A couple of weeks ago, Mindy reached out to me to see if I was interested going to an amusement park once school finished up. I said sure and was about to recommend Kings Dominion, but she beat me to it. You see, although Mindy and I had visited 18 different amusement parks together across the United States, before yesterday, Kings Dominion had never been one of them. She visited a couple of times as a teenager, so she was looking forward to visiting again.
One of the aspect that made this visit to Kings Dominion a little extra special was the ongoing joke between Mindy and I. We’ve visited Busch Gardens Williamsburg (BGW) several times and in conversations since, she always calls BGW, Kings Dominion. A couple of those times I’ve told her that we never went to Kings Dominion and I’d get a weird look and a, “Uh huh!”
Long story short, I began to tag her in photos from BGW in recent years, putting captions like, “Enjoying a day at Kings Dominion. Wish you were here.” I even had another friend jump in on one of the post to tell me I’m at Kings Dominion and not BGW too. I had to explain the whole thing like I’m doing here.
Well, as of yesterday, my joke won’t be as effective now that Mindy and I have visited Kings Dominion – the 19th park we’ve attended together. Also coming along for the day was Mailyn and her friend, Carley. Sam also joined up a few days ago when her plans for Hersheypark fell through. I was glad she could join us and get in two of the three remaining credits she still needed. Sadly, they wouldn’t let any of us ride the Great Pumpkin Coaster. Going to have to borrow a kid, I guess?
Fingers Crossed Over the Forecast
Although the crew was looking forward to this visit, we were also keeping our fingers crossed. Early forecasts had the day at a 100 percent chance of rain with the potential for thunderstorms early in the morning. We stayed hopeful, especially since the hourly forecast showed the worst of the rain happening during our drive down. While we did get some rain during the drive, it wasn’t much. We did get some rain at the park, however.
Things were looking good for us entering the park. Sam requested Twisted Timbers first, which I was already planning on anyhow. As we approached, however, park employees informed us the ride would be down all day due to “wet track.” We heard the same reasoning from several people throughout the day. Is this a thing for Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) coasters? I can’t say I’ve seen this before, but I’m not sure that I’ve been at a park with one on a rainy day either. I was told it was also closed today, a day with no rain. Who knows?
This bad news meant that Mindy wouldn’t be getting one of her needed credits. Of course, Sam was also bummed about the news. As for the rest of our day, we only experienced about an hour’s worth of downtime. After a rain ride on Intimidator 305, a storm shut the park down. We waited it out inside the queue for Flight of Fear since we were right there.
Here’s a look at some of the coaster highlights on the day:
Backlot Stunt Coaster
One of the coasters Sam was most looking forward to was Backlot Stunt Coaster. We didn’t manage to get her this credit during our Memorial Day visit last month. Sadly, all the effects on this ride were not running. I’m not sure if that was because it was slow or for budget reasons. No police sirens, no bullet pops, no helicopter blades rotating, and no explosions – you literally just sat there.
Even getting a neutered version of the ride, Sam and the crew had a great time on Backlot. Coasters don’t always have to be the biggest or most intense. Plus, getting in a ride from our hometown coaster manufacturer, Premier Rides, is always a plus for the crew.
Intimidator 305
As I mentioned above, we had ourselves a nice rain ride on Intimidator 305,. It began falling as we approached the ride. We knew it was going to hurt, but it actually wasn’t the worst rain ride of the day, in my opinion. That came a little later on Dominator. More on that in a bit.
Aside from our rain ride, the majority of the crew got in two more re-rides later in the day began clearing up. I will say, it was much more pleasurable when the precipitation cleared. Sam, Mailyn, and Carley seemed to be having a blast on our re-rides. Mindy sat them out as she was getting a mild headache. As for me, after last month’s neck chop-filled ride, I pulled the over the shoulder restraints away from my neck at each transition. In all honesty, they really don’t move much, but the extra inch or so, helped immensely.
