Kings Dominion Begins Dropping Hints for 2022

June 23: Mysterious Crates

Earlier this season, sharp-eyed park visitors at Kings Dominion spotted a series of crates with “interesting” labels on them, located near the entrance to the park’s Safari Village area, beside Outer Hanks. Today, we received photos that gave us an “up-close” look at the crates, and will attempt to decipher exactly what they could mean for the park.

What We Know

  • Kings Dominion closed Volcano: The Blast Coaster prior to the 2019 season, an anchor attraction in the Safari Village area, which also houses Avalanche, Scrambler, and formerly housed The Crypt (more below.)
  • On the fencing surrounding the shuttered Volcano in 2019, the park advertised “Expeditions on the Horizon.”
  • In January 2020, he park also announced that The Crypt, a Huss Top Spin, would be removed prior to the 2020 season. (This was prior to the park being closed for a majority of the 2020 season.) The park ended the post with “Things are Lurking in the Jungle.”
  • Avalanche, the park’s bobsled coaster, is not operating in 2021.

The Crates

There are a series of seven crates near the entrance to Safari Village. Along with traditional shipping labels like “Fragile: Handle with Care” and “This End Up,” there are shipping labels on several of the crates.

The first label is addressed to Livingston and CompanyDoswell, VA. and is being shipped by Sppedy Shipping. The receivers, presumably Livingston and Co., are urged to handle with care.

The packages were shipped from Kroft Industries. There is also a Bar Code, and a generic shipping warning, urging receivers to check for damages.

This package might be damaged. Tough to tell.

What We Can Potentially Take Away: 

  • Livingston could certainly refer to Dr. David Livingstone, a famous explorer who sought to seek out the source of Africa’s Nile River — often known for the phrase of “Dr. Livingstone, I presume.” This could certainly lend some level of theming and connect to the “Expeditions on the Horizon” tease from 2019. (That original tease featured 21 yellow lines, possibly signifying a 2021 opening, though we all know how many projects have been postponed by COVID-19 in the past year.)
    • EDIT: Livingston’s was also a former name of the restaurant that is currently occupied by Outer Hanks.
  • Kroft Industries, while it certainly could relate to Sid & Marty Krofft, the puppeteers who created sets and characters for the Hanna-Barbera show The Banana Splits, (how’s that for throwback brand synergy from Kings Dominion’s early days?!), more likely is a play on Lara Croft, the main character in the Tomb Raider video game and film franchise. Prior to Cedar Fair’s purchase of Kings Dominion in 2006, The Crypt was known as Tomb Raider: Firefall. With The Crypt closing, it frees up a plot of land for a potential new attraction.
  • Sppedy Shipping isn’t a real shipping service. Could be a red herring, but there are two double sets of P’s in those words. Kings Dominion’s last major attraction was Twisted Timbers. Could whatever’s in these crates also have an alliterative name? That starts with P?
  • Also, Sppedy Shipping, is alliterative in its own right. Depending on which corners of the internet you frequent, there’s a constant rumor that S&S-Sansei Technologies might be behind the new addition at the park. Could be worth paying attention to.
  • Whatever’s happening, we’re betting it goes upside down, at least based on the upside down crate. Either that, or someone needs to unload freight more carefully.
  • We scanned the barcode. It is 10012345678902. Given the sequential numbers, it probably is just a generic barcode.
  • We’re also looking way too deep into it, and the “Handle with Care” sticker is clearly meant to resemble hands, but also kind of resembles an over-the-shoulder roller coaster restraint if you look close enough. Is a new roller coaster coming to Kings Dominion?

What’s in the Shed? Crates for Kings Dominion? Stay tuned throughout the summer as we hope to unveil more! If you’ve got any ideas or hints we missed, let us know!

7/19/2021: Mysterious Coordinates

After the Mystery crates appeared at Kings Dominion earlier this season, we didn’t know what we would get as far as future clues. But it looks like we have our next clue, by way of Kings Dominion’s facebook page.

If you know how to read a map, you know that these are latitude and longitude coordinates. A quick google map search leads you to this location.

Chichen Itza, Mexico. 

What does Chichen Itza have to do with these mysterious crates? According to Wikipedia, the area is one of the most visited archeological sites in Mexico with over 2.6 million tourists in 2017. Its primary attraction is El Castillo, also known as Temple of Kukulcán. The pyramid structure served as a temple to the deity Kukulcán, the Yucatec Maya Feathered Serpent deity closely related to Quetzalcoatl, a deity known to the Aztecs and other central Mexican cultures of the Postclassic period.

Chichen Itza is an area that has been explored since the mid 1800s, with photos of the area dating back to that time frame. We’re not going to copy and paste the entire Wikipedia page, but if you’re interested, click here. 

Dave Cobb: Tomb Raider(s) - Other Amusement Parks & Industry News - Kings Island Central Forums

I see a little similarity here. Of course, we have some questions.

