Carowinds 4-8-16

[dare-to-fly]

Overall, great day at Carowinds today.  Here are the awesomenesses and speedbumps.  

 

Awesomenesses:

1.  Harmony Hall - LOVED the bbq pork and highly recommend their mac and cheese as a side.  Wifey said the baked beans were just as good...but I'm not at all a bean-eater.

 

2.  Fury 325 - That's probably a duh, but the coaster really does rock!  It's only one trim away from being steel coaster perfection.  That darn little thing in the middle!  At least it doesn't do much!  The crew of the ride was very good at getting trains out of the station, and vaporized what little line they had in the last hour.  Walk on for Fury...yes, please!  Also, to end the night, when our train came back in, the last train of people had been sent.  The riders were yelling, "One more time...one more time..." like they often do.  When he asked, "So you really want to go again?" I was expecting the usual, "Then come on back tomorrow when we open at 10am and you can ride again."  Instead, I was surprised with, "Okay...you can ride again."  Great way to end the night!!

 

3.  Re-rides - To cut this short - they were allowed on all rides when no one was in line for your row!  The way EVERY PARK should do it!  I enjoyed re-rides on Hurler, Fury, Afterburn, Carolina Cyclone.  I miss being able to sit on The Beast in the morning like that.

 

Speedbumps:

1.  Trims on Intimidator and Hurler were ridiculous.  Snooze...  I can't even recognize the enjoyable coaster that Hurler used to be before the trims were installed, especially since they are stronger than they've ever been.  (That's all I'll say...I'll behave...)

 

2.  Intimidator's crew failed at checking our train.  When wifey's bar wasn't down the required number of clicks and they stated it over the PA, she pulled it down.  Rather than checking properly or trying to get it another click, she had them upbar our row, and jammed it into her stomach as hard as she could.  Meanwhile........guess whose bar never got re-checked?

 

3.  I overheard a conversation between two associates, one on load, one on unload, that sounded like this.  "What's the signal for unlock restraints?"  "Uh...I think it's this."  Really?  What else don't they know?  At KI, that's covered and quizzed on in general knowledge before you ever touch a ride, and you are then trained at the ride where it's covered and quizzed on again.  This leaves me wondering about Carowinds' training procedures...

 

 

Favorites:

I must say, the forgotten favorites of mine at Carowinds are still Afterburn and Carolina Cyclone.  CC is a great Arrow, and I love the fact that there are no brakes so that you can experience all the elements at full speed!  It so often gets forgotten and I wanted to make sure it got the credit it deserves.

 

 

Now my final question...

Does anyone know where they moved the entrance to Thunder Road?  I looked for it all day long, and no one seems to know where it went.  I can't find the lift to follow it either, so they must have it hiding somewhere.  

 

 

 

[MDMC01]

Good stuff, I hope to get down there this summer for Fury and Nighthawk. Did you get a chance to ride Nighthawk?

[CoasterOhio]

2.  Intimidator's crew failed at checking our train.  When wifey's bar wasn't down the required number of clicks and they stated it over the PA, she pulled it down.  Rather than checking properly or trying to get it another click, she had them upbar our row, and jammed it into her stomach as hard as she could.  Meanwhile........guess whose bar never got re-checked?

 

3.  I overheard a conversation between two associates, one on load, one on unload, that sounded like this.  "What's the signal for unlock restraints?"  "Uh...I think it's this."  Really?  What else don't they know?  At KI, that's covered and quizzed on in general knowledge before you ever touch a ride, and you are then trained at the ride where it's covered and quizzed on again.  This leaves me wondering about Carowinds' training procedures...

These two things right here are absolutely horrible to hear about. Have you actaully contacted Carowinds about these incidents?

I can understand forgetting the signal for Upbar (As it's called) since it's still early in the seasons and new operators are new operators. So I could cut a LITTLE bit of slack on the guy asking, but the fact the guy was like "uhh..." Is probably the more bad part about it. As for the first incident, wow. Utterly wow.

[Hoeter]

I'd imagine Intimidator's ride system is identical to the one on Diamondback, just a year newer of course. I know Diamondback and Banshee will not allow a train to be dispatched until restraints are down to the required point for a safe ride. Found this out the hard way on Banshee last year as I was sitting in 8-4. Restraint was down and the belt was fastened all the way, yet the system still showed it wasn't at the required point. I was just a hair away from it taking. It's a safe system that I'm sure all of the newer B&M's have. I have never felt unsafe at any point on any of B&M's coasters.

 

I've experienced several rides on Diamondback where the bar was not checked. Even though B&M designs their coasters with safety systems, backup systems for those systems and failsafes, I feel much safer when a ride operator manually checks them just to be safe. Computers aren't perfect, by any means.

 

I would have informed a member of the ride crew when you returned to the station. I had a ride on Diamondback last year where my restraint was not checked and Don was in the station when we returned. I brought it up to him as I was leaving. Safety is paramount on these rides, as it should be.

[PKIVortex]

We marathoned Afterburn last June and on the last train of the night we were allowed to stay in our seats and we didn't get checked on that final ride.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[CoasterOhio]

I've experienced several rides on Diamondback where the bar was not checked. Even though B&M designs their coasters with safety systems, backup systems for those systems and failsafes, I feel much safer when a ride operator manually checks them just to be safe. Computers aren't perfect, by any means.

 

I would have informed a member of the ride crew when you returned to the station. I had a ride on Diamondback last year where my restraint was not checked and Don was in the station when we returned. I brought it up to him as I was leaving. Safety is paramount on these rides, as it should be.

Would you happen to know what year this was?

[Hoeter]

One was last year that I know of

[dare-to-fly]

There are very few parks that I have ever not been checked (aside from Disney who doesn't check restraints).  It's interesting to me that Carowinds is one of the parks that I haven't been checked in multiple cases, mainly on Intimidator.  That tells me that whatever system they use is flawed.  I also know someone that was dispatched with the bars locked up on Goldrusher, and it's still the only park that I've ever had a restraint fail.  I have had restraints occasionally come up a click on a few rides, but never completely fail except on Carolina Cyclone a few years ago.  Not that it worried me much - the seatbelt caught it and I pulled it back down to its normal spot and reported it to the ride operator who tied off the seat.  The problem is...what if that had been a little kid going for his first ride on a looping coaster?  I can't help but see a pattern that needs to be looked into.  From the perspective of an average guest, any of these can make them feel unsafe, which is definitely not good.  Now, does this mean I won't go back to Carowinds?  Certainly not.  I'm perfectly happy going to Carowinds, as I think it's a fun park.  I just think beefing up some training and methods would be a good thing for them.  

[dare-to-fly]

Good stuff, I hope to get down there this summer for Fury and Nighthawk. Did you get a chance to ride Nighthawk?

I almost forgot about this comment.  I've ridden Nighthawk only twice.  That's plenty.  The line is always ridiculous, and it's not worth the wait for me.