Does a 14-story drop to an underwater tunnel sound like fun? The Anaconda at Kings Dominion is a steel coaster with some pretty unique elements. It rises high above a pond (that used to be the much larger Lake Charles) before dropping 144 feet into an underwater tunnel. Its one of the few roller coasters in the world with an underwater tunnel.

Anaconda was built by Arrow and it has the requisite Arrow headbang factor. Your ride starts with an immediate dip out of the station and into a long, slow lift hill. The hill offers great views of the park where you can watch trains navigate Rebel Yells course or observe people enjoying the water park that has overtaken the lake. Many riders just close their eyes as the 14-story climb seems a bit taller than it really is. Finally, you begin to creep over the crest and start your plunge to the tunnel below. The drop itself is banked and not very steep, so theres more of just an increase in speed than an extreme dropping feeling. After speeding through the small, black tunnel you immerge and rise into a vertical loop which is followed by a sidewinder (half of a batwing). Next you slam into the brake run. And I mean slam. The loops offer great gs but are a little rough as is the brake run. **RIDE TIP - If you ride towards the front of the train the brake runs a lot less rough, you almost fly through it**. Next, you enter the butterfly configuration. Its unique to the Anaconda and its basically two funky, twisted helixes. Its fun, but at the same time rough. Your ride over the lake finishes with the highlight. The double corkscrews over the lake are taken pretty slow. This gives you the feeling that you might just fall out. After the corkscrews you dip under the lift hill, take a hard left turn and hit the station brakes.

Anacondas fun and a definite must ride, but a little too short and rough. Also, I wouldve preferred a steeper first drop. In its defense it delivers thrills and it always runs two trains so the line moves pretty fast. And I have to give Kings Dominion some credit, because its not only a custom design, but it offers that unique tunnel. Final Rating - 6.5 (Better than Average-Approaching Good)

This is a great coaster to watch from the line along the water, however the ride itself isnt that great to ride. It starts out well with a pretty tall lift hill that ends abruptly and dips hard and sharp to the right. You go into a neat little tunnel and pop out into a good size loop. After the loop, you head into a another decent manuever called the sidewinder. It is like an older version of an Immelman. These first two elements are very smooth and solid and then the riding fun just disentegrates after the brake run. This coaster is so rough and at one point I hit my neck so hard against the restraint that I thought I broke my neck. The corkscrews are painful (but interesting over the water) and the the ride is done. I have never been on such a Jeckyll and Hyde coaster. The first half is near perfect, but the second is just terrible. Which is too bad, because it has an awesome setting over the water and among the trees. That is all wasted however and the ride just doesnt deliver.

Despite this being my 100th coaster I did not enjoy it much at all. The underwater tunnel with the fake splash was neat and I liked that it was located over the water, but nothing else really stood out. It was also very heavily braked, which also took away from the ride.

A very fun ride. A bit rough, Ill admit, but fun. The water tunnel looks coolest from a distance where you cant see that its not really underwater and that the splash isnt from the car.

This is a good Arrow-Looper, but after the intial drop and first 2 inversions, the ride can be pretty brutal. The sharp neck-breaking turn into the brake-run after the side-winder inversion makes it clear that the rest of the ride is going to get bad. For the smoothest ride and the avoidance of a broken back, aim for the back seat, which also provides a nice pop of airtime going over the hill and some awesome visuals of the front of the train while going through the loop. For me, one ride is enough everytime I go, or if I do decide to ride it again, I toss an aspirin or two down the hatch. Also: be sure to stick your tongue out right before the tunnel for the camera

Though I only rode it once, I enjoyed Anaconda. The ride began with a monsterous lift, and the first twisting plunge going under the lake was pretty cool. The first too inversions were fun, and neither one gave a particularly rough ride. However, once you hit the mid-course brakes, the fun goes away a bit. The series of banked turns and dives produces a good bit of knocking, as does the double corkscrew, which I have said before is never smooth on these old Arrows. Even though the ride got rough in the second half, overall, it is still a good ride. Anaconda is well-themed, and the location around the lake is cool. Since it is an old Arrow looper, you cant really expect the thrill of a lifetime, but Anaconda satisfied my expectations, and probably exceeded them with a great first half. This currently sits near the top of my list for ordinary loopers, and a 7 will suffice for now.

good only for the underwater tunnel and the inversions.

it had some interesting elements, not usually found on an Arrow ride. The first drop was pretty different too. But the ride was far from good, it was very sluggish throughout the entire ride, almost stopping on some of the inversions. There was no real part of the ride that sparked and excitement in me. The ride gets a 5 for its interesting elements and the underwater tunnel.

This is an Arrow looper with the standard Arrow elements. Most Arrows are around the same in my ratings (except for the great Dragon Mountain) and this will stay true to that with a seven. The tunnel is really cool on the first drop and the general setting adds a lot to the ride. It really appears to be a marsh. Great landscaping. A good coaster.

Very exciting, I enjoyed going through the trenches in the water...It took ages to get up the hill, though...