pkidude03

6hrs from the park in the southwestern tip of VA

I went to Carowinds on the 9th & 10th of June and they have good rides and a good layout. The only bad things are that its only 100 or so acres and the staff is really rude! Oh! and they only stay open till 8pm. You can't hardly do any night riding there, which sux. I've been going to Carowinds since 1996 & I only live 3-4hrs away from it. I don't know if that list is updated or not.

I'm 18.. will be 19 in December

At the bottom it said, "Our editors select these lists based on editorial content and user input." So it's not accurate.. I'm sure that list will change in the future. Folks at carowindsconnection.com forums were happy about that list.. lol!

Don't feel bad if your a slight hick Meeko because I am a big one & I dont give a crap what people think. There isn't a Ferris Wheel at PKI.. it would be nice if there was, but there isnt.

I seriously doubt that those are B&M restraints. B&M restraints are more comfortable & easier to grip than Vekoma's. The only things I noticed about Face/Off was that the padding where your head is isn't as soft as the old ones & where the handlebars are its painted yellow.

Exactly! because I live 6hrs away.. I'm not as fortunate to go to PKI as much as most of you guys on here. When I do go.. I ride everything! I don't care if its a huge ride or a little ride.. I ride it. If you just stick to the big stuff, then its hard to understand what the entire park is all about.

I don't know if it is just me or not but my dad noticed this to about DZ. Last season when you were rising up the tower it was all smooth, which is normal.. well this season as it rose closer to the top I noticed it would bounce until the very top like the lift was having trouble pulling the seats up or something. Everytime I rode it, it would bounce. Is that normal? I guess its not a big problem or they wouldn't let anyone on if it was.

I went on June 4th and absolutley hated it... I was there on the 2nd and 3rd so I already rode everything. I went to Boomerang Bay on BAFFD and it wasn't bad at all. I think I rode about 5 rides the whole day. I waited on The Beast for 2 1/2 hrs with every queue line filled up. I had no idea when the next bring a friend deal was because PKI's site wasn't updated for June before then. So I just went anyway and toughed it out. I don't think there are anymore bring a friend free day's (THANK GOD!) I checked my little gold pass booklet and there were only 2 days. One day in May and one in June... so there aren't anymore unless they changed it.

6hrs.. 5 1/2 if I don't stop anywhere. I live in Southwest VA near the TN/KY state line. I takes me 4hrs to get to Carowinds, but I prefer to go to PKI more.

I eat at Bubba Gumps everytime i go to PKI. It is my favorite place to eat in the park.. I always get the sampler platter because you get a little bit of everything and I think its the best seafood I've ate in a long time. Stunt Crew Grill and Potato Works are my other favorites. I highly recommend them! I would also recommend Huckleberry Dairy or UDF for ice cream. I use to get shakes at UDF and when I tried to get one last time they said they didn't make them anymore. I have no idea why.

I was at PKI the first week of June and I was hoping to ride Days of Thunder. To my surprise it was closed.. so I went to Carowinds the next week to ride it & they had it running. I got to ride it once and hardly anyone was riding it there either! So if they took it out of PKI they probably took it out of Carowinds as well & perhaps other Paramount Parks that had it. I really liked Days of Thunder! It was the only reason I made the special trek to Action Theater... otherwise I skip it because I don't care much for it. This is tragic! I was going to ride Days of Thunder again on my next trip to PKI!

I'm sure the new sign will look awesome. I'll be at the park next week on the 2nd, 3rd, & 4th. It probably won't be finished by then.. guess I'll see it in July when I come back. Or maybe if someone could post pics that would be great. I've been a newbie for over a year now. I just never reply to these things, but read them all the time. I do agree... people have got to read these things more carefully and maybe have a little bit of common sense.

I'm pretty sure that every ride in the park that deals with water, has treated water. It wouldn't be completely safe if it wasn't treated. The park probably treats the water themselves or checks the chlorine levels everyday. I agree w/ BoddaH1994

I doubt you'll hear anything now about 2005. It's to early and none of us will probably find out until sometime in August or later. As for 2004.. I think CDBB was the only major project. Usually some smaller attractions are built without any announcements. Like eateries and such. So your best bet is to just play things by ear!

Yeah you really need to let it go. These problems are common to almost every park I know. I would just be happy that a ride or two works and I can get a little thrill or something. The park isn't even officially open yet. I'm going to go in June and just have a good time. I could care less if a light doesn't work... at least the ride does.

