Candy Apple Grove
- Thread starter I305Evan
- Start date
Yeah, still scratching my head with that placement - it would have looked a bit odd to push it to one side, sure, but they would have given adequate space for infill without removing anything else.
While it's underutilized, why wish for it's removal? I can imagine a refurbishment alongside finding a popular show would do wonders.
My optimism for Cedar Fair to do that well currently is not as high as yours so I’d prefer to just see something that works rather than a large blue metal empty show venue in the center of the park.
I'm not suggesting that they realistically will do either option - letting it sit costs them nothing (or close to nothing anyways).
But if they could refurb it so that it becomes an easily accessible terraced dining theater open all seasons (open air with fans when it's warm, closed off for heating when it's cold), they could offset some costs with food/drink sales from the new Firehouse BBQ venue.
I see........I still kinda like the Family Boomerang idea I have but I'm all for that venue actually being used again and being a lively source of entertainment. To be fair it's not like my feeling toward the venue is similar to my feeling toward Xtreme Skyflyer and the go-karts.
It's not that the skyflyer and karts are necessarily bad by themselves, but they take up way too much space and make the area a bit congested.
Back to CAG:
I'm kind of curious though, though brick pavers are a bit better than blacktop surfacing, but why did they go with super generic paving options instead of stamped concrete or something else that'd better fit with the theme? I get that budgets are tight, but c'mon...
Back to CAG:
I'm kind of curious though, though brick pavers are a bit better than blacktop surfacing, but why did they go with super generic paving options instead of stamped concrete or something else that'd better fit with the theme? I get that budgets are tight, but c'mon...
I think the pavers look pretty nice. Stamped concrete often looks cheap IMO — it makes me think of Six Flags. And what pattern could they stamp the concrete with to “better fit with the theme” of CAG anyway?
It’s worth mentioning that replacing the park’s asphalt with pavers goes all the way back to the 80s. The park slowly replaced sections of asphalt with pavers for decades, across various owners. It’s a fun exercise to closely examine the park’s pavers because you can get a sense for the era and owner that installed them. For example, you can tell just by looking that the pavers along the sides of International Street, in Old Virginia by the water rides and in the arbor tunnel, and in selective portions of CAG and Jungle X were added by Taft/KECO. The larger, flatter pavers by Boo Blasters, Drop Tower, and around the old Volcano plaza were Paramount. And the newer-looking rest are of course CF.
Given the prevalence of pavers throughout the park’s history, I think sticking with pavers is the right choice. It makes sense to be consistent, rather than making the park a patchwork of paving styles. (I can’t wait for the day all the asphalt is gone and the park is covered in pavers.)
It’s also worth noting that CF has seemed to demonstrate some thematic creativity with their paving in recent years. Most of the pavers added to the main midway of CAG by CF have a distinctly redder color than other pavers they’ve added to the park. Along with the large swath of pavers added to the Twisted Timbers plaza in 2018, they also added aggregate to look like a dirt road leading up to the ride’s entrance. The pavers added to Old Virginia in 2019 are an old-world colonial style. And Jungle X not only has its concrete “runway,” but its new pavers seem carefully chosen to closely match the style of the ones added to the area decades earlier by Paramount while also have a tanner, earthier tone to reflect the jungle setting.
So, I’d say that not only do the pavers seem nicer than stamped concrete would be, but I think there is deliberate thought being put behind them, too.
It’s worth mentioning that replacing the park’s asphalt with pavers goes all the way back to the 80s. The park slowly replaced sections of asphalt with pavers for decades, across various owners. It’s a fun exercise to closely examine the park’s pavers because you can get a sense for the era and owner that installed them. For example, you can tell just by looking that the pavers along the sides of International Street, in Old Virginia by the water rides and in the arbor tunnel, and in selective portions of CAG and Jungle X were added by Taft/KECO. The larger, flatter pavers by Boo Blasters, Drop Tower, and around the old Volcano plaza were Paramount. And the newer-looking rest are of course CF.
Given the prevalence of pavers throughout the park’s history, I think sticking with pavers is the right choice. It makes sense to be consistent, rather than making the park a patchwork of paving styles. (I can’t wait for the day all the asphalt is gone and the park is covered in pavers.)
