I was near Richmond, VA. It was a choice between going to KD or spending the evening in a hotel. After debating for 0.0024 seconds, I decided to head to KD and ride Intimidator 305. I know there have been some changes since our opening weekend trip to KD. Some of them I noticed right away.

1. Water spray on the wheel

Some of you may remember that KD was running one train operation soon after the ride opening. This was due to Nylon wheel overheating and making them sticky. This will make them brittle very quickly. The ride ops were saying that the wheel still overheats.

2. OTSR

It used to be solid composite. Now the OTSR system resembles Firehawk. The lap bar and the belts are still original.

3. Queue

A separate queue for the front seat only. This line was LONGER than the rest of the line.

I was able to get 15 rides in 2 and 1/2 hours. Frankly, I was very surprised. Even Flight of Fear had a far longer line.

The RIDE: (I rode 6-1, 6-2, 7-1, 7-2, 8-1 and 8-2)

1. The trim on the first drop was MOST DEFINITELY noticeable. The train slightly hesitate about 1/2 down the hill. The turn around was much slow as a result. Some people still said they "grayed out" during this turn.

2. The second hill had NO AIRTIME!!!!!!!!! What a disappointment. This hill used to provide the most intense airtime of any coaster I have been on. In fact, some people got bruises on their shoulders because of the airtime on this hill. This is no longer the case. No airtime..... How sad!!!!

3. The high speed turns were not as intense since the trains were much slower.

4. The third hill was a nice surprise. The trim on this was either off or removed. The airtime on this hill was a major surprise since the trim killed any airtime on this hill during the opening weekend.

5. The high speed turn before the camera was even more intense than opening weekend if you can believe it. The turn before the block brake was rather harsh also.

Overall, I was very disappointed that the intense lateral and airtime hill were tamed so greatly. However, I still found the ride to be immensely intense. It is probably more re-ridable now that the intensity is reduced. Do I still find this ride to be the most intense coaster I have been on? Most definitely yes. Is this still my #1 favorite coaster overall? I am not sure. Superman ROS (Bizarro) at SFNE and this will be close. I will have a chance to ride SROS later this month. I will decide then. Is KD a destination park? Most definitely. Volcano, Intimidator 305, Dominator and Grizzly make this park one of my favorites. Then again, this used to be my home park growing up. I guess I am bias. I still remember Grizzly, Shock Wave and Anaconda opening days.

I have been wanting to go back to KD but I looked at the room prices and decided I don't want to go back that bad.

Thanks for the information. 15 rides!! I'm going to KD the first week of August and am really looking forward to my trip and am hoping to be able to get many rides in on all the coasters.

What do you think of KD overall? What's a good hotel to stay at there?

What do you think of KD overall? What's a good hotel to stay at there?

Frankly, I like KD's coaster selections better than KI's.

Diamondback < Intimidator 305

Beast > Grizzly

Firehawk < Dominator

Flight of Fear = Flight of Fear

Invertigo <<<< Volcano

Flight Deck > Avalanche

Like I said, KD was the park I grew up with. I am somewhat bias in that sense.

As for the hotels, there are a few hotels that are walking distance from KD although I usually stay somewhat far away since I have lots of relatives near Washington and Baltimore area.

That is very sad about I-305, I really want to go back to KD. I haven't been there since last year...

Thats better than me. I haven`t been to Kings Dominion since the year 2000!

What do you think of KD overall? What's a good hotel to stay at there?

Frankly, I like KD's coaster selections better than KI's.

Diamondback < Intimidator 305

Beast > Grizzly

Firehawk < Dominator

Flight of Fear = Flight of Fear

Invertigo <<<< Volcano

Flight Deck > Avalanche

Like I said, KD was the park I grew up with. I am somewhat bias in that sense.

As for the hotels, there are a few hotels that are walking distance from KD although I usually stay somewhat far away since I have lots of relatives near Washington and Baltimore area.

I got to agree about KD having much better coasters. I liked KD better than KI by a ton!

Beast < Grizzly (it has airtime!)

Firehawk < Dominator

(Didn't get to ride KD's FoF, but I hear it rides better, but the fact that it's queue has a haunt in it, I think I like KI's better.)

Invertigo < Volcano

Vortex > Anaconda

Racer > Rebel Yell

Top Gun > Avalanche (Didn't get to ride Avalanche but I'm sure TG is much better.)

Diamondback < Intimidator 305

Drop Zone KI < Drop Zone KD

Backlot < Backlot (Didn't get to ride theirs but I noticed it had more affects working.)

Crypt KI < Crypt KD

Adventure Express < Ricochet (Not really comparable I guess..)

KD: 8 <'s

KI: 4 <'s

KD wins!