originally posted on 3/17/2025
Photo: Grant Haynes. View full-sized image.
After a multiyear hiatus, ACE Mid-Atlantic hosted the Jeepers! It’s Winter! event at Kings Dominion (Doswell, Virginia) on February 22, a beautiful Saturday. However, other than the name, this exciting event bore little resemblance to the early winter meetups at Jeeper’s family entertainment center to ride the singular Python Pit kiddie coaster. With more than 130 attendees from seven states and the District of Columbia, it was clear that plenty of coaster lovers in the region were eager to shake their off-season blues by any means necessary.
The event kicked off with check-in and an ACE Mini Store practically bursting at the seams with merchandise. Stickers, pins, patches and even limited-edition Legacy of Schwarzkopf merchandise were all for sale. In fact, a record number of ACE Mid-Atlantic bundles (including region-specific lanyards, stickers, bammies and more) were distributed at the event, in part because of the 50-plus ACE members attending an event for the very first time.
The park’s theater provided an opportunity for attendees to spread out while awaiting remarks from ACE Mid-Atlantic Regional Representative Evangelos Ringas and ACE President Elizabeth Ringas.
Photo: Elizabeth Ringas. View full-sized image.
Photo: Craig McKenzie. View full-sized image.
The always amicable Kings Dominion staff then guided the swarm of thrill seekers to the beautiful Kings Dominion theater. After their opening remarks highlighting the mission of Kings Dominion and the role of groups such as ACE in creating lasting memories, ACE Mid-Atlantic Regional Representative Evangelos Ringas summarized the regional events for 2024 and shared plans for 2025, including the national ACE Spring Conference being held at Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens Williamsburg (Virginia) in a few short months. ACE President Elizabeth Ringas then shared the mission of ACE along with its charitable and event accomplishments around the world in 2024 and announced the location for Coaster Con 2026, to be hosted by Six Flags New England (Agawam, Massachusetts), Lake Compounce (Bristol, Connecticut) and Six Flags Great Escape (Queensbury, New York).
A highlight of the event was the region’s first exclusive screening of the latest ACE documentary: “The Legacy of Schwarzkopf.” The casual viewer would not likely guess that the film was created 100% by volunteer effort, as the care, creativity and high degree of professionalism were evident throughout.
Following the documentary viewing, the event’s silent auction was brought to a close while participants enjoyed light refreshments provided by the park. Thanks to an authentic Pantherian road wheel, a wheel hub from Dominator and other exciting donations, $780 was raised for the ACE Preservation Fund. This is on top of the $1,000 raised as part of the registration fee.
Following the presentation inside the theater, attendees were granted a look at Rapterra while it performed test runs ahead of its debut for the 2025 season.
Photo: Will Rook. View full-sized image.
Photo: Xavier Harris. View full-sized image.
Photo: Ellie Alms. View full-sized image.
As the event transitioned to the construction tour portion, an unexpected surprise was the unmistakable scream of a linear synchronous motor coming from deep within Jungle X-Pedition! Attendees were thrilled to watch several test cycles of Rapterra soaring through its course, which was then followed by a sneak peek at the entrance plaza, queue and merchandise shop for the new-for-2025 coaster. As an added bonus, the group was also taken back to the transformed Pantherian plaza to ooh and aah over the gigacoaster’s impressive new color scheme, theming and entryway. While neither of the coasters was ready to accept the first riders of the season, this group of ACEers certainly felt all the excitement and adrenaline of the upcoming coaster season.
The Jungle X-Pedition section of the park also includes Tumbili and the freshly repainted (and freshly renamed) Pantherian.
Photo: Edwin Nochols. View full-sized image.
Photo: Ethan Robertson. View full-sized image.
As a way to continue the fun and fellowship, a sizeable portion of event attendees then made their way to La Herradura — the Mexican restaurant directly adjacent to the park — for dinner and happy hour.
As always, attendees were grateful to the Mid-Atlantic regional representative team and all of the ACE volunteers who made this event possible. A special acknowledgment also goes to the Kings Dominion staff who assisted: Amy Hairfield, Kyle Kruthoffer and Jack Himmelman, among many others. Kings Dominion leadership was also on hand, including Bridgette Bywater (general manager) and Dwight Driskill (sales director).
— Justin Barlow
#ACENews