It’s also worth noting that CF has seemed to demonstrate some thematic creativity with their paving in recent years. Most of the pavers added to the main midway of CAG by CF have a distinctly redder color than other pavers they’ve added to the park. Along with the large swath of pavers added to the Twisted Timbers plaza in 2018, they also added aggregate to look like a dirt road leading up to the ride’s entrance. The pavers added to Old Virginia in 2019 are an old-world colonial style. And Jungle X not only has its concrete “runway,” but its new pavers seem carefully chosen to closely match the style of the ones added to the area decades earlier by Paramount while also have a tanner, earthier tone to reflect the jungle setting.
So, I’d say that not only do the pavers seem nicer than stamped concrete would be, but I think there is deliberate thought being put behind them, too.
Last edited:
Thanks for providing me some context. Fwiw, my thoughts on stamped concrete was more for changing the textures - BGW makes use of this, sometimes painted, in various sections of the park outside of the regular concrete.
I think what drives me nuts in CAG's pavers is their relative monotony in the expansive pathways from the main midway to Delirium.
Perhaps my real challenge is that the area was built with an expanse of open pathway instead of having views blocked by buildings/attractions... Makes the continuation of the red pavers more obvious to me.
I think what drives me nuts in CAG's pavers is their relative monotony in the expansive pathways from the main midway to Delirium.
Perhaps my real challenge is that the area was built with an expanse of open pathway instead of having views blocked by buildings/attractions... Makes the continuation of the red pavers more obvious to me.
So the family boomerang idea intrigued me, here's Fireball at Furuvik overlaid on the mentioned plot.
As a fan of the direction the park is going in, I hope this area gets some improvements. Relative to the other areas in the park, this is easily the weakest in terms of atmosphere and overall feel. I’ll start by getting out of the way that the Twisted Timbers and Apple Zapple area looks nice and up to par with the new Six Flags standard. The main midway section is just rundown in my opinion and probably the weakest area of any legacy Cedar Fair park. I fear this is a main factor into why some people still view Kings Dominion as “rundown.” For starters, the blacktop has got to go. Pavers look a million times better. Dodgem and wave swinger need some love. New signage and paint would go a long way. The worst of it is right near Americana. The carnival games need to either be replaced by foliage or modernized so that they don’t look abandoned. My last suggestion would be for the park to paint Racer 75 and the Drop Tower. This area could look so good and it has the potential to have a ton of charm. Coney Mall at Kings Island feels so much nicer despite not having the theme like ours does. Paint, pavers, and general improvements would help transform this area into something special.
I thought
I thought they left it like that to conjure up the feeling of a county fair, complete with it's temporary location nature and sketchy carnies running the show?
I thought they left it like that to conjure up the feeling of a county fair, complete with it's temporary location nature and sketchy carnies running the show?
Repainting Racer would’ve been a slam dunk for the 50th anniversary. I’m not sure when they’ll ever do it. Every year I’m surprised they don’t.
Racer’s entrance plaza, the carousel, Americana and Racer’s exit will get probably a refresh when they rework the Skyflyer plot. If Racer hasn’t been repainted by then I would be shocked if they don’t get it done for this.
And assuming Skyflyer is still dead, and won’t randomly open for a few days like last year, I wonder when they’ll end up tearing it down. Ditto for the Go Karts. Not expecting a major replacement anytime soon, so it’s possible they stay dormant for a few years. But for whatever they build, the plaza will probably funnel into the Grove, not Old VA.
The VIP Lounge is also right there, so I bet this area is a major point of focus in the coming years. Americana’s lighting package already helped a ton with revitalizing the look.
Racer’s entrance plaza, the carousel, Americana and Racer’s exit will get probably a refresh when they rework the Skyflyer plot. If Racer hasn’t been repainted by then I would be shocked if they don’t get it done for this.
And assuming Skyflyer is still dead, and won’t randomly open for a few days like last year, I wonder when they’ll end up tearing it down. Ditto for the Go Karts. Not expecting a major replacement anytime soon, so it’s possible they stay dormant for a few years. But for whatever they build, the plaza will probably funnel into the Grove, not Old VA.
The VIP Lounge is also right there, so I bet this area is a major point of focus in the coming years. Americana’s lighting package already helped a ton with revitalizing the look.