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They were racing them when I was there yesterday 6/10/23. The North side always wins so in some instances they were sending the South train a few seconds before the North train to try to make them more even.
My last visit the sync wasn’t perfect. The north side left the top of the lift hill first and it was all over before it started.

Pre pandemic when the sync worked perfectly and both sides ran, the racing was flawless.
 
I thought KD had put in a system to have the lift chains synch the trains up when going up the lift hill. Maybe the system was off, not working, or the trains were too far apart on the hill for it to work.
The sync system worked great the first year. The last several seasons it gives the north side and extra boost at the end and the trains leave the top completely apart.

It definitely needs adjusted because this coaster does not race anymore. Could it be that the park is doing it on purpose so the trains are on the same part of the structure at the same time? Hopefully not.
 
Had an interesting experience on Racer a few weeks ago. About halfway through the ride, my restraint came completely open. I held it shut throughout the remainder of the ride and informed the ride ops. They closed the ride and it remained that way for the rest of the day.
Wow this is wild, I wonder what kind of fail-safes they have on the lap bars. I have always been under the impression that restraint systems had at least some level of redundancy to make this near impossible. (I.e. multiple hydraulic cylinders so that if one fails the restraints still can not open, seat belts for OTSRs, etc.) On some coasters it seems like it would be absolutely required to have a level of redundancy as there would be no way to hold yourself into the ride like you were able to with Racer 75.

Id be interested to know more about that type of thing if anyone knows about that subject.
 
Had the best races in a long time Friday. Was running one train both sides, Americana closed. Looks like they're all open tonight but wasn't running both sides Satur-crowded-day or during the day today.
South did always lose at the end and never got away first, but my last ride took 2/3rds of the way "out" for North to pull a half-row ahead. At first it seemed like the trains were bolted together. I spent over half my visit on it.
 
I rode both sides on my visit the prior weekend. The North side won both times and the Op on the South side was joking a lot about it and that made it pretty clear that the South side alway loses. I had fun anyway. If they can make these closer again that would be awesome, though.
 
Does anyone know why the exit of this ride is so long and spits you out so far from the entrance in sort of an armpit of the park?
 
Does anyone know why the exit of this ride is so long and spits you out so far from the entrance in sort of an armpit of the park?

I have heard it's to drive some added foot traffic back to those games in the corner, but I don't know if there's any truth to that nowadays.

Whatever the justification originally, I refuse to believe that it's still reasonable today—especially given the inconvenience to guests and the ugly, rundown, backstage-vibes inflicted on guests as they exit the coaster.

Honestly, I'd love to see Racer 75 get an updated queue experience as well—something harkening back to its original, absolutely beautiful queue house would be killer.
 
I’ve seen countless guests just jump the fence along the exit pathway and hop back onto the path near the entrance — where the exit should be. I’ve even seen a few people stumble or hurt themselves in the attempt.

KD would do well to remember this famous story that Imagineer John Hench told about Disneyland:
Just after the park opened for business, we discovered that some guests had made a pathway through a flower bed. We were walking through the park one morning before opening when the gardeners came up to Walt and said, “We need a fence to keep the guests out of the flower bed.” Walt told them, “No, we must pave this pathway. When guests make their own path, they probably have a damn good reason for doing it.”
 
Does anyone know why the exit of this ride is so long and spits you out so far from the entrance in sort of an armpit of the park?
What my guess is that the exit used to be the entrance, because I recall having seen an old picture seeing guests board from the middle of the station. Also, if you looked down on the section where the line is briefly concrete, you can see where there used to be poles that split the path.
 
The exit used to take you there because it went behind the skyride station, and later the trampoline thing that sat on the old skyride pad. The entrance has always been to the left, it just used to be much more grand, very similar to Racer at KI. Why it's still so long now, who knows?
 
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What my guess is that the exit used to be the entrance, because I recall having seen an old picture seeing guests board from the middle of the station. Also, if you looked down on the section where the line is briefly concrete, you can see where there used to be poles that split the path.

Racer 75/Rebel Yell’s original entrance and queue house were in roughly the same location as the current entrance. Your post got me wondering when the queue was changed though, so I did some investigating.

