The History of Woodstock Express

The oldest roller coaster at Kings Dominion is not one of its giants. It is a small wooden family ride in Planet Snoopy, and it is older than the park itself.

Older than the park

This little wooden coaster opened in 1974 as Scooby-Doo, a year before Kings Dominion officially opened, running during a preview season alongside the Lion Country Safari. It was designed by John C. Allen and built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company, the same team behind the park's big racing coaster, and the two carry consecutive builder's numbers. For a junior coaster it has always had a reputation for being surprisingly lively.

A ride of many names

Over the decades the coaster changed names as the area around it changed themes. It was Scooby-Doo from 1974, became Scooby-Doo's Ghoster Coaster in the late 1990s, then simply Ghoster Coaster when Cedar Fair dropped the Hanna-Barbera characters, and finally Woodstock Express in 2013 when the children's area became Planet Snoopy.

One thing to know

It opened in 1974, a year before Kings Dominion itself, which makes it older than the park.

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

Woodstock Express at a glance