Intimidator 305 Review | The Most Intense Roller Coaster Ever Built | Kings Dominion, Virginia

in Spring 2010 King's Dominion just north of Richmond Virginia in Doswell debuted Intimidator 305 an intimate Giga coaster to this day it is still only one of two intimate gigas ever built the other one being Millennium Forest at Cedar Point and one of the only Giga coasters in the world period this makes it one of the top 10 tallest and fastest roller coasters in the world I grew up going to King's Dominion and I've spent my entire life as a coaster Enthusiast riding this thing in this video video I'm going to be telling you all about the attraction dive into each of the individual elements tell you what works and what does not now to start things off Intimidator the5 is located in the back left corner of King's Dominion in what is technically the jungle Expedition section of the park although much like the nearby flight of fear this does not fit within that overall jungle theme the rid Sports a racing theme after NASCAR Legend Dell nhart he was nicknamed The Intimidator and so Cedar Fair brought on that licensing deal for two roller coasters in the chain this one as well as Intimidator over at Caro down south and this Riot as a whole was a big deal when it's made its debut on top of it being a $25 million investment it was the biggest thing we'd ever seen at this park at this point in time Kings Domin was still relatively fresh out of the Paramount era which ended in 2006 we just gotten the relocated Dominator from the closed giaga Lake theme park yet Kings Zion was still missing that wow must do attraction you could certainly make an argument for volcano and ironically even after Intimidator 35's debut volcano remained the most popular ride in the park but Cedar Fair really wanted to make a statement here so they drew inspiration upon two popular roller coasters at Cedar Point Millennium Force and Maverick both produced by intimin out of lonstein they said what if we combined the height and speed of Millennium Force with the snappy crazy transitions of Maverick the result one of the most demented roller coasters on the planet Intimidator 305 is not for everyone and that is because you can make an argument for this being the most intense roller coaster ever built now I'm going to get into that in a second when we start talking about the layout here but getting back to the rides location Intimidator 305 did not replace anything at King's Dominion it technically takes up some of the land that was occupied by Lion Country Safari back in the day and there was a monil station but previously that pathway just dead ended by flight of fear and so they built a whole Plaza out of this ride you'll walk under this iconic intimidated 35 Marquee sign we got Dale's car on display off to the right along with some details on his racing Legacy and then the actual entrance to the coaster is out in front of you and what's interesting is because of the position of the LIF Hill when you're walking up to i305 the main thing you see is this big red pole in the sky even though intimidar 35 has this beautiful parabolic shape with the lift hle and drop you can't really see that unless you're standing in like the water park the rest of the time you're looking at its backside which is too bad because structurally I think this is one of the coolest looking rides out there the entire 305 ft structure is held up by two massive supports that is wildly impressive the entire top third of this track is supported by itself so that leaves this entire middle section just wide open it's a amazing I wish there was a path or something that allowed guests to get that view much like where all this footage was taken during a backstage tour it isn't until you stand right there when you truly understand the scale of this ride other Giga coasters like Fury 325 Steel Dragon 2000 and even Leviathan to some extent really let you walk right up next to these huge sections of track if anything it makes you feel small with Intimidator 3 five you do walk under some sections of track but it's all the lower portions the biggest part of the ride the LIF Hill is removed away from you the only time you're that close is when you are sitting in that train about to dispatch but I'll say at least one big advance to the plaza is just how close you can get to the break run it's a great way to watch Riders Expressions as they just slam to a stop they're almost always in a State of Shock now as you enter the line for I35 there's a very good chance that as you're walking up there won't be much of a wait for this thing despite the fact that the ride is huge in nature with it being all the way in the back of the park and having a sometimes iffy reputation the coaster does not get long lines the only Road that will get a long line is the front row if you want to do this I highly recommend riding it first thing in the morning any other time of day you're going to have to wait a bit especially if it's on one train which does happen on slower days but usually every other Row for this roller coaster is a one or two train weight so you're going to walk into this Pizza Hut shaped station building cross onto the train and pull down your over the shoulder restraint