The Backside of KD (Expansion?)
- Thread starter cschnizer
- Start date
Certainly possible, but probably not worth it. It likely wouldn't be much more expensive to buy new slides than it would be to rebuild the existing ones. Plus, the difference in marketability would be enormous.
In the short term, what we really need to hope for is that KD doesn't replace Tornado. If KD builds a new slide on that land, it would make reclaiming the north side of Racer for the dry park far, far less realistic for many, many years to come.
In the short term, what we really need to hope for is that KD doesn't replace Tornado. If KD builds a new slide on that land, it would make reclaiming the north side of Racer for the dry park far, far less realistic for many, many years to come.
I’m not sure why KD would need to expand out back when the park itself isnt that densely packed with attractions to begin with. The one spot I could see expanding would be the area around Dominator, maybe repurpose part of the parking lot to create a more complete area.
As far as their other land holdings, they’d be far better invested in things such as an entertainment/shopping district or maybe an indoor water park/hotel resort that can augment the park and draw out guests that wouldn’t normally visit the area.
As far as their other land holdings, they’d be far better invested in things such as an entertainment/shopping district or maybe an indoor water park/hotel resort that can augment the park and draw out guests that wouldn’t normally visit the area.
Good point on both counts. Especially the replacing the old slides. Can likely make new complexes that are updated and make it into a whole area like Coconut Shores area.
Expanding into the parking lot is much more difficult than repurposing areas. The infrastructure needed would cost more. The parking would have to be recouped somewhere.
As for the using that area for entertainment/shopping district:
From a city planner POV I can just tell you that's a complete mess. First off now the county has to worry about infill development and the urban sprawl it will create as a result. That means that there would need to be infrastructure built out, meaning route 1 likely needs more updating than it currently has. Additionally that entire interchange on the highway would need some MASSIVE updating to handle the bigger influx of traffic that single day traffic would bring for shopping/entertainment alone.
Next there's the zoning headache. Right now it's zoned destination commerce. It would need to be updated to commercial, multi-purpose, and maybe some planned business. That's going to require all kinds of impact studies from all traffic, business, environmental, and development aspects. This is a major pain in the ass for planners to go through.
Next there's the environmental impact. Not just what's there on that land and is there any protected species, but is there any wetlands out there. Then not only that but because of the Chesapeake Watershed Protection Act you got to study the hydrology impact of clearing that land and would anything harmful be able to make it's way to the Watershed in a way that would harm any of the hundreds of endangered species in there. Additionally with a majority of the county being agricultural you got to search in how it will impact the agriculture around it.
Then there's the economic impact. Ashland is less than 5 miles away and houses most the businesses, restaurants, and hotels that benefit from Kings Dominion being right there. So you got to do a study of how they are impacted, how you would be able to support them, and impact the taxation would have on the case.
Last is the other zoned areas between Ashland and KD. With infill development and urban sprawl likely happening everything on the I-95 corridor between those two is currently zoned industrial. That's hard zoning to change over to be any type of residential or commercial likely because there's bound to be some type of harmful byproduct in the ground and buildings.
In the future you got to think about how that sprawl will effect the agricultural, will there be housing development brought into the area. Hanover would likely want to see KD attach investors and anchor businesses to this build out. Hanover would also likely want to see a phased approach starting with a hotel, then small scale business build out (like restaurant, small entertainment like a bar or club), then fully build out; and doing that could cause a cost problem for KD to invest on the pre-development and not use it.
Considering that KD already had a hotel next door that, unless I'm mistaken, is completely abandoned, my guess is that unless CF can find a way to make it a top-tier destination park there's not going to be enough guest demand to open a new resort.... And any partner hotel operator (assuming it wouldn't be done in-house) already has a relatively easy-to-access space next to the park.
What I could see is, if there aren't any major environmental or zoning change concerns, is to lease some of the land for more agricultural uses. But then they'd probably have to rebuild their service roads and/or change their fence lines to allow for it, so that's probably a non-starter.
