Carowinds 5/24/13

[jasonondropzone]

Hey! Bear with me on this post, it's so early and I have not gotten much sleep.

Alright! So, yesterday I went to Carowinds with the school chorus, and it was super fun, we left about 2:30AM Friday, and arrived at around 9:10, for some reason the park opened at 9 and closed at 6. First we headed to Vortex, I give it an 8 for fun and a 10 for the crew working this coaster, they were all really nice and were cracking jokes the whole time we were in the station!

After Vortex, we headed over to Intimidator, it had a fairly short line, but not that it matters, it always flies by. I give it a 9 for thrill and a 6 for the crew, they were kind of grouchy and just not very social-able after being compared to our greeting from The Vortex crew. Moving on to our next ride, Nighthawk, even though it was still relatively early, this ride had an awful line, and I was the only one in my group who had rode it's kin, Firehawk, so no one else really knew what to expect, and this is honestly the only type of rides at a park I'm afraid of, I give this ride a 9 for thrill and their crew a 6, again, grouchy, and just not very talkative, and the main ride op, her mouth was so close to the mic, I couldn't understand a word she said.

From the Nighthawk, we moved over to the Caroline Cobra, and as we went their, as I expected seeing as it was windy, guess what was open? Not WindSeeker, but I'm not interested in that rid after riding it 3+ times, it gets boring. Back to our main topic, the Cobra line was a little long but not long enough to have the turnbacks(?) opened up. I give this ride an 8 for thrill and their crew an 8, they were a little talkative which is a nice thing after having two rides in a row have boring ops.

After we rode the Cobra, we went over to the little shack restaurant, across from Goldrusher, and beside the hanging shark, they wanted 9 bucks for a basket holding 3-4 pieces of chicken tenders, and the rest of the basket was full of fries, I dished it out, but dang! Oh, I also bought my souvenir cup here, I don't like the price raise, and the enforced rule of free refills only on day of purchase, so this now means when I go to Kings Island on the 18 & 19 next month, I'll have to pay a dollar for refills one day, even though all I drink is water, and it's tap water I'm getting, yuk!

A while after eating, and waiting on some friends to come back, we headed over to the Carolina Cyclone, had a huge line, but went by sort of fast, we rode it then upon returning to the station, I saw a ride op pushing a button and nothing happening, so he then gets on the mic and says "Sorry guys, we're experiencing some technical difficulties." I am just so glad that they have the manual release buttons on the trains. After that, we headed toward Afterburn, but a friend wanted to ride Vortex because she hadn't gotten to, so we stopped their, same old funny crew! Anyways, back to Afterburn, this ride had a long line but went by pretty fast, seeing how we had to be back at the front gate at 5:30, and it was 4:30 when we got in line, and we had enough time to ride that, spend almost twenty minutes at the photo booth, and then go get another ride on a now open Intimidator, it had been closed a while, apparently because someone fainted on the ride.

We didn't do Hurler, Thunder Road, or Ricochet. All in all, I had a good time, a very nice close to my middle school years, and it's still hard to believe that in two months I'll be roaming the halls of the local high school! The park itself has a very nice atmosphere and the climate is a very nice touch, I'd love to live there, just not in hurricane season, that derecho last summer was enough for me! Now I can't wait for Kings Island, and now that school is out, the days will fly by!

Thanks for reading,

Jasonondropzone

[The Interpreter]

Thank you for posting! I am fascinated by how much attention you pay to ride crews. Have you considered being a part of one some day?

[Rustbucket]

Nice report. Like the Interpreter said, crew rating was nice. Afterburn and Intimidator are definte must ride at Carowinds. I will try to get there next week.

[malem]

enforced rule of free refills only on day of purchase, so this now means when I go to Kings Island on the 18 & 19 next month, I'll have to pay a dollar for refills one day, even though all I drink is water, and it's tap water I'm getting, yuk!

You won't be charged for tap water, whether you request it in a (miniature) cup or in your souvenir bottle.

[The Interpreter]

And the park's apparent policy is not to honor the 99 cent soda refill price on other parks' cups, though enforcement appears spotty.

[jasonondropzone]

And the park's apparent policy is not to honor the 99 cent soda refill price on other parks' cups, though enforcement appears spotty.

Even if I took my carowinds cup, they'd scan my cup and see it's theirs, and I would love to be a ride op but closest park is an hour away!

[Creed Bratton]

Thanks for sharing! Carowinds is a different park for me, I'd love to get back there some day. Loved your ratings on the crews.

What is your favorite ride at the park? Where did you sit?

[jasonondropzone]

Thanks for sharing! Carowinds is a different park for me, I'd love to get back there some day. Loved your ratings on the crews.

What is your favorite ride at the park? Where did you sit?

Oh goodness, such a toughy. It's between Afterburn and Intimidator, on Afterburn I was sitting on row 4 toward the station, and on Intimidator, I first sat on the back row, toward the station, and the second time I was in row 4, toward the station.