Kings Dominion has received the go-ahead from Hanover County to begin construction on a new roller coaster that could be the theme park’s biggest project in more than a decade.
This drawing indicates Kings Dominion’s plans for a new ride. The dark gray lines are queues for the ride. The circles and rectangles indicate possible roller coaster footers and columns.
6 things to know about Kings Dominion ownership change
WHAT HAPPENED
The new company, which will keep the Six Flags name, will have 27 amusement parks, 15 water parks and nine resort properties across 17 states, Canada and Mexico.
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THE NEW COMPANY
Richard Zimmerman, CEO of Cedar Fair, will be president and CEO of the combined company. Zimmerman was vice president and general manager at Kings Dominion from 1998 until 2007.
"Our merger with Six Flags will bring together two of North America’s iconic amusement park companies to establish a highly diversified footprint and a more robust operating model to enhance park offerings and performance," Zimmerman said in a statement.
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THE HISTORY OF THE PARK
Kings Dominion has gone through a number of owners through the years. It opened in 1975 as a joint venture between Ohio-based Top Value Enterprises and Taft Broadcasting Company. In the 1980s, Taft split off the parks to become the Kings Entertainment Company, which included ownership of several other parks, including Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Kings Island in Cincinnati.
Paramount Pictures bought Kings Entertainment in 1993 and renamed it Paramount Parks. CBS Corp. acquired Paramount Pictures a year later and in 2006 sold the theme parks to Cedar Fair, which is headquartered in Sandusky, Ohio, and operates Cedar Point there.
RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH FILE PHOTO
12.4 MILLION GUESTS
Cedar Fair reported an attendance of 12.4 million guests in its third quarter, a 1% increase from a year earlier. Six Flags announced a 16% rise in its third-quarter attendance, which totaled 9.3 million guests.
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This drawing indicates Kings Dominion’s plans for a new ride. The dark gray lines are queues for the ride. The circles and rectangles indicate possible roller coaster footers and columns.