think of this like a padded vest it can be kind of tight but you feel like you're really in there interestingly enough this is the only Giga coaster the feat over the shoulder restraints and honestly I can't imagine this ride with a Lap bar the transitions are just too crazy you really need that upper body support even newer modern rides like velocci coaster that have crazy fast-paced transitions don't take them the same way that Intimidator 305 does and I think that's part of why this ride can have such a huge fan base the one word I would use to describe Intimidator 305 is aggressive so once your shoulder restrain is down and seat belts buckled the ride operators will give you the all clear they'll say over the loudspeaker sit up straight hold on tight and enjoy your ride ladies and and then a new pre-recorded voice comes over and says gentlemen start your engines and then boom you start your fast acceleration up the lift it is such a hype way to get started that voiceover is Iconic and this ride wouldn't feel the same without it right away this climb up to the top is going to be fast intim 3 5 uses a cable to pull Riders up to the top and it's one of the fastest cable lifts I can think of probably not the fastest I've ever experienced I'm still giving that to Sky Rush at Hershey Park but maybe this gets the number two SP I always recommend Riders sit on the right side for this coaster primarily because I think the lift hle is actually kind of spooky for those sitting on the right side your seat is just ever so slightly positioned out over the edge of the track and it makes you feel that much more unsure about this like if you're sitting in the left seat you got the staircase down to the left you feel like you're still on Solid ground but before you know it you're going to start cresting over and you're going to take this pretty fast you aren't going to have much time to take in this view out in front of you and then you're going to plunge down an 85° drop Intimidator 35's drop is is steep in fact I would honestly say it is too steep reason for that this drop is over quick this drop does not feel 300 feet especially if you're sitting up front if you're scared of drops front row is actually great on this thing because you barely feel the drop in the back it obviously lasts longer don't expect a ton of airtime I can think of a lot better drops out there for airtime this really isn't one of them and this is where things start to get messed up how does Intimidator 305 follow up with a huge 300t drop with an insane low Toth ground fast-paced turnaround you take this turn at 90 mph and it is so nuts no other roller coaster on the planet delivers the sensations that this ride does on the first turn and what sensation is that graying out or sometimes blacking out a gray out is when your vision goes fuzzy but you still consciously know where you are you understand what's going on you just can't see anything for most Riders it starts here and you clear up at the peak of this are Air Time hill now that's not the case for everyone I've had that grayout last as long as this turn right here as soon as you Bank sharply to the left you snap out of it but that one's a bit more rare and most of the time when that happens it's because I've actually blacked out not grayed out a blackout is when you still can't see but instead you're unconscious the best way I could describe it is you feel like you're floating on clouds you forget that you're on a roller coaster your whole body is numb and then when you hit this turn you snap out of it and you're like holy crap I'm on a roller coaster what's going on what just happened this has happened to me on multiple occasions on this roller coaster most of the time it's because I'm either dehydrated have not eaten any food and I'm not feeling so great because of the heat the hotter it is if you're not drinking water and taking care of yourself you are way more susceptible to blacking out but unfortunately not everybody knows that and so all it took was a couple people to say I blacked out on Intimidator 305 to get people talking and saying oh my gosh well I don't want to experience that I don't want to pass out on a roller coaster that starts spreading around and suddenly Intimidator 35 has a bit of a bad reputation this ride did not perform how Cedar fa originally hoped and if you think it's bad now imagine what it was back when it originally opened the ride was even more intense than it is now originally the first airtime Hill after that turn wasn't as gradual you stayed low to the ground longer and then rose up into the incline more dramatically this led to a lot more people blacking out so it only took one season of operation for King's Dominion to close this thing down at the end of the year bring in folks from intimin to redo that first turn now it's a lot more enjoyable but you still get the wide range of folks who have very differing opinions on this thing you get the people that are too scared of roller coasters and won't ride this cuz it's too tall and too fast you get the people that will ride most anything except for this you get the people that will ride this once say you know what that's not for me I'm not going to do that again I'm going to