A few weeks ago Jen messaged me and asked me if I was free on Monday, March 30, 2026. She saw that Kings Dominion was open from 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. and thought it might be fun to get down there and ride some coasters. Neither of us had been to a park yet this year, so I quickly said yes. We asked a few other friends and Greg was also up to join us. So we were set, minus the park changing their hours to 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. in the days leading up to the trip. I’m glad I looked again.
New Name, Same Ride
One of the things I was most looking forward to during this visit was seeing the newly rethemed Intim… No… Proj… No… Pantheon! Yeah, Pantheon! Crap… Wait, that’s at Busch Gardens Williamsburg (BGW). It’s Pantherian. Yeah, that’s it!
Look, I get changing the name and even wanting it to fit into the Jungle X-Pedition area of the park. But this name is not one that rolls off the tongue and often has you saying Pantheon just because it’s so damn close. I think the park/corporate takes a huge “L” for this name change. I wonder what other names were being considered that ultimately didn’t make the cut?
In addition to getting back on Pantherian for the first time since 2024 (it was closed both visits in 2025), Greg had yet to ride Rapterra, so we were all looking forward to seeing what he thought of his first B&M Wing credit.
All in all we got in our fair share of rides during our eight hour visit. Here are some of the highlights with our final ride counts featured afterward:
Rapterra
Our initial plan was to head to Pantherian first, you know, just in case Intamin wanted to Intamin. We saw the ride listed as open on the park app, but we didn’t see any trains dispatch the entire way to Jungle X-Pedition. Not wanting to risk it, we changed it up and went to Rapterra first and got a couple rides right off the bat.
Both of our initial rides came in the back of the train. I had told Greg how good the back left seats are for the wing over drop after the launch. Since we were directed to the right side first, we went around again and requested the left side. Greg loved them both and saw why I prefer the back left side.
Later on we returned and rode Rapterra some more. Greg ended up with a total of five rides, Jen did four, and I had three because I decided to take some last minute photos at the end of the day. The gray skies had finally turned blue and the sun was in a better place for me to capture some angles I wanted to earlier.
Pantherian
I’m going to be up front here about this coaster. I like it. I just don’t love it. I never understood the extreme love or the extreme hate it gets. To me, it’s just there. I love the drop, turn around, and airtime hills. The rest of the ride, however, just feels too repetitive to me. I’ve always prefered Skyrush at Hersheypark to this. I feel like the elements are mixed together better. I also like the lap bars on Skyrush better. Yes, even the old ones.
With all that said, this ride FINALLY looks better. I absolutely hated the McDonald’s paint scheme it had, especially once it had faded and the paint was falling off of it. It never made any sense to begin with with the NASCAR theme. I made sure I brought my camera along for this visit just to get some better photos than the ones I had from the past. Sure, I had nice action shots of Intimidator 305 from several years ago, but with that faded red and yellow, it just looked like a coaster at a park no one visited or cared about. Not anymore.
Ultimately, I like the new logo (not the name), cat statues, and little touches they have made to the area approaching the ride. The train is a choice, though. Not sure how I feel about it quite yet. I like some of it, but not all of it. There still could be more done to this ride and its surroundings to further bring it into the Jungle X-Pedition region. It still feels like a coaster in a field. Fingers crossed that some of the brush and trees clearing in the ride’s infield means some theming is going out into the ride’s plot.
Grizzly
I was looking forward to getting in a couple more rides on Grizzly this visit and luckily for us, when we walked into the station, the crew was adding a second train for some two train operations. The station was quite crowded, so it was much appreciated.
We rode in the back of the train first and then were in the middle for our second ride. Both rides felt amazing and I was surprised how much airtime I got in the middle, some of which I found to be stronger than what I just experienced in the back.
These rides were also the first ones Greg had since the coaster was re-tracked by the Gravity Group. He noticed the difference and was impressed. The same was true on our one ride on Racer 75 earlier.
Final Ride Counts
Backlot Stunt Coaster (1: Jen, Greg)
Delirium (1)
Drop Tower (1: Patrick, Jen)
Grizzly (2)
Pantherian (2)
Racer 75: North (1)
Rapterra (5: Greg, 4: Jen, 3: Patrick)
Reptilian (1)
Tumbili (1)
Twisted Timbers (1)
Passes Are Ready to Go
With plans to visit a few other Six Flags parks (this still feels weird to type/say) this year, both Jen and Greg picked up the Gold Pass on sale before our visit. We plan to visit Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) in a few months and might go up to Dorney Park too before the end of summer. For the $89 asking price, it was totally worth it for them between the park admission, parking, and discounts. I still have access to all the parks with my renewed Prestige Pass from last year. I elected for that pass since I planned to visit Kings Dominion, Worlds of Fun, Six Flags St. Louis (SFSL), SFGAdv, Michigan’s Adventure, Six Flags Great America (SFGAm), and Valleyfair in 2025. How timely was that choice last year with Six Flags now selling off several of those parks? I was more worried about them closing some like they did to Six Flags America (SFA) and wanted to visit them all just in case. Thankfully it looks like these parks aren’t meeting that fate. But I digress.
I’m glad that 2026 got off to such a fun start with our visit to Kings Dominion. I can’t wait to get out to some other parks this year including a few new ones and some regulars. As always, I’ll be back here after each visit to let you know how our visits went. I hope you all have a coaster-filled 2026!
Kings Dominion Photo Gallery - March 30, 2026
If you would like to use any of the images in the gallery above for your commercial and/or 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
Jen
Admiral
New Credit(s): n/a
Eric
Admiral
New Credit(s): Rapterra