Closed due to high winds? That stinks, man. Afterburn looks really sweet, so far I've ridden Raptor and Dueling Dragons and loved both of them. Carowinds now has 3 B&Ms, 2 of which I'm sure will be great. Vortex, however, looks very iffy. Mantis at Cedar Point was, quite frankly, bad.

In my opinion, Afterburn is better than both Raptor and Dueling Dragons! There is no mid course brake on the ride, and the pacing is just awesome. Not to mention there is also a mist filled tunnel (at least it was mist filled on my 2003 visit).

Vortex at Carowinds, in my opinion is a more enjoyable ride than Mantis at Cedar Point. I do not enjoy Mantis, as it hurts my legs too much. Granted, the blood rushing to your legs feel was felt somewhat on King Cobra, it is way too intense and uncomfortable on Mantis. While Vortex is a little more intense than King Cobra, it isn`t that bad of a ride. It certainly is better than Mantis, simply because it is not huge. The old adage bigger is not always better certainly applies here.

^ I have ridden Iron Wolf, Mantis, and Georgia Scorcher and out of all those my favorite is Scorcher, than Wolf, and than Mantis. The small B&Ms are actually pretty smooth and very well paced. There is a chance I'll be going to Carowinds next year (doubt it though), and if I do, Vortex is actually one of the rides I'm looking forward to most.

The following pictures were posted on Carowinds Connection. I think the pictures were first posted on Carowinds' Facebook since they weren't taken by someone outside of the park:

Looks like they may be testing Intimidator today starting around 3:45.

From their Facebook page they mentioned around 4 to look at their webcam and you "will like what you see." I would think they're talking about testing.

Oh yeah,I like what I see... a blank image because their lack of bandwidth is a JOKE.... so much for watching any testing.

Oh thank goodness. I thought it was just me...whew....

Would really love to see this baby in action. May have to take a road trip over the summer!!

The webcam half works, and it appears they are done testing for the day.

This sounds vaguely familiar. Didn't something like this happen about a year ago? No one can see the webcam because everyone is watching the webcam.

Test run!

Thanks Nemo!

That's a gorgeous ride. I think DB looks (since I haven't ridden Lil Timy) better, other than the helix.

They have been testing with 3 trains for a couple of days already. They're moving right along!

Just watched a full test run, their cam is faster than DB was, still waiting for I305 to test

Just a heads up for anyone that will be near Carowinds next Saturday, March 13th. ACE is having a backstage tour.

On march 13th Carowinds and ACE will offer a backstage tour to get your offseason fix so to speak. This years focus is gonna be Planet Snoopy and other minor things like Intimidator. If you wanna ride intim...errr I mean go you would need to RSVP with mcannon@aceonline.org to secure your spot. You dont wanna miss the "special suprise"...

So lets start a list, who's gonna be in attendance?

EDIT: This is for ACE MEMBERS ONLY and their guests. If you are not a member, perhaps someone on here would be willing to let you be their guest...

The tour starts at 11am. All the rest of the details will be announced later.

(from Carowinds Connection) I know this won't really do any good for most people, but just thought I'd post this on the off chance someone will be down there.

I wonder, will there will be ride(s) on Intimidator for the attendees?

Haha. If only I was a member. I'm currently down here in South Carolina right now because i live here and am on spring break.

Go to Carowinds Connection and register, and try to find a member wouldn't mind taking a random person as a guest

Someone on KD Fansite posted a link to on-site pictures of Intimidator 305:

http://www.flickr.co...57623438009503/

Then they said a cover or something was off of the catch car. Can someone with knowledge of how the lift system should work look at the pics and see if they see anything weird with the catch car or something?

http://www.flickr.co...57623438009503/

Does something look odd about the catch car in that picture?

I have no idea what it should look like.

Edit: I honestly have no idea what possessed me to post this here. I'm now going to post this in the correct thread...

So, ACE and Carowinds had their backstage tour today, and people took pictures. Links to picture albums:

http://www.flickr.co...57623613684616/

http://www.flickr.co...57623613199998/

http://www.flickr.co...57623613880062/

Wicked drop (I think coming from turnaround):

This will be a sweet spot to sit:

Cool pics but those are some horrendously ugly trains. Spot on for NASCAR but horrendously ugly none the less.

Especially compared to this Ferrari Spider themed car for the racing GT coaster at Ferrari World.

(courtesy of screamscape)

...

"It was a tough year. Everybody struggled," said Don Helbig, a spokesman for Carowinds. "As the summer went on, though, it did get better. People were coming out."

Carowinds hopes to continue that trend when it opens this week for its 38th season. The park opens to the public Saturday and has big hopes for 2010.

Its main attraction this year is The Intimidator, a monster of a roller coaster that also serves as a tribute to the late NASCAR great Dale Earnhardt. Billed as the tallest, fastest and longest coaster on the East Coast, The Intimidator could help provide Carowinds with an attendance boost to make it forget any unpleasantness associated with 2009.

"It's going to really attract visitors to Carowinds from coast to coast," Helbig said. "It's drawn a lot of interest. It should be one of the best roller coasters in the world."...

http://www.heraldonline.com/2010/03/21/2032846/carowinds-banks-on-intimidator.html#ixzz0imVRkWoi

Spokesman for Carowinds?????

Since when has Don been a spokesperson for Carowinds? Doesn`t Carowinds have their own PR person to handle media requests and quotes? I could see Mr. Helbig stepping in if the Carowinds person was unavailable for some reason though.

That's what I figured. It was Danielle Swords...

Yet, her name no longer appears on the media page at http://www.carowinds.com

I wonder...

She was still making statements as recently as December:

http://www.heraldonl...rowinds-to.html

There are also web references to interviews as late as late February...

Hmm. Interesting.

I don`t want to jump to any conclusions, but it would be rather interesting if Cedar Fair decided to let her go, so close to a major new ride opening at that park. Even more confusing is why Don would be the fill in guy. Considering that Kings Island is technically in the northern region of Cedar Fair`s parks, and Kings Dominion and Carowinds are both in the Southern Region. Although, Kings Dominion admittedly has its hands full with its own new star attraction this year too.

Could this be a sign of further belt tightening by Cedar Fair? Or did she leave by her own choice? Just like the answer to slogan on how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop, the world may never know.

Or perhaps she is just ill or even on vacation. I guess we will find out soon...the park opens next weekend.

Is he gone...

If you mean Don Helbig, no...he is still very much at Kings Island, though he may now have double duty....or not.

As with the unfolding ownership situation, it is a wait and see situation.

And speaking of Carowinds opening next weekend, I`m still trying to decide if I want to make an endeavor down there next weekend or not. Its a bit of a drive from Cincinnati. But I did go down there on opening weekend last year.

If you mean Don Helbig, no...he is still very much at Kings Island, though he may now have double duty....or not.

...Thats all

Dani left Carowinds for good a few days ago to move to Durham to live with her soon to be new husband. She sent in her resignation letter a few weeks ago. She left by choice and was not laid off. You can read more about it here: http://www.carowinds....php?f=2&t=2966

Thanks for the great information!

Obviously, she did a great job and will be missed!