Intimidator 305

Only in the South would you find a roller coaster based on NASCAR. And only in the South would it be the best Ride in the park. Kings Dominion of Doswell, Virginia is home to this monster of a Ride. Yeah, I capitalized Ride. Intimidator 305 deserves it.

Quite frankly, it is the most physically demanding ride I have experienced. It starts with a 305-foot climb into an 300-foot drop pulling the train to a screaming 94 mph. After the descent, you’re immediately pulled into a horizontal loop, during which most passengers find themselves losing their vision as all their blood is centrifuged from their heads. And that’s in the first 15 seconds of the ride.

The worst (or BEST) part of the ride for me wasn’t the screaming speed, or the insane Gs. It was the sudden orientation switches. You’d be riding along at a frightening speed, when the track suddenly twists beneath you, flipping you to the side. It’s not a long corkscrew effect either. One second you’re upright, the next you’re sideways, with no transition time. I wasn’t aware how jarring this could be my first time around, and I naively kept my head up and away from the back as I screamed my brains out. Mistake. Upon hitting that first switch I was wrenched to the right so hard that the seat harness actually struck my neck. I walked around with a sore neck for the rest of the day. Fortunately, I had so much adrenaline in my system that I didn’t notice it much.

In my opinion, Kings Dominion is worth visiting for this Ride ALONE. Even if it weren’t, they have at least 5 other rides in the park well worth the visit, including the world’s tallest, fastest drop tower.

-Jake

Ok, so when you first get to see the ride your reaction is pretty much, “What is that big red thing?”, and “Wow, that is really high up”. The Intimidator is definitely an awesome ride. Jake and I tend to differ in what we really enjoy about certain coasters. While he enjoys extreme drops I tend to enjoy the sensations of being flung outward, inward, downward or other directions (yay gravity). The initial drop at 94 mph was totally sweet, but I was still hoping that was not all there was to it. I was right. There is nothing quite like falling down a drop at 94 mph (unless you do it faster), however, right after the 94 MILE PER HOUR DROP, as my esteemed compatriot mentioned, there is a horizontal loop. This means you are traveling on the inside of a loop on the horizontal axis. Doing this at 94 mph is insane. Your reaction may go something like this.

1) Yay that drop was really fun
2) Oh goody an inside loop I love those
3) Wow I am getting sucked into my chair
4) Hey, it’s getting hard to see
5) Hey, my vision is going away I am going to try and keep it
6) I lost my vision
7) My eyes are crying
8) My vision didn’t come back right away.

As it turns out, Jake and I found out we have differing blood pressures based upon this section of the ride (lol). I would also like to add that the instant jerks have you feeling like a fighter pilot banking in an F-15. What does that feel like? Ride the ride.

-Nate

Déjà vu

For those who are not familiar with coasters, there are actually standard designs for roller coasters used in multiple parks. For example, what California’s Magic Mountain calls “Scream” is referred to as “The Dominator” in Virginia’s King’s Dominion. While painted and named differently they are the same ride. Leading into this topic is the coaster in Knott’s Berry Farm called the “Boomerang”.

The Boomerang” is another example of a standard coaster design found in multiple parks. The coaster launches you forward through loops and corkscrews and then, upon reaching the end of the track, launches you backwards through the whole thing again. Jake and I were familiar with this coaster design by the time we reached Magic Mountain. So when Jake and I encountered “Déjà Vu”, and saw that it was a reverse coaster, we assumed it was another Boomerang…he he.
The harnesses should have been the first thing to alert us to our mistake. We didn’t get it at the time, but Jake and I noticed the harness system for Déjà Vu was much more secure and complex than a normal reverse coaster. I believe we actually joked “Lol, what do they think will happen to us”. As we began to ratchet backwards up the first slope I, because I am easily distracted, begin to examine the back of the seat in front of me. I failed to notice the obvious fact that unlike Boomerang and rest of the similar rides, we are now at a ninety degree angle facing the ground. After I came out of my distraction, I realized we are vertically up and down and said to Jake with curiosity, “Jake, I don’t think this is the same ride as Boomerang”.

