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Kings Dominion
Rating Details »
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
19 reviews for Kings Dominion
We decided to visit King's Dominon Labor Day weekend (Sunday) and it was not as crowded as I thought it would be. The lines were not very long so we didn't have to wait an hour for a 30 seconds ride! I think I went on most of the big rides.. and front row seats too! :) We got our tickets online for $26.50 each so I thought that was a pretty good deal for a day of fun. Plan early so you can take advantage of the 3-day advance deal. Parking is $10 I think.. and if you plan on going on the water rides, you're best to rent a locker at the water park to put your belongings and extra clothings. That's $15 and $5 of that is deposit so you get it back when you return your key.
I like KD more than many of the other theme parks because they have more exciting/thriller rides. I don't waste my time on baby rides =P Although I went on all the wooden rides anyway, I don't recommend them because they are soooo shaky that you get a headache right after. Oh, and don't expect the food to be great.. it's a theme park, as long as it's not gross, that's probably the best you'll get. Try to find a deal online and avoid the door price.. ENJOY! :)
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This park is nice, but more if you're into rides. Its lacking in great shows and music and entertainment. The park itself is not really that big, in comparison to most theme parks, and is about average in size. The food really is terribly overpriced. My sis and I got 2 slices of pizza, 2 cokes and breadsticks and a bottled water and our tab was 26$! The rides however can be fun. The problem is if you're into less threatning rides, theres not as much selection. They focous on high thrill rides. The antique cars and Carousel and okay. DONT GO ON THE FERRIS WHEEL ever- if you're afraid of heights. The Rebel Yell is nice lower impact roller coaster thats plenty of fun but not as scary as the others.
The Halloween thrills start too late- and Halloween night we had to leave early and missed all the fun. We did enjoy Graveyard Shift Musical , however. Bottom line: this park is for ride seekers, not arts or entertainment folks. And the crowd tends to be more peckerwoodish in comparison to Bush Gardens. But its cheaper!
It is a decent theme park, nothing like Disney world, Universal or Busch Gardens but it is much cheaper than the other parks. It is super crowded between Friday and Sunday so the weekday is definitely better but if you can't come during the weekday just come later during the day since after like 3 pm the lines aren't that bad and the park doesn't close until 10pm. There is about 7 major coaster rides and a lot of little rides in between and a huge water park. There is also a great area just for little kids.
If you are looking for cheaper tickets I would suggest going to http://Retailmenot.com and look up Kind Dominion and it gives you a promotional code that cuts the ticket price to about half. It also allow you to save an extra $2 on parking.
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King's Dominion is an awesome theme park and is worth the two hour drive from DC.
Currently they have thirteen coasters (and a new one under construction according to RCDB) and they range from a simple ride through a house (Scooby Doo's Ghoster Coaster) to high thrill coasters such as Volcano and Dominator. This really is a place for those who love coasters, and for families as well as there is plenty to do at the park and when it gets hot in the afternoon, you can walk over to the water park to cool off in the wave pool or on one of the various slides. Even when the park is busy I find that the lines move quickly, I don't think I have had to wait more than an hour for a coaster ride, and that was on a holiday weekend.
Of course there are plenty of spinning and standard fair rides such as a ferris wheel or a sky flyer, but personally I am more about the coasters. There's also a number of midway type of games, but they're something I don't really play either. On the other hand, there's some good stores and restaurants at the park you can stop in at, but if you want to save some cash, throw some food in a cooler and head to the parking lot when you're hungry. The park does do hand stamps for reentry.
What I also like about KD is that they don't mind that I have walked in there with my Camelbak on because many other parks would have a problem with someone bringing in water. All the coasters I ride have a bin or cubby that I can put my bag on before I ride so I don't have to pay a fee just so I can be allowed to carry my water.
The coasters to definitely ride are: Volcano, Dominator, Backlot Stunt Coaster, Grizzly, and Rebel Yell. It all depends on what you like
Don't forget to look around for discounted tickets to the park, and the best time to buy a season pass is around Christmas, which is when KD usually runs sales.
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Great theme park! It's cheaper than Busch Gardens and has more rides for half the price.
Check for coupons/deals online before you go.. you could save yourself $5-10 easily.
It used to be Paramount's Kings Dominion.. and all the rides were named after movies.. Italian Job.. Tomb Raider.. but now the names of the rides are very generic.. Stunt Ride.. some jungle ride.
I suggest going right when they open on a weekday. You could finish the whole park in 2-3 hours.
