Rapterra roller coaster soars to success at Kings Dominion | Review + POV
The world’s tallest and longest launched wing coaster, Rapterra, opens March 29, 2025 at Kings Dominion in Virginia. Here’s a look at the ride experience, including an on-ride POV video!
Rapterra roars and whistles
If I had to describe a ride on Rapterra in one sentence, I’d say it’s the closest I’ve ever come to riding on the wings of a falcon on the hunt. The ride track weaves and circles, and right from its sudden launch all the way through to the very last inversion, I felt like I was gliding, diving, and falling all at the same time.
Photo by Gretchen Whittington
Rapterra is the definition of a classic wing roller coaster. Riders hang next to the track, “flying” over the sides of the track’s turns and dangling their feet over open air. Many of its wide, soaring elements take advantage of the extra rider-turning radius, and you fly even closer to the ground as well as even farther up in the air around every curve.
Photo by Dwain Whittington
More than other wing coasters I’ve ridden in the past, I also found Rapterra does an excellent job with its pacing — while it’s certainly fast, and has plenty of great sections to it, things are spread well enough apart that you can enjoy a glide while anticipating the next barrel roll.
That experience shows just from looking at the track. Rapterra is one of the most beautiful coasters I’ve ever seen. It roars and whistles, and as the coaster sweeps around the turns, you can’t help but feel like you’re watching a bird at play in the wind.
Photo by Gretchen Whittington
Jungle X-Pedition
Rapterra is one more addition to a section of Kings Dominion recently rethemed as “Jungle X-Pedition.” As the story goes, rides here were all representative of five mythical beasts, whose temples have recently been uncovered in an archaeological dig. The five rides are as follows:
- Arachnidia (formerly Scrambler), a tarantula-themed scrambler flat ride
- Reptilian (formerly Avalanche), a bobsled-style roller coaster themed after a crocodile
- Tumbili, a 4D spin coaster that flips across its track like a monkey
- Pantherian (formerly Intimidator 305/Project 305), a high-thrill gigacoaster named for a panther on the hunt
- Rapterra, a launched wing roller coaster themed for a mythical “jungle hawk”
Photo by Gretchen Whittington
What did Rapterra replace?
Rapterra stands as a both literal and metaphorical successor to the previous ride that stood in its place, Volcano: The Blast Coaster. Volcano was a legendary inverted launch coaster built in and around a concrete volcano structure (think of a smaller version of Volcano Bay’s Krakatau at Universal Orlando).
The wing coaster carries several ride design elements from the original Volcano design, including its snappy launch sequence and a first element that shoots riders towards the sky. The queue of Rapterra also includes a “caldera” leftover from the Volcano when it blew up, following the coaster’s fictional origin story, as well as news articles discussing the natural disaster.
Photo by Gretchen Whittington
Photo by Dwain Whittington
Plan your Kings Dominion visit to ride Rapterra
All these elements and more will be available to visit on March 29 when Kings Dominion opens for the 2025 season. Pass holders can access the park early on March 28.
To learn more about Rapterra, visit the ride’s official page. To learn more about Kings Dominion or to buy tickets, visit the main website.
Rapterra roller coaster POV
Watch the video below for an on-ride front-row perspective of the flight of Rapterra:
More Attractions Magazine stories:
Follow us:
No matter where you want to go, our trusted partner MEI-Travel will handle the planning so you can focus on the memories. They offer free vacation-planning services and have nearly 20 years of experience creating memorable vacations. Visit MEI-Travel for a fee-free, no-obligation quote today.
