“Gentlemen! Start your engines!” Those are the first four words you’ll hear before climbing 305 feet in the air of this ‘beast’ of a coaster. Those that love thrills, high altitudes, and fast speeds, Kings Dominion has you covered with one of their most popular roller coasters, Intimidator 305. The name is definitely appropriate for a couple reasons. The first reason is the fact that it’s themed after Dale Earnhardt’s famous black car, with his signature number. The other reason is pretty simple. Just by looking at the coaster, it’s pretty easy for ANYBODY to get intimidated! When I first saw it, I certainly was!
Ride Experience (For those that dare to ride)!
Like I mentioned before, the ride begins with the audio recording of a man, saying “Gentlemen! Start your engines!” Immediately after, the train slowly leaves the station to start the 305 foot climb to the top. For those familiar with roller coaster companies, the maker of this coaster is Intamin. They’re a popular coaster company (my second favorite) and are known for making many big coasters (typically 300-400+ feet tall). A lot of those coasters have faster lift hills than those from other companies. Intimidator 305 is no exception!
As you go up the lift hill, don’t spend too much time praying that this coaster will have mercy on you. If you do, make it quick, because the climb only lasts about 10-15 seconds. Reminder, this is a 305 foot tall roller coaster we’re talking about. Insane, right?!
After you reach the top, take a brief good look at the park from that height. Then, get ready for a 300 foot drop that follows. After that massive drop, you’ll enter into a 270 degree helix that can do something to you that not a lot of coasters will do (depending on your body’s reaction). In that helix, many riders, including myself, have experienced a brief moment of ‘graying out.’ That means that the positive g-force of the ride is so high that some riders could halfway lose consciousness. Again, this solely depends on body type and how it reacts to the forces of the ride.
Hopefully I still have some readers that stick around to read the rest of this after the last few sentences I wrote. The last thing I want to so is scare some people off. I promise you guys that this ride is AWESOME!
Don’t believe that it’s awesome? Check out the vid below and find out for yourself!
After the helix, you’ll zoom over a 150 foot hill, before encountering a series of twists and turns, all at a speed of 90 mph. You’ll then head back towards the station and wonder what just happened to you during the last 45 seconds you’d encountered.
So J, how was YOUR experience on the ride??
My first experience on this ride happed years ago. I’d say I either just graduated high school or I had just completed my first year of college. Nonetheless, it was almost a decade ago when I first rode Intimidator 305.
Like for every new roller coaster I ride, I always do my research for riding it. I look up the rides stats, reviews, and of course take a front seat POV ride on You Tube. I knew right away, just by looking at pictures and videos, that I was going to love this ride. That lasted until I read the comment section on You Tube (hear me out).
I saw several comments about how people either greyed out or blacked out. That made me a little worried and I had some second thoughts about going on the ride. I then read some more comments about others who either didn’t experience it or said the greying/blacking out wasn’t that bad. That persuaded me to change my mind and give the ride a shot. I knew I’d be taking a little bit of a risk, but I’d been so hyped about the ride that I just couldn’t back down from it.
It was a nice and sunny day at Kings Dominion. The temperature was comfortably below 80 degrees. My family and I were walking around looking for rides to ride, games to play, and even food to eat. Side note about the food: I LOVE their Boardwalk fries. I get them every single time I’m at Kings Dominion. You can read about that on another page, but now, back to the ride.
CLICK HERE for some Great Dining Options at Kings Dominion (Including The Boardwalk Fries)!
My family and I had ridden several of the park’s top coasters including the Volcano: Blast Coaster (before it was sadly removed), Dominator, and Back Lot Stunt Coaster. It was now our chance to ride the newest ride at the time: Intimidator 305!
We walked toward the heavily themed area, excited and nervous all at the same time. I was really looking forward to riding the ride, but all I kept thinking about, over and over again was the fact that people were actually blacking out on the ride. What does it feel like? Am I going to die? Those are two questions that I kept asking myself.
I didn’t know what to expect from the ride. All I knew is that I still wanted to ride the ride. And just like that, I hopped in line with my family (those that wanted to ride the ride, that is). It was me, my sister, and my step dad. My sister and I rode together, while my step dad was right in front of us.
After about a half-hour wait in line, it was our turn to board the ride. I anxiously sat down in the seat closest to the people in line, while my sister sat in the one next to me. My step dad, like he usually does for all the other rides we ride, was hyping us up to prepare for what lied ahead.
After the ride operator said “All clear,” I heard the “Gentlemen! Start your engines!” recording and knew that it was time to ride.
GET YOUR TICKETS HERE TO HAVE YOUR CHANCE TO RIDE INTIMIDATOR 305!!
I held my head back and just breathed with a nervous grin on my face. I knew I didn’t have much time to think about what the ride was going to do to me. Just by watching other riders take that terrifying climb, I knew that I only had about 15 seconds until my doom had arrived.
I couldn’t really enjoy the view much. I still had thoughts about what that first curve was going to feel like. I kept picturing myself passing out until the end of the ride. I sure hoped that wasn’t going to happen. And there was no way to prevent it, because I was already over 300 feet in the air.
15 short seconds passed by and we were at the top of the hill. I closed my eyes and held on tightly to the lap bar. As if I was telling the ride to ‘go easy on me.’ Suddenly the coaster started to pick up speed and we were racing down the 300 foot drop at speeds approaching 90 mph.
I let out a scream that was then muffled halfway down the drop due to the fast speed (happens a lot on big rides like this). We got to the end of the drop and started to circle the helix. Suddenly, what I though was going to happen actually happened! I saw my vision briefly start to go. It was as if the ride was literally sucking the life out of me. It only lasted for about three seconds and then all was normal again.
We then coasted through the rest of the ride and had a blast! When the ride was over, all we could talk about was the first turn. It was truly something surreal to experience. Scary, but surreal!
What do you think, J? Do you recommend this ride?
Answering the question on whether or not I recommend this ride poses a bit of a double-edged sword. Let me first start by re-iterating that I LOVE this ride! I would ride this again in a heartbeat (but probably not more than twice in a row). I’d recommend anybody that craves really intense roller coasters. The first curve is pretty much all the intensity you’ll need. Trust and believe that!
The other part of me wouldn’t recommend this ride to people who are either afraid of coasters or have some conditions that the ride could impact. I would also warn first-time riders to beware of the first curve. I want them to prepare themselves for it, if they decide to ride.
All in all, I recommend this ride, but not to everyone. Ask yourself, “Will this ride make me excited or make me cry?” If your a coaster enthusiast, I’d say give it a shot. Just ride it once, just to get the ride credit. But only do it if you know your body can handle it. Everyone else: just use your best judgement. You know what things you can handle. Is this one of them?
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