They got rid of the Hypersonic XLC.. it was one of my favorite coasters.. 90 degrees up.. then 90 degrees straight down. short ride, but unique.
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Went on a Wednesday when it was slightly overcast and there was almost no line.
Volcano Blast Coaster. Volcano Blast Coaster. Volcano Blast Coaster. If you ride only one coaster, this should be it. This coaster blasts you off to 72mph in a matter of seconds. You lose your tummy from the incredibly unexpected acceleration. (Be sure to keep your head back against the headrest during the beginning of the ride, or whip-lash could be in order)
And Volcano Blast Coaster is the smoothest ride I've every had in a roller coaster. My neck was barely tossed around, and my head never hit the side of the head rest. As an inside scoop: the right side of the roller coaster is gentler on the neck than the left side.
Also, the Volcano Blast Coaster is worth waiting for the front. Watching as you are accelerated out of the volcano is a thrill not to be missed! It's only down side is that it is ultimately a short ride, but it's so thrilling that I didn't mind!
If you have to pick which rides to go on, here are the three not to be missed:
1. Volcano Blast Coaster (My pick for best roller coaster in the country!)
2. The Drop Tower
This goes beyond your typical drop ride by seating you facing out, so you have a clear view of how high you climb and WOW is it high! The free-fall was spectacular and left my knees weak. Even my afraid-of-heights-yet-masochistically-enthralled-w ith-thrill-rides hubby wanted to ride it a second time.
3. The Crypt
This ride lifts you in the air and spins you somersault-style over geysers and bouts of flame. Fun, fun, fun!
My biggest complaint about the other coasters were how jerky they were. My neck and head really took a beating. Here's a rundown of the others, in the order that I would recommend them:
The Dominator - 5 stars Not as jerky as the others. It's a fun ride and one of the major attractions of the park.
The Flight of Fear - 4 stars Easy to miss this ride, since it's an indoor coaster housed in an unobtrusive yellow building in the back. We missed this one originally, since we thought it was an employee maintenance building. This ride blasts off like the volcano coaster, so keep your head back during the beginning! This coaster shakes your head around a lot, but there is no neck-rest so your head won't bang into anything.
The Back-Lot Stunt Coaster - 4 stars This ride also blasts off, so keep your head back! This coaster was also pretty jerky, but since it lacks a neck-rest your head won't get banged, just jerked around a bit.
The Anaconda -- 3 stars. Even with a front row seat, this roller coaster was a bit of a bummer. The beating that my neck took wasn't worth the ride. The idea of running beneath an underwater tunnel is cool, but it's barely noticeable when you're on the ride; it looks just like another tunnel.
The Wooden Coasters (Rebel Yell, Hurler, and Grizzly)
The Rebel Yell -- 4 stars This was our favorite of the wooden coasters, since it was easiest on the neck. Wooden coasters are the best for catching air when you go down the hills, so be sure to keep your arms up during those drops!
The Hurler -- 2 stars We found this wooden coaster to be so jerky and bumpy that we turned down riding again even though there was no line.
The Grizzly -- 3 stars I rode with my arms cradling my head and found this ride fun despite the jerky turns. I also recommend the front seat, since the drop is fun to see.
The Shockwave -- 1 star When riders come off the coaster booing, you know something has gone horribly wrong. The stand-up mechanism is awkward and makes loading the coaster a slow process. This makes the line slower and creates a 2 minute wait at the end of the ride while you wait to disembark. This wouldn't be so bad if the ride were fun, but it's just not. I recommend avoiding this coaster.
A few other tips:
Tickets are cheaper online. Also, season passes include parking, but you'll end up paying for parking if you don't buy them online ahead of time.
Tickets are cheaper after 4pm (and lines are shorter, too!)
Bring your own water bottle (it's $3.50 a bottle in the park)
Some of the eateries offer a $4 bottomless soda wrist band. (Wish I'd noticed this before I paid $3.50 for my bottle of water!)
When we went, our regular tickets were good for TWO trips, so a season pass isn't worth it unless you think you'll go more than twice.
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Normally when I'm forced to be in a large crowd of people for an extended period of time, I get a pretty serious "ICK" factor - at King's Dominion, I had that going on to the nth degree. Maybe it didn't help that I went to the water park - I let some friends convince me but, man, what was I thinking?? The park is just not very nice-looking, the bathrooms are nasty and the food is bad and expensive. If all we were talking about here were the rides, I might even give KD 5 stars, but the ambience drops it down a notch or two for sure.
