Dollywood/Carowinds Trip: Advice, please!

[BeeastFarmer]

It looks like my first coaster rides of the season will happen the last week of March.

 

I am a gold pass holder at Dollywood, and a platinum pass holder for CF.

 

I went to Dollywood twice for the 2015 Christmas event; so I am learning that park.  Any advice of cheaper places to stay overnight when visiting this park?

 

This will be my first time at Carowinds, and first time at a CF park that is not KI.  Any lodging advice for the Carowinds area, as well as general Carowinds advice? 

 

When I say cheaper lodging, I am talking about clean and safe--sort of like The Shaker Inn in Lebanon, OH.  Affordable, clean and personable.

 

I am thinking of leaving central KY on Monday, hitting up Dollywood, going from there to Carowinds for two days, then back to Dollywood and back home to central KY by Friday.

 

Thanks in advance!

[teenageninja]

For Carowinds:

 

My wife and I stopped as part of a larger trip, so we stayed in downtown Charlotte to enjoy some night life, it was about a 20 minute drive to the park.

 

My wife and I went on a Saturday in July and were surprised at how short the lines were in the regular park, the water park was pretty busy though.

 

We went in the South entrance, which had maybe ~100 people waiting at the rope and went straight to Nighthawk, if you want to ride, ride it early as it's capacity is even worse than Firehawk.  It's a little different, being a 1st generation Flying Coaster, and some people prefer it.  I thought it was good.  We would have waited 2 trains, but it broke down for about 20 minutes, surprise surprise.

 

We then went Counter Clockwise around the park, riding Richocet (which is a blast) and some of the other rides, doing Fury right before lunch at about 12:30.  We waited about 20 minutes.

 

After lunch we rode Boo Blasters (I'd skip it, we waited about 30 minutes, it's basically the same as ours with different cars) then went to Intimidator.

 

We ate at Harmony Hall, it was alright, nothing to write home about.

 

Either way, have a lot of fun.

[CoastersRZ]

I have been wanting to get down to Carowinds again to check out Fury 325.  Not sure if it will happen this year or not.  My slate this year looks booked with trips to Cedar Point, KI, hopefully Kentucky Kingdom, and a trip out to Vegas and Disneyland (a week after my one year wedding anniversary, which is where we honeymooned at last year).

[coasterfanatic83]

I also have a confirmed trip to Carowinds this summer and am looking for lodging/dining suggestions! Like the OP- looking for affordable, clean, and safe.

[Hoeter]

I've been to Carowinds twice, but never to Dollywood. I'm hoping to check it out at some point in the near future.

 

Driving: If coming from Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge, I would assume you'd stay on I-40 and exit onto I-77 south near Statesville, NC. I've never been this route. As I live on the east side of Cincinnati, I usually take I-77 from the park north to Charleston, WV, head west on I-64, come up US 35 and it's a straight shot west on State Route 32 in Ohio. From Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge, it's only 5 hours or so from what I've heard. For me here, it's 8 hours to get to Charlotte.

 

Hotels: First visit was in 2014, with LoraX and company. We stayed at the Motel 6 right off Carowinds Boulevard. This is one of the hotels closest to the park itself. In fact, going out to the car that morning, you could see Intimidator and Afterburn not too far off in the distance. There are numerous restaurants and gas stations right nearby as well, in case you need something before heading into the park. In 2015, when I went down to ride Fury 325, I stayed at the Quality Inn in Rock Hill, about 10 miles south of the park. Again, numerous gas stations and restaurants in the area before you get onto Interstate 77.

 

Carowinds is a neat park as it straddles the South Carolina/North Carolina state line. When I first visited in July 2014, the construction for Fury 325 was underway and I knew immediately something big was on the horizon for the park. Also, the old plantation house entrance was one of the most unique entrances of any park I've experienced. Also, I did get a ride on one side of Thunder Road. Sadly, I never got to ride the other side before it closed for good. The new entrance at Carowinds is cool as well, as Fury 325 interacts 4 different times. The new gate itself? I would think I was up in Sandusky if I didn't know any better.

 

Definitely ride Intimidator, Afterburn, and Fury 325 is a MUST RIDE. It's one of my top coasters to date. Also, our old Flying Eagles are at Carowinds. Definitely do not leave without riding those. I have forgotten both times I was there.

