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.

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.

Every year in late June I organize a trip to an area amusement park for my workplace. I’ve been doing them for about 20 years now and we usually have about 20 people attend, but have had up to 76. The whole idea stemmed originally from me going to a park for my birthday in early June with friends. When other coworkers heard, they said they’d want to go too. I did move the trip back to late June, however, so more people could attend once schools let out. I just pick a Monday, since our workplace is closed on Mondays, and we do our thing.

These trips have been a hit for years now and here in 2025 I decided we would go to Kings Dominion so everyone could experience Rapterra. When I showed everyone the photos I took from when Sam and I went back in April, everyone thought the ride looked wild. Most of the staff had never seen a B&M Wing Coaster before, let alone rode one. They were pumped.

Back in April Sam and I went straight to Rapterra and encountered no line upon park opening. We arrived a little after open this time around, but I decided to play it the same way. We went directly to Rapterra and found minimal crowds. We rode it a couple of times just in case the lines got longer later.

People always seem to go right to Dominator when entering the park. This is why I always save it for later in the day. By then no one is there and we can get in a couple of rides with little to no wait.

As for Rapterra, I was curious what Jen and Eric would think. Jen wasn’t too keen on Wild Eagle at Dollywood and this would be Eric’s first B&M Wing. Both ended up enjoying it, although Eric found my preference for that back left outer seat to be more than he expected. I don’t know, I love that seat. The yank you experience when the train drops out in front of you after the launch into the banked turn beats everything else this ride throws at me.

As for Jen, she did enjoy this ride more than Wild Eagle, although she admits that she’s not the biggest fan of the ride type. Fair enough. It also ended up being her 100th credit thanks to our stop earlier at Fun Land of Fredericksburg (FLF).

It always this time of year the itch to ride roller coasters really begins to kick in. It’s April and most of the parks around here haven been closed for months, or have very limited offerings due to the cold weather. To say I’m usually going through coaster withdraw at this point of the year is a vast understatement. I’m sure Sam would agree. That is why we decided to take some time off and head down to both Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens Williamsburg (BGW) for a short, two-day excursion.

First up would be Kings Dominion, which we were really looking forward to with Rapterra’s recent opening. I’ve had my eye on this coaster since the track began showing up out in the parking lot. Now we’d get to see it fully realized and just how nicely it would fit into the new Jungle X-pedition area.

With my friend Jen becoming one of my coaster buddies the last few months I’ve been telling her time and time again that we needed to visit Kings Dominion. Since last year we’ve visited most of the parks in this region, but until this week, Kings Dominion had eluded us. With how much she enjoys Wildcat’s Revenge at Hersheypark, I’ve been itching to get her on Twisted Timbers. Well, that itch was finally scratched on Monday, June 24, 2024.

Jen, Sam, and I made the trip down to Kings Dominion during the midst of a heatwave and found the park empty. Although it was hot, it didn’t quite reach the temperatures listed in the forecast and luckily for us, there were a bunch of clouds in the area. It wasn’t bad at all. With the exception of Flight of Fear, we found every ride to be a walk-on, or at worst, a one or two train wait.

A few weeks ago I found myself with some extra time on my hands and an itch to take some roller coaster photos. I had recently done a round of photos at both Hersheypark and Busch Gardens Williamsburg (BGW) with awesome results. I wanted to visit somewhere else and see what I could get there. With a planned trip to Knoebels the coming week, I narrowed my choices down to Kings Dominion or Dorney Park. Long story short, I ended up going with Kings Dominion. I’m hoping to make my way to Dorney soon, however. I would have went last Monday, but the forecast showed a 67 percent chance of thunderstorms with the possibility of hail. I decided to wait.

With Thursday, June 2, 2022 being my 43rd birthday, I was looking for something fun to do. Naturally, I wanted that to involve roller coasters and good friends. Much to my delight, both Sam and Greg were free, so we decided to head down to Kings Dominion. The park was open from 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. and the forecast was calling for storms later in the evening. We lucked out in that regard. The storms held off until 5:40 p.m.

Speaking of rain, Sam had visited Kings Dominion less than a week before. That visit was cut short due to storms, but she did manage to grab Tumbili and a handful of other rides. She was looking forward to going back Intimidator 305 and Twisted Timbers. Both Greg and I both needed Tumbili, but Greg still needed Dominator, Woodstock Express, and the North side of Racer 75 too. We managed to do all that and so much more.