Woodstock Express

Woodstock Express predates Kings Dominion itself. Opening as Scooby-Doo in 1974, the junior wooden coaster ran for a full season as one of only two attractions open during the park's preview period — the other being the Lion Country Safari drive-through — a full year before Kings Dominion's official May 1975 grand opening. Philadelphia Toboggan Company built it from the same design John C. Allen had already supplied for sister park Kings Island's own junior coaster, giving the two parks nearly identical first-timer coasters from the outset.

The ride kept the Scooby-Doo name through more than two decades of the surrounding Happy Land of Hanna-Barbera before the 1997 arrival of KidZville extended its title to Scooby-Doo's Ghoster Coaster. Cedar Fair's 2006 acquisition of the Paramount Parks chain triggered a park-wide removal of licensed cartoon branding, and the name was trimmed to simply Ghoster Coaster in 2010 while the surrounding area's identity remained in flux.

Planet Snoopy's 2013 buildout gave the ride its current name and Peanuts theming, casting it as Woodstock's own miniature express rather than tying it to any specific character storyline. Through four names and at least three theming overhauls, the coaster's compact figure-eight layout, wooden structure, and 40-inch accompanied-rider height minimum have remained essentially unchanged since 1974.

More than fifty years after its debut, Woodstock Express still serves as many young guests' bridge between kiddie rides and full-sized wooden coasters — a role it has quietly filled longer than any other ride currently standing at the park.