In this 1992 map, you can see the entrance located about where it is today, along with the queue house. Note that there is no separate exit path, so presumably the exit let out near the entrance.
Kings-Dominion-Map-1992.jpg


In this 1994 map, the queue house has been removed — probably to make room for the Wayne’s World expansion, which opened that year. There is still no separate exit path shown.
1704739000873.jpeg

In this 1996 map, the sky ride is gone — having been removed the prior season — and the station is apparently vacant. Still no separate exit path.
1704735933490.jpeg

But in this 1997 map, a separate exit path is now shown, ending in the same random corner of the park we know today. Note that the former skyride station is now labeled “Party Zone.”
1704739088196.jpeg

So, assuming the maps were drawn accurately, we know:
  • Rebel Yell’s original exit, entrance, and queue house were all located where Racer 75’s entrance is today.
  • The queue house disappeared in 1994, when Wayne’s World expanded next door.
  • The skyride closed in 1995 and its station sat vacant the following year. Rebel Yell’s exit was still near the entrance.
  • When a new attraction (maybe an up charge) called Party Zone opened in the old skyride station in 1997, Rebel Yell’s exit path was relocated to the other side of that building — where we know it today.
To me, this suggests that the exit path was rerouted because the skyride’s closure meant there was no longer an attraction funneling guests to that corner of the park and its games. Compound that with the addition of whatever Party Zone was, probably something that the park wanted to make money or at least be visited by guests, and it seems like the exit path was certainly rerouted for that purpose.
 
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All interesting, but unless I looked at the maps wrong the '94 map clearly shows the same exit path that's in the '97 map though they skipped it in '96.

That's either when the aforementioned 'abandoned' slab of concrete next to the entrance (currently blocked off in the exit) was the exit and thus the mapmaker just didn't draw a separate exit to keep things simple, or the mapmaker simply didn't include the exit path for unknown reasons.
 
All interesting, but unless I looked at the maps wrong the '94 map clearly shows the same exit path that's in the '97 map though they skipped it in '96.

That's either when the aforementioned 'abandoned' slab of concrete next to the entrance (currently blocked off in the exit) was the exit and thus the mapmaker just didn't draw a separate exit to keep things simple, or the mapmaker simply didn't include the exit path for unknown reasons.
You didn’t look at them wrong, I pasted them into the post them wrong. :p I just updated the post showing the maps in the right place and the exit path not appearing until 1997.
 
At
Racer 75/Rebel Yell’s original entrance and queue house were in roughly the same location as the current entrance. Your post got me wondering when the queue was changed though, so I did some investigating.

In this 1992 map, you can see the entrance located about where it is today, along with the queue house. Note that there is no separate exit path, so presumably the exit let out near the entrance.
Kings-Dominion-Map-1992.jpg


In this 1994 map, the queue house has been removed — probably to make room for the Wayne’s World expansion, which opened that year. There is still no separate exit path shown.
View attachment 31164

In this 1996 map, the sky ride is gone — having been removed the prior season — and the station is apparently vacant. Still no separate exit path.
View attachment 31163

But in this 1997 map, a separate exit path is now shown, ending in the same random corner of the park we know today. Note that the former skyride station is now labeled “Party Zone.”
View attachment 31165

So, assuming the maps were drawn accurately, we know:
  • Rebel Yell’s original exit, entrance, and queue house were all located where Racer 75’s entrance is today.
  • The queue house disappeared in 1994, when Wayne’s World expanded next door.
  • The skyride closed in 1995 and its station sat vacant the following year. Rebel Yell’s exit was still near the entrance.
  • When a new attraction (maybe an up charge) called Party Zone opened in the old skyride station in 1997, Rebel Yell’s exit path was relocated to the other side of that building — where we know it today.
To me, this suggests that the exit path was rerouted because the skyride’s closure meant there was no longer an attraction funneling guests to that corner of the park and its games. Compound that with the addition of whatever Party Zone was, probably something that the park wanted to make money or at least be visited by guests, and it seems like the exit path was certainly rerouted for that purpose.
At least as far back as the late 80's the exit was abotu where it is today - It used to spit you out at a game where you threw a whiffleball into Fred Flinstone's mouth and if you got three in, you'd win a stuffed Dinosaur that looked like Dino, so my guess is that they put the exit where it is to funnel people to the games, which were played much more then than they are now.
 
There's actually a door in the exit gate fence that was open or unlocked a couple of times. It was nice.
Does anyone remember Party Zone and what it was? I wish KD still had a sky ride.
I think that was some gimbaled harness -- "gyro"? -- things, 3-4 of them since only one person at a time each.
 
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