Kings Dominion Park, Part I: Arriving to Kings Dominion

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5

Slideshow | Lightbox (178) Tags: amusement-park parks virginia washington-dc Posted: June 27, 2011 by Shekn

Kings Dominion guide and map (2011) you can get at the entrance - very useful thing especially if it is your first time in the park.

If you have never visited Kings Dominion amusement in Doswell, Virginia, this photo gallery can help you get better idea what you can find in the park. I am talking about all parts of it - rides, attractions, shopping, dining as well as its environment and logistics. Keep in mind that the park is big; it is located on 400 acres with endless entertainment for the entire family. For new visitors it can be a bit difficult to plan the first visit - your first step in doing so should be visiting Kings Dominion Web site, an excellent resource especially for the newcomers. However, no single site can provide all the details about the park. Hopefully, our galleries can fill in the gaps by giving you a real life pictures of the park as it is.

You can visit in out Travel Ideas section a separate page with some practical tips regarding Kings Dominion park. But since you are reading this, let me highlight for you some important aspects of visiting the park:

Unless you do not care about money, buy tickets online - there are many ticket options available, and you can save 15% - 25% if you pay admission fees using Kings Dominion Web site.
Read carefully various park's policies: ride guidelines (including safety guide, height requirements as well as Water Works policies) and Kings Dominion rules and regulations (including not permitted behavior and dress code). Remember that these rules (including dress code) are strictly enforced by park's security and ride attendants.
Check the Kings Dominion calendar of events especially if you are interested in particular shows. Keep in mind that the park is very popular and can be crowded at times. This can be important since the capacity of rides is limited; as a result, there may be lines of visitors waiting for popular rides. Most frequently this happens during weekends.

Our first part of photo galleries dedicated to Kings Dominion is about things you will see when you first come to the park: parking lot, entrance, International Street.

Kings Dominion amusement park opens at 10 AM. To get a good parking spot (or at peak season just to find any), come before the opening hour - there will be plenty of space not far from the entrance (visible in the background of the photo).

Kings Dominion amusement park - its parking lot is huge as you can see on this picture. Keep in mind that parking fees are not included in the entrance ticket and are charged separately when you enter the parking lot. Currently (2011) parking is $12. With VIP or PLATINUM passes parking is free.

King Dominion Park entrance as seen when approached from the parking lot. For the record - the park is located in Doswell, Virginia 20 miles from Richmond and 75 miles from Washington, DC just several hundred yards off I-95.

Kings Dominion park - if you have not purchased entrance tickets on-line you can do this at the gate as shown on this photo. However, the price for on-line tickets (and passes) is significantly lower - you will save about 15% - 17%. Savings on 7-day advance tickets are even higher - 25%.

