Much to my delight on Friday afternoon, Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia was exceptionally empty, at least the ride side of the park was. After arriving around 3PM, we had until 7PM to ride as many coasters as we could. Typically, I would only ride some of the better rides, but with my sister at the park for the first time riding coasters, we aimed to ride as many as possible.

We started off with Dominator, the longest floorless coaster in the world. As I remembered it, it was high, fast, long, and intense. The overbanked turns hammer you with positive forces as well as the twisted finale that starts off with great interlocking corkscrews. It rattles just a slight bit, but nothing that subtracts from the ride. From there it was on to Volcano: The Blast Coaster, a staple of the park for over a decade now. Once again, we were shocked to see a nearly empty station, especially for a ride that typically has the longest wait in the park. The ride still provides an awesome ride and remains my favorite inverted coaster. The launches are awesome and the barrel rolls have great hang time.

Next up was Intimidator 305, a ride that I rode when the trim brakes were on the drop in 2010, but has since been changed. There is no doubt that this is one of the best steel coasters on the planet now. Its speed is incredibly maintained much like that of Skyrush, and the airtime and violent, yet smooth directional changes make this an intense, yet amazing ride all the way. This was the only ride we decided to ride twice, once in front and once in back. The only thing I would take away from it is the trim brake towards the end of the ride, even though it is a necessity in terms of maintenance. The flexible shoulder straps still function very well too.

From there it was on the Flight Of Fear, which is still a fun ride, but I personally like the outdoor models like Joker’s Jinx better because I like seeing the supports and track rush by as well as the lack of brakes at the halfway point of the ride. We also rode Backlot Stunt Coaster, another launched ride from Premier Rides. The theme elements at the halfway point, including the helicopter, explosions, and fire have returned, making this ride go up a bit on my list.

Next was Anaconda, and Arrow ride that is showing its age a bit, but aside from a few bumpy spots in the second half, it is still a fun ride. The slow corkscrews are great and give some awesome hang time. I wish that the older Arrow loopers like this were as much fun to ride as they are to watch, but Anaconda is still a decent one worth at least one ride. We then hopped on Avalanche, which I still really like. I don’t know why exactly I enjoy it so much, but something about the free feeling that a bobsled ride gives you adds a bit of excitement for me.

After a quick spin on the small Ghoster Coaster wooden coaster, we still had plenty of time to head to the other side of the park. We rode Shock Wave, which is sporting a nice new electric green and dark teal paint job. This ride has been the topic of some rumors, but it is still running, and aside from one turn, I didn’t think this ride was nearly as rough as Skyrider in Canada. The loop remains the highlight of this ride however, but keep those knees bent if you don’t want some sore knees.

From there the storm clouds began to move in, but we got on the one side of Rebel Yell that was running, and it was much better than I remember it. The out run has some decent floater airtime, and the turnaround has some good lateral forces. The return leg is a bit slower, but still fun, and the ride is not rough by any means in my opinion. We quickly headed to Hurler next as the storm clouds moved in closer. This ride has gotten rougher since I last rode in 2007, and it has gotten a bit slower overall, taking away some airtime, but it is not the worst coaster in the world by any means. It was not rough enough to be painful, but just about how a good, old wooden coaster should be.

We then took a quick spin on Ricochet, which was running very fast and is probably one of the more out-of-control rides of its type that I have been on. With the exception of one set, none of the brakes really stopped the train almost at all, allowing us to get some great lateral forces on the turns and even a few pops of air.

Just as we got to Grizzly, it was 6:30PM and the rides has shut down for the storm, so with the exception of Grizzly and Taxi Jam (which we both have been on already), we got on every coaster at the park over a span of only three and a half hours or so. We did not do any other rides or buy food, as it was planned to only be a few hours worth of a stop. I still really like Kings Dominion, and it was very good to revisit some of my favorite rides. Hopefully other can get as lucky as I did with lines, and if so, you can ride to your hearts content on some great rides.