 

Let us know about your experience to Carowinds!

[BeeastFarmer]

I hope to make it back to Carowinds later in the season, too.  I am actually going to take a week off of work and make a northern trip (Kings Dominion, and PA parks, but have not decided  which ones yet).  Looking forward to learning lots and riding lots this year.

[Hoeter]

When I went on my trip in 2014, I visited three Cedar Fair parks. Dorney, Kings Dominion, and Carowinds. First year having a platinum pass, I was determined to get my money's worth. I'd say that I did and more. I also visited Six Flags Great Adventure and Six Flags America. Recommend all of them, except for Six Flags America. Two people in our group skipped Six Flags America and drove straight through to Doswell, which I wish I'd done as well. But I did ride the first B&M ever built, which was cool.

 

Definitely visit Kings Dominion. Their front gate isn't as grand as ours and the layout of the park is weird as well. For example, on our International Street, Planet Snoopy is off to the right. Kings Dominion's is off to the left. There's nothing but backstage areas to the right of International Street. Dominator is in it's own little area which I thought was weird. Definitely ride Volcano, Intimidator 305, and Dominator. Backlot Stunt Coaster and Flight of Fear are identical to ours so I rode for the credit only. Avalanche is also a must ride. One of the coolest coasters I've ever been on. And don't forget Rebel Yell. If you've seen the 1977 movie "Rollercoaster" with George Segal, Henry Fonda, Timothy Bottoms, and a very young Helen Hunt, that coaster was featured. Speaking of Rebel Yell, that's the first and the only coaster I've ever been evacuated off of.

 

Fun Fact: Dennis Speigel was in the movie as the GM of Kings Dominion, his actual job at the time.

 

 

Make the most of your platinum pass. It paid for itself in spades in 2014 and 2015 for me.

[BeeastFarmer]

My CF parks I plan on visiting are:  KI, KD, CWinds, Dorney and CP.  KI visits will decrease this season.  I'm not familiar with the geography of the Virginia/PA area, so I appreciate all the help there, too.

[Hoeter]

Kings Dominion is about 25 miles north of Richmond, VA and 85 miles south of Washington, DC on Interstate 95.

 

Dorney Park is about 60 miles north of Philadelphia in Allentown, PA on Interstate 78.

 

Where would you be coming from?

[BeeastFarmer]

Well, that's the thing.  I'm trying to plan the most efficient ways to take my season trips.  I am from the Lexington area, so I had originally planned on going on 1-64 to Camden Park (briefly) then to KD-Cwinds-Dollywood and then back home.

 

Looking into it, it may be more efficient to to DW-Cwinds, and Camden-KD-BG as weekday trips.  (I work every Saturday and Sunday, so I think these are doable in 5 days)

 

There are so many parks, it seems, in the PA area-Knoebes, Kennywood, Hershey, Conneut Park and many others that escape me-not to mention a Six Flag park or two, that would be "close"- so it seems that if I take a weekend off (a week for me) that would give me 12 days to explore the PA-ish area.

 

Of course, there is KI and CP, so those will be weekday trips.

 

And last, several visits to Kentucky Kingdom, too.

[marth555]

If your going to KD dont skip BGW

[Hoeter]

Camden Park is only a couple of hours from Lexington and you're probably, I'd say 8 or 9 hours from Kings Dominion. I believe Busch Gardens Williamsburg is further east than Kings Dominion but I don't think by much, maybe 50 or 60 miles.

One thing to keep in mind...traffic. I would allow extra time as traffic in cities like Washington DC, Richmond, Baltimore, pretty much any city in the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast, has way more traffic than in our region. If it takes you 30 minutes to go 30 miles here, it could take you 45 minutes or even an hour there.

Being that Terpy is in that area, I'm sure he can relate in this situation.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

[MDMC01]

For Carowinds:

 

My wife and I stopped as part of a larger trip, so we stayed in downtown Charlotte to enjoy some night life, it was about a 20 minute drive to the park.

 

My wife and I went on a Saturday in July and were surprised at how short the lines were in the regular park, the water park was pretty busy though.

