The History of Reptilian

When it opened in 1988, this bobsled coaster wore Olympic colors and raced through a wintry alpine theme called Avalanche. Today the same ride slides through a jungle as Reptilian, but the trick underneath has never changed: there is no fixed track, and the cars slide freely through the trough.

Avalanche, 1988

Avalanche opened in March 1988, a Mack Rides bobsled coaster whose cars are not locked to rails but run down an open, banked trough like a real bobsled. It arrived themed to the Winter Olympics, its cars painted for five competing nations, and the park invited members of the United States bobsled team to take the first rides.

Becoming Reptilian

The ride sat out the 2020 and 2021 seasons, first for the pandemic and then for the construction of neighboring Tumbili. When it returned in 2022, it had been rethemed for the park's new Jungle X-Pedition area as Reptilian, its snowy trough recast as a muddy jungle channel and its cars redesigned around a jungle creature. The layout, though, is exactly the same one that opened in 1988.

One thing to know

It is the only Mack Rides bobsled coaster operating anywhere in the Americas.

Reptilian is one chapter in the fifty-year history of Kings Dominion.

Reptilian at a glance