Usually, during morning hours there are lines at the gates of Kings Dominion park. That's because of rather thorough security checks which include passing through the metal detector frame and searching of all bags.	Kings Dominion park has a number of polices. For example, guests are not permitted to bring coolers, food and drinks into the park. Entrance gate attendants are the first line in enforcing all the rules, and they take them seriously. I have seen people turning around because of inappropriate attire.	You have passed the gates and now you are inside the park - what you see is International Street with lines of small shops on both sides and several fountains in the middle. The Eiffel Tower replica is in the background of the picture.	International Street in Kings Dominion park with its numerous shops does not offer any rides or other attraction. Many shops offer souvenirs and convenience items like this Sunshine Souvenirs store (and its sibling Starlight Souvenirs on the other side of the street.)
Kings Dominion park - inside Sunshine Souvenirs store selling souvenirs, apparel, convenience items.	Kings Dominion park, International Street - Dippin' Dots (mostly soda) and Border Cafe (burgers, chicken fingers, nachos, onion rings, fries).	Kings Dominion park, International Street - Front Gate Photo. This is a pick-up place for photos taken near entrance by several rather pushy guys and gals running around with point and shoot cameras. So, if you do not have your own, why not to use the service?	Kings Dominion park, International Street - inside one of many places in the park selling sweet stuff. Loads of candies are offered in the park - perhaps too much for spending a healthy day. But we should blame ourselves and not the park which is only trying to respond to the demand.
Kings Dominion park, International Street - an almost obligatory place offering caricatures drawn on the spot while you wait.	Kings Dominion park, International Street - Gift Emporium shop offering gifts for all ages: fantasy, nautical, Tiki, pirates.	Kings Dominion park, International Street - inside Gift Emporium shop (fantasy, nautical, Tiki, pirates gifts)	Kings Dominion park, International Street - KD Gear store.
Kings Dominion park, International Street - Tower Pizza. It opens at 11 AM as all other dining places in the park. In Tower Pizza you can have pizza, salads, pretzels, drinks (including beer) and ice-cream. When the place is close, you can still get some food using take-out window.	Let's look at the other of International Street (Kings Dominion park) - among other things we have here Panda Express. If you do not know what this is - they feed you with some popular Chinese dishes.	Kings Dominion park, International Street - Pawsenclaws & Co., custom bear maker. By the way, it seems like various plush animals is another (together with candies) specialty of the park. Bears, monkeys, dogs and tigers as well as various cartoon characters are everywhere.	Kings Dominion park, International Street - inside Pawsenclaws & Co., custom bear maker shop.
Kings Dominion park, International Street - Kidstuff store marketing itself as "cool clothing and more". I guess "more" means more candy (I told you!) offered under the same roof as Peppermint Patty's Candy Shop.	Kings Dominion park, International Street - inside Peppermint Patty's Candy and Kidstuff store.	Kings Dominion park, International Street - that is a separate entrance to the candy part of the Peppermint Patty's Candy Shop. By the way, if we were not buying sugar, I am sure Patty would be happy to sell us something healthier. But nonetheless it is astounding to see that concentration of candy shops in one park.	Kings Dominion park, International Street - the Crave store offering "stuff you want" which in this case includes young adult apparel and accessories.
Kings Dominion park, International Street - looking through the Crave store entrance inside.	Oh, Starbucks in Kings Dominion park, International Street! - Almost like do not leave home without it. But I welcome whatever helps our economy.	Stroller and Wheelchair rental at Kings Dominion park. It is located near entrance on International Street. Prices are from $12 (single stroller) to $45 (electric wheelchair). Lockers are offered as well - they may be very handy since most rides with bags and other loose items are not permitted.	We are moving away from International Street now (Kings Dominion park) but stores and food places do not disappear. Here we have Old Dominion Diary (ice-cream, milkshakes) and Airbrush Design where you can order custom t-shirts. Prices start from $4.99 for a milkshake and from $9.99 for airbrush items (2011).
Kings Dominion park - on this picture you see a restroom. There are many of them in the park in various places. Using this as an example, I should say that the park management is doing a good job in providing all essential services (which also include medical help and automatic external defibrillators).	Kings Dominion park - face painting found its place in the park as well. What a park can do without face painting?	Did I forget to mention tattoos? They are offered at Kings Dominion too. Prices are from $5.95 (2011) to $19.95 depending on the complexity of design plus $2 for multi-color. They last up to one week. The First Aid sign shown the directions if you need help is strategically located next the tattoo display.	Kings Dominion park - this one is an interesting offering, Old Time Photo, you will not see in each and every park. Antique photos are available. Not only pictures can be done in a faded style typical for an old photo, but costumes are slipped over your own clothes.
Inside Antique photos at Kings Dominion park. Indeed, you can see how and in what you can transforms yourself to have nice memories of your adventures in the park.	Yet another shop at Kings Dominion and again something fresher even if not unique - The Wood Shop crafting personalized signs on wood.	This is not the last store at Kings Dominion but I promise that I am going to stop feeding you with stores you can come across in the park (you got the picture already). But since we are here - this is the General Store with all items $10 or less.	This one is not a store; however, such type of things are in abundance at the park - I guess they are popular. At places like this you shoot, you throw things or do something else after you pay several bucks. If you succeed in what you are asked to do, you get a prize.
Here is another example of the entertainment at Kings Dominion park I have just described. In this particular case you toss rings: prices (2011) from $1 for five rings to $5 for 45 rings. A ring around the bottle neck wins!	Let's have a closer look at ring tossing (Kings Dominion park). Do you think it is easy? But there are additional rules - each ring should be thrown individually. And do not be smart and lean - leaning will forfeit your win. And if you are really good in tossing? There is a rule for that too - at any given day you can have only 1 prize and only 4 every year.	I promised to stop showing stores but not dining places - they can be very important in your browsing Kings Dominion park. Here are several examples you may take a note of. This one is Trail's End Grill (burgers, chicken sandwiches, salads, fries and drinks including beer).	Inside the Trail's End Grill (burgers, chicken sandwiches, salads, fries and drinks including beer) at Kings Dominion park. There is nothing special at this place (none of dining places at the park have real specialties), but its ambient is different and that is good already - you did not come to the park to eat!
Another popular dining place at Kings Dominion park; it is called Outer Hanks and is located near the entrance to the Congo area.	Inside Outer Hanks restaurant at Kings Dominion park. The environment has a character and food offered is a bit different from many other food places - arguably, this is the best place to eat in the park. Here, you can find fried shrimp and shrimp sandwiches, fish and chips, chicken sandwiches and Pork BBQ sandwiches (not to mention cheese fries, Caesar salads, soft drinks, cold beer).