The History of Shockwave

Removed in 2015. Operated 1986 to 2015.

Shockwave was a coaster you rode standing up. For nearly thirty years it looped over Kings Dominion's Candy Apple Grove, and by the time it closed it was the last stand-up coaster of its kind still running in the United States.

Standing room only

Shockwave opened in 1986, built by the Japanese firm TOGO, one of only three stand-up coasters the company built in North America. Riders straddled a bicycle-style seat and rode upright through a single vertical loop and a ground-hugging helix. The station floor was even tilted so the trains could roll out under gravity. Its debut helped push the park past two million visitors for the first time.

Why it's gone

TOGO went out of business in 2001, which made parts hard to find, and the ride grew rougher with age as newer coasters drew the crowds. Shockwave closed in August 2015 after some twenty-two million riders, and was scrapped that November. A spinning pendulum ride, Delirium, took its place.

Sister coasters

Shockwave was one of three North American TOGO stand-ups, alongside King Cobra at sister park Kings Island and SkyRider at Canada's Wonderland. Both of those are gone from their parks; Shockwave outlasted them to become the last of its kind in the country.

One thing to know

When it closed in 2015, it was the last stand-up coaster of its kind still running in the United States.

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

Shockwave at a glance