What I could see is, if there aren't any major environmental or zoning change concerns, is to lease some of the land for more agricultural uses. But then they'd probably have to rebuild their service roads and/or change their fence lines to allow for it, so that's probably a non-starter.
If that hotel is SBNO then it's very very unlikely that anyone would partner. Like I said; Ashland and KD share a nice symbiotic relationship. If they do a good job in finding partner hotels at the other parks, maybe they could convince someone to buy a hotel in Ashland and then as they spruce up the themeing of the park they can do something with the hotel to reflect it. Something like get someone to buy the old Motel 6, there's then all the infrastructure you need at that point. Rooms, lobby, pool, parking is all there. KD puts forward money to renovations along with the hotel partner. New courtyard with a better pool, updated rooms, buy a couple of busses to act as a shuttle to the park and downtown.
That would at least offer up a hotel with extra stuff near buy (downtown Ashland and Richmond only 10 minutes away) to entice people to make staying at a KD related park more enticing.
Adding to that the Meadow Farm down the road that houses the State Fair was added to the national list or historic places a few years while it doesn't prevent construction there are usually additional impacted studies and hoops to jump through before doing major development near by a listed site.
Yup. And looking at this map:
Looks like part of 2017's Master plan (good for 20-30 years) has a planned major road cutting right through this property that CF owns, meaning imminent domain is going to be in play, which actually makes that land more valuable for CF to sell rather than develop.
Considering the campground is run by KOA and their website lists partner hotels in Ashland, Short Pump, and Fredericksburg, my previous thought is really more to indicate that it's highly unlikely an on-site resort will be built.
However, with that major road plan bisecting the property, the idea of shifting some of the back-of-house operations to the unused land would become more feasible alongside the thought to sell some of the land as developers would want to build along the road.
However, with that major road plan bisecting the property, the idea of shifting some of the back-of-house operations to the unused land would become more feasible alongside the thought to sell some of the land as developers would want to build along the road.
I've been staring at Google Maps for part of the morning and think I have an idea on how they can reorganize their land (assuming money was not an object, because otherwise this will likely never happen) (also, I jump around a lot - sorry!):
Theme Park Way becomes the main entrance road to the park - there'd be an expansion just past the bend from the entrance on 30 at the main ticket booth and the roads would become connected to have left lanes towards a new parking booth and right lanes towards a new Soak City parking lot built with an entrance south of Coconut Shores - there'd still be a continuation of the maintenance road past that point. The new Soak City parking booth would be to the left when approaching it, service road to the right.
The existing backstage area near the entrance would be moved to the west of I-305 with road connections to 688 and connections to in-park pathways and service roads by building an entrance adjacent to the FoF outdoor queue structure.
The current hotel space would be razed and the land would become a space for a relocated upcharge go-kart track and/or mini golf.
Employee parking would be shifted back to where the existing backstage area is, with some more trees planted to reduce the visibility to guests from the log flume area.
The former employee lot would become bus and Gold Pass holder parking along with relocating the kennels. The existing bus and passholder parking area would become some kind of complementary space for Dominator though would not include another coaster - perhaps some flats and a restroom, cognizant of the graveyard next to the existing picnic structure. There would remain a direct path to the amphitheater/gate as it currently exists.
Soak City would see all attractions and support infrastructure North of R75 relocated to fill in bald spaces to the South, with a new in-park entrance between Apple Zapple and TT that includes an actual gate (since Soak City can be purchased separately in this configuration) to stop Soak City only guests from gaining access to the full park.
The go-karts would be removed and filled in with trees just south of the theater building. Dinosaurs Alive's area would become home to a smaller GG woody, an intermediary between the Snoopy (Scooby-Doo) coaster in PS and the high-thrill adult coasters - retaining as many trees as possible and re-planting where possible after construction is complete.