Everytime I read these boards around opening season I always hear how bad it sucks because half of the rides aren't working or some stupid crap. Well.. if it was me I wouldn't be disappointed because its the beginning of the season, the rides haven't been running as much like they do in the summer so tons of breakdowns are to be expected, the park will only be open weekends in April so that gives them each week to work the kinks out of the rides & the employees to get use to things. I never really expect the highest standards of any Paramount Park because they don't have a budget like Universal & Disney. I've been to PKI around opening season when hardly anything was open but I didn't really care cuz I had a blast. I think its no big deal & people should just chill... be smart & go in the summer when everything is working. If u have a season pass.. use it! Just about every park I know has problems like this around opening season. Just give PKI time to get the kinks worked out.

I've got a question about parking passes.. ok say I was to buy a parking pass to PKI & I wanted to use it at another Paramount Park. Since season passes can be used at other parks, would they accept the parking pass or just say that it's only for PKI parking?

There was a discussion about Thunder Road on the Carowinds Connection forums that Thunder Road did have seatbelts installed. They said it killed the airtime & the ride was no longer as fun as it use to be. If this is the case for The Racer (& other PTC trains) then I hope it doesn't ruin it's airtime because that was the whole reason The Racer is one of my faveorite coasters. As for The Beast it doesn't really matter to me since it doesn't have much airtime anyway.

yea The Vortex restraints do click... you can't really hear it. It's not loud like SOB's & FOF's.. I don't think it's necessary for TG to have belts, but maybe The Vortex because when you go into the corkskrews you end up coming out of your seat completely relying on the restraints to hold you in. I think it might be a little harder to check restraints if it had the belts like DZ & Face/Off because they would have to reach between people's legs. I think the The Vortex (next to TG) has the fastest restraint checkers in the park. All I've seen them do is tug on the little handle.

Cicada's (or Jarfiles or Locusts) aren't that bad. You shouldn't be all worried about them because they are not after you, but only after green vegitation. They don't sting.. I think u may be confused with wood hornets (as they're called down here where i live). Wood hornets love wood because they want to build a nest in it or near it & its easy access for nest building material. Those huge paper balls hanging from trees, which are their nests, are simply made out of chewed up wood because the hornets chew up the wood and their spit acts as a glue (same thing with wasps). Im not sure if cicada's are after the water that bad unless they lay their eggs in it. but why would they lay their eggs in CDBB's water if there's chlorine in it?... & the reason they're so noisy is because that is their mating call for some hot cicada luvin' Every year down here... there is always some type of report that cicada's are going to be so bad & they usually end up being wrong. I don't understand why a major theme park would base ride construction on a bunch of stupid annoying bugs when all you have to do is just ignore them. I think PKI is much more focused on making money rather than letting the bugs overrule them. Since cicada's are after green vegetation I believe it would hurt the landscaping just as bad as the rides. If people are tough enough then they will just ignore them & enjoy the park. Don't let a bunch of pesky bugs ruin your fun! & if people dont want to come to the park because of cicada's then they'll just have to deal with them wherever they live. They're going to be everywhere anyways!

Just click the MSN, Yahoo, AIM, & ICQ things for me. Feel free to send me a message anytime.

There are TONS of cicadas where I live because I live in the middle of the woods. They don't emerge here (Southwest VA) till mid June. If you've never really heard millions of them all sounding off at once then you'll probably go insane because it is loud. I actually love how they sound & it sings me to sleep. This year is supposed to be VA's (& other states) big 17yr outbreak. I remember seeing a few at the park once & I was hit by one on The Beast & it felt like someone threw a good size gravel at me. They don't really bother me all that bad. Don't be surprised to find a few dead ones in the light fixtures.

It never fails.. everytime I go to Carowinds it rains & they close the entire park for the day & hand out either free tickets or free drinks. & their hours are to short. I've never rode a ride at night there & I've always wanted to. PKI is #1 in my book!!! Can't beat a night ride on The Beast during the fireworks!

Both Carowinds & Kings Dominion's sites have been updated. I'm pretty sure all of the sites will end up looking the same. I like the new design myself... it seems like its easier to navigate. I hope PKI updates their site soon. The newsletter said that PKI is selling Gold Passes & to check their site... I did and it looked like they were just selling regular season passes because it didn't say anything about gold. I'm guessing that it will be fixed when the site is updated.