Deep in the dense and uncharted understory of Jungle X, Rapterra is rising, and the skyline of Kings Dominion may never be the same… Here’s what you need to know to be prepared to conquer the skies on “the tallest and longest launched wing coaster in the world.”
It all started in an ancient past… in this case, the lifetime of Kings Dominion’s one-time headliner, VOLCANO – The Blast Coaster. As we explored in our in-depth Lost Legends: Volcano feature, this Intamin creation was the kind of ride you wouldn’t easily forget – an ambitious, explosive, one-of-a-kind coaster that repurposed the park’s 155-foot tall craggily peak (which had itself been home to two dark rides and a spinning rotor prior), wrapping it in vibrant yellow track.
Image: Intamin
In an instant, Volcano accelerated suspended trains from 0 to 70 miles per hour, charging through a massive, hidden section of track and then (unbelievably) launching vertically out of the fire-spewing mouth of the mountain looming over the park’s Congo area. Volcano was a legend. But like many Millennium-era installation from Intamin, it was allegedly also an operational nightmare. Continuous downtime plagued the complex and low-capacity ride.
So much so it wasn’t entirely surprising when Volcano closed just a few weeks into Kings Dominion’s 2018 season – a common occurance for the problematic ride… Of course, fans were surprised when it remained closed throughout the entire summer season. Then, at the summer’s end, Kings Dominion fessed up: after two decades of troubled operation, the iconic coaster would never return.
Image: Six Flags (via artist @Emory_Arts, Twitter)
By summer 2019, Volcano had been wiped off the face of the Earth. But what sprung up around the former coaster was a sight to behold. In 2022, Kings Dominion officially debuted a thematic relaunch of its jungle-themed zone, dubbing it Jungle X-pedition. We dove deep into the vast, interconnected mythology that designers embedded throughout the land in a special feature here.
Creating a new frame story to spread across the space’s existing rides, restaurants, and shops, Jungle X-pedition was a clever re-write. More to the point, we argued then that it proved a perfect example of how regional, seasonal parks could achieve the immersive “Living Land” ethos usually reserved just for destination parks.
Image: Six Flags
When it debuted in 2022, the anchor of Jungle X-pedition was Tumbili – a tumbling, vertically-stacked S&S Free Spin coaster themed to an ancient primate temple. What Jungle X-pedition clearly did not have was a replacement for Volcano… yet. Early viral marketing clearly and cleverly suggested that there were more discoveries to come. And now, the next is ready to be unearthed.
Joining the already-established trials of the primate temple (Tumbili), the spider temple (the Arachnidia scrambler), and the snake temple (Reptilian, the park’s historic bobsled coaster), 2025 will unveil at least one newly-discovered site: the temple of Rapterra – a long-lost jungle bird spirit. Do you have the courage to climb aboard, conquer the trial, and witness the power and speed of the mystical Rapterra? Read on as we explore this “spiritual sequel” to Volcano and what else awaits in the jungle…