The former Soak City space North of R75 can now be partially used by new flats and perhaps a single rail coaster. There'd remain a guest entrance under R75 that'd be open on high-capacity days with staff checking for valid entry to the main park.
Volcano's old plot is still up for redevelopment with whatever the park has decided.
The final piece inside the existing park space would be removing Anaconda, connecting the pathway from I-305 to the new attractions area north of R75, which opens up the lake for a nightly fireworks display on a barge (or at least a laser lights show).
Assuming all of the boneyard can be relocated or tossed, the windy service paths north of the power lines would be simplified to hug the power lines so that further expansion is possible without further relocation to service access. The former animal safari areas could then become a Rhino Rally-style attraction though it's unclear where guest access/station would be.
Theme Park Way becomes the main entrance road to the park - there'd be an expansion just past the bend from the entrance on 30 at the main ticket booth and the roads would become connected to have left lanes towards a new parking booth and right lanes towards a new Soak City parking lot built with an entrance south of Coconut Shores - there'd still be a continuation of the maintenance road past that point. The new Soak City parking booth would be to the left when approaching it, service road to the right.
The existing backstage area near the entrance would be moved to the west of I-305 with road connections to 688 and connections to in-park pathways and service roads by building an entrance adjacent to the FoF outdoor queue structure.
The current hotel space would be razed and the land would become a space for a relocated upcharge go-kart track and/or mini golf.
Employee parking would be shifted back to where the existing backstage area is, with some more trees planted to reduce the visibility to guests from the log flume area.
The former employee lot would become bus and Gold Pass holder parking along with relocating the kennels. The existing bus and passholder parking area would become some kind of complementary space for Dominator though would not include another coaster - perhaps some flats and a restroom, cognizant of the graveyard next to the existing picnic structure. There would remain a direct path to the amphitheater/gate as it currently exists.
Soak City would see all attractions and support infrastructure North of R75 relocated to fill in bald spaces to the South, with a new in-park entrance between Apple Zapple and TT that includes an actual gate (since Soak City can be purchased separately in this configuration) to stop Soak City only guests from gaining access to the full park.
The go-karts would be removed and filled in with trees just south of the theater building. Dinosaurs Alive's area would become home to a smaller GG woody, an intermediary between the Snoopy (Scooby-Doo) coaster in PS and the high-thrill adult coasters - retaining as many trees as possible and re-planting where possible after construction is complete.
The former Soak City space North of R75 can now be partially used by new flats and perhaps a single rail coaster. There'd remain a guest entrance under R75 that'd be open on high-capacity days with staff checking for valid entry to the main park.
Volcano's old plot is still up for redevelopment with whatever the park has decided.
The final piece inside the existing park space would be removing Anaconda, connecting the pathway from I-305 to the new attractions area north of R75, which opens up the lake for a nightly fireworks display on a barge (or at least a laser lights show).
Assuming all of the boneyard can be relocated or tossed, the windy service paths north of the power lines would be simplified to hug the power lines so that further expansion is possible without further relocation to service access. The former animal safari areas could then become a Rhino Rally-style attraction though it's unclear where guest access/station would be.
KD doesn't need to expand, it needs to shrink... preferably out of existence.
Careful what you wish for, with SEAS making a bid on FUN, if it goes through, KD could get Geauga'd.
Given the wooded and secluded vibe of those roads in the back, I think it would be a perfect environment for the Bluebell Engine to get lost in.
By get lost you mean maintenance drops it in there and forgets about it for 15 years.
Wait where was it im dumb, but if cf revitalizes it, and also gives kd some more coasters, it’ll become a destination cf park
That's how most of the world works, but it seems CF only likes to make that sort of investment into parks that are ALREADY doin well, rather than parks that would greatly improve with the same level of investment. It's a fundamental flaw in their operating structure- They're more concerned in next quarter than 5 years down the road, and they invest accordingly.