Dominator
When we finally made it over to Dominator, the last of the rain was moving through. The droplets, however, were massive. Mindy even asked if it was hail or rain walking up to the ride. It wasn’t hail, but I knew those drops were going to hurt once the coaster got going. And boy, did it ever!
In our ride photos you can see Mindy and Mailyn holding their hands over their eyes. I was doing the same, but dropped my hands for the ride photo. Nevertheless, I was so squinty they look like they’re shut. It wasn’t pleasant, but Sam, Mailyn, and Carley wanted to go again. Mindy and I said, “Go for it,” and went down to see how bad our ride photo looked. You can see them and all the other below.
Much like Intimidator, we circled back around to Dominator again later in the day for re-rides. The rain had passed and we experienced a much better ride. This is still my favorite Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M) floorless coaster, so I didn’t want to leave without having a more enjoyable ride. Thankfully, Mindy’s headache had passed, or she found Dominator tolerable enough for one more ride before leaving.
Not Just a Day of Coasters
While making the rounds, the crew and I managed to sneak in a few rides on the park’s dark, flat, and water ride collection. Mindy scored the highest on Boo Blasters on Boo Hill. Sam and I grabbed in a couple of rides on the Shenandoah Lumber Co. log flume while Mindy, Mailyn, and Carley got in a drive on the Blue Ridge Tollway. Then Mailyn, Carley, and I stopped for a ride on Windseeker before we made it onto Apple Zapple.
Final Ride Counts
Anaconda (2: Pa, Sm, 1: Mi, Ma, Ca)
Apple Zapple (1)
Backlot Stunt Coaster (2: Pa, Sa, Ma, Ca, 1: Mi)
Blue Ridge Tollway (1: Mi, Ma, Ca)
Boo Blasters on Boo Hill (1)
Dominator (3: Sa, Ma, Ca, 2: Pa, Mi)
Flight of Fear (1)
Grizzly (2: Pa, Sa, Ma, Ca, 1: Mi)
Intimidator 305 (3: Pa, Sm, Ma, Ca, 1: Mi)
Racer 75: North (1)
Shenandoah Lumber Co. (2: Pa, Sa)
Windseeker (1: Pa, Ma, Ca)
Woodstock Express (1)
Crew: Patrick = Pa | Mindy = Mi | Sam = Sa | Mailyn = Ma | Carley = Ca
(No abbreviations = whole crew)
A Great Day with Great People
It’s been about a year since I’ve been able to go to a park with Mindy. The lone trip we did together in 2020 was to Hersheypark, which Mailyn also attended. That was the last workplace trip I arranged before departing from the company I worked at for 24 years. Getting out to the park with them was overdue and something I’d been looking forward to here in 2021. Carley was also great to have along and she’s welcome to come along anytime with Mailyn.
As for Sam, in a year’s time, she’s went from getting on some rides here and there, to jumping on mostly anything and everything (with a few exceptions, although log flumes were once on that list). Naturally, I love having her out with me and admire how much she’s taken to this hobby in such a short time. This week she’s getting her 100th credit, which you’ll be reading about later this week after we visit several beach towns in New Jersey.
Ladies, Kings Dominion was a great time and I hope we can do it again soon. Oh wait, we kinda did on the way home with a stop at Funland of Fredericksburg. As Mailyn would say, “Getting those credits!” Now, if I could just have her sit down and count all of them for me so I can list her credit count on her crew member pag… (hint, hint)
Kings Dominion Photo Gallery - June 22, 2021
If you would like to use any of the images in the gallery above for your non-commercial projects, feel free to do so. I ask that you credit We Were Inverted whenever they’re used. I also ask that you do not alter the image or remove the watermarks. If you need any images/video resized or without the watermarks, please contact me directly.
CREW MANIFEST
The following flight crew members attended this park, & earned the respective credits below:
Patrick
CAG
New Credit(s): n/a
Mindy
Captain
New Credit(s): Dominator, Intimidator 305
Sam
Captain
New Credit(s): Backlot Stunt Coaster, Woodstock Express
Mailyn
Lieutenant
New Credit(s): n/a
