bgwfreak777

I also forgot to mention something that isn't something you'd think much about at this point, but they are in the middle of removing tons of asphalt in the park and replacing it with brick pavers! They have the front of the park done, and they've gotten the section from Intimidator down to almost Planet Snoopy done as well. The park expects this to cut down on the heat in the midways considerably. And with our heat in the summer, that's a good thing. I don't care what people say about Cedar Fair, they are throwing a TON of money into this park this year.

On Saturday, March 13 ACE members and their guests got into Carowinds 2 weeks early to preview the new B&M hyper Intimidator, the progress of converting Nick Central into Planet Snoopy and the makeover of Carolina Cyclone, which is turning 30 this year. That's all I'll say, because most of you skip this part anyway. For all 176 photos visit: http://travel.webshots.com/album/577006136TGIqud?vhost=travel For video footage of Intimidator testing visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGJLQBprvXQ The Geek Invasion begins I don't know why, but the park actually received two test seats for Intimidator. There is one up at the ride that looks almost ready to go, then there is one over in the warehouse. First on the tour was Carolina Cyclone and its extreme makeover. I personally like the new colors, but I'm sure many will feel different. It is a bit "RCT", but it brightens up that part of the park considerably from the old color scheme. Trying to be artsy. Apparently Dominator was supposed to have something similar, with each inversion being yellow or something like that. I guess we got that idea instead because KD ran out of time with Dominator's paint job. Are you ready to rumble!?! Cyclone looks all happy in its new colors. What is that I see across the park? Timmy looks almost purple in this shot. Guess he's trying to be like his brother Diamondback. Insert your own ACE/Coaster Geek joke here. And we're walking! (Sorry, someone came up with that Saturday and I had to steal it) Bill was there when they brought the first coaster over on the Mayflower. j/k I love Bill, but couldn't resist. He's a walking history of coasters, because frankly he's been on many coasters that have long since bit the dust. We continue backstage and get a few shots of IntRimidator. What? I only have 2000 pics so far today? MUST TAKE PICTURES!!! And we're walking... Hope we don't get a strong wind from the south. It might blow over. Sean was never heard from again. Watch your heads coming out of the helix. Bench: The Ride sees its latest installation. I think you're doing it wrong. Hyper from the bridge Winner's Circle is coming along. Ride photo is coming along as well. Notice the garage door. Funny how much the station reminds me of Diamondback, but everything is in reverse. The stairs are on the left, instead of right, queue on left instead of right, etc. Someone also made a good point that the soon-to-be grassy area in front on Timmy will be a great spot for a flat ride. This is torture being so close, but so far away. (No rides today) We missed the crew before they went to lunch, so after hanging around Planet Snoopy (pics to come later) we finally got to see the ride run a few times to get pictures and video. The trains look fantastic, but I'm a bit biased as red and black are two of my favorite colors. Oh and yeah Carowinds is my home park. I'm glad we finally got a coaster tall enough that it would need one of those red beacons on the top. From this angle the helix looks an awful lot like a B&M Flyer Pretzel Loop! More to come: Planet Snoopy!

I didn't know Jimmy Carter was doing the fair circuit. Great report, reminds of the SC/NC state fairs.

As requested:

I know what you are saying, but why is it that Carowinds can have theirs done before opening day, but SFOG can't? I mean, if it was like they just had Superman & Goliath back up to full capacity I'd be cool with that. But every single coaster only running one train? Honestly can Carowinds be doing so much more maintenance in the 3 weeks that lead up to their opening, than SFOG opening 3 weeks earlier?

The park was actually very dead on Saturday. Everyone was either in line for A: Season Pass Processing, B: Goliath or C: Superman. Towards the end of the day lines actually became what I'd expect on a day where the parking lot was only 1/4 full. Sad. I find it strange that Carowinds while having a less stellar coaster lineup than SFOG, almost always runs 2 trains on everything unless it is absolutely dead. Why is it that Carowinds understands this, but SFOG doesn't? The only thing I can figure is that they want to force you into getting a Flash Pass, which is ridiculous.

