- August 23rd, 2010, 1:36 pm
#42506
Well the time finally came and unfortunately has went. The ACE Summer Conference was a FANTASTIC event. Thanks KD and ACE for a great time!
OK, so I started my journey to Kings Dominion on Friday, August 20th at 7:30 I boarded the amtrak to go to richmond. After a long train ride (around 7+ hours) we arrived in richmond, from there we got a cab ride to the hotel/park. We stayed in the Best Western, so we went in and checked in when we arrived at around 3:45pm. After checking in we wasted no time at all putting our bags in the room and heading to the park. We got our ACE packs and ran that pack to the hotel room and went back to hit the coasters. The first coaster we hit was DOMINATOR. This coaster is fantastic! My first floorless coaster and I LOVED it, very smooth, the loop is awesome and I love the interlocking corkscrews and the curves at the end. Dominator was one of my favorites in the park. After dominator we pretty much just made a circle around the park riding the rides we came to since we had ERT on Intimidator, no need to rush to it. I don’t remember what order we rode the rides in but here is what I thought of the rides.
Boo Blasters—Nice ride, very much like ours the biggest difference is of course the theming the house actually looks like a haunted house and is very well themed in the queue. The ride is a lot easier than ours because the red dot shows up on the targets when you shoot. Not a bad little dark ride at all. We also got a backstage tour of the ride as well.
Anaconda—This coaster was pretty fun, I liked diving under the water and then the loop is way up off the ground, which is neat. The ride is a little rough and the MCBR sucks. Overall I liked the coaster, but was not my favorite at all.
Volcano—this coaster was my first launch coaster! YAY! The coaster theming is amazing! I liked the feeling of being launched and being on an inverted style coaster was great. The shoulder restraints on this thing hurt like crazy! The launch speed is great but after you come out of the first inversion, the speed just goes away. I did like the diving drop, just wish it would have been into more elements instead of a brake run, but overall another nice coaster.
Flight of Fear—This coaster is my favorite at KD! I don’t know what it is about the coaster that is so great, but I loved it. The theming once again was crazy amazing. I like going upside down with no over the shoulder harness, it’s a great thing! I really enjoyed this coaster and loved the ERT we got on it!!
Intimidator 305- Yes we finally rode Intimidator 305 when we came to it! The first thing about the coaster that I think everyone notices and talks about is the lift speed. It really is crazy fast. I was more amazed at the angle you go up. The drop on the ride is great, you can fill the trims holding the train back though. On the first ride I greyed out nearly half of the ride but I still had my hands up the entire time and I liked the coaster a LOT! I loved the twisted maneuvers and the speed through them. The downside is there is no airtime at all really, at least not for me. We only rode 305 once on Friday but I rode it 8 more times on Saturday. Luckily I didn’t grey out like I did the first time but probably about 4 of the rides I greyed out a little over the first hill after the curve. Overall this coaster is a wild ride, I don’t think it’s my number one coaster but its definitely at the top because of the speed and intensity. The downside is its not the smoothest in the transitions and it hurt my neck/shoulders a little, but nothing to major. There was some issues with the restraints and they had to switch seats and also empty the train and send it out, I thought it was hilarious. Oh well, this coaster is great, wish I could have experienced it without the trims but I am kind of glad I didn’t because the thing is rough enough at 90mph, oh yea on the backstage tour John Pagel confirmed the coaster goes 90mph not 79.5 or whatever RCDB says, so believe which one you want, I believe its 90, or so myself. Great coaster!
Backlot stunt coaster—this ride surprised me a lot. It was actually really fun. I liked the launch and the huge helix. The overbanked curves are nice and the tunnel is crazy amazing, I still have no clue what happens in that tunnel. The only part I didn’t really enjoy was that tiny hump after dropping out of the tunnel, it really hurt my neck the first time I rode, after that I expected it so it was OK. This is yet another great coaster.
