Discovery Kingdom had a tram service when I was there in May.
Dedicated Soak City Entrance & Park Restructuring
- Thread starter cschnizer
- Start date
AmyUD06
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I know what a tram is. KD has not had one as long as I've been going there as an adult.
Sure, but this is just a concept - with the proposals of beefing up Soak City, this is just an extension of the idea of setting up water park only ticketing so that guests can get back there without going through the dry park.
I mentioned a tram service specifically to be a potentially lower cost option than developing their land and the existing road for guest parking plus future maintenance and potentially increased staffing demands.
And come to think of it, it could open up new options for Haunt if they used any of the Soak City land, especially if there's any desire to create more outdoor mazes to replace some indoor houses that require rides to shut down.
Edit: @AmyUD06 not sure where the hostility is coming from?
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This, in my opinion, makes a lot of sense to me. The parking lot is already built to handle daytime dry AND water park guests, so having everyone park there and then shuttle them around makes more financial sense to me, as they’d only need to pave a new road for the tram to take, and not an entirely new lot (which lord knows they don’t want to… see the entire right half the parking lot where buses park). They could pick up to the right of the park entrance and then have a separate gate/drop off back by TwiTim and AZ. End of day for the waterpark could allow guests into the dry park if they have a valid admission (a season pass or something similar) via the existing in park entrance.
The hard part with a tram is where does it go and how does it impact backstage areas and access.
Plus I bet they prefer the current setup. To get to SC you have to walk past many of their biggest (likely) revenue areas of CAG and IS. If you give a tram way back there you cut that out of potential sales.
Plus I bet they prefer the current setup. To get to SC you have to walk past many of their biggest (likely) revenue areas of CAG and IS. If you give a tram way back there you cut that out of potential sales.
Six Flags NE has a tram from the road to the main parking lot.
It's just a concept - so if it needs to be moved to a more appropriate thread then so be it:
This vision is possible if the goal is to make Soak City a standalone gate with guest access from both inside the dry park and from this tram stop proposal.
The road already exists back there, though I'm sure there's some level of upgrades and/or changes needed so that the trams/busses won't impact maintenance and/or emergency vehicle access.
If this is a second gate, then it should have it's own profit center shops/dining laid out to be effective from the access points in addition to the bathhouse/lockers.
This vision is possible if the goal is to make Soak City a standalone gate with guest access from both inside the dry park and from this tram stop proposal.
The road already exists back there, though I'm sure there's some level of upgrades and/or changes needed so that the trams/busses won't impact maintenance and/or emergency vehicle access.
If this is a second gate, then it should have it's own profit center shops/dining laid out to be effective from the access points in addition to the bathhouse/lockers.
Use satellite view to look at Worlds of Fun / Oceans of Fun for an excellent example of what a separate parking lot for the Water Park could look like. In WOF's case, the water park gate also serves as a back entrance into the park.
Kings Island is another example (in this example the parking lots are connected), except you cannot exit from the water park entrance after water park close (you can leave your car parked there, but it is a hike to get to from the main entrance).
Kings Island is another example (in this example the parking lots are connected), except you cannot exit from the water park entrance after water park close (you can leave your car parked there, but it is a hike to get to from the main entrance).
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Jesus Christ I didn’t realize how much land they had. They could turn the park into a 2 or even 3 day experience with that much land. Damn!
Keep in mind that Six Flags has already told shareholders that they're selling excess land around Kings Dominion.
Oh yeah, I know. Just seems like they could’ve done much more if they hadn’t basically landlocked the left side from the rest of the park.
Part of what makes WOF/OoF work is both entrances are off major roads. KD isn’t able to do that. They basically would have three options for this:
1 - Convince VaDOT to build an whole new exit just for SC - Odds: -1000000%
2 - Convince Doswell to expand Doswell Road to handle the traffic that would happen - Odds: -100%
3 - Build your own road to loop around - Odds: 5%
Basically there’s no good way back there right now. The only way this becomes feasible is for SF to sell the extra land to a developer that plans on putting in something like an entertainment district with hotels, then you have the reason for a bigger road that helps with access. I think though the best case is a farmer/farming corporation will but the land or some company that will use it as a data center will buy it, neither of which necessitates the building of a bigger wider road.
No. They said they are selling *some* of the land. The land that has the “houses” is the Campground.
Dosell Road is not a good option, as traffic would have to cross the train tracks twice. The far simpler option is Theme park Way, which already has a direct connection to the Kings Dominion overpass, and connects with Kings Dominion Blvd with a substantial traffic light. As @Jonesta6 said, I believe Theme Park Way after the highway bridge is a private road owned by the park, there is a sign after going under the bridge that says privste road. All road upgrades needed would be a minor expense compared to the cost of land clearing, paving a new parking lot, and building the infrastructure for a second gate.
That’s what I was talking about with building your own road. But keep in mind Theme Park Way is also a part of their own network for backstage.
My main point though was using WOF/OoF was not a good example because the advantage of having two major roads maintained by the locality. The cost benefit of all that work is so small for KD.
Actually, @harry580 is correct that KD does have land with actual houses on it, separate from the campground. The houses are located in the far southeast of the property, whereas the campground is in the northeast.
The campground is circled in orange and the space with the houses is circled in blue.
I don’t know how much things have changed lately, but when I worked at the park a few high-up managers lived in the houses. I’ve heard they’re quite nice.
I don’t think SF has announced exactly what they’re selling, but that grassy space also contains the park’s greenhouses and a few other facilities. Those could all be moved elsewhere on the property (and they could, in typical Six Flags fashion, tell the high-ups living in the houses to get fucked and find a new place to live), but I wonder if that space will be part of the sale or if they’re specifically portioning out the forested, non-developed land that they’ve literally never used.