Kings Dominion Adds Dominator for 2008
Another Geauga Lake orphan has found a new home. Today, the official announcement was made that the B&M floorless coaster Dominator will dominate the Kings Dominion skyline next year.
An Inviting Concrete Setting
In true Kings Dominion fashion the ride will be located on top of the existing park instead of in the acres and acres of untouched wilderness surrounding the park. It had a cool setting in a marshy area on the edge of the lake at Geauga. In its new home it will sit in the parking lot next to the swinging inverter ship Berserker. Similar to G.A.S.M.’s setting at Great Adventure. The general public won’t care but this kind of thing irks me. At least that other Virginia park knows a thing or two about theming, atmosphere, and integrating roller coasters into a park.
A Strong Addition to the Lineup
On the bright side, Dominator is a great ride. It’s easily one of my favorite floorless coasters and also one of my top 10 or 15 seated looping coasters. There’ not a real need for this type of coaster, but it will satisfy the general public, especially those who haven’t ridden a B&M coaster. Aside from a smooth, twisted ride and great capacity that’ll keep the line moving, it features:
148′ drop (14 stories)
Record setting 135′ tall vertical loop
Cobra Roll (2 inversions)
2 Corkscrews
Floorless trains
For more information see King’s Dominion’s press release.
Check out this onride video of the Dominator:
**UPDATE – 05/20** Dominator’s open! Check out photos and a video from media day in this post.
**UPDATE** I have posted a new photo from March 9th that I took showing the progress of Dominator. View the picture here.
Anyone looking forward to Kings Dominion’s newest addition? Leave a comment below.
October 28, 2007 at 14:45
I would imagine it's placement would somewhat block the great view of The Lost Mountain from the parking lot. That's lame! Seeing the Mountain really gets me going for my visit!
October 28, 2007 at 20:58
No, King's Dominion is getting sorrier each year. The Cedar Fair takeover really made them go down. The park stays a mess, and they dont keep the rides up to par. I went around Labor Day, and they had 6 rides closed for the day. The Paramount days were WAY better. The need to break some height and speed records on a new ride. Not buy a large LOOP.
June 27, 2011 at 17:10
Robert,
How can u say kings dominion is getting sorrier each year??? Actually if you haven't heard, they have a new ride. It's call Intimidator 305 or I305 for short. Anyway this ride has no loops… It goes 305 feet in the air and it goes 94 mph. I dont know what part of Kings Dominion you've been in because Kings Dominion is not a mess. Tell me what rides were broken down… Please tell me what is soooo bad about kd???
October 30, 2007 at 01:05
Robert…I haven't been to the park since '04. So I can't speak to the CF takeover, but around the country they're known for being pretty good park managers. Right away I noticed that they reopened Flight of Fear when they acquired the park. But if you say the park's been going down hill, then that stinks. But as far as Dominator goes, it's much more than a large loop. Since you're into records it is the world's longest floorless coaster and it has the largest loop. There's something to boast.Ed…You're right, Dominator will most likely block any view of Volcano's mountain. It's a big tangled mess of steel and it'll definitely change the KD skyline. On the bright side the park is getting a GOOD COASTER.
December 17, 2007 at 04:29
I am looking forward to riding the Dominator. The park hasn't really gone down since cedar fair has taken over. It is still a nice park, just some changes have taken place. I believe the placement of the Dominator is to draw the crowd and make it the first thing you see. You will still see the flames from the volcano. I will let you know how I like it once I ride it.
January 10, 2008 at 21:17
Yes the Dominator will be in the “bus” parking lot but from the plans I have seen they look really cool. In regards to the comment of it being so large that you will not be able to see the Volcano…its not a big deal since you will probably still be able to see it due to the placement of the structures. After walking past the berserker you will see major changes in the theming . There is to be an open area where guests can wait inline in addition to chairs and tables where you can sit after you purchase drinks and snacks from the nearby stands. Also for those of you that have been recently…next time you feel an obligation just look at the staff that is walking around. Are they wearing business clothes and carrying a broom and pan? They should be! Everybody is supposed to help out with keeping the park clean and presentable for the guests.Some changes for 08'…there will be some if not all new ride names dependent upon stipulations from Paramount. The new KD sign on the interstate was the most visible change so far. There will be all new KD signs all over the park (and you thought that it was just going to be the trash cans :::Grin:::. Paramount let CF hold the Paramount TM for 1 year. Now anything that says Paramount on it is to be assimilated. The first thing that I have noticed was the renaming of the Once Paramount Theatre to “KINGS DOMINION THEATRE”. We all wanted it to go back to the Mason Dixon Show Place. Italian Job Stunt Coaster will now be if I heard correctly just “Stunt Coaster”. So u can pretty much come up with that u want for any ride in the park now.Shhhh…I have already heard talks about stuff for 2009. World’s tallest, longest, fastest wooden coaster. It will be located parallel to I95 so that you can see it as your on the interstate. The Hypersonic should be gone by now and plans that I have spotted show that the station for this massive high capacity ride will most likely be in the same area as the Hypersonic’s Station. There are still a lot of things that they are working out at this point. Also heard that the whole KidzVille area will probably be getting a face lift and new names ensure that Nickelodeon has take the whole area over. i.e. “lil bill’s Imagination Ship… instead of just the “clipper ship”. Its going to be great. And if u think that Cedar Fair is just going to change the sign on the rides in kidzville then we will all be surprised. Its hoped that they reinvent these rides and give them a coat of paint so that the theming flows. If you have any questions or comments please post here since i could give away my identity and possibly loose my job. If there are any changes then I will try to let you know.and u can call me Bob! 1801gab