The Crypt—I have only been on one other top spin ride like this one and I can safely say this one is much better. The water effects and the fire and the music really make this ride what it is! The only thing I didn’t enjoy about the ride is the restraints and the pain that it causes if you know what I mean, especially when it does the four flips in at the end. Other than that I loved the ride and I hope we get one in the future…
Well we rode all these on Friday between 4pm and 10:30pm. The next day we of course did dominator ERT in the morning then headed over towards the woodies (more on those in a few). We also had the I-305 tour Saturday evening, all you can eat dinner, an auction and prize drawings. We stayed up until they did the auctions and then headed to the rides. We also went to the waterpark for a couple hours on Saturday but didn’t do any of the slides. I must say the waterpark was very cramped and not layed out very well, or maybe it was just to crowded. Their wave pools were horrible the waves sucked and didn’t last long at all. The kid play thing was OK I guess, but the nets hurt your feet like crazy. The funnel slide looked awesome, but we didn’t want to wait in line for it. At least we got cooled off. Some other rides were the Ferris wheel, and log flume and the rapids ride. I really enjoyed the flume and rapids. There rapids put ours to shame, its SO MUCH BETTER! The ride lasts a long time, you actually get soaked, and the rapids are a lot faster etc. Not to mention the theming on the rides are really nice and they are both hidden in the woods. The Americana wheel was a relaxing 110ft 10min ride. I enjoyed it and got some good videos and stuff from it. The only thing we didn’t do was the drop tower, which I was actually looking forward too, but oh well.
Grizzly—This wooden coaster was pretty fun, its not as rough as I thought it would be. The tunnel was a little closer than I anticipated and when my hands were up I actually grazed the side of the tunnel wall. Other than that it was a nice wooden coaster and it was nice to ride something other thant the hurler or thunder road for a change.
Rebel Yell—well its pretty much the same thing as thunder road so there you go.
We didn’t ride there hurler, we have one just like it so no need to try it out, I guess.
Ricochet-- I was really actually impressed with this coaster, I thought there’s was exactly the same as ours until we got to it and saw it. I actually liked theirs better because it seems faster and there aren’t as many trims on it, and only one or two of them hit… Not a bad coaster at all IMO, not the most thrilling but it was pretty fast paced and fun.
Well I think that is pretty much it for the trip report. The rides were great, the theming was absolutely amazing. I wish Carowinds had more theming and woods like KD, and maybe a launched coaster or 2. Overall it was a great ACE event and I hope that I can go back next year!
OK, so I started my journey to Kings Dominion on Friday, August 20th at 7:30 I boarded the amtrak to go to richmond. After a long train ride (around 7+ hours) we arrived in richmond, from there we got a cab ride to the hotel/park. We stayed in the Best Western, so we went in and checked in when we arrived at around 3:45pm. After checking in we wasted no time at all putting our bags in the room and heading to the park. We got our ACE packs and ran that pack to the hotel room and went back to hit the coasters. The first coaster we hit was DOMINATOR. This coaster is fantastic! My first floorless coaster and I LOVED it, very smooth, the loop is awesome and I love the interlocking corkscrews and the curves at the end. Dominator was one of my favorites in the park. After dominator we pretty much just made a circle around the park riding the rides we came to since we had ERT on Intimidator, no need to rush to it. I don’t remember what order we rode the rides in but here is what I thought of the rides.
Boo Blasters—Nice ride, very much like ours the biggest difference is of course the theming the house actually looks like a haunted house and is very well themed in the queue. The ride is a lot easier than ours because the red dot shows up on the targets when you shoot. Not a bad little dark ride at all. We also got a backstage tour of the ride as well.
Anaconda—This coaster was pretty fun, I liked diving under the water and then the loop is way up off the ground, which is neat. The ride is a little rough and the MCBR sucks. Overall I liked the coaster, but was not my favorite at all.
Volcano—this coaster was my first launch coaster! YAY! The coaster theming is amazing! I liked the feeling of being launched and being on an inverted style coaster was great. The shoulder restraints on this thing hurt like crazy! The launch speed is great but after you come out of the first inversion, the speed just goes away. I did like the diving drop, just wish it would have been into more elements instead of a brake run, but overall another nice coaster.
Flight of Fear—This coaster is my favorite at KD! I don’t know what it is about the coaster that is so great, but I loved it. The theming once again was crazy amazing. I like going upside down with no over the shoulder harness, it’s a great thing! I really enjoyed this coaster and loved the ERT we got on it!!
