Paramount Parks was the operator of Paramount's Kings Island, Paramount's Kings Dominion, Paramount's Great America, Paramount's Carowinds, and Paramount Canada's Wonderland, which annually attracted about 13 million patrons. National Amusements-owned Viacom assumed control of the company as part of its acquisition of Paramount Pictures in 1994. On June 30, 2006, Cedar Fair acquired the company, and the deal included a ten-year license to use the Paramount Parks name and theme, and a four-year license to use Nickelodeon names and themes.
Kings Dominion is an amusement park located in Doswell, Virginia, 20 miles (30 km) north of Richmond and 75 miles (120 km) south of Washington, D.C. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, the 280-acre (1.1 km2) park opened to the public on May 3, 1975, and features more than 60 rides, shows and attractions including 13 roller coasters and a 20-acre (81,000 m2) water park. Its name is derived from the name of its sister park, Kings Island, and the nickname for the state of Virginia, "Old Dominion."
Hypersonic XLC was a roller coaster located at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia. Hypersonic was built by S&S Worldwide, a company specializing in air-powered rides, and was the first compressed air launch coaster in the world. Hypersonic was S&S Worldwide's actual prototype for an air-launched coaster, called Thrust Air 2000.
Dominator is a floorless roller coaster located at Kings Dominion amusement park in Doswell, Virginia. Built by Bolliger & Mabillard, it originally opened in 2000 as Batman: Knight Flight at Six Flags Ohio in Aurora, Ohio. It obtained its current name when Cedar Fair purchased the park and renamed it back to Geauga Lake in 2004. Following the park's permanent closure in 2007, the roller coaster was relocated to Kings Dominion where it opened in the International Street section of the park on May 24, 2008.
Thunder Road was a wooden roller coaster located at Carowinds amusement park on the border between Fort Mill, South Carolina, and Charlotte, North Carolina. Opened in 1976 and built by Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters, the racing roller coaster cost $1.6 million to construct and featured two identical tracks that paralleled each other. The design of the ride was based on Rebel Yell, a wooden racing coaster at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia. Thunder Road was closed on July 26, 2015, to make room for expansion at the park. On August 27, 2015, Carowinds announced that the Boomerang Bay waterpark would be expanded and renamed Carolina Harbor. The expansion resulted in the removal of Thunder Road.
Volcano: The Blast Coaster, or simply Volcano, was an inverted roller coaster located at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia. Designed by Werner Stengel, it was the first launched roller coaster manufactured by Intamin and the first of its kind in the world to be inverted. Its launch mechanism was based on linear induction motor (LIM) technology. After a series of delays, Volcano officially opened to the public on August 3, 1998. The ride's soft opening was held two days earlier on August 1. A portion of the ride was enclosed inside a man-made volcano, which previously housed other attractions and was constructed in 1979. Volcano's final year of operation was in 2018, and in the off-season that followed, Kings Dominion made the sudden decision to retire the roller coaster.
Racer 75 is a wooden racing roller coaster at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia. Designed by John C. Allen, the ride opened with the park in 1975 as Rebel Yell. It features a similar track layout to The Racer (1972) at Kings Island and the now-defunct Thunder Road at Carowinds (1976). In 2018, Rebel Yell was renamed Racer 75, dropping its Confederate theme to represent its racing layout and opening year, as well as a subtle nod to the American Coaster Enthusiasts (ACE) organization that was founded in 1978.
Hurler is a wooden roller coaster located at Carowinds amusement park in Charlotte, North Carolina. A second installation of the ride was also built at Kings Dominion, and both locations opened to the public in 1994. Hurler at Kings Dominion was closed following the 2015 season. It was renovated by Rocky Mountain Construction and re-emerged as a steel coaster in 2018 called Twisted Timbers.
Woodstock Express is a wooden roller coaster located at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia. It opened as Scooby-Doo in 1974 after the famous Hanna-Barbera cartoon character. Despite being classified as a family roller coaster and located in the children's area of the park, the ride notably has a ride rating of 4 out of 5.
