Kings Dominion

Reviews 3

MA

Matthew Barnes

We are long time customers of the park; usually visit at least once a year. But after our trip this summer I dont think we will return. Early in the day we purchased a refillable souvenir cup for $15 since it was so hot out and we wanted to have a cup to carry around. Shortly later we grabbed a bite for lunch and got our first and only refill. After eating we picked up our trash and walked it around the corner to throw away, leaving the cup and our hats / sunglasses on the table. When we returned seconds later the cup had vanished and there was a girl in park uniform sweeping up the area. We asked her if she had accident picked it up and she rudely replied that it wasnt her job to watch everyones stuff without actually answering the question. We inquired inside the restaurant if anyone had cleaned the table on accident but had no luck. I explained that I had just paid for the cup less than an hour earlier and clearly one of their employees had accidentally tossed it while cleaning. I had the receipt for the cup, the credit card that matched the receipt, and an id to match the card. Shouldnt be a problem to replace right? Wrong. The restaurant explained they couldnt replace the cup but down the road their supervisor at a seperate location could. So we walked there but had no luck either. They explained that all cups were replaced at some restaurant at the front of the park so there we go. This restaurant says that we needed to get it from the zone where we bought it and they call ahead to verify it will be replaced when we get there. But sure enough when we get there we need to go to customer service back at the front. We spent well over 2 hours of hour day being shuttled across a park for a refund or replacement to a cup that likely costs the company less than a dollar. When arriving at guest relations at the front the man helping informed us that they do no replace "lost or stolen" merchandise. I questioned how it could possibly be considered either of these when their own employee clearly just accidentally mistook it for trash and explained how frustrated we were for being sent back and forth across the park, wasting our day on the promise a replacement we were not going to get. The man apologized nicely and said they dont usually help in these situations but he was willing to do something special for us to make our day better. He offered to walk to lost and found for us and pick up an old bottle that had been left the day before and give us that one as a replacement... Not really understanding I agreed and sure enough he disappeared for 10 minutes and came back with an old used bottle that formally belonged to some random stranger... He assured us he washed it in a sink for us. The straw was chewed to shreads. It was the most disgusting and unsanitary solution I have ever seen. I couldnt believe that was actually a solution they thought was ok. We ended up just taking the bottle and tossing it and giving up. This company was so willing to save itself a dollar on a replacement bottle that it thought it was ok to just give out previously used cup... I have worked several retail and food jobs in my life and it was always my companies standard to just replace items in cases like these because it was more important for the customer to have a good day versus save a buck. We clearly were not trying to steal a cup from the company. We had the receipt and we were more than respectful to all the employees we spoke to. We walked back and forth across the park based on a promise of a replacement, wasting a large part of our day only to receive a dirty used replacement. Insane.

SA

Samantha Allison

Food prices were to high, employees werent friendly nor were they helpful...much to busy talking to "friends" instead of working, games require a game card and well good luck getting that to work just to load money onto it to give to the employee to swipe, rides were not family friendly...my younger children couldnt ride or enjoy activities with my older children and vice versa. Rides that say must have a supervising companion actually means an adult and they will not allow an older child to be that person. I understand that not all parents raise their children to be responsible but seriously this is was a little toddler ride. Then there are rides that have cushions that the face is placed against, again this is in the younger childrens ride area...hmmm.....no cleaning of those all day long. Not to mention that they refused to allow a lady to ride kid rides with her son because she had a hat on. Yes, I said she was wearing a hat. No its not posted anywhere. Nothing bad, just a team hat and was dressed appropriately for this type of activity. Mind you, there were some extremely unacceptable attire but nope nothing said about that. Now this lady had some beautiful hair and a lot of it, so I can assure you that that hat was not coming off her head, especially not on any ride that only goes 0-5 mph ...smh...people wonder by parents arent more involved with their kids. Well here you go, their being told that they cant. One of the cars in the toddler driving school area came out the exit causing the gate to hit a lady before it proceeded into the pedistian area, thankfully no kids were there. Park employee didnt shut ride down before leaving the area, this leaving the area unattended nor did she take the time to check on the lady or call a supervisor or ride inspector. Multiple bathrooms were blocked by employees stating they were closed with no idea of how long it would take to reopen. May I say that my tickets were complimentary tickets for services rendered and so glad for that because I would would have been really disappointed had I had to spend $67 per ticket for a family of 7. Definitely keeping our trips at Busch Gardens and Water Country much more family oriented.

AQ

AquaTem

Went in October for Music in the Parks. It was the first time I have been to Kings Dominion in almost 10 years. Maybe more. I have to say I did enjoy myself more than I thought I would. There are a few things that can be fixed though. The Halloween Haunt is very nicely decorated and gives you the feeling the park staff spent a lot of time on the overall look of the park. The live music is always great and sounds professional. One thing about the Haunt that I definitely think could be improved is all the scaring the staff does. It always feels creepy to walk through parts of the park knowing someone might jump out at you, but the staff seemed totally indifferent about it. Only a few staff members actually tried to act in character, and they only targeted certain people. I feel like my group got scared more by our fellow guests who happened to hide behind props. Go figures. The rides at Kings Dominion seemed very fun indeed. Unfortunately it was a popular time to be at the park (and not to mention it was a weekend), so there were a lot of crowds. The Volcano was down as everyone seems to complain about and the big rides all had 1-2 hour waits. We didnt have time for that! Thankfully, the Crypt was great (its always just as fun to watch the Crypt as it is to ride it!), as well as some of the smaller rides. Avalanche was my favorite that day. Hopefully when I come back it will be less crowded. The food is probably what you would expect at a place like this. As with all amusement parks, it was overpriced for the quality. I did enjoy the frozen bananas that were being sold. The service seemed a tad bit slow, but the staff werent mean. They do have to deal with a lot, but a nice "hello" or a smile would make guests feel more welcome (and willing to buy the food). The park overall was very clean, and even though people say the rides are better than the aesthetics, I would say the park did great during Halloween. If the park looked pretty simple during the times when Halloween Haunt is not running, I feel like the rides would make up for it. Bathrooms could be cleaner. I will come again when the park is less busy, and I hope I have a fun time.

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