go ride something else and then you get the people that ride in didn't say that was the best thing ever I'm going to lap it over and over and over again among the general public Mass majority of people I through five can have very differing opinions it just so happens that in the coaster Enthusiast world most people love it and I include myself in that so let's get back into this layout when you reach the peak of this airtime Hill and your vision in most cases clears up here you drop down into the lowest sections of the ride when you're in the back you can get some nice floater coming off this hill it's insane to me how the first two elements on I3 5 are so high off the ground and then everything else is like less than 30 ft you hit a hard Bank left turn and immediately whip into an send this is the part of the ride that I feel like I35 is really known for this section where you whip left switch right back to left back to right it's absolutely nuts and you can really see where the inspiration Came From This Moment is extremely similar to that sequence that you get on Maverick where it stays low to the ground it's doing the same thing the difference is here you are going significantly faster I thre is maintaining that speed and that's why the profiling here is so dramatic as a rider I'm still leaning into those transitions if you don't see those turns coming I could see how that could be jolty or uncomfortable for people but if you know that you're about to suddenly change directions I found that leaning into that moment makes the experience much more comfortable and it helps that this is also an extremely smooth roller coaster like the way those trains ride on the track is just exceptional newer Giga coasters have opened by B&M that are way rougher than this ride that is almost 15 years old it's really quite impressive so then you have this back turn that's very similar to that first turn that you took after the drop it runs right up along next to it and then it lifts you up into some trim brakes and this is the only point of the ride where you really see a speed reduction the train loses a significant amount of momentum and part of me wishes that that trim wasn't there but the other part of me can't imagine this ride without that trim hitting like it would probably be too much and clearly it must have been otherwise this trim wouldn't be there something interesting though when you're sitting in the back and you hit that trim it does cause you as a rider to lift up out of your seat which is totally unexpected but following that trim you'll drop back down to the ground and rise up into another airtime Hill that then twists you to the right it's not as aggressive as the ones from earlier but still enough to be whippy and as you start making your way to The Brak R there's another great snap from the right to the left very much like the ESP spens from earlier you'll smile for the photo and then you get one last whip into the brakes and you take a left hand turn and come to a final stop at the base of the station and that is Intimidator 305 this ride is a lot you're going to be out of breath hitting the brakes on this thing it is shocking for a firsttime rider and even having R this as many times as I have I still find myself saying I can't believe this roller coaster exists and is allowed to exist it is legendary I don't think there will ever be another ride like I35 ever since it opened it's been a world- class attraction in my eyes most roller coasters don't do what this ride does it's probably for a reason and honestly I'm fine with this thing being a one and only it makes coaster enthusiasts all over the world want to travel to Doswell Virginia to experience this thing no other attraction not Millennium Force Maverick velocci coaster iron guazi any of those new modern attractions match the level of intensity that I35 brings to the table so for me Intimidator 305 is a 9 and 1/2 out of 10 I almost feel like this thing as a plused up intimate megalite if you're familiar with that ride model the first of these debuted in 2008 with qmy at toooo and Pat at Jers Summerland so 2 years before Intimidator 305 if you look at their layouts they aren't that far off from each other I 5 just does everything that those rides do more dramatically I'd love to hear from you guys down in the comments below what do you think of this awesome roller coaster but are you one of those people that isn't a huge fan if so tell me why what bothers you about this coaster if you're new to coaster studios please check out the coaster reviews playlist we have roller coasters reviewed from all over the world they're all available in alphabetical order by the rides name please go check it out and stay tuned for more so thank you so much for joining me and I'll see you next [Music] time

Channel: Coaster Studios

Views: 72,813

Keywords: intimidator 305 roller coaster, intimidator 305 pov, intimidator 305 review, intimidator 305 Kings dominion, Kings Dominion roller coasters, Kings Dominion rides, worlds craziest roller coasters, worlds craziest rides, intense roller coasters, worlds most intense roller coasters

Id: 0bRIIKjkM6g

Length: 13min 25sec (805 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 02 2024