you know how lawyers are. I loved the rebel yell backwards.... I still love Grizzly. i think the rickety nature is its charm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenspandan Posted June 2, 2009 Author Share Posted June 2, 2009 could not agree more, stew! it's jsut a shame they cut out so much of the woods surrounding it to build hurler and hypersonic (both of which are duds in my book). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renaissance Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Does anyone remember the Drachen Fire at Busch Gardens? I never rode it but I stood in line for it with my brothers several times and just the sight of that coaster (plus the numerous warnings about it posted in line) scared the **** out of me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 could not agree more, stew! it's jsut a shame they cut out so much of the woods surrounding it to build hurler and hypersonic (both of which are duds in my book). agreed about the hurler and the hyperdud. I do like the little rubberband swinging thing next to the hurler though, just sitting up at the top before you get dropped is enuogh to clear my sinuses. I am afraid of heights so that alone is that hard part, once dropped its awesome fun. I didnt like the Drop Zone though. being scared of heights, when you finally get to the top of drop zone and you are just sitting there.... Man, heaven forbid you start looking at the clouds, because then the damn pole you are atached to feels like its moving, but its not, the clouds are. That one is too high for me and I prolly wont ride it again. hell of a ride down though. :::with my head buried in my arms::: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjah Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 And I remember when a dude died from falling out of the Shockwave. Not to be morbid, but that guy had it coming. Witnesses all agreed that he was actively trying to defeat the restraint system. As it turned out, he succeeded. Shame about Drachen Fire over at Busch Gardens: what it could have been, what it ended up being, where it was put, what they did to try and keep it open, and finally its removal. Truth be told, it wasn't even as rough as Anaconda and it was far more interesting and fun. Quite a departure from its manufacturer's usual bag of tricks. But Busch has a very different clientele mix from Kings Dominion, and Drachen Fire was doomed for a variety of reasons. It was the weakest roller coaster in the park, and it rarely had any kind of line, but it was still sad to see a unique ride disappear. Busch might have some interesting plans for that part of the park again, though... Lots of thinking going on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titaw Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Not to be morbid, but that guy had it coming. Witnesses all agreed that he was actively trying to defeat the restraint system. As it turned out, he succeeded.Shame about Drachen Fire over at Busch Gardens: what it could have been, what it ended up being, where it was put, what they did to try and keep it open, and finally its removal. Truth be told, it wasn't even as rough as Anaconda and it was far more interesting and fun. Quite a departure from its manufacturer's usual bag of tricks. But Busch has a very different clientele mix from Kings Dominion, and Drachen Fire was doomed for a variety of reasons. It was the weakest roller coaster in the park, and it rarely had any kind of line, but it was still sad to see a unique ride disappear. Busch might have some interesting plans for that part of the park again, though... Lots of thinking going on. I heard there were talks of a flying coaster? Those are badass if done right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10fttall Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 what it could have been, what it ended up being, where it was put,/QUOTE]What does everybody mean by talking about this location? I mean it seems to be like the "common wisdom" or something that Drachen Fire was in a bad location in the park...but WTF? I don't get it at all. It's right across the street from where they put the headliner Darkcastle. And it was right next to the flagship Festhaus, where like 5 million people eat every day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenspandan Posted June 3, 2009 Author Share Posted June 3, 2009 i got to ride drachen fire, i loved it. yeah it was rough, but no rougher than anaconda. i guess Busch just had a higher standard, which i respect. all their coasters are world-class. arrows always look so much cooler than they ride! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallsux Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Man, I LOVE King's Dominion. I hope it'll be a good one. The last one they built...what was it called...The Dominator? Man, that was so lame. I love the Drop Tower & Volcano are my favs. I'll go on those things back to back to back if they let me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOF44 Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Drachen Fire was a rough coaster. Overall it was not to bad, but at one point had a quick left to right change of rotational direction. This would bang your head very hard against the pads on the seat quickly from one side to the other if you didn't press it hard into the back of the seat rest. Other than that one point is wasn't to bad. The thing I liked about it was how you went up the first hill and as you started down it rotated you into a curve. Pretty neat. My favorite coaster right now is the Avalanche at Busch Gardens. I have not been to Cedar Point. I hear its the shiznet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallsux Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 yeah the philadelphia toboggan company called up KD and was like "uhhhh fyi we didn't design that train to run backwards like that, so if someone dies, don't look at us." so they turned it back around frontwards. To be honest, I rode that thing backwards once & it jerked me around so bad that I could hardly breathe afterwards. I have back issues & that definitely didn't help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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