Sabrina's Brochure Spotlight: Paramount's Kings Dominion 1993

As I perused my vast collection for the perfect brochure to feature this week, I couldn't resist the urge to pull this one. It's more than 15 years old, yet it seems so timely--in an amusing sort of way. You'll see why momentarily.

I love the roller coaster effect with the film on this brochure cover. Obviously Kings Dominion--excuse me, Paramount's Kings Dominion--was well on its way to becoming a veritable showcase for its new parent company's big screen productions in 1993. And what exactly did the "magic of the movies" do at this park? Huh? Huh? What?!!

Why, it met the "thrills of a lifetime"! But of course, you can now see why I found this particular brochure to be so humorous in light of Kings Dominion's most recent addition. You are witnessing progress at its finest, my friends. Seventeen years ago, Kings Dominion thought they had created "the ultimate NASCAR race experience" with their brand new Days of Thunder simulator ride. As it turns out, Days of Thunder was merely a precursor to the open-air thrills of Intimidator 305. (Anybody want the simulator back instead? Didn't think so.)

As I alluded to previously, 1993 was Kings Dominion's first year under Paramount ownership. And as you can see from this brochure, the new owners wasted no time in making their presence known throughout the park. Star Trek crew members and Klingons appeared on the scene, an ice skating show featuring the music and themes of Paramount Pictures made its debut, and I even spy a coaster train with Paramount branding.

If Kings Dominion was "easy to find" in 1993, imagine how much easier it is to find today, what with that 300+ foot coaster towering over it! It really is easy, though. Just ask my parents. When I was a kid and we used to make the trek from Pennsylvania to South Carolina for vacation every summer, I always made them wake me up when we drove past Kings Dominion even though it was too dark for me to see jack squat. Now that's dedication. Or obsession. Probably a bit of both. But eventually I did convince them to take me to this park in the daylight, so the story has a happy ending!