Kings Dominion To Remove Volcano: The Blast Coaster

At the start of Kings Dominion Virginia’s 2018 season, Volcano: The Blast Coaster was closed suddenly for the entire season. There were rumors flying around the coaster community on whether the ride would reopen in 2019. In a shocking surprise, Kings Dominion has made the following announcement today:

“The 2019 operating season is on the horizon!  Before we make a quick announcement, let’s take a look at what we accomplished in 2018. The addition of Twisted Timbers, the area’s first hybrid roller coaster, brought more fun, thrills and memories. And we lit up the park for a new season of fun for the first time ever with WinterFest in November and December, ending the year with a bang thanks to New Year’s Eve fireworks. We’ve heard not only how much you love only Twisted Timbers and all the changes in our Candy Apple Grove section of the park, but also the immersive magical family environment we created with WinterFest. Major thanks goes to our talented and dedicated team for pulling out all the stops to create experiences you won’t soon forget.

Part of getting ready for a new operating season includes an expert evaluation of our rides and operations. As a part of that evaluation, every aspect of our rides and attractions are analyzed, from guest satisfaction, throughput and rider capacity to reliability, uptime and maintenance. After thorough evaluation, the decision has been made to remove Volcano: The Blast Coaster. This wasn’t an easy decision for us, because we know that people love this one-of-a-kind coaster; however, over time it became nearly impossible to keep the ride up to our high standards of reliability and guest satisfaction, and for these reasons we had to make the tough call. We apologize to anyone who is inconvenienced by the removal, but hope they will understand that it was done to enhance the overall guest experience here at Kings Dominion.

2019 is going to be a great year at Kings Dominion, and we have some exciting announcements up our sleeves that are sure to thrill our guests and associates alike. Stay tuned for more information, and thank you for your support.”

Volcano: The Blast Coaster originally opened on August 3rd, 1998 featuring the first LIM launch on an inverted coaster. The ride was built by Intamin utilizing a man-made Volcano structure that was the former home of Smurf Mountain and prior to that, The Lost World. the ride was 2757 feet long, stood 155 feet tall, and had speeds exceeding 70 MPH.

With the removal, one has to wonder what will replace the ride?…  Sorry to leave readers with more questions than answers, but only time will tell, Stay Tuned!