I love sharing things with my kids that I was able to do as a kid and taking them to Kings Dominion this Summer was one of those great things. My dad had taken me to Kings Dominion every Summer as a kid and it’s always been a very fond memory. I was excited to share that memory with my kids, especially now that Jeffery is tall enough to ride some of the roller coasters.
Kings Dominion has something for every member of the family. There is a huge kids area that kids as young as Jaxon (3) can ride, rides for my non adventurous Jaylin, she enjoyed the carousel, I can’t even remember how many times she rode that. I held Justin on a horse, his first ride! This park is huge, it even includes Water Works in the admission. Water Works is a huge water park that has plenty of slides, and play areas for everyone. We didn’t have time to go to the water park this trip since we were having fun doing other things, but we did go on the White Water Rafting and the Log Flume a couple of times to get wet and cool off.
I got Jeffery on a reasonable sized wooden roller coaster, the Rebel Yell. He was excited at first because he had been talking about roller coasters for a long time. But about halfway through the ride I looked down and saw him slouching in his seat and scared. Afterwards he said to me “That was too big! I don’t want to go on that again.” I have a feeling he’ll get on more as he gets bigger and understands being scared is half the fun. I rode the Anaconda by myself after I chickened out of the Intimidator 305. I hope to go back again because I regret not riding it. I have ridden all of the roller coasters at Kings Dominion at least once in my life except that one since it’s so new.
When we got our tickets we also bought tickets for Dinosaurs Alive and that was so neat! When you would walk past a life size dinosaur they would move and make sounds. Jeff and I enjoyed reading the history about the dinosaurs and how some of them died. The kids enjoyed the dig site where they could uncover “bones”. They got really sandy doing this, so afterwards we went over to the rapids and log flume to ride and get wet to get the sand off of them. It worked perfectly!
We then watched the dinosaurs come to life as we walked around. We even got a picture of the kids, which we were able to purchase it as we left the area. I can’t get over Jaxon’s face in this photo!
We did so much that day that if I went into detail it would take all day to type it out and all day for you to read it. We got to the park around noon or 1pm and we left when they closed at 10pm after the fireworks (which they do every night). Jeff and Jaylin were lucky enough to be up in the Eiffel Tower when they started, and Jaylin said it was the “best night ever”. I know that is going to be a memory she is going to cherish forever. All the kids are going to remember going to Kings Dominion and all the fun we had.
Everywhere we turned there was a place to get something to eat or drink and they have an awesome deal that if you buy a souvenir cup and a $5 wristband you can get free refills for the rest of the day. We took advantage of that since there were four of us and it was hot. I lost count of how many times we refilled our cups, and they are BIG cups!
The only thing I was disappointed in was that they had already shut down the bumper cars to get ready for Halloween Haunt, that starts on September 28th and happens every weekend night til October 28th. Jeff was looking forward to going on the Bumper Cars with the kids but wasn’t able to. Jeff doesn’t like a lot of rides, so that was pretty disappointing. He did enjoy watching the kids and I having fun.
We spent a lot of time doing things with the kids and letting the kids tell us where they wanted to go next. Jeffery got to drive the antique cars, he actually drove his daddy, Jaylin and Jaxon around. I got on and drove Jaxon and Jaylin, I remember riding those exact cars with my dad. So much of the park is just like I remember it as a kid, some of the rides may have different names but they are still there. I would love to make this a family tradition to go every Summer with the kids and I would also enjoy going with just a friend of mine so we can do all the big roller coasters and have a Mommy’s day!
So if you are ever visiting Virginia during the Summer or a weekend during Spring or Fall, make sure you plan a trip to Kings Dominion. Even if you live in Virginia, you don’t want to miss this!
*Jackie was given two complimentary tickets to Kings Dominion in exchange for this post. All opinions are her own and not influenced by anyone or anything.
2 Responses
I think I was there once as a child. I want to head to Virginia Beach again as a family and this time take in the many attractions in the state.
It sounds very similar to Cedar Point, and the logos look similar too. I wonder if they’re affiliated.