The riiiiiiiiiides - that's why we really made the trip, right?
Volcano Blast Coaster - wheeee LIM
Flight of Fear - wheeee LIMs again - a fun and fast indoor coaster - part of the line is indoors, too - vacation in the AC!
Dominator - they just moved this coaster to KD - why didn't they call it the Dominionater?
Backlot Stunt Coaster - super fun! I love the short train and small cars - makes the ride nice and tight.
Drop Tower - this is a much larger (and taller!) drop ride than most other places have - it's SCARY
Anaconda - an older looping steel coaster that's worth checking out
Grizzly - gnarly wooden coaster that has a great sound to it and a great head-chopper
Rebel Yell - decent woodie racer
Hurler - worst wooden roller coaster I have ever been on
I didn't cover all of KD's rides - there are a couple of other coasters and there's a moderate-sized collection of smaller rides.
I grew up on this place, and the rides and memories alone are reason ernough to keep comin back. the anaconda, rebel yell, grizzly, berserker, the waynes world themed section, video game arcades all over the park...hells ya.
Most outta towners will probably think its a bit "ghetto" and yea the ride maintenance ain't exactly tip top. Also i dunno about the water park, although the log flume is cool. I also miss some of the classic rides like the apple turnover, skypilot, haunted river, timeshaft...and smurf mountain!!! The animal safari thing back in the day was cool too. I guess alot of those things went away with the first change in ownership. The hanna barbara theme characters were cool too, much more memorable than the nickelodeon ones now.
Great place for a kid to spend a summer day.
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The Dominator totally dominated me. I applaud whoever can get off that coaster without feeling dizzy or having a headache. I guess that's what you get for riding the world's longest floorless roller coaster with the the largest vertical loop.
I ended up loving the Drop Zone, a free fall ride, though I was really scared to try it at first. I also loved the Volcano though it was a pretty short coaster. However, I felt a lot of the roller coasters were pretty jerky (I'm not just talking about the wooden ones) in comparison to those at Busch Gardens. Busch Gardens also beats Kings Dominion in the "theme" area as Kings Dominion doesn't have a unified park theme, just various separate areas with their own theme.
On hot days watch out for people of all shapes in sizes wandering around in various amounts of clothing. I know it's hot people but we're still in public!
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My one visit to King's Dominion was as the guest of my good friend for the Booz Allen Hamilton field day. Entrance was free, picnic food was free, and the lines were very short. Of all the rides, the Dominator, Volcano Blast, and Shockwave are average roller coasters. Nothing else in this park is worth riding. I just don't understand why anyone would build roller coasters so low to the ground. It's like having a swimming pool that is only three feet deep. If you are going to go through the trouble of constructing the damn thing, why not make it worth while?
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HELL YA! THIS PLACE ROCKS! I roller coastered my fricking ASS off here! Apparently there is a water park here too, but I was here for the "thrill" rides not the slides.
There is one of the fastest roller coasters here I have ever been on and there is not even any loops (there is a pic of it in the picture section for KD).
When I was here it was a FULL HOUSE, so we had to pick and choose which rides we were wanting to ride. Although, for a weekend, the lines were not as bad as I expected (probably everyone was in the water park).
If you are going to be doing some drinking, bring a cooler and do it in the parking lot, unless you are wanting to spend a small fortune for a small beer which you can't take away from the "beer garden." Do your drinking at the car.
Waaaaaaaaaaay better than Six Flags America.
King's Dominion is worth the trip on a couple of conditions. The first one being that if you don't mind getting a little wet, go on a day that's overcast and slightly sprinkling. This, almost always, means that there are little to no lines allowing you to have an enjoyable time. Secondly, go right as the season starts. This means that there are less people (hallelujah!) because most of them don't really know when all the rides open.
If these two conditions are met, then you'll have the time of your life. The Volcano is a suspended coaster that reaches speeds up to 70 mph and shoots you straight out of the top of the volcano. The Hypersonic XLC's attraction is its 90 degree drop. The Shockwave allows you to stand while doing loops and hard turns. Moreover, the Outer Limits is a coaster inside of a building that's not lighted.
Of course there are carnival style games and food places that are merely for nostalgic value. Most of these are over-priced and well let's face it, not very good. However, the Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant is not that bad. They have good food, but the portions are menial compared to what you pay for it.
Always look for discounts before buying your tickets. There are so many going on that you'll never have to pay full price for a ticket.
