Kings Dominion Yearly Ridership Numbers

2023​

Kings Dominion officially published the top three rides with their ridership totals for 2023. [Source, Mirror]

1. Dominator: 611,873
2. Twisted Timbers: 585,233
3. Racer 75: 509,094

2019​

The park provided their top five most-ridden rides and ridership totals for 2019. [Source]

1. Dominator: 809,078
2. Intimidator 305: 659,438
3. Racer 75: 616,386
4. Twisted Timbers: 607,087
5. Backlot Stunt Coaster: 497,773

 

[guy305]

I think the last time they posted ridership numbers was around 2018, and Dominator had ~800,000. I could be pulling that out of thin air though, can’t find the blog post anymore.

Kings Island posted an article that said Orion was their #1 ride this year with 1.5 million riders.

 

[horsesboy]

I am shocked just shock I tell you that the two rides that had more operational days then any other rides in the park had the highest ridership numbers.

 

[warfelg]

I am shocked just shock I tell you that the two rides that had more operational days then any other rides in the park had the highest ridership numbers.

What's true in sports is true here: Best ability is availability.

 

[b.mac]

Usually I'm one to argue decay in ridership over time isn't a bad thing but that's nearly a 25% drop from their pre-covid ridership for Dominator, and those were with less total operating days. Even Racer 75 is down over 100,000 riders from 2019.

What the hell has changed with Kings Dominion in that time to result in a drop in ridership like that?

 

[Zachary]

I think the last time they posted ridership numbers was around 2018

I just wiki-ified this thread and added the official 2019 top 5 numbers to the post. If you know where to find 2018 numbers too, that would be killer.

 

[b.mac]

I just wiki-ified this thread and added the official 2019 top 5 numbers to the post. If you know where to find 2018 numbers too, that would be killer.

Merry Christmas.

 

[belsaas]

I am shocked just shock I tell you that the two rides that had more operational days then any other rides in the park had the highest ridership numbers.

When I saw these numbers I was so surprised, but this makes total sense! Maybe I'm just biased since Dominator gives me a headache, but before this I would have expected the more 'unique' coasters to be the ones with ridership.

 

[rswashdc]

It would help to compare attendance numbers and total operating hours year to year, otherwise these decreases don't mean much.

 

[warfelg]

It would help to compare attendance numbers and total operating hours year to year, otherwise these decreases don't mean much.

Yup. I know of one park that internally does their numbers as ridership per operating hour and cost per operating hour.

 

[Jonesta6]

So the lesson here is Dominator is a people eater, many people find it fun (potential re-ride), and given it's parking lot location probably the first and maybe last ride of the day for a lot of people.

Otherwise:

TT was the last major coaster they've advertised, so I'd guess it's still working in a sense - but perhaps it's just a fun ride that became popular.

R75 is a classic, but I'm wondering if they broke down ridership between both sides as separate coasters (which they are, it's not a Mobius loop nor impossible to run only one side) what that'd do to the rankings.

 

[b.mac]

So the lesson here is Dominator is a people eater, many people find it fun (potential re-ride), and given it's parking lot location probably the first and maybe last ride of the day for a lot of people.

Dominator gets a lot of benefits from being at the front of the park, namely more operating hours and a higher influx of traffic because it's the first major ride guests encounter. As rwash said, you can't really judge these numbers fairly without operating days and operating hours but even still a 25% drop in ridership from pre-COVID numbers shows a massive shift in some combination of the operating hours of the park and the priorities of its guests.

TT was the last major coaster they've advertised, so I'd guess it's still working in a sense - but perhaps it's just a fun ride that became popular.

Twisted Timbers arguably benefits from its limited capacity which is why its ridership hasn't changed all that much. It definitely has the higher demand compared to Dominator and i305 but its limited capacity ensures it's achieving close to its maximum when it counts.

R75 is a classic, but I'm wondering if they broke down ridership between both sides as separate coasters (which they are, it's not a Mobius loop nor impossible to run only one side) what that'd do to the rankings.

Simply cutting R75's ridership in half would put either side in the neighborhood of Apple Zapple and Woodstock Express. However since KD sometimes operates just a single side of R75 the preferred side might end up with ridership closer to Reptilian and Anaconda. Instead of being #3 or #4 in the park it'd be closer to the #8-10 range, really.

 

[rswashdc]

Dominator gets a lot of benefits from being at the front of the park, namely more operating hours and a higher influx of traffic because it's the first major ride guests encounter. As rwash said, you can't really judge these numbers fairly without operating days and operating hours but even still a 25% drop in ridership from pre-COVID numbers shows a massive shift in some combination of the operating hours of the park and the priorities of its guests.



Twisted Timbers arguably benefits from its limited capacity which is why its ridership hasn't changed all that much. It definitely has the higher demand compared to Dominator and i305 but its limited capacity ensures it's achieving close to its maximum when it counts.



Simply cutting R75's ridership in half would put either side in the neighborhood of Apple Zapple and Woodstock Express. However since KD sometimes operates just a single side of R75 the preferred side might end up with ridership closer to Reptilian and Anaconda. Instead of being #3 or #4 in the park it'd be closer to the #8-10 range, really.

I rarely see both sides of Racer75 open much of the year. Like Dominator it can eat through lines and it's centrally located, so it's going to have pretty high ridership numbers. Rides such as Apple Zapple or Reptilian simply don't have that great of capacity comparatively.

 

[Zachary]

Reptilian simply don't have that great of capacity comparatively.

Shout-out to the early 90s when Reptilian/Avalanche was doing nearly 1.5 million riders per year.

 

[rswashdc]

Shout-out to the early 90s when Reptilian/Avalanche was doing nearly 1.5 million riders per year.

Shout out to a time when there were enough staff to actually push those kinds of volumes through.

 

[CoasterAuditor]

Alright first comment.............

They have 0 reason to remove Anaconda if it's cheap to run and maintain. Maybe repaint and replace trains call it a day.

EDIT: 2nd Comment.....

Timbers definitely had a "disappointing opening year" compared to prior major attraction openings. That's interesting.

 

[Zachary]

Timbers definitely had a "disappointing opening year" compared to prior major attraction openings. That's interesting.

If I remember correctly it suffered a ton of downtime and only ran a single train for a while due to the Steel Vengeance incident.

 

[b.mac]

If I remember correctly it suffered a ton of downtime and only ran a single train for a while due to the Steel Vengeance incident.

Ding ding. Before the Steel Vengeance incident it also ran a single train because a maintenance member decided his toolbag was capable of riding the ride and it damaged the zero car. It had such a troubled opening year it got removed from the ERT schedule and more often than not didn't open with the park in the beginning of the season.

If things worked as intended and it still had its ERT schedule there's no doubt in my mind it'd have pulled better numbers than i305 that year.

 

[CoasterAuditor]

So Cedar Fair REALLY liked Timbers and Steel Vengeance at the end of 2018. Yup. For sure.

 

[orangeclay09]

I'm slightly surprised the park would even publish these numbers, because, hoo-boy, they don't look great. Hopefully the park can potentially turn this around, but what would that even require?