Shockwave was a stand-up roller coaster located at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia. Opened in 1986, it was the third stand-up roller coaster installation built and designed by Japanese company TOGO. Following closures of the previous two, it became the oldest of its kind still in operation. After nearly thirty years in operation, Shockwave closed permanently on August 9, 2015. It was replaced by Delirium, a Mondial Revolution flat ride, which opened in 2016.
History
The site on which Shockwave stood was formerly home to the Galaxie roller coaster, a small steel coaster of the S.D.C. Galaxi model. However, on September 11, 1983, an incident on the coaster resulted in the fatal injury of 13-year-old Daniel Watkins. The incident was used as the primary example of unsafe rides in local press coverage of the concurrent U.S. Senate hearings on amusement ride safety and regulation.[2][3] Rather than reopen the attraction, Kings Dominion dismantled and sold it, to the Myrtle Beach Pavilion where it operated until 1997 as the Galaxi.
In August 1985, Kings Dominion announced that they would be building a