  • Could the use of Chichen Itza be another reference to Tomb Raider/Kroft Industries, further signifying the location of the new attraction? Lara Croft was an archaelologist in the Tomb Raider storyline, and while The Crypt was sealed, it’s certainly something an archaelogist would want to look into.
  • Was The Crypt a temple for Kukulcán, or will the story of the new attraction be “retconned” by Kings Dominion in a way that demonstrates that?
  • Could Kukulcán serve as an icon of sorts for the new attraction? It wouldn’t be the first “snake”-themed attraction at Cedar Fair parks over the years, with Diamondback, Mamba, Copperhead Strike, and Snake River Expedition at Cedar Point. Are snakes the new “Timbers” for Cedar Fair? (Mystic, Twisted, Shivering, etc.)
  • Will Kings Dominion get its own Jaguar-esque temple coaster queue like the one at Knott’s Berry Farm?
  • Will Safari Village as a whole get a soft-retheme to something more Mayan and Ruinous? Could Avalanche’s theme change?

Tune in later! We’ll see what else we can “dig up!”

July 23: New Coordinates, New Decorations. 

We’re a few days behind in updating this, but real life gets in the way. On July 23, more props were added to the original shipping crates on the outskirts of Safari Village. We were correct in our coordinates that the first set of coordinates led to Chichen Itza, but what happened there?

Looks like we have some Mayan-esque artifacts from the area, and lots and lots of snakes, which ties into the Temple of Kukulcán found in the area.

Also on July 23, Kings Dominion released some more coordinates on social media.

Those coordinates lead to the Snake Temple, in Malaysia.

According to Wikipedia, The temple was constructed in the 1805 to honour Chor Soo Kong (also known as Qingshui), a Buddhist monk who lived during the Song dynasty (960–1279) for his numerous good deeds especially in healing the sick and giving shelter to snakes.

Given this location, combined with the information and findings presented from Chichen Itza, I think our guess of a “Snake” theme is right on.

July 26: A Video

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Kings Dominion (@kingsdominionva)

I don’t know what this means. Could mean anything. Could be Kings Dominion just messing with us. There are 7 steps in the video. Could this new attraction have 7 elements?

Update: I spent way too much time looking at this, and noticed that the sticks in the foreground were arranged very specifically. It couldn’t be coincidence that there are 4 sets of 2 sticks just laying in the woods of Kings Dominion in a diagonal pattern, right?

July 27: A Third Location

Kings Dominion tweeted more coordinates on Tuesday, July 27.

These coordinates point to the lost city of Pompeii, which was buried under 4-6 meters of volcanic ash, resulting in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

Largely preserved under the ash, the excavated city offered a unique snapshot of Roman life, frozen at the moment it was buried, and an extraordinarily detailed insight into the everyday life of its inhabitants, although much of the evidence was lost in the early excavations.

While there might be just a generic tie-in to excavactions and explorations tied in with archaeology, snakes also played a big role in roman culture. According to Roman beliefs, Snakes maintained the care of the family’s prosperity. Serpents decorated household shrines, kitchens, shops, crossroads, and public temples in Pompeii. In these places, snakes are not scary or evil; quite the opposite, snakes are guardian deities and “bringers of abundance.”

We’re probably looking too far into this, but we don’t think Pompeii as a location makes sense as a theme, especially seeing as you can visit “Pompeii” about an hour away at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

So, the three things that are in common with these locations:

  • Ancient Ruins/Historical Sites, which may be explored.
  • A positive outlook on snakes.

Anything you think we’re missing? Let us know below, and stay tuned for more thoughts!

July 29: Hackjob?

How many takes does it get to the center of a bamboo chute?

22. 

Hey, wonder if that means the new attraction will open in 2022?

July 31: Rock On

Only July 31, Kings Dominion gave us more coordinates — this time, for more mysterious ruins.

Stonehenge!

I don’t know how this connects to the story, other than it’s a notable site with ruins. No snakes, to my knowledge!

August 2: The Sounds of the Jungle

We have more bamboo, and as far as sounds, we have some animal sounds, and four whacks on the bamboo. What is the significance of four?

8/4/2021: Hampi?

More coordinates, more archeological sites and ruins. These coordinates lead to the Hampi Archaeological Ruins in India.

Hampi was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire in the 14th century. Chronicles left by Persian and European travellers, particularly the Portuguese, say that Hampi was a prosperous, wealthy and grand city near the Tungabhadra River, with numerous temples, farms and trading markets.

For the most part, these archaeological ruins all point to cities that used to be prosperous, or symbols (snakes) that symbolized prosper and bounty. I can’t figure it out right now, other than the fact that there’s an expedition on the horizon.

Kings Dominion will announce the new attraction on August 12. What are your thoughts?!

August 6: Brushing Off Your Logo Knowledge

Kings Dominion posted today that discoveries will be unearthed on 8/12, with a video of something being brushed off. Looks like a steel plate of some sort.

The logo looks familar, but if you look close enough, it’s been edited, and you can read 8/12 in the silver area. Wonder what Kings Dominion is trying to hide!

 

 

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