Hi again in coaster forum land: Saturday Sean, Andrew and myself headed down to Atlanta for some early coaster riding. Well, I know you guys in Cali and FL get to ride all year, but I'm not quite so lucky. If you'd like to view all my photos go here: Six Flags Over Georgia 2010 pictures from amusement parks photos on webshots Also check out my video. YouTube - Six Flags Over Georgia 2010 Anyway, on with the show. If you've driven I-85 from Charlotte south, you'll know the big butt as I like to call it. Surely this isn't Atlanta traffic. I don't know where everyone was, but normally it is backed up to the South Carolina state line. Atlanta's mid-town is about the size of most cities downtown. And to think, they predict Charlotte will be the size of ATL in the next 10+ years. *shudders* Howdy Mr. Turner. Ah yes, the reason we got up at 4:45 on a Saturday. Along with Carowinds joining the B&M hyper wars, they join SFOG as having one of the most visible hypers from an interstate. I think this is our exit. Batman looks very sharp in his new coat of paint. The ride was also running incredibly fast and smooth and insanely intense! I wonder if they drained all that water out yet? No gang signs please! Is Top Gun moving here? Now begins the theme of this trip report: Coaster Photos Without Trains! For short I'll call them No Train #, so in this case this is No Train #1. You see, yet again, Six Flags Over Georgia decided that despite one hour waits on many of their coasters, they didn't need to run a 2nd (or 3rd) train on ANYTHING! Why? I have no idea why this park has such a problem with running a second train when they have a line! Ugh. I will say that most coasters we rode were running great, but with one train operation it made for a very limited number of rides. The coasters all opened late as well because of the cold temperatures that morning. Double ugh. So far we are running between 1 & 2 flags for this trip. No Andrew! Stop! Too late, security showed up and we never heard from Andrew again. No train #2 Dude's text reads: "I know! I can't believe the Wiggle's are coming myself! It's a dream come true!!!" Um, I thought this coaster was going in Magic Mountain. No train #3 Sean just saw Mr. Six dance by naked. Best thing I've seen all year. No more hair gel! No train #4 Eh? Nope, I can't figure it out either. Now for the new section of the park: Abandoned Lickskillet! The park didn't bother to put up a sign (that I could see), so I have no idea why they ripped down the western show stage, and boarded up all the shops! I also stopped and paid my respects again to Deja Vu. And before you ask, yes I looked at that sign on the right, but it didn't have any info. Hey Six Flags! Take this ugly piece of junk down and put a nice restaurant with a view of GASM here! It would be something I'd actually spend money on! Carowinds charges half the price SFOG does, and theirs is taller! I sense a great disturbance in the force. Actually it wasn't bad for me in the 2nd to back row, but Andrew said it killed his shoulders. What the? Ninja's air compressor is run by an old V8? Are you serious? Mass Confusion: The Ride. SFOG doesn't know how to fix this ride so that it parks correctly, so when it pulls in and they open the gates, the guy yells "GO ONE ROW BACK!", but everyone still goes to the row in front of them, which creates mass confusion and makes the load even longer. No train #5. And with that I'll end my report. I spent more time trying to get some footage than anything, as I've got tons of pictures of SFOG already and our time was very limited due to the fact that the park opened 1.5 hours late and they closed at 7:00. My overall thoughts on the park: Georgia Cyclone- Insane airtime this year, but the seat dividers are so rigid that every jolt and shake of the train went right into my hip bones. Again, insane airtime this year, but you have been warned that you might need to see your chiropractor afterwards. Batman- The new blue paint job looks fantastic, and the ride is running faster and smoother than it has in years. Mind Bender- I was very happy to see that they actually had it up and running opening day. I've heard stories of it not opening for 3 weeks or so after opening weekend. Still a fantastic ride, but with one train ops, I didn't get but 2 rides. Lo.ckers- WHY? I can't tell you how angry it makes me that the park wants you to pay for a locker at Goliath, Georgia Cyclone, Superman and Georgia Scorcher. Why can you allow us to leave our stuff in one coasters station, but not the other? Overall Park- The park looked very nice, the staff for the most part were friendly and helpful (shocking I know), I hope they can keep it up throughout the year. Operations- Again, one train operations and I just don't get how you don't have 2 trains on coasters like Goliath, Superman and Batman which were all very popular and had 1 hour+ lines during the day. Season Pass- I couldn't help but buy a pass this year, since a pass is only $5 more than daily admission (through May I think). Parking- Still a rip-off at $15.

