robbalvey

That's just another version of the same video linked in the first post, isn't it?

Yeah, I keep hear about some other mystical video also. Where is it? Find it hard to believe that so many people have supposedly seen this video, but it's nowhere online? Seems suspect.

This is the type of crap you expect from China, not in America. I blame the ever devolving society of the world into Idiocracy for things like this. "Inspections" and "signed off" don't seem to mean anything anymore if the person inspecting and signing off is as smart as this "lawyer" from what is destined to be our future: Accidents like this shouldn't happen. There really is just no excuse for it.

It was running MUCH better than our last visit!

Not good.

Guys yes, we did just get on Lightning Rod and you can follow the updates live on Twitter, but please PLEASE do not re-post our Twitter updates (I had to delete some posts) in here. This is my trip report and I'd like to keep it like that. On the forum, we are still talking about our awesome visit to Carowinds and Fury. Please wait for me to post the next report. Thank you.

Some interesting questions. I'll try to answer as best I can. I think it's very different than Nitro. If anything Fury reminded me more of a bigger Raging Bull before they neutered Raging Bull. But I'm honestly not sure which I prefer if I had to choose. I loved Fury, but there were things about it that kept it from being a "top ten" ride for me. Yes most certainly. The trims. I felt like every time it wanted to give me ejector airtime, it would hit a trim and deliver "nice" airtime. Rides like Mako do the same thing. You have this lead-in moment where you're going "holycrap holycrap holycrap!!!" anticipating what is about to come, then you hit the trim and go "awwww..." More forceful than they have been in recent years yes, but not as forceful as B&Ms early years. That night ride I took on Ice Dragon the other day and even the first section of AfterBurn felt more forceful than anything on Fury IMO.

Trip Updates: Day 1 - Carowinds Day 2 - Dollywood Day 3 - Pigeon Forge & Gatlingurg Day 4 - Kings Island Day 5 - Holiday World! Day 6 - Six Flags St. Louis! Day 7 - St. Louis City Museum! Our 2017 USA tour has begun! With only a small group of 20 people we will travel from Charlotte, NC to Kansas City, MO hitting along the way: Carowinds, Dollywood, Kings Island, Holiday World, Six Flags St. Louis, City Museum, Silver Dollar City, and Worlds of Fun! Of course there will be some other random stops and fun along the way! Today the trip kicked off at Carowinds! It had been a few years since we were last year but the B&M collection has gotten bigger at this park... MUCH bigger! In fact Fury 325 is at the moment the tallest "traditional" coaster in the USA (meaning a full ride that is more than just a one-trick pony) and that ride delivers some incredible speed and force! Our night ERT on it was just incredible and a perfect way to start off the trip! But enough of this text business, let's move on to some photos & videos! We have officially kicked off our USA trip this year! On our way to Carowinds for some Fury Fun! Who wishes they could be here with us riding Fury 325? This is how we roll at parks! Love the Fast Lane passes! North Carolina or South Carolina? Choose one! Just took our first ride on Fury 325! That is one FAST roller coaster! Some people see two loops on a roller coaster, we see a HUGE smile... which is what we do when we are at Carowinds! What do we think? Will Vortex eventually become a "floorless" coaster? Yes/No? Quite possibly the best thing Cedar Fair parks has ever done... switching to Coke! Who wants to be riding roller coasters over whatever you're doing right now? OMG! AfterBurn is as old as Dragon Challenge! Quick! Tell Carowinds to replace this world class coaster with a "family ride!" I'm a sucker for old-school fast punchy B&M inverts. As much as I liked Fury, the back seat on Afterburn is still my favorite park "moment" at Carowinds! Because three grown adults on a kids wood coaster is totally normal right? RIGHT??? Sure! Of course we will take a ride on the Wild Mouse! Time to be zombies and go shoot some plants! Just took a "dusk" ride on Fury 325! Damn that ride hauls ass! Do you think we were having a good time on Fury 325? And I think we are having a bit of fun on Intimidator also! We've ran into so many TPR fans today at Carowinds! You guys are all awesome!!! Night time ERT has begun on Fury 325! OMG! This ride is NUTS at night! Taking turns doing solo night rides on Fury 325 because we can! When you only have 20 people, an hour ERT on the coaster, and they are running two trains, you can have a bit of fun! Let's hear it for the ladies on Fury 325! [twitter] [/twitter] Who wishes they could be filling a seat on this train? [twitter] [/twitter] I think it would appear that we all liked Fury325! The crew at Fury 325 were... AWESOME! We them so much!!! Our visit to Carowinds today is complete! We had an AMAZING time! Fury 325 was fantastic! Thank you!!! Jared bought seven shirts today at Carowinds that he used as a blanket when he fell asleep on the bus! lol He had a GREAT day! The next morning we were the first people to arrive at Carowinds! Shawn is here and he will give us a backstage tour of Fury325! Yay! We are here at Fury325 with Shawn & Laresa for an AWESOME backstage tour of this incredible roller coaster! Our backstage tour has taken us to the maintenance area with an explanation on how Carowinds does work on Fury325! This computer room is the nerve center for Fury325! It controls every electronic aspect of the coaster! What can we say? We loved Fury325! [twitter] [/twitter] Now please POST YOUR COMMETS! After all, we took the time to write the report, thru very least you can do is say something about it!

