Ride Profile
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Intimidator 305 Power personified
At 5,100 feet (1,555 metres) – or almost one
mile – in length, Intimidator 305 is a ride of mammoth
proportions. Introduced this spring at Kings Dominion,
Doswell, Virginia, this steel monster from Intamin
affiliate IntaRide stands up to 305ft (93 metres) tall, towering over the park’s Congo section. Paul Ruben is awestuck
Pat Jones
Y
es, this is a coaster on steroids, lots of steroids. Intimidator 305, only the second 300ft-plus continuous circuit coaster with a traditional lift
hill ever built in North America, and now the tallest and fastest rollercoaster of its type on the East Coast. The first, Millennium Force, is at one of Kings
Dominion's sister parks in the Cedar Fair chain, Cedar Point in Ohio. The world's tallest is Steel Dragon, a 318ft-tall ride at Nagashima Spaland in Kawana, Japan. The new ride is Kings Dominion’s 15th rollercoaster
and the largest single capital investment in the history of the Virginia park. Like the Intimidator coaster at Carowinds in North Carolina (another Cedar Fair property), Intimidator 305 owes its name to the nickname of stock car racing legend Dale Earnhardt.
Fast Fast Fast Hoisted to the top of the 45-degree lift hill in a speedy 20 seconds, the ride’s train drops 300ft at an 85 degree-angle, reaching a top speed of 93 mph (150km/h). It thunders along the track during its 45- second race to the finish at an average speed of 68 mph. Compare that to a "normal" coaster's average speed of about 35 to 40 mph, and you sense the unnerving power this ride possesses. The speed is breathtaking. “The numbers speak for themselves,” comments Pat
Jones, Kings Dominion’s vice-president and general manager. “At a cost of $25 million and with a first drop close to the height of the our landmark Eiffel
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Tower, you’ll have to see this coaster to believe it.” According to Jones, Kings Dominion added
Intimidator because "we wanted a ride that was intensely breathtaking and offered a longer experience than some of our other rides. It is also meant to pay tribute to Dale Earnhardt in performance and theme. It's a very effective combination of speed, education and beauty of the site."
The ride's entry plaza provides a memorial to Earnhardt's racing career, listing his accomplishments and even displaying one of his cars. While the entire ride time takes three minutes from restraint to release, because of the coaster's frenetic speed, the time in the “thrill zone” lasts just 45 seconds. It only seems longer.
Intimidator 305 instantly catapults itself into the position of Kings Dominion’s signature attraction. "This is an enormous and intense ride," notes Jones, predicting it will become a “gotta do” ride, though not for the faint-hearted. "It is pure thrill and it does not stop giving thrill until
the end of the ride,” she continues, “it is simply unyielding. There is no time to catch your breath; only time to cry or scream with joy. The guests that have dared to ride Intimidator 305 have loved it!" Jones was one of the first to ride. “It’s a nice perk
of the job but also an honour. Dropping over the first hill at 305ft/85 degrees and then going straight into a curve at unbelievable speeds (94 mph) dries any tears that managed to flow out on the first hill."
JUNE 2010
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