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Kings Dominion
Doswell, VA
Six Flags Entertainment
 Park News - (3/8/2025) More ride removal rumors keep coming in as parks get closer to opening for the season. In the case of Kings Dominion, we’re hearing that the Xtreme Skyflyer (Skycoaster) is expected to be closed for the 2025 season, and most likely to be removed later this year. This isn’t too surprising as a large number of these rides have been in the process of being removed from Six Flags and Cedar Fair parks over the past few years.
Screamscape is also being told that White Water Canyon may also be closed for awhile due to an “issue” that has come up. As far as Rapids rides go, typically there are very few moving parts to deal with, so most issues either involve the water pumps, or mechanical ride parts like the station or lift. In the case of WWC, the lift and station use the older style conveyor belt lift straight into a single-lane station layout, rather than the newer style loading station with turntables. And finally, there could also be a structural issue with the flume itself, but I would think those kind of issues are more rare.
Either way, it was indicated that the attraction is expected to be closed for an extended period of time. Hopefully we’ll find out more once the park opens for the season.
(2/10/2025) Given that we’ve seen a number of roller coasters closed and removed from several parks within the newly merged “Six Flags” theme park chain, a couple of rumored candidates for retirement by the end of the 2025 season (or they may survive until 2026) have been sent in to Screamscape. At this time, I’m not saying with any certainty that these rides will in fact be removed… only that this is a new rumor of something being talked about by the corporate office. I also have to admit that closing these rides would indeed meet the requirements that Six Flags management has been looking for when it comes to retiring older coasters that are possibly getting more problematic to maintain.
With that out of the way, the two rumored roller coasters that I’ve heard mentioned are actually clones… the Premier Rides “Flight of Fear” indoor launched coasters that first opened at Kings Island and Kings Dominion way back in 1996 under the name: Outer Limits: Flight of Fear, tying into the Paramount Park’s studio branding.
Depending on if they close in late 2025 or 2026, the two Flight of Fear coasters will either be 29 or 30 years old, and the identical rides were also billed as the world’s first LIM launched coasters when they first opened. For those that remember the early days of these prototype coasters, there were quite a few teething issues that took place in order to not only open these rides, but to keep them operational in those days.
Two years later, Six Flags opened four of their own LIM launch coasters from Premier Rides, Mr. Freeze at Six Flags over Texas and Six Flags. St. Louis and the dual-tracked Batman & Robin: The Chiller at Six Flags Great Adventure. The later creation suffered the most problems, which eventually saw The Chiller closed for good in 2007. However, some have also suggested that the Mr. Freeze coasters could also be up for retirement following the rumored retirement of the two Flight of Fear coasters. Again… just a rumor upon another rumor, so no truth to this yet, but just something to keep in mind because nothing lasts forever. (and yes… Superman: The Escape (now Escape from Krypton) at Six Flags Magic Mountain also comes from this same era, having been planned to open in 1996, but was pushed back until 1997 due to Intamin having technical issues with that ride’s LSM launch system.)
Anyway, we’re getting way ahead of ourselves… so for now, if you get the chance to ride Flight of Fear this summer, go ahead and take it. You never know when the ride could be retired for good.
(1/31/2025) According to the local news, WinterFest at Kings Dominion is no more. The 2024 WinterFest was the last and the park will not put on the winter holiday event for the 2025 season. Instead Kings Dominion will focus on providing bigger entertainment offerings throughout the regular 2025 season.
So far the park has only posted hours for the 2025 season from March 29 through to September 1st, though they have confirmed that the annual Halloween Haunt event will return. So it is likely that the 2025 season may come to an end with the close of the Halloween Haunt and Oktoberfest, which run through to Nov. 2nd.
(1/23/2025) Sad news for Kings Dominion this week as the local news has confirmed that several park staff were laid off on Wednesday. The park has not confirmed the exact number, but based on different news articles, the number is thought to have been somewhere between 30 to 80 staffers being let go (many thought to be Full-Time), with trimming being done from about every department.
The move came as a bit of a shock and without warning, as the park was just starting to gear up and prepare to start the hiring process for the 2025 season. According to a statement from the park, the staff at Kings Dominion had grown larger than what was required for the park’s business needs, so cutbacks were required. This is also a good indication of how Kings Dominion is being re-ranked (and perhaps deprioritized) within the new larger corporate Six Flags structure, against the other parks in the chain.