Jake during my entire time of distraction apparently, being much more attentive than I am, had reached the same conclusion almost instantly and was in the solid grip of terror. After making my obvious statement he exclaimed in a loud and panicked voice, “YA THINK!”, and we were launched straight down towards the ground and through the ride.

-Nate

We were so wrong. Besides being considerably steeper than most Boomerang coasters, Déjà vu is also much taller. At a height of 191 feet, the world looks quite different, especially when you’re looking directly at the ground. I hate looking straight down. The ride is also considerably more intense, which makes sense. Larger drop +greater incline +higher speed = better ride.

Déjà vu also has a unique history. The company that designed Boomerang (Vekoma) designed Déjà vu to be a more intense variant of the ride. Six Flags commissioned three of the coasters from them. Despite the success of the original Boomerang (over 47 duplicates or variants operating worldwide) the new design ultimately proved unreliable. They were continually breaking down, and in one case the train was damaged to such a degree that repair was economically unfeasible. This ultimately led Six Flags to cease buying designs from the company. Only the Déjà vu in Magic Mountain continues to operate on a regular basis, making it an experience that would be unfortunate to miss.

-Jake

X2

X2 is quite simply a spinning wheel of death. When you see the ride, and watch its speed and rotation from afar, you may be tempted to say, “Hey, that doesn’t seem so bad. I can do that.” For those who don’t know me, let me be the first to tell you how stupid I am.

Jake had warned me. In fact, he told me exactly what the ride would do to me. And still, I sauntered up to it like a veteran cowboy mounting his horse. My horse was mean.

First off, you climb into the seat, pull down the harness, pull down the lock-down harness, buckle yourself in, and get rotated to face the ceiling. At this point, you’re on your back, going backwards along the track. Oh goodie.

Next you then begin the ratcheting process, oh so common to coasters, where you get to slowly examine how incredibly high up you are. After this comes the drop at 76 mph, 216 feet toward the ground. While you drop, your seat suddenly rotates you from facing the sky, to facing the ground. You don’t see the car, or the people ahead or behind, just THE GROUND. This gives the sensation of skydiving, while not having signed up for lessons (or having climbed into an airplane, for that matter).

So, while you’re dropping, twisting and looping, you’re also rotating up down and around. You grip the seat, white-knuckled, while your body is punished beyond reason. I cannot stress enough how disorienting it is. It’s like strapping a rocket to one side of a tire swing and hanging on for dear life.

Try it. It’s fun.

-Nate

I did warn him. Several times. As he mentioned, the thrilling aspect of X2 isn’t the height, speed or force of the ride. It’s the seat. The seats on X2 move independently of the train, being capable of spinning 360 degrees either forward or backward. They accomplish this by having four rails on the track. Two running rails, and two that control the way the seats spin.

My favorite part of the ride is the initial drop. They ratchet you up facing skyward, then right when the drop begins, spin you towards the ground. You then proceed to fall under the ratchet climb. Yes, under. The whole ratchet climb/fall leg of the ride looks like the blade of a huge chainsaw, albeit a blunted one. You climb the top and fall down the side and bottom.

After that, the ride is just too disorienting to remember any one part of it. Except the fire. Yes, they actually shoot fire at the riders. That’s pretty memorable. And it’s LOUD. Not because of terrified passengers, but because of the expensive stereo system built into the already unique seats.

Only in California.

-Jake

In the Beginning

Ok, so for those who haven’t been on roller coasters, I’d like to give you a brief description. Roller coasters are man’s way of inducing adrenaline, fear of immediate death, disorientation, and excess weight (thank you high Gs!). These sensations are brought on via ridiculously high velocities, sharp banks, loops, and/or corkscrews.

For those who have had the privilege to ride many coasters, and are familiar with the strategies of parks to terrify and thrill audiences, some coasters may seem somewhat unexciting. While you’re strapped to a harness, wind whistling through your hair (or growing lack of hair, in our case), the ride may begin to feel redundant. “Sigh… cue the loop,” “Oh goodie, another corkscrew,” “Yay… a bowtie.” If you’re one of those people, these reviews are for you.

Jake (my co-pilot on our trip to sample the roller coaster buffet) and I have taken it upon ourselves to describe some coasters that are well worth riding. So sit back, pull down your shoulder harness, buckle your belt, keep your head against the rest, and get ready for the ride.