It shouldn't have ended his night. We were there too. Rain lasted like 45 minutes TOPS and after the rain storm Fury opened immediately back up and night rides were a walk on. PROTIP: Never let a bit of rain "end your day" early.

Our next adventure is already off to a great start!

It was pointed out to me today that even Terra Mitica once moved a Vekoma SLC from one side of their park to another, and just this past season Morey's Piers have spent time and money completely refurbishing and re-tracking their Vekoma SLC. TWO Vekoma SLC's have been resourcefully given new life in their same parks but Universal can't figure out how to keep a world-class ride that has been ranked in the top 20 steel coasters for more than half of it's existence. Am I the only one that sees something wrong with this picture?

Honestly don't be stupid. Yes it's a bummer it is leaving, but this will not "destroy" the park nor would signing a pointless internet petition do anything but make you look even dumber than the park for removing the ride.

You hit the 1-2-3 punch right on the head! It most certainly has "Universal" appeal (get the pun!)

Yeah, I'm sure that's probably part of it. And if they were down a truck for whatever reason at that particular time, for example, they could have bumped the wait time displayed "just in case." I actually think it's been "ok" received. I feel it's a ride that people will do once, and be genuinely impressed with the screen technology, but I'm not sure how well it holds up on re-rides. It certainly has been better received than Fallon and maybe not as well as Minions. So it's kind of right there in the middle, which IMO is probably where it should be.

Is it? This is completely anecdotal but when we visited in late June it was posting a 150 minute wait which was actually the longest line of any ride in either park. I'm just surprised to hear that since it seemed to be ridiculously popular when we went. I've not heard of the ride getting those long waits this summer. It did last summer because it was still "new." At the moment the attraction has a 25 minute wait compared to Hulk at 70, Rockit at 55, Minions at 75, and the Potter rides at 30. While Kong does seem to post longer wait times this summer (60-90 minutes on peak days) I've heard that usually the wait time is actually about half that.

THIS. Universal's appeal is that it isn't Disney. They build rides for kids when they "grow up" - older kids, teenagers, the like. They have these big honking coasters there and they're right around the 9-10 million annual attendance number. And instead of realizing that they have this niche that they can exploit and which Disney will never fully commit to battle, what do they do? They do exactly the same thing Disney does because "Well, Disney had a wider market space..." You know what fast food is most popular in America? Burgers. People love burgers. But you know, people like food that aren't burgers too. Some people like tacos. Some people like pizza. Blaze Pizza produces "fast food pizza" in a new and innovative way, and they're the fastest growing chain restaurant since the Colonel probably learned to deep fry. Trying to beat established players is hard as hell at their own game. Disrupting the market by providing a whole new product? That's a different discussion entirely. Disney is McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Five Guys, and In-And-Out all rolled into one out in Orlando. Why go head to head with them for the same people? You can't possibly win! You have to sell tacos to their burgers. Quoting for truth.

