Pantherian

[wombat96]

I'm watching television at the moment and a commercial came on for Kings Dominion in which they talked about "Intimadator Three Zero Five." That's the first time I've ever heard 305 called that. Really interesting to me.

 

[strycker]

Did anyone see the review on the KD Facebook page of an incident involving the crews running Intimidator. I tried to read through all of the comments on it and still couldn't figure out what the actual issue was, but sounded like a restraint issue or a rider too small for the restraints. Never figured it out. If I can find a way to post the link to it I will. They're claiming the ride Ops were messing around and didn't check the restraints properly, but also sounded like someone wanted off after they cleared all the restraints and gave the go signal to the main op. (2 star review by Brandy Moore)

 

[Mushroom]

What's next?

 

[strycker]

Up and running.. And I can't get enough of this thing. I love the looks of first time riders when they're waiting for the train to leave the station. Finally had a non-grey out ride for the first time Sunday.

 

[strycker]

Didn't notice the gum, but I did see that exact restraint and thought the same thing. Also, while on Drop Tower, I saw a chunk of missing hard foam that has exposed the metal below and an attempt to fix it with electrical tape. They sure seem to like tape around there.

 

[Zimmy]

The "cheap tape" is actually gaffers tape. It is not holding anything together. It is there for the theme. It is commonly seen inside race cars and particularly on restraints. It is used to hold foam in places so it can easily be replaced. (within the race cars)

 

[strycker]

I don't recall such tape when the new restraints were out. Maybe there was and I forgot? Some seats don't have any tape which is why I assumed it was there to hold something in place. None the less, it still looks like crap. The people around me noticed the same thing and commented it looked sketchy. Didn't think it took much time to cut it with scissors. As for the drop tower, I witnessed a supervisor taping something similar to what you noted, strycker. Didn't seem professional by any means.

Oh the tape is definitely not a standard. I don't think he meant it's supposed to be there. It's a temp fix I'm sure so they can get a new padding strap to replace the one that's either coming undone or ripped. But yes, Drop Tower had exposed metal under the armrest padding. It certainly looked like electrical tape, nothing like on Intimidator. That hard foam is probably hard to replace without removing the seats from the structure itself. If you guys wanna check it out, it's the seats facing the entry gate area. Definitely a hard fix I'm sure.

Edit: now I see where Zimmy mentioned it's for th theme. It's definitely a fix to a rip or something as the tape is different than the padding wrap. A few restraints had it.

 

[strycker]

So Intimidator apparently could use a lot of maintenance over the break this winter. They have had all week to fix it since last Sunday when it went down. We went yesterday and it was issues all day long with it. After breakdown #3, they just shut it down and out went the lights for the night around 6:30 or so. Just like Clint Novak posted last week on FB. I got one ride on it on a Friday. Due to the breakdowns, it actually had a relatively long re-ride line. Longer than I've seen it (though prob not as long as mid summer because never gone in mid summer.). Also, they were running one train all day. I had hoped for a few more rides, but it seemed I was on the other end of the park when it started running again, then broke down before I made it back over. Apparently they were working on the motor last week according to the posts on FB. I'm assuming that's the lift cable.

 

[strycker]

I felt like it wasn't pulling up the hill quite as fast as normal. Maybe they dialed it back a bit to help the motors. Didn't think of it at the time, but I just remembered telling the wife that I thought it looked a lot slower out of the gate. Does that change depending on the number of trains on the track? With one there wouldn't be any reason for it to hurry up the hill. Wonder if it really was pulling slower to keep the motor running a little slower.

 

[Nicole]

I noticed last week that the restraints had been replaced. So, the tape is gone.

 

[coasterdude205]

I was at KD last Saturday and had the chance to ride intimidator that night after the rain. I noticed one of the trains had this loud scratching or metal screeching sound as soon as the back started going up the lift hill for about 2 seconds. The other train did not do this at all and I was just wondering if anyone knew what the sound is coming from or if y'all have heard it?

Btw it was funny listening to side conversations about "omg It's gonna come off the track while I'm on it!!"

 

[Mushroom]

The sound is caused by the anti-rollbacks. Keep in mind Intimidator doesn't use traditional anti-rollbacks (notice the lack of the click-click-click sound going up the lift), and whatever mechanism is used for 305 is aggravated by the rain. It's completely safe, but for whatever reason the anti-rollbacks can be heard scraping the lift hill halfway across the park when it's raining!

 

[belsaas]

It would seem The Intimidator was driven off. Perhaps they're cleaning it up?

 

[Ghost of Pretzel Kaiser]

It got into a crash.

 

[horsesboy]

It would seem The Intimidator was driven off. Perhaps they're cleaning it up?
View attachment 12386

It's been in the back storage lot for most of the year. You can see it from the Eiffel tower is you look closely.

 

[b.mac]

Not graffiti. They're fixing the dents on the body and putting a new wrap on the car.

Unfortunately because Richard Childress owns the paint scheme KDhas to get approval from RCR and have the new wrap sent to them to put it on.

I'm not 100% up to date with the status of the contract for the Intimidator name but as far as I am aware it is not playing any part in the ride at the current moment, or in the immediate future.

 

[b.mac]

^ Thanks for the update. Sounds a bit more severe than just some guest negligence - I'd imagine the dents are from the car just posing in natural elements all the time? I find it weird they still have the chain up, it doesn't cover up the fact there was once a car there very well.

I remember before it got pulled there was a gigantic dent in the hood. The wrap also was not peeling, but it was so faded that the black was a dark gray and the red was basically pink.

 

[Ghost of Pretzel Kaiser]

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[Zachary]

Interesting that they seem to have used i305's original layout instead of its modified one.

 

[Coasterguy154]

Im
At KD rn, decided to post these while waiting for FoF.