Pantherian

[Russell]

That was great info, you learn new things everyday. I'm glad to hear about the harness, it just seems like it would be very easy to miss a step and tumble down 300ft of steps. And that means after day 2 of being stuck up there, staff better bring me a burger from the hungry hippo. I may get hungry

Haha yeah a burger would be a great cooldown to walk down 305 feet of steps But that was great info. Good to see people who not only care about what they hear but what everyone else hears. Also, the harness on the evacuation did give me a BIG sigh of relief.

 

[I305Evan]

Since I've never seen an evacuation or really heard about, I'm not exactly sure. But I know maintenance walks each person one by one. And there is some sort of harness to make sure you don't miss a step and fall.

Its still... unacceptable I mean, 1-2 times doesn't sound bad because of what I305 started out 2014 as but that's definitely (still) KD's biggest problem.

It really isn't an issue. Parts are not breaking, it's just the computer needing to be reset. The downtime just consists of maintenance resetting the ride and then testing it and it's good to go. It's takes 10-20 minute and that's with maintenance not on site when it first goes down.

And with the downtime being 1-2 times every few days really isn't an issue at all. I305 is not to be worried about when it comes to downtime. They need to worry more about Volcano and WindSeeker.

 

[Mushroom]

So, after looking through some past Kings Dominion commercials, I noticed that park promos for Intimidator 305 clearly showed water features beneath the ride. A Google search revealed that official park concept art indeed included a rather large pond beneath the track.

More than likely, some sort of construction for the ride went over budget and the water was cut, or it was just scrapped because of the maintenance involved with a water feature. Really, it's a shame that the water wasn't kept. Coasters are 100 times better when they go over water (even for just a split second), and there's really no landscaping or anything in Intimidator's ride area. Maybe it would be too much work to have water beneath the ride, but I would love for something like that to be added someday. I wonder if something like that can be added later? It won't for obvious reasons, but one can dream... I know I would love it!

 

[wombat96]

In my opinion they need to make it forested with a lake. It really is just a bland grass field that screams trees and water.

 

[Jrbgwfan06]

Aw, I wish that did come into fruition, I think if they were to ever add it one day, they should extend it into the big area, inside the first turn. It would be really purty to see while going around the first turn. And yes, TREES.

 

[MAZ]

I've always felt that they should line the outside of the whole 1st turn with bleachers and flags like a racetrack. And then have sections of the rest of the ride that goes between sets of bleachers to complete the 'racetrack' theme.

 

[Mad Ludwig]

I just rode this today in the 2nd row. This is the most INSANE ride I have ever been on. This is now the biggest coaster that I have ever been on. The drop lasted forever, and I didn't black out until we started going up the second hill. If you are a coaster lover, you HAVE to ride this.

 

[Zimmy]

I would just be happy for some shade...

 

[VolcanoDiva]

So, after looking through some past Kings Dominion commercials, I noticed that park promos for Intimidator 305 clearly showed water features beneath the ride. A Google search revealed that official park concept art indeed included a rather large pond beneath the track.

More than likely, some sort of construction for the ride went over budget and the water was cut, or it was just scrapped because of the maintenance involved with a water feature. Really, it's a shame that the water wasn't kept. Coasters are 100 times better when they go over water (even for just a split second), and there's really no landscaping or anything in Intimidator's ride area. Maybe it would be too much work to have water beneath the ride, but I would love for something like that to be added someday. I wonder if something like that can be added later? It won't for obvious reasons, but one can dream... I know I would love it!

Sorry I didn't see this earlier, been working a lot.

I work at Intimidator, and I'll tell you that there is water right there. The water in the image is the exact location of our swamp, Swamp Intimidator! (Warning: If your items fall into there, we don't search the swamp).

 

[Zimmy]

I work at Intimidator, and I'll tell you that there is water right there. The water in the image is the exact location of our swamp, Swamp Intimidator! (Warning: If your items fall into there, we don't search the swamp).

Do you happen to know if there are any plans to cool the area off? Overhangs, trees, anything?

 

[VolcanoDiva]

I work at Intimidator, and I'll tell you that there is water right there. The water in the image is the exact location of our swamp, Swamp Intimidator! (Warning: If your items fall into there, we don't search the swamp).

Do you happen to know if there are any plans to cool the area off?  Overhangs, trees, anything?

You mean the plaza with the race car? I haven't heard of any adding trees, overhangs, etc. I do want to add that just because I haven't heard anything doesn't mean it is not a possibility.

 

[b.mac]

If there's one thing that area of the park needs, it's shade. It's not just i305 either, Backlot needs it, and pretty much that entire side of Congo needs trees. It reminds me a lot of Dorney Park with lots of concrete and little trees, but Dorney actually had legitimate reasons not to add trees (most of the pathways were actual public access roads through the park).

 

[Zimmy]

Dorney Park with lots of concrete and little trees,

Dorney scares me.

 

[Mushroom]

pretty much that entire side of Congo needs trees

What is this "Congo" of which you speak?

