In a shock to park fans, Kings Dominion theme park in Doswell, VA, released a blog post Friday night that detailed the removal of the park's iconic "Volcano: The Blast Coaster" attraction, which has been operating at the park since August 3, 1998.
In their statement, the park had this to say about the removal of the ride:
After thorough evaluation, the decision has been made to remove Volcano: The Blast Coaster. This wasn’t an easy decision for us, because we know that people love this one-of-a-kind coaster; however, over time it became nearly impossible to keep the ride up to our high standards of reliability and guest satisfaction, and for these reasons we had to make the tough call.
The news isn't hitting well with park fans on social media who feel that the news of the ride's removal made it impossible for them to plan a "final ride" before saying goodbye during the ride's 20th anniversary season.
"Volcano: The Blast Coaster" was the worlds first linear-induction launched inverted roller coaster. It had a unique layout that took advantage of the park's former "Lost World" mountain, by transforming it into a one-of-kind roller coaster layout.
There are already several different Change.org petition to save the coaster.
This is a developing story, and we'll update as more info becomes available.