Carowinds TR!

[diamondhawk]

On June 19, I went to Carowinds. Yes, I realize I am over a month late, but I've been busy. Okay, here we go.

I didn't really want to pay full admission and I didn't want to upgrade to a platinum pass because it will most likely be only Cedar Fair park this year (besides KI). I decided to try the Starlight Ticket and hope for the best. At 3:30 we stopped at McDonald's because the last thing I wanted to do was buy food in the park. We entered the park at exactly 4:00. First stop was Vorex. Why? I've never been on a stand-up roller coaster before!

Ride Reviews

Vortex- 8.5/10, Wait Time- 0 minutes. To be perfectly honest, the coaster wasn't as exciting as I expected. Plus it's not the most comfortable ride for a, um, man. I rode Vortex twice since I have never been on a stand-up coaster. Fun ride, but I guess I'd rather have a working Derlirium than a King Cobra.

After this we headed to Intimidator. Of course, it broke down while we were in line (just my luck)! So we headed to Nighthawk.

Nighthawk- 8/10, Wait Time- 15 minutes. For those of you who know of or have been to Carowinds, Nighthawk is the same thing as our Firehawk. The dual loading station doesn't help wait time for Firehawk. The same size line at Carowinds took about the same waiting time. Anyway, I thought it would be fun that the ride was over a lake, but it was actually pretty disgusting. The water was greenish and dirty. I think water geysers would be very cool for this ride, but what do I know. If I remember correctly, there was no helix at the end of the ride and the corkscrews were rougher (hence the 8/10 rating). As you can tell from the name Diamondhawk, I am a Firehawk freak!

Back to the now open intimidator!

Intimidator- 9.5/10, Wait time- 10 minutes. The problem with this ride is that I can compare it to Diamondback! It was a very fun ride, but it was not as fast as DB, there was less airtime than DB, and there was no splashdown. Not to mention the ride was not in the woods and part of it was almost in the parking lot. However, giving credit where credit is due, I liked the racing theme (even though I'm not a racing fan). Diamondback doesn't really have a theme. I don't know if this had anything to due with the break down before, but the ride-ops were telling us we had 20 seconds before the train left, with of without us! Yikes! What happened to Southern Hospitality? We rode this ride twice because it was still fun and a nice variation from DB which I ride around 50 times a year.

Off to Planet Snoopy? Oh don't worry, we're just making a pitstop to the Woodstock Gliders!

Woodstock Gliders- 10/10, Wait time- 5 minutes. In case you don't know, this ride is our Flying Eagles. This statement basically sums up my ride review- bring them back to KI!

Top Gun, excuse me, Afterburn was next.

Afterburn- 10/10, Wait time-0 minutes. Amazing ride! By far my favorite coaster at Carowinds. If you're ever at Carowinds, this ride is HIGHLY suggested by me. Blows Invertigo out of the water (sorry about that Invertigo). I just liked everything about the ride. Of course it may just be personal prevence, and everyone else here hates it, but oh well. I love the G-Forces you get, the batwing and loop. Rode this a total of 4 times. I could've keep riding but the rest of my group wanted to move on (losers).

Southern Star- 5/10, Wait time- 5 minutes. Wait, I left Afterburn for this? For those of you who want Delirium of Viking Fury to go upside down, DON'T. It's actually painful hanging at the top for your thighs pressing against the restraint, and all the blood goes to your head. Not to mention unfriendly ride ops, but I'll get to that later.

Thunder Road- 6/10, Wait time- 0 minutes. Basically a rougher version of The Racer IMO even worse than the blue racer side. Exactly the same layout even though I think Thunder Road kept it's last drop that The Racer lost. To make things worse, Only the South Carolina side was running.

Boo Blasters- 7/10, Wait time- 5 minutes. I like our ride cars better. More room and a equal advantage for everybody. I also wasn't a fan of banging into the doors, and the que being outside.

Carolina Cobra- 7.5/10, Wait time- 5 minutes. Non-inverted Invertigo. Nothing more, nothing less. I felt less G-Force on this ride than Invertigo, but that's just me.

Ricochet- 8/10, Wait time- 0 minutes. I've always like wild mouse coasters for some reason. Maybe I like the way it feels like you'll fall off the side. I think KI should get one, but I know, capacity nightmare.

Carolina Cyclone- 7/10, Wait time- 0 minutes. Rough and not as long or fun as Vortex (KI's Vortex). I know I sound very critical, but I guess KI spoiled me!

Hurler- 3/10, Wait time- 0 minutes. Oh my this hurt. Not fun at all. I made the mistake of putting my hands up for the first drop, and ouch. Many will disagree, but I thought it was almost as bad as SOB is terms of roughness. The good news is Hurler is a lot shorter than SOB!

We went to ride Vortex one last time (since we may never be on a stand-up coaster again). We had the train to ourselves, which was fun. Same review and rating as above.

I then bought a Carowinds shirt since it was 8 and we left after a fun day!

That's it for part 1. In part 2, I will compare KI to Carowinds and point out special things that I noticed. Thanks for reading!

[The Interpreter]

Thunder Road: Both sides are in both states.

Great report. Thanks for sharing!

I look forward to the next part!

[ohiocolts]

Thanks for the report! And, I do love Afterburn, fun coaster.

[BB1]

Sounds great! I am actually planning to be at Carowinds for the H20 PT 2012, sounds like the Caro has gotten better by the years,

[jcgoble3]

Sounds like a great trip!