Seriously though, I couldn't agree more. The first half of Safari Village (from the entrance through the maze of foliage adjacent to Volcano) is looking great, but past the Scrambler it feels more like a parking lot than anywhere else in the park (now that Candy Apple Grove is looking so spiffy, anyway...).

A while back Zach, PK, Evan (sorta), and I were working on a legitimate concept to retheme Backlot to a safari-themed coaster, which could bring a lot of foliage to its area. Especially considering how Backlot's location smack in the middle of the village tears away heavily at the safari theme, something like that would really help restore a lot of things. One of those things would be shade. Retheming Backlot would retreat the parking lot feel only to the area beyond Flight of Fear, which is far off to the side anyway (though more trees are certainly welcome there).

I rode the Scrambler for the first time in about five years, and I'd forgotten how much fun it was nestled deep in the dense foliage, with a glimpse of the Mt. Kilimanjaro waterfall and Volcano's lagoon; foliage really improves the experience. The whole area surrounding it has an A-rate safari theme because of the shrubbery. A lot of the remaining area, though, just doesn't give off a "safari" vibe because it's to vastly open. There are lots of planters with flowers in them that could easily yield what could grow into very large trees. It would benefit things in so many ways.

Right now, the back part of Safari Village feels a lot like the Grove did before its revitalization this season. Which is a serious "NO" from me.

 

[cartidge]

Okay, so I know we have talked about this before, but I305 needs to be fixed. Getting stuck twice every day is not acceptable. Sure, the park has bigger worries, but if their featured coaster is not reliable, they shouldn't be run. There has to be a bigger problem than just the computer if maintenance has to come every time! Its like they expect it to break down. Instead of fixing Wind seeker, which was closed for some reason, they were waiting in their vans and trucks waiting for i305 to get stuck

 

[I305Evan]

Maintenance will come no matter what the situation is. Every ride breaks down. It's simple, there's no getting past that. Pretty much every roller coaster will go down for something during the day.

We also never know the full reason for a ride shutdown. E-stop could have been pressed, a guest could have pushed on the loading gates, ect. It's not always the ride's fault, but the guests that ride it. I'm not familiar with operations, but I'm sure if the operators mess up, then they can fault the ride. Needless to say maintenance will show up.

....they were waiting in their vans and trucks waiting for i305 to get stuck

It's their job to work on these rides. When they're not at the ride, they're sitting around not doing much. Heck I would relax a bit if the weather is nice. Also maintenance is assigned to individual rides (or maybe 2 rides, not sure how the system works). So the I305 maintenance crew does nothing with WindSeeker.

 

[b.mac]

El Toro is another Intamin ride, and I can tell you from experience that an Intamin coaster is one fickle mistress to operate.

Dispatch too early? Trouble light.
Hit the station advance button too early? Trouble light.
Hit the dispatch enable button before the attendant does? Trouble light.
Some guy so much as breathes on the air gate the wrong way? Trouble light.
A little too much grease on the rails in the morning? Congrats you just disrupted a sensor and shut the ride down!

In regards to the maintenance crews thing, they have an assigned staff throughout the day and all maintenance members can be called to pretty much any ride if needed, but pretty much all of them have a ride or rides that are their 'specialty.' Some maintenance members actually specialize in dealing with specific manufacturers and their nuances, like the aforementioned pickiness of pretty much every Intamin ever built since the 1990s. Intamin takes zero-risks with their rides, if anything in the station isn't meeting expectations the ride is going to go down. Even if it's something retarded like an air gate having an inch of play in it. B&Ms tend to be more lenient in terms of operating, as anything that doesn't directly relate to the trains are left to the operations crew to diagnose (the previously mentioned air gate play). Don't take this the wrong way, you still won't be able to dispatch a train if the air gate is open but they at least leave the air gates to the crew when it comes to calling a ride down. They also only use one button operations in order to advance a train into the station from the waiting brake, whereas Intamin likes to use 2 buttons (and as mentioned can shut down a ride if timed wrong).

TL;DR, pending on the manufacturer there are different things that can bring a ride down, but Intamin can go down for pretty much anything you can think of.

 

[VolcanoDiva]

Okay, so I know we have talked about this before, but I305 needs to be fixed. Getting stuck twice every day is not acceptable. Sure, the park has bigger worries, but if their featured coaster is not reliable, they shouldn't be run. There has to be a bigger problem than just the computer if maintenance has to come every time! Its like they expect it to break down. Instead of fixing Wind seeker, which was closed for some reason, they were waiting in their vans and trucks waiting for i305 to get stuck

I was going to give a lengthy reply to this, but I decided to opt out.

I will say that you can't fix what isn't broken.

 

[Ben]

Met a ride operator named Dale today, dude was funny as hell, made even the relatively short wait fly by.

Has anyone else met this guy?

 

[Reece]

Met a ride operator named Dale today, dude was funny as hell, made even the relatively short wait fly by.

Has anyone else met this guy?

Looks like a classic case of the "Just Met Dale!" syndrome.
How long have you been going to Kings Dominion? lol