 

We went in the South entrance, which had maybe ~100 people waiting at the rope and went straight to Nighthawk, if you want to ride, ride it early as it's capacity is even worse than Firehawk.  It's a little different, being a 1st generation Flying Coaster, and some people prefer it.  I thought it was good.  We would have waited 2 trains, but it broke down for about 20 minutes, surprise surprise.

 

We then went Counter Clockwise around the park, riding Richocet (which is a blast) and some of the other rides, doing Fury right before lunch at about 12:30.  We waited about 20 minutes.

 

After lunch we rode Boo Blasters (I'd skip it, we waited about 30 minutes, it's basically the same as ours with different cars) then went to Intimidator.

 

We ate at Harmony Hall, it was alright, nothing to write home about.

 

Either way, have a lot of fun.

I plan on waiting it out for Nighthawk, no matter what the line! 

 

Pertaining to the topic, I've been to Carowinds twice and will be celebrating my 100th coaster there this summer. The first time I went, I rode about half the coasters. I remember enjoying Afterburn, Hurler and Cyclone. I also rode Goldrusher and Thunder Road (forwards). The second time I went, the only credit was Reptar (now Flying Ace Aerial Chase) as I was going through a weird phase where I didn't like coasters with lift hills. When I plan to go this summer, I def. plan on getting on Nighthawk as my 100th coaster and I'd like to give Vortex, Fury, and their Drop Tower a try. 

 

As for hotels, my family and I stayed pretty close to the park and I could see the park from our third floor room. 

[gad198]

Hotels:  Just a quick note about hotels.  If you travel a lot you'll probably want to choose a hotel chain and stick with it because of the rewards.  I personally am a Choice Hotels rewards member.  Their Choice Privileges rewards program is really nice and they run enough specials throughout the year that I typically can get four or five nights worth of free stays each year.  Whatever the case, if you stay at a hotel with a rewards program definitely do it.  Those rewards do have real value.   

• Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge: I typically stay in the Quality Inn & River Suites in Sevierville.  It's about a 15-minute drive to Dollywood.  The rooms are more than adequate and run from $55-$80 depending on the time of year.
• Carowinds: I've stayed at two places I like here - (1) Quality Inn Carowinds in Rock Hill, SC.  Not to be confused with the Comfort Inn Carowinds.  The hotel is right across the street from the Carowinds entrance off of US Route 21.  Rates run $65 and up.  (2) Comfort Suites in Pineville, NC.  It's about a 10-minute drive to Carowinds either via the highway or the back roads.  Rates here will run $80 and up but the rooms here are very good.  All else being equal you'll want to lean towards a stay in South Carolina vs. North Carolina, because the hotel taxes in SC are around 5% less (10% vs. 15%).

As far as general Carowinds advice, I just wanted to reinforce what everyone else has said about going to Nighthawk first.  Riding this first thing will save you a ton of time.  Carowinds hasn't posted them yet, but check the website before you visit to see if there will be Fury 325 ERT.  Fury 325 is actually more fun later in the day after it has a chance to warm up, but if you can get a ride or two early you might as well take advantage. 

 

As far as Carowinds food, the brisket sandwich in Harmony Hall - with mac & cheese as a side dish - was perhaps the best meal I had at any amusement park last year.  The chicken tenders at Snoopy's Snack Shack are also very good.  If you're looking for cheap eats before or after your visit there's a Cookout restaurant about five minutes away from the park.  They stay open until 11 or 12 depending on the night you're visiting so it's nice if you need a little something after park hours.         

[Hoeter]

Don't forget to ride Fury 325 at night. Sadly, I did not get to ride during the day. My only ride was at night. One of the best night rides I've ever experienced.

 

The green LED strip is visible from miles away headed north on Interstate 77. Also, the light gives off a good amount of green going up the lift hill.

[BeeastFarmer]

Thanks for the tips about Nighthawk--I don't think I'll be riding this one.  I rode Firehawk for the first time in '15, and while it was a fun ride, I don't like going backwards.  Anything is possible thought.  Up until '15 I had given up on looping coasters until one day in July I decided to ride the mighty Vortex, which lead to Banshee.  Firehawk didn't make me nauseous, I was just disoriented and had some tachycardia and diaphoresis after the ride.