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The gene pool is both shallow and polluted in this central Virginia dominion of kings. King's Dominion - now owned by Cedar Fair (of Cedar Point fame) - offers a number mild to moderate thrill rides, a water park, several "off the shelf" carnival-type rides, and a Nickelodeon-themed kids area.
While traversing this haphazardly-designed park, take note of the offensively large number of misspellings on permanent signs. It's sad, really. Expect long, slow-moving lines, unmotivated and incompetent staff, disgusting and overpriced food, and a crowd of visitors who look like they just came off the set of a Jerry Springer show.
Those in the know will never pay more than $30 to get in (there are always discounts available one way or another), and visit pre/post summer.
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i rode my first real roller coaster here. the scooby doo. and on labor day i got to take my kid on her first real roller coaster ride! same as mommy. it was great. the kidzville area is nice. clean, well kept. even the older rides don't look so much crummy as they look vintage. the nickelodeon characters are a huge draw for kids like my daughter who loved the dora show and got to take pictures with a backyardigan. on labor day, the lines were perfectly short.
the waterpark side was decent too. i didn't get to try any of the slides but i did get to wade through the 1-foot-deep pool with a mini water playground for little kids and also climb through the larger playhouse-type structure that had a huge bucket of water on its roof that would cause a tsunami of a waterfall on everyone standing beneath it. the wave pool was nice except that the water tasted salty.
if you've been to six flags in maryland, you know that rides there are falling apart and the pool bottoms are crumbling and food is awful. kings dominion isn't like that. even the shrimp po'boy i got in the congo part of the park was actually really good.
when i was a kid, kings dominion was so much fun. now that i have a kid.... it's still fun!
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I dunno. People say that KD is better than Six Flags. I'm partial to Six Flags. However, I will say that Hershey Park is better than Six Flags.
Eeeeenyways...
My partner, friends and I came to KD recently for their Gay Night Out. The park closes at 8pm, yet remained open for GLBT's who had purchased tickets for this special event.
Got on rides that were mostly rollercoasters...like the Volcano, Rebel Yell, Anaconda, Hyperbolic XL, Tomb Raider, Italian Job and the like. While they were fun with their speed, they were not fun for the head and shoulders. Seriously, I've never rode such jerky rides. Maybe it's just me getting older. Sigh... So, the best for me was the Italian Job.
The wooden rollercoasters...forget them! I know they'll shake me and you like raggy dolls.
Yep, I'm getting old. I'm bitching like a 90-year-old man.
Nonetheless, had a good time there. But, I still think Six Flags is better.
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Here's a little insiders tip for Kings Dominon....go early in the season. We just went over Spring break. The bathrooms are still clean, the workers are still semi-enthusastic about their jobs. Last year we went in August towards the end of the season and it was hideous! Over-crowded, dirty, and long lines. Stick with Chick-Filet...or Subway. The other food is nasty. Forego the water park. It is nasty, too. The water smelled and was brown. The calibur of the park is no Disneyworld...if you want that, go to Disney or Busch Gardens. This is more a "carnival like" park. It does have some good roller coaster though. Also, don't waste your time of the shows....they were horrible. The only plus is if you need a place to get out of the heat for a half an hour...you'll cool off, but the entertainment was hideous!...like the Gong show meets Fingernails on a chalkboard!
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WOW
This place is rock. There are many must-play rides!!!
I went there with 10 friends, and we all had a good time. We rode on many trilled rides but missed one, Volcano. It seemed like something went wrong and they closed it after we waited for almost 2 hrs. Too bad for us!!
Hypersonic, The Italian Job, Volcano, White Water Canyon, Shockwave are a must play!!
Fun for all ages.
Fun! Just gotback from a trip to Kings Dominion. Berserker, Scooby Doo Ghoaster Coaster, Avalanche, Blue Ridge Trolley, Eiffel Tower, Scooby Doo & the Haunted Mansion, Shenandoah Log Flume, Wave Swinger -- fun place to visit with someone who is 48" and over :) I think my son's brain was squeezed in the 4 consecutive rides on the Berserker :) He had a blast and me too! The food was "ok". Not much vegetarian fare to come by ... if any at all ... but that's kinda expected at an amusement park in Virginia ... pack a cooler and have lunch at the picnic tables in the parking lot.
Great theme park with a lot of rides and a very fun water park included in the admission. You'll have no trouble making a day out of this park, we really had a blast. Cool characters walking around, and just a fun time.