(1/4/2025) From the sound of things, Kings Dominion will be removing another major this winter. In addition to Anaconda, I’m now hearing that Berzerker, the park’s looping starship ride, will also be retired. I’m not surprised, as the Cedar Fair parks had been in the process of removing these attractions from their parks since before the pandemic, shutting down the H.M.B Endeavor at California’s Great America in 2017, Looping Starship at Valleyfair in 2019 and Southern Star at Carowinds in 2022.
Meanwhile the Six Flags parks had already shut down all their versions about 10-15 years prior, so the closure of Berserker at Kings Dominion also makes this Intamin made attraction officially extinct within the “western” world. According to Google searches, I can only find three still operating in the world, two in Japan (Nagashima Spa Land & Yomiuriland) and one in Malaysia (Sunway Lagoon).
(12/26/2024) According to a permit uncovered by KDFans, the park’s Anaconda roller coaster (Arrow) has given the last rides and will be demolished before the start of the 2025 season. The loss of Anaconda makes sense as it has long been the park’s most disappointing roller coaster, and given the age and low riders satisfaction numbers, it fits the bill that the new Six Flags management is using to seek out old rides to retire.
2025 - Rapterra, Pantherian, and 50th Anniversary Celebration - (3/21/2025) Rapterra media previews took place earlier this week, and you can catch one of the POV videos of the final ride experience below. While it’s a little short for my liking, it does look like a blast of a ride and should prove to be a hit with the general public.
(3/9/2025) A post on social media by Kings Dominion confirms that the park’s new Rapterra coaster opening this season will have a minimum height requirement of just 48 inches. It also sounds like Rapterra should be ready by opening day (May 29th) as they are having a passholder preview of the new coaster on the evening of March 28th.
(12/23/2024) The next episode of the Rapterra Report from Kings Dominion has been posted to YouTube this week. The video contains some extensive footage of Rapterra making test launches and full test runs. Check it out below.
(12/1/2024) You can take a close up look at a train car for Kings Dominion’s upcoming Rapterra roller coaster below.
(11/21/2024) Awesome news from Kings Dominion, as the park has posted a video showing off the first flight of their new Rapterra wing coaster. Check it out below!
(11/20/2024) B&M was showing off one of the new cars for Kings Dominion’s new RAPTERRA Wing Coaster at IAAPA this week. Check it out below, as shot by our friends at Orlando Experience.
(10/30/2024) Kings Dominion has announced that the new name for the former Intimidator 305 / Project 305 roller coaster will be Pantherian. So… I was close… it’s themed to a big cat, but not a tiger as I was expecting. It’s a fun name, but to be honest one of the biggest criticisms I’ve heard on social media was that the new name just sounded a little too close to Pantheon down at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.
(9/28/2024) Kings Dominion has posted a new construction update for Rapterra as they install the last piece of track. The video also takes us inside the Clermont Steel Fabricators facility for a behind the scenes look at just how they create all the classic B&M track used around the world! Based on the end of the video, the first section of a train has also arrived, so it wont be long before they can put them together and load them onto the track… probably just in time for the next construction update video from Kings Dominion.
(9/5/2024) Kings Dominion will celebrate the park’s 50th Anniversary in 2025.
The park will be hosting a number of new entertainment options, enhanced decor on International Street and the Eiffel Tower, a new night-time show, the return of the Clown Band, and as a special surprise the park’s famous Singing Mushrooms will perform “an all-new set list”.
Plus the premier of Rapterra, the iconic new B&M launched wing coaster!
(8/18/2024) An official construction report on Rapterra at Kings Dominion has been posted b y Kings Dominion. They say that about half of Rapterra’s track has already been installed.
(8/3/2024) Kings Dominion has finally confirmed their new for 2025 B&M Launched Wing Coaster will be named Rapterra. According to the story, Rapterra is themed after “the mighty Jungle Hawk”, where guests enter an ancient shrine once built to honor the beast. “People who entered the shrine became spiritually linked to—and temporarily possessed—the powers and abilities of the bird of prey.”
“Building the temple at the base of a volcano, Mt. Inferna, proved unfortunate. The ground surrounding the magma chamber collapsed, burying the Jungle Hawk temple under mounds of volcanic rock. The temple seemingly vanished from the earth.”
“Archaeologists recently discovered the volcanic site and unearthed the remains of the Jungle Hawk shrine. The bird’s ferocious spirit remains at the site, launching brave riders to exhilarating new heights. Rapterra: The world’s tallest and longest launched wing coaster.”
They’ve posted several different animated videos showing off their new creation which you can see below.
(7/27/2024) Construction on the new B&M Wing Coaster for 2025 is moving right along, and you can see a new batch of construction photos below that were posted to Facebook.
