Extreme Heat & Kings Dominion

[bill s]

They were playing heat advisory messages over the PA yesterday. Yet when I get to Grizzly (running 1 train) the 2 fans towards the back are turned off. Sweltering. The 2 large fans on the unload side were on, but turned towards the operators at a sharp angle. Arriving at Timbers, the fans used to oscillate but do not. 2 of them are stopped in positions I don't think would hit a single person even if the station was overflowing, and definitely no other time. Others were aimed again at the operators. The one that would cool seat checkers and those in the parked train was off. At Pantherian, the station fans were at least on. The first misting fans had one or both on, but the pair that might actually hit someone in the line at the time were off. None were misting and the oscillation units had the cords wound up.

I realize it wasn't the hottest day but how hot does it have to get?

 

[Thriller]

The heat definitely affects the Parks attendance. There are ways to make the park more pleasant such as giant fans throughout the park, fans, and all the queues and stations. Completely shaded queues. Air conditioned buildings, especially restaurants where one can sit down (they closed one this year and took one away to be a prestige lounge).

The park has a fairly good shade cover over the midways, but there are many places where they have cut down trees over the past years and not replaced them.

None of those take a lot of investment yet they don’t seem to care even
though it affects the bottom line.

My last visit there was pretty unbearable and it hit 93°.

 

[the_pantsmith]

I don't wanna be a downer or make this thread political, but every person who loves coasters and theme parks should also care a LOT about climate change. This is an outdoor, Summer hobby. These temps are gonna make it worse and less accessible.

Alternatively it might make indoor/dark rides more or less mandatory for every park going forward. Thank you oil companies!! /s

 

[MisterToro]

I don't wanna be a downer or make this thread political, but Richmond (the closest metro area) hasn't had a record high in June, July or August since one in 2020 (July 19), and one in 2017 (July 12). And before that there were 5 days in 2012 (end of June/early July).

But most of the record highs are from many decades ago. The hottest summer on record for Richmond was from 1918 (see last page on the official report below).

Source: data directly from the National Weather Service: https://www.weather.gov/media/akq/climateRECORDS/RIC_Climate_Records.pdf

Summers in the mid-Atlantic have always been hot and muggy. I agree with every sentiment that KD (and BGW) should be spending money to make the parks more summer-temp-friendly rather than less. Yes, AC is expensive and has a not-insignificant environmental impact, but how much can installing and maintaining shades, fans and misters cost compared to total expenditures?

 

[the_pantsmith]

Okay, looking outside of Richmond (which is one case), global temperatures are rising, and the last ten years have been the warmest on record, according to NASA.

Aside from the heat, extreme weather patterns are more frequent. Larger storms, extreme highs and lows, and longer/more intense heat waves. Don't try to act like the climate won't be an issue for the industry just because Richmond specifically hasn't hit any records.

 

[MisterToro]

I have zero intention of debating the issue as there is plenty of data and even more spin out there. There are too many parties pursuing the dollar in this case. But to toss out the most pertinent data for Kings Dominion (Richmond's detailed records) seems short-sighted.

 

[the_pantsmith]

Because this issue pertains to the industry as a whole, not just KD. Summers and heat waves are getting more intense across the board. The parties "pursuing the dollar" are the people who do not want us to take it seriously. That's the extent I want to debate it, because there is no further debate unless someone wants to be disingenuous.

 

[AmyUD06]

I don't wanna be a downer or make this thread political, but Richmond (the closest metro area) hasn't had a record high in June, July or August since one in 2020 (July 19), and one in 2017 (July 12). And before that there were 5 days in 2012 (end of June/early July).

But most of the record highs are from many decades ago. The hottest summer on record for Richmond was from 1918 (see last page on the official report below).

Source: data directly from the National Weather Service: https://www.weather.gov/media/akq/climateRECORDS/RIC_Climate_Records.pdf

Summers in the mid-Atlantic have always been hot and muggy. I agree with every sentiment that KD (and BGW) should be spending money to make the parks more summer-temp-friendly rather than less. Yes, AC is expensive and has a not-insignificant environmental impact, but how much can installing and maintaining shades, fans and misters cost compared to total expenditures?

"Record highs" are irrelevant to this discussion, and almost every other discussion about climate change.

Scenario A: a month has one day that reaches 100 degrees, but every other day of the month is in the 70s.

Scenario B: a month has two weeks that reach 90-95 degrees, but every other day is in the 70s.

Would you seriously try to claim that the month in Scenario A was the "hotter" month?

 

[Thriller]

It’s sort of ironic that they want to blame weather for their decrease in attendance in their quarterly financial call. But then they do nothing to improve the parks for inclement (including heat )weather to encourage people to come in those conditions.

 

[Celticdog]

There is some validity to using heat as an excuse. As a local, I have the flexibility to choose the days I choose to go. I won't go on days with a heat index of 100 or more. I am patient enough to wait for more favorable weather. Yes, I'm a fair weather friend.

KD would do well to re-introduce some shade to the park. Way too much open pavement, asphalt and open queues.

 

[the_pantsmith]

I haven’t gone at all this summer bc it’s just so fucking hot. It’s a shame. Spring and Fall are gonna default to my roller coaster seasons atp

 

[Thriller]

There is some validity to using heat as an excuse. As a local, I have the flexibility to choose the days I choose to go. I won't go on days with a heat index of 100 or more. I am patient enough to wait for more favorable weather. Yes, I'm a fair weather friend.

KD would do well to re-introduce some shade to the park. Way too much open pavement, asphalt and open queues.

It’s not an excuse for low attendance when they do nothing to mitigate it. In fact this year, they have made it worse with a closure of one of the air-conditioned restaurants, and they made it worse previously by changing another air-conditioned restaurant into the prestige lounge. But jungle market eatery does have the ONE large misting fan in the attire park lol

They definitely need to start replanting trees when they remove trees. Old Virginia has lost several large trees over the past years. Jungle expedition is the worst area of the park now for shade. Which is ironic