January 11, 2008 at 15:21
Wow, Bob, thanks for the update! Hey, Joel, maybe you should think about doing "Coaster Critic and Friends Day" at King's Dominion next summer.Judy P in Pgh
January 12, 2008 at 06:53
Well Bob, you certainly know a lot of details about Kings Dominion. If your talk of a record-breaking wooden coaster for 2009 is true then it would have to beat out Son of Beast at Kings Island for height and speed. A 220-foot tall woodie in the woods next to I-95 sounds hard to believe. But crazier things have been built.KD should at capitalize on the location next to highway and build something more visible. The sign is hard to miss, but when you pass most other parks you can see actual rides and coasters. Heck, I'd be happy if they even expanded the park a bit and built anything new, much less a record breaking coaster. All they've been doing is building on top of the park for about 10 years. Thanks for stopping by Bob.Does anyone know how much of the land surrounding the Kings Dominion is owned by the park?
January 18, 2008 at 17:22
I don't mind CF's decision,along with KD's to put Dominator in the front of the park.I'm just happy that there'll finally be a B&M within driving distance for me to ride.
If I'm not mistaken KD has the land formerly occupied by the safari monorail for development,as well as some land extending around waterworks(south of Rebel yell) all the way over to where Hurler & HSXLC are located.That's prime real estate for a nice out & back hyper if you ask me.
January 19, 2008 at 05:50
I know what you mean Mike. I'm glad that that part of the state is finally getting a B&M coaster. So many of my friends would only make the trip to KD and I couldn't convince theme to go a little further to Busch Gardens to ride some quality B&Ms. If I still lived in NoVA I'd be really excited to live near a B&M, especially b/c I know Dominator's a good ride.
January 20, 2008 at 08:31
Funny thing that KD has yet to post a construction page for Dominator while all of the other CF parks adding new coasters for 2008 have.I emailed them about it a couple months back & they informed me that they were in the process of designing a page for their site but here it is going into february & we still don't have one up yet.I sent another email asking about it about an hour ago so now I'm gonna wait a few days to see if I get a response.
February 11, 2008 at 08:37
Well folks Dominator has finally gone vertical.Clint Novak of coastercrew was on hand at the park earlier this past week to witness the installation of the station track & since then what looks to be the transfer track/brakerun,as well as the drop from the station into the lift approach has been installed as well.
February 11, 2008 at 17:49
I agree Mike, Kings Dominion should have their own construction page or even park blog with updates.And nice find on the Coaster Crew construction photos of Dominator. They even have some videos too. I'll have to post some links to them.Thanks for stopping by.
February 23, 2008 at 12:48
Dominator's lift hill has started to go up and they have painted a piece of track for the twisted u turn orange.
February 23, 2008 at 13:20
if you look on a SAT map for kings dominion they have access roads with buildings that go far back behind the park & the second segment for the lift hill has been placed along with hypersonic alost gone.
February 29, 2008 at 12:58
The latest updates I've heard for Dominator construction is that the lift has been topped off within the last 24 to 48 hours so they should be starting on the first drop soon.You can find me posting over at http://www.KDconnection.com in their forums under the name "KDCOASTERFAN" if you ever wanted to get together to discuss the ride construction,or the park in general outside of this site….I hope to see some of you there.
March 3, 2008 at 13:41
if you copy and paste this adress it will take you to some more pictures. As you can see the first drop is almost completed and they should have the loop completed and starting into the turns by friday orsaturday.http://jeaa.smugmug.com/gallery/4441608_dv2gu#261035950
March 3, 2008 at 15:14
Nice find. Here it is hyperlinked: Dominator construction photos.Constructions really going to pick up from here on out. I'm sure Coaster Crew and other fan sites will be covering the completion of Dominator's world's largest loop and of course the first test run in the coming weeks.Thanks for reading.
March 4, 2008 at 11:39
I'm so glad to see the opening of Dominator this season! I grew up at this park, and it's good to see some new coasters!
March 5, 2008 at 11:54
if you go to KDConnection an update picture has been poasted showing the first drop, loop, the quick turn into the loop, and the big turn before the cobra roll completed.
March 12, 2008 at 11:22
They're really making good progress now.From what I hear the cobra roll is now at least halfway complete,probably more by now.