1. Dragons does not cycle nearly as much as Hulk did. Universal does Marvel Super Hero Island buyouts ALL. THE. TIME. for conventions, companies, and private parties and Hulk is usually one of the attractions that is included. That ride runs way more than you would think. Dragons, at the back of the park doesn't get as much attention. 2. There are actually many other B&Ms that run probably close to what Dragons cycles. Montu being one of them. Rides like Nemesis being another. And there are a TON of other coaster that run year-round morning to night that are still not at the end of their lifecycle. (How is it fair that Manhattan Express gets to live while Dragons dies?) 3. You could easily duel these rides again without question. Universal just chooses not to do it. If Twisted Colossus can exist in the idiot-infested Trump America, so can Dueling Dragons. 4. They *could* be sold. But they won't be. And it's not because there wouldn't be a buyer, because I'm sure there would be. If a 28 year old Schwarzkopf Shuttle Loop that ran every day can have an interested buyer and be relocated and re-opened, then I'm pretty damn sure a well taken care of, still running GREAT pair of B&M coasters could also be relocated. EDIT: I had initially read your post wrong, sorry. This is a proper response to it, though.

Personally I think it'll be scrapped because Robb has been hinting at this for a long time (well before it was a mainstream rumor), has been right about every aspect of this so far and seems pretty confident that they're not going to relocate the coaster. From my trip report to Universal Japan last December... Let's just say I've known about this for quite some time and they aren't going anywhere but the scrap yard. I didn't just go ride Dragons the other night by random chance. Yes, I'm disappointed by this news. And not because I think it's a bad idea that Universal is building more Potter attractions because what they have proven over the last 7 years is that is pretty much ALL they can build that people like, so they have to play to their audience and I don't blame them for that. What disappoints me is that they can't figure out what to do with two world class roller coasters that really aren't at the end of their lifecycle both from an operations or a guest saturation standpoint. If Universal Japan can have Jaws, Potter, and two kick-ass B&M coasters all co-exist, why can't Universal Orlando? If those coasters ran like garbage today because they have been neglected or didn't age well, I would fully understand ripping them out, but that's not the case. It's just an unfortunate situation. The park needs to sell Potter rides. Dragons takes up a lot of space. It doesn't quite fit the Potter demographic. And Universal can't be bothered to figure out something to do with the ride, which absolutely *could* be as big of a hit for the park (or one of their other upcoming parks) as Hulk is. When I see a park spending millions on rides like Kong, Fallon, and the upcoming Fast & The Furious while at the same time seeing a barrage of comments saying "please Universal no more screens" posted by everyone from their biggest fans to their casual visitors, yet at the same time they are ripping out perfectly good "top ten" rides that have high guest satisfaction scores, that just doesn't seem right to me. I mean, if Nagashima Spaland, who also operates their roller coasters year round, can move a 33 year old Ultra Twister and a 38 year old Corkscrew to a completely different side of the park to accommodate fitting in a new kids area, don't tell me that Universal wouldn't have the resources to figure out how to make a world-class pair of still fairly new B&Ms by comparison a viable attraction in their park again. *THAT* is what I'm disappointed about.

No.

Because we know.

Nope.

I would not count on them being sold.

Clearly you're forgetting that fateful day Phantasialand closed Silbermine. LOL! Even Googling it I had to ask myself "Damn, have I ever been on that ride?" and then I checked my trip reports and I had! I legit don't even remember it, so you are 100% correct...I had forgotten that fateful day!

FIXED!

This is 100% correct. Both of those rides at night in the back are most certainly still top tier coasters. And even when they dueled, it's not like you could really see that much of the other train in the back at night anyway. This is also 100% correct. Or I should say that is where my expectations are currently set. I've heard two possible rumors. The motorbike coaster or an "Arthur" style family dark ride. Neither of them sound appealing to me. That being said, I thought Flight of Passage was also going to be a "one and done" and it pisses me off how much I like that ride, because I should hate it. I'm not into Potter just like I'm not into Avatar. I'm also not into media-based 3D rides at all, but for whatever reason I could ride Flight of Passage all day long (not really, being figurative) but both Gringott's and Forbidden Journey were both "one and done" rides for me. Regardless of the IP, I just didn't think those rides were very good. I would hope that whatever it is that Universal is cooking up, it would have to be SIGNIFICANTLY better than both of those attractions *AND* Dragons for it to hold my interest. Again those are just my expectations and who knows? Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised and maybe it will make me want to go to Universal more than just a couple of times a year.