Photo TR: Carowinds

easytoremember · October 9, 2006

I just got back from my very first trip to the carowinds. We left on friday afternoon and got back Sunday afternoon. I spent all day saturday at the park and stayed for a night of Scarowinds. The drive there from Atlanta was horrible. The rushhour traffic at four o'clock on friday was terrible. It took us two and a half hours just to go 60 miles. After we got out of the traffic it was smooth sailing. We got there at about 10:30, which ruined our plans of going to Scarowinds that night since we would only have about an hour once we got there, so we just checked into our hotel and got some sleep.

We got up bright and early the next day and got there for opening. We were the first ones to BORG, and got the front row. BORG is a great ride. It totally beats SUF in all departments, accept mabey comfort going up the lift and sitting on the brakes.

After BORG, we headed to Top Gun and were happy to find an empty station. We rode it four times, one of which was in the front. Top Gun is a great invert. It is my second favorite, just behind Montu. The first drop it the most fun drop I have ever experienced on a B&M. It is twisting, forceful, and fast. All of the elements are great, especially the first immelman, which provides some nice hangtime. Top Gun places just at number nine of my favorite steel coasters.

Next we headed to thunder road to hopefully get our two credits. We were very saddened to find that backwards was closed. No racing woodie credit for us. We settled for forwards, and were fairly disapointed. It was lacking airtime and the thrill factor.

Next we headed to the flyers, which already had a fairly long line. We waited for about four cycles and got on. Right away I could tell these were much better than Holiday Worlds flyers. These were only the second flyers I had been on, so I had never gotten them to snap before. By the end of the cycle I was coming close, and I think I got it once, and I kind of freaked out, so I lost all of my momentum. I couldn't get it going again after that.

Next we headed to the Rocket Power falling star. I didn't experience the airtime that I heard came with the falling star, so I was a little disapointed with that.

After that we went on Vortex. I was expecting alot of pain, but recieved none, which I was thrilled about. The overall ride was ok. It was way better than Iron Wolf, because you didn't get beat to death.

Next we went on Ricochet. There was about a ten minute line, but the ride ops were VERY efficient, so it was only about five minutes. It was one of the best wild mice I have been on, and it would have been flat out amazing if it wasn't trimmed.

After that we went to Hurler. There was hardly anyone in the station, but the ride ops were very slow, so it ended up being a ten or fifteen minute wait. Hurler was a slightly about average woodie, with slightly above average airtime.

Then we went to lunch at wings. It was pretty good. After that we did Carolina Cyclone, which was not painful. Then we did carolina gold rusher, which was not a great mine ride, but had some good theming. Then we did BORG again. Then we went to the Nickoloden area and were denied of riding Hey Arnolds Taxi Chase, eventhough there was nothing saying we could not ride on the signage. Then we did fairly odd coaster which was a good kiddie coaster.

By then we had gotten all the credits besides Reptar, super Saturator(which was closed), Thunder Road(Closed), and Hey Arnold. We decided to leave at 4:30 and come back and hopefully pick up atleast the Reptar credit and some more rides on the flyers, Top Gun, and BORG durring Scarowinds.

We got back to the park at 7:15 and were dismayed to find that BORG already had a huge line so we headed to the flyers. We were sad to find that the entire Nick area was closed so there would be no flyers or Reptar for us, so we headed to Top Gun. Once again we found an empty station, si we got another six rides. Then we went to thunder rode hoping to get our backwards credit. We were granted our wish. The backwards side was much better than the forwards side. Mabey this was because it was raining, and it was pitch black, but I'm not sure. We rode that three times without a wait in the back car all three times.

Then we headed for hurler and drop zone. We rode each once and then headed to BORG. We waited for about 45 minutes then got on. After that it was 10:30 so we went home.

Scarowinds was kind of a dissapointment. There wasn't much difference between night and day. There was an EXTREME lack of scare people, and a lack of space with no fog machines. There were about 10-15 scare people in the entire park, and about 50-60 fog machines. I am serious. We didn't do any houses, but they sounded mediocre at best. The carnival themed area was pretty well done, and the tunnel from the front to vortex could have been good, if they had more than one scareactor.

Now for the pics.

Trivia Question:

This is not a picture of a roller coaster at carowinds. It is a picture of a picture. Who ever guesses what coaster it is gets fifty points, and whoever guesses where I got the picture gets infinity points!