Carowinds 12/28

[Tr0y]

So keeping the holiday spirits up, and already have visited other Holiday events, also being that my schedule allowed I taken an impromptu trip to Carowinds. The drive down, was quiet congested with holiday travelers I assume making there way home on i77. Typically the turnpike for me is faster, but because of traffic the tolls were backed up, and this inadvertently caused me to arrive at Carowinds an hour late.

As I entered the park, the first order of business was Dinner. Because of my previous experience I had this summer at the park I chose to eat at Harmony Hall, which is a smaller version of KI’s Fest Haus. One thing I noticed was how the menu was trimmed down. The BBQ restaurant from my previous visit had a variety of proteins. Now only 3 options.  Not sure if that’s because of Winterfest or if that’s to be a future trend. I got the carved turkey breast mac & cheese, corn bread and gravy. The food what was to be expected, the turkey was especially moist and tender. After eating I made my way to outside to digest some of this food, and take in the scenery around me.

The park was busy, with lines for Fury325 and Copperhead strike being over an hour long. Carowinds uses its Wind seeker for its Tower Christmas Tree. In my opinion it didnt look as great as KD’s or KI’s decorated Eifle Towers. However their Sky Tower ride was open and taking guest up 262ft to give you a panoramic view of the decorated park from above. I did not get to ride this unfortunately due to time constraints. For time I had available I mainly used it for riding their coasters. First ride / coaster of the night was Fury 325. Incredible ride, definitely worthy of number 1 spot in the golden ticket awards.  Afterwards I rode Copperhead strike. One thing I noticed was both coasters were operating with 2 trains. This and the crowd level caused longer lines than normal, however Kings Island only operates 1 train for Flight of Cheer. I did not get to ride Mountain Gliders, due to an unruly guest in line which ultimately stopped the ride from operating and security had to be called. I could have waited, but based off time left for the park being opened I got out of line and made my way back to Fury. Doing so paid off big time. The line was much shorter, and after getting off the ride for whatever reason the Ride associate didn’t close the line at 10pm. So I got back in line at 10:04pm. As the train returned to the station to what was seemly the last ride of the night, everyone was chanting: “One more ride!” and to my surprise the Ride Ops granted our wish. I finished my night at Carowinds with 1 Ride on Copperhead strike and 4 rides on Fury325.

The following day I took a quick detour to Sevierville to visit the world’s largest knife store, Smokey Mountain Knife works. For lunch I stopped at Buc-ee’s. Once back in the Cincinnati Area, I stopped at KI for Dinner and a couple rides on Mystic.

I had a lot of fun during my short stay in Carowinds, to wrap up my travel plans for the 2023 season, cant wait to return there again in 2024!