^ Or they just know that B&M means quality.

During SCarowinds they will rename it Dominatrix.

Early pass processing too! Although I hope that isn't the BIG announcement coming today.

Lovin' the pics! Reminds me of a few of mine. I finally found mine I posted a while back... http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=27389&hilit=wes+retro

OK let's say you are renting a house, and you put a bunch of stuff in that house. Then you decide to leave, all that stuff is still yours. So I can see Six Flags' point, but at the same time if say I build a deck on that house I was renting, I couldn't exactly take it with me.

Maybe building X Coaster out of plain sphagetti wasn't such a good idea. Visioneer has my vote so far. Houston, We have a problem!

Great photos and I'd love to try out your job sometime, except I can't speak a lick of German.

Cool, I wasn't really worried about it. I just thought it was kinda funny. And here are a few of it testing and one to prove that it does snow in Charlotte.

Looks innocent no? This ride was/is at Pedroland Park at South of the Border. It was the only ride I rode there, and for good reason. I got about half way up the first rotation and felt the ride sway. The operator (or some guy that just walked up off the street, you decide) let it go around one or two more times then stopped it and told me he didn't think it was working right. I think he let me ride something else, but I can't honestly remember what. Here's the full report: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27131

I was looking through the database, and somehow carolinacaniac got credit for all my photos.

Looks more like diving into cereal than pasta.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1lV9VpH8oA I got the chance to watch it test yesterday.

I worked at Carowinds this past fall and it was interesting to see the park from the employee standpoint. I've been going to Carowinds all my life and never knew there was an employee cafeteria right across from the Carolina Cobra entrance. Also, the service road that loops the park, used to be part of the railroad loop that ran around the park in the 70s.

Very nice end to the ptr. Good use of Rocky Top as well.

Nice find. But wouldn't this have been in the 80s since rcdb says that Shockwave only ran till 1988?

I can't speak to July 4, but I was trying to leave Pigeon Forge on Memorial Day weekend, and it was not a fun experience. I'd avoid the place at all costs.

Just ride the new style train in the very front. You might have a different opinion.

- Favorite new coaster -- Diamondback and Voyage - Favorite new ride - Monster Mansion - Favorite new park - Freestyle Music Park - Most memorable park moment - Carowinds' announcement of Intimidator - Most memorable coaster moment - My first and only front seat ride on Dragster, feeling like my face was melting. - Best ERT session - Rampage @ GAP event (2009) - Least favorite coaster - Hard to decide between T2, Mean Streak & Son of Beast - Least favorite ride - 2 of the 3 SLC's I've been on. - Least favorite park - Pedroland - Most interesting ride you've seen introduced - Maverick (until I rode it) - Least interesting ride you've seen introduced - Intimidator 305 - Your favorite TPR moment (favorite post, trip report, video, whatever!) - TPR Calendar - The decade's biggest flop - Maverick - The decade's biggest success - Millennium Force - The best meal you've had at a park - Anything at BGE - The worst meal you've had at a park - All the generic crap at the big chains. - Best park turnaround - Kings Island - Worst park turnaround - Can't honestly think of one. - What was the biggest trend of this past decade? - Lots of buy outs, sell offs and sadly closures.