Shockwave was a stand-up roller coaster located at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia. Opened in 1986, it was the third stand-up roller coaster installation built and designed by Japanese company TOGO. Following closures of the previous two, it became the oldest of its kind still in operation. After nearly thirty years in operation, Shockwave closed permanently on August 9, 2015. It was replaced by Delirium, a Mondial Revolution flat ride, which opened in 2016.
Backlot Stunt Coaster is a launched roller coaster located at three Cedar Fair amusement parks. The first two installations opened at Kings Island and Canada's Wonderland in 2005 under the name Italian Job: Stunt Track, while the third opened at Kings Dominion in 2006 as Italian Job: Turbo Coaster. All three were themed to the climactic chase scene at the end of the 2003 film The Italian Job. Special effects were incorporated throughout the ride to reproduce the scene, although some of the effects were removed in later years. The Italian Job theme was also dropped in 2008 following Cedar Fair's acquisition of the amusement parks from Paramount.
Reptilian is a bobsled roller coaster located at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia, United States. Manufactured by Mack Rides, the roller coaster debuted as Avalanche in 1988 and was renamed to Reptilian in 2022 following a refurbishment. The change coincided with the addition of a new themed area at the park called Jungle X-Pedition.
Through its history, Hanna-Barbera has operated theme park attractions, mostly as a section in Kings Island, Carowinds, California's Great America, Kings Dominion, Canada's Wonderland, and, recently, Six Flags Great America.
Intimidator 305 is a steel roller coaster located at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia, United States. Manufactured by Intamin, Intimidator 305 opened to the public on April 2, 2010, as the park's fourteenth roller coaster. It is located in the Jungle X-Pedition section of the park near Anaconda on the former site of the Safari Monorail ride. Standing at 305 feet (93 m) tall and reaching speeds up to 90 mph (145 km/h), it is the second Giga Coaster to be built in North America, following Millennium Force at Cedar Point. The $25-million investment was the largest of any ride in park history. Themed to racing, the coaster is named after the late NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, who was commonly known as "The Intimidator".
The Crypt, formerly Tomb Raider: Firefall, was a Suspended Top Spin flat ride located at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia. Manufactured by HUSS Park Attractions, the ride opened to the public on March 19, 2005. An indoor version of the ride with heavier theming opened at Kings Island several years earlier as Tomb Raider: The Ride. Both rides were originally themed after the movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, but all references to the film were removed in 2008 following Cedar Fair's acquisition of the parks in 2006.
Flight of Fear is the name of two identical enclosed roller coasters located at Kings Island and Kings Dominion amusement parks. Built and designed by Premier Rides, they were the world's first launched roller coasters to feature linear induction motor (LIM) technology. Both locations opened as The Outer Limits: Flight of Fear on June 18, 1996, originally themed after The Outer Limits TV series that began airing in 1995 as a revival of the original 1960s series. Paramount's licensing rights to the TV show eventually expired without renewal, and all references to The Outer Limits were removed from the ride and its name in 2001.
Coast Rider is a steel wild mouse roller coaster at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California.
Smurf Mountain was a powered mine train ride through a mountain past several animated scenes at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia, United States.
Twisted Timbers is a steel roller coaster located at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia. It originally opened as a wooden coaster named Hurler in 1994, designed and manufactured by International Coasters, Inc., with a name and layout that matched an identical installation at Carowinds. The ride closed for extensive maintenance in 2015 according to the park, which later teased in 2016 that Hurler was being replaced.
Tumbili is a steel roller coaster at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia, United States. Announced in August 2021, the 4D Free Spin model is manufactured by S&S – Sansei Technologies and opened on March 12, 2022. It is located within Jungle X-Pedition, a newly-themed section of the park formerly known as Safari Village. The ride takes its name from the Swahili word for "monkey."