(7/19/2024) Kings Dominion has been posted a bunch of teaser about their upcoming new roller coaster project as of late, and now we also have an announcement date set of July 31st.
(7/11/2024) A construction video showing off the current progress of the yet-to-be-named launched wing coaster coming to Kings Dominion in 2025.
Another fun fact… according to a Tweet from KDFans, the internal project name for this new coaster was “Project Caldera”, which is a fun reference to the former Volcano: The Blast Coaster. For those wondering, a “Caldera” is the crater sometimes left behind after a large volcano erupts. Sometimes a large empty chamber is left under the volcano after all the magma has been ejected, which can then cause the structure of the now hollowed out volcano to collapse in upon itself, leaving behind a giant crater, or caldera. Over time, some of these calderas can fill up with water and turn into large lakes, such as the famous Crater Lake in Oregon.
While I doubt Kings Dominion has the budget, nor the space, to enclose their new roller coaster within a Caldera style crater of theming, it would be an interesting concept to see.
(6/30/2024) Construction on the B&M Wing Coaster at Kings Dominion is now under way. I believe the new launched coaster will be taking over some of the site formerly occupied by the former Volcano: The Blast Coaster and is expected to open for the 2025 season. No formal announcement regarding the name or theme of the new coaster has been made at this time.
(6/13/2024) The teaser walls have now gone up at Kings Dominion for 2025’s new launched B&M Wing Coaster. While the coaster has yet to be announced by the park, green track has already begun arriving at the park in storage lots, marked with the “WI” Wing Coaster design designation on the ends.
(3/29/2024) Site clearing is now under way at Kings Dominion for the park’s proposed 2025 new addition, which is rumored to be a launched B&M Wing Coaster. A picture of the site being cleared between the Flight of Fear and Reptile coasters, on the former Volcano: The Blast Coaster site, can be seen posted over at Reddit.
(12/24/2023) A new post at KDFans reveals a potential layout for what they believe could be a new B&M Launched Wing Coaster intended for Kings Dominion as early as 2025. Their analysis of the plans indicates it appears to have an enclosed launch track that may start off with a pre-launch scene of sorts, before launching out into a series of twists, turns and what looks like as many as five inversions, crossing over much of the Jungle X-Pedition land, taking up most of the space between Flight of Fear, Reptilian and Tumbili.
They’ve posted a whole bunch of artwork based on how they believe the layout might go, along with an animated video rendered in NoLimits that is worth checking out.
(7/11/22) While we know that eventually in the next couple of years the plan for Kings Dominion was to replace the former Volcano: The Blast Coaster with the park’s next major roller coaster, but we honestly don’t know when. The addition of Tumbili was sort of a Post-COVID stop-gap measure to buy a little more time for this project by adding a smaller coaster and by creating a little new theming in the form of the Jungle X-Pedition area.
To be honest, having just visited the park myself, the Jungle X-Pedition area actually looks pretty great. Nice theming all around the new Tumbili area, including the transformation of the former Avalanche coaster into Reptilian along with turning the Scrambler into Arachnidia. Along with the new light theming to the restaurants, food stands and the rest of the infrastructure in the area, this area of the park looks pretty good right now and even Anaconda fits the overall theme.
Around the one corner you do have the slight oddity that is the plaza that features both Flight of Fear and Intimidator 305, but I’ll let that one go for now. The one attraction that does sort of stick out like a sore-thumb is the Backlot Stunt Coaster (formerly The Italian Job: Stunt Track). While as a coaster, the ride still works great and is a lot of fun, but the theming has been better days. Currently most of the ride’s once highly-touted special effects are dead and broken.
But would you believe there may be a plan to change all that? According to a new rumor sent in, there may be a “Phase 2” of new theming and additions planned for Jungle X-Pedition to come before the next big coaster project. Our source claims that this could possibly include importing the Berserker (Bayun Kurve) from California’s Great America as a way to bring back Kings Dominion’s lost Mt. Kilimanjaro attraction. Even more exciting however may be a possible plan to revamp the Backlot Stunt Coaster to have new ‘jungle’ appropriate theming, new effects and to retheme the cars to look like off-road jeeps instead.
Just a rumor at this point, but I think it would be great to see more additions brought to fill out this section of the park if any of this ends up happening.
(2/28/20) No details known, but the next big coaster is expected to replace the park’s Volcano: The Blast Coaster site, but this wont happen until a couple of years after a smaller coaster is added in 2022 to replace The Crypt.
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