Paramount's Kings Dominion in Richmond, Virginia: A Good Park Gone Terribly Wrong

Located just north of Richmond, Virginia is an amusement park that I'm told was 'the bomb' at one time. There is no indication of that now. Entering the parking lot of Paramount's Kings Dominion is your first clue. Cracked pavement with weeds growing through the cracks. Trash sporadically covers the cracked pavement. Parking attendants were virtually non-existent. My friend and I both shuddered, but being the brave souls that we are, we went in anyway....

Cost:

General park admission (ages 7 - 54) $39.95

Child park admission (ages 3 - 6) $24.95

Children ages 2 and under Free

I do not recall how much it was to park. My friend paid it and I was too busy picking my jaw up off the ground when I saw the lot to notice... their website lists it as 10 dollars, but that may drop since they have dropped there admission fees by a few bucks over the past few years.

Atmosphere:
The amusement park itself does, indeed, carry over the theme of the parking lot... which is pretty much the 'gone to seed' theme. Graffiti is absolutely everywhere!. This park is dirty.... which makes me feel unsafe on the coasters. If they do not care enough about this park to maintain the grounds, are they really maintaining the mechanics of the rides? Probably not.

Shopping:
This aspect of Kings Dominion is actually not too bad. Above Six Flags America, below Busch Gardens. You can find several shops which carry park-branded items, the standard fare... but there is also one shop with a decent selection of dragons and whatnot, and there is an African themed shop near the Volcano. Prices are average for an amusement park.

Food
Eating at Kings Dominion is way over priced and leaves quite a lot to be desired. Looking at the park itself, you have to wonder if it's even safe to eat anything. I mean seriously. We found mainly burgers and hot dogs... the burgers were dry and tasted soy-based (which is not necessarily a bad thang by itself...) but we couldnt even finish them. Later in the day we bought hot dogs and pretty much had to force those down too. Dry, stale buns are the worst!