Intimidator 305- Yes we finally rode Intimidator 305 when we came to it! The first thing about the coaster that I think everyone notices and talks about is the lift speed. It really is crazy fast. I was more amazed at the angle you go up. The drop on the ride is great, you can fill the trims holding the train back though. On the first ride I greyed out nearly half of the ride but I still had my hands up the entire time and I liked the coaster a LOT! I loved the twisted maneuvers and the speed through them. The downside is there is no airtime at all really, at least not for me. We only rode 305 once on Friday but I rode it 8 more times on Saturday. Luckily I didn’t grey out like I did the first time but probably about 4 of the rides I greyed out a little over the first hill after the curve. Overall this coaster is a wild ride, I don’t think it’s my number one coaster but its definitely at the top because of the speed and intensity. The downside is its not the smoothest in the transitions and it hurt my neck/shoulders a little, but nothing to major. There was some issues with the restraints and they had to switch seats and also empty the train and send it out, I thought it was hilarious. Oh well, this coaster is great, wish I could have experienced it without the trims but I am kind of glad I didn’t because the thing is rough enough at 90mph, oh yea on the backstage tour John Pagel confirmed the coaster goes 90mph not 79.5 or whatever RCDB says, so believe which one you want, I believe its 90, or so myself. Great coaster!
Backlot stunt coaster—this ride surprised me a lot. It was actually really fun. I liked the launch and the huge helix. The overbanked curves are nice and the tunnel is crazy amazing, I still have no clue what happens in that tunnel. The only part I didn’t really enjoy was that tiny hump after dropping out of the tunnel, it really hurt my neck the first time I rode, after that I expected it so it was OK. This is yet another great coaster.
The Crypt—I have only been on one other top spin ride like this one and I can safely say this one is much better. The water effects and the fire and the music really make this ride what it is! The only thing I didn’t enjoy about the ride is the restraints and the pain that it causes if you know what I mean, especially when it does the four flips in at the end. Other than that I loved the ride and I hope we get one in the future…
Well we rode all these on Friday between 4pm and 10:30pm. The next day we of course did dominator ERT in the morning then headed over towards the woodies (more on those in a few). We also had the I-305 tour Saturday evening, all you can eat dinner, an auction and prize drawings. We stayed up until they did the auctions and then headed to the rides. We also went to the waterpark for a couple hours on Saturday but didn’t do any of the slides. I must say the waterpark was very cramped and not layed out very well, or maybe it was just to crowded. Their wave pools were horrible the waves sucked and didn’t last long at all. The kid play thing was OK I guess, but the nets hurt your feet like crazy. The funnel slide looked awesome, but we didn’t want to wait in line for it. At least we got cooled off. Some other rides were the Ferris wheel, and log flume and the rapids ride. I really enjoyed the flume and rapids. There rapids put ours to shame, its SO MUCH BETTER! The ride lasts a long time, you actually get soaked, and the rapids are a lot faster etc. Not to mention the theming on the rides are really nice and they are both hidden in the woods. The Americana wheel was a relaxing 110ft 10min ride. I enjoyed it and got some good videos and stuff from it. The only thing we didn’t do was the drop tower, which I was actually looking forward too, but oh well.
Grizzly—This wooden coaster was pretty fun, its not as rough as I thought it would be. The tunnel was a little closer than I anticipated and when my hands were up I actually grazed the side of the tunnel wall. Other than that it was a nice wooden coaster and it was nice to ride something other thant the hurler or thunder road for a change.
Rebel Yell—well its pretty much the same thing as thunder road so there you go.
We didn’t ride there hurler, we have one just like it so no need to try it out, I guess.
Ricochet-- I was really actually impressed with this coaster, I thought there’s was exactly the same as ours until we got to it and saw it. I actually liked theirs better because it seems faster and there aren’t as many trims on it, and only one or two of them hit… Not a bad coaster at all IMO, not the most thrilling but it was pretty fast paced and fun.
Well I think that is pretty much it for the trip report. The rides were great, the theming was absolutely amazing. I wish Carowinds had more theming and woods like KD, and maybe a launched coaster or 2. Overall it was a great ACE event and I hope that I can go back next year!
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FORMALLY BORGASSIMILATOR 2004-2009
Visit my Carowinds Fans Facebook page! www.facebook.com/carowindsfansonly
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FORMALLY BORGASSIMILATOR 2004-2009
Visit my Carowinds Fans Facebook page! www.facebook.com/carowindsfansonly
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I am really going to miss the park, but like you max I probaly wont get to go back for years.... I want to check out other parks as well...