Volcano, The Blast Coaster

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Volcano: The Blast Coaster
Volcano
Location	Kings Dominion
Type	Steel - Inverted - Launched
Status	Operating
Opened	August 3, 1998
Manufacturer	Intamin AG
Designer	Werner Stengel and Paramount Parks
Model	Custom
Lift/launch system	LIM Launch
Height	155 feet (47.2 m)
Drop	80 feet (24.4 m)
Length	2,757 feet (840.3 m)
Max speed	70 mile per hour (112.7 km/h)
Inversions	4
Duration	1 min, 10 sec.
Max Vertical Angle	55 degrees
Cost	$20 million
Max G force	2.40
Volcano: The Blast Coaster at RCDB
Pictures of Volcano: The Blast Coaster at RCDB

Volcano, The Blast Coaster, nicknamed Volcano, is the launched inverted roller coaster at Kings Dominion. It is one of the most popular rides there since its opening on August 3, 1998. It is a custom designed ride designed by Paramount Parks and famous roller coaster designer Werner Stengel. The ride was built by Intamin AG of Switzerland. At opening, the ride became the world's first LIM (Linear Induction Motor)-Launched Inverted coaster and to this day, remains to be the world's only full-circuit launched inverted coaster. The attraction is themed after the 1997 movie Volcano.

The mountain this ride is built in and around has existed since 1979. A number of attractions were set inside the mountain before Volcano existed.

1 History
2 External links

[edit] History

[edit] The Mountain

In 1979, back when the park was simply "Kings Dominion", the park constructed a 17-story tall mountain to be a part of the expansion of the Lost World/Lion Country Safari sections (defunct). The mountain housed four attractions aimed at families. A log flume ride was built called Voyage to Atlantis. The second attraction was a Rotor flat ride called Time Shaft. The third ride housed inside the mountain was Mt. Kilimanjaro, a "Bayern Curve" type flat ride. Lastly, a small roller coaster was built in the mountain called Land of the Dooz.

Throughout the 1980s, some major attractions were removed from the area, which included the nearby King Kobra coaster (which sat where Anaconda's lift hill is today), the monorail, and the Lion Country Safari. The removals didn't influence ridership and caused the renaming of the section from Lost World to Safari Village. Two of the rides were rethemed to refresh the mountain in the 1980s. First, the Land of the Dooz roller coaster was rethemed to Smurf Mountain and the Voyage to Atlantis ride was changed to Haunted River. In the early-mid 1990s, Mt. Kilimanjaro (the ride) was removed. The early 1990s came around and Smurf Mountain was removed in 1993. In the 1995, the mountain sat dormant when the rest of the rides were removed.

In 1993, Paramount Parks bought the park, renaming it Paramount's Kings Dominion. Paramount wanted to bring movie themed attractions to the park after the latest films. Plans were drawn up to revitalize the mountain with a new attraction themed after the 1995 movie Congo. Unfortunately, the movie bombed and nothing came out of the plans other than renaming the Safari Village section into Congo. Nothing happened to the mountain until 1997, when holes, caves, and a repaint of the mountain occurred. Something was happening...

[edit] The Ride

In late 1997, Volcano: The Blast Coaster was announced. LIM technology was still somewhat new and the ride had many bugs in the launch system. However, this issue wasn't new with the park, especially with Flight of Fear nearby. After most of the summer days were gone by, Volcano finally had a soft opening on August 3, 1998. The ride then officially opened on August 15, 1998 as the park's new star attraction. During the 1998 season, the ride operated at half-capacity, with every other row being loaded. In 1999, the bugs were fixed and Volcano was running at full capacity. In 2005, Volcano's structure was given a fresh coat of paint.

[edit] Safety

On June 23, 2006 it malfunctioned after the first launch and 2 people were injured.[1] One man suffered a skull fracture requiring reconstructive surgery at a local hospital in Richmond VA. The ride has since been investigated for other possible safety hazards that could cause future malfunctions, with the June 23 accident being thoroughly addressed and repaired. As of July 10, 2006 Volcano has been fully reopened. [2]

[edit] External links

Roller coasters at Kings Dominion
Anaconda - Avalanche - Flight of Fear - Grizzly - Hurler - HyperSonic XLC - The Italian Job: Turbo Coaster - Rebel Yell - Ricochet - Scooby-Doo's Ghoster Coaster - Shockwave - Taxi Jam - Volcano, The Blast Coaster