Carowinds Discussion Thread

[pproteinc]

Yea the BMW plant in Greenville, SC have been renting out the park on the last Sunday of June for almost 8 to 10yrs now. Charlotte have become accustomed to it.

[historyfreak92]

Things change! But I really hope an RMC on this one, & maybe Hurler!

[cdcruizer05]

Well the moment of truth is a week from today, if my hopefully not-so-fat-anymore A$$ can fit in Fury 325.

 

What size are you down to now?

 

I'm wondering the same thing, i'm visiting the park on June 20th. i was too fat in April, I've lost 20 pounds since then, hope to lost another 10 by the June 20th.

 

I guess i'm right at a 44/46 waist...i just hope my legs are small enough...since that's really where the bar rest.

[thrillrider]

Think it was always like that. I remember folks on other sites mentioning that and about how much it would cost to rent the entire park out.

 

 

Thank's for the info. I can't believe I missed that when booking our trip.

 

Another thing I just noticed about the parks hours are that they are only open 10-5:30 in October. I am kinda surprised that this park does not do a haloweekends event. Is there a reason why they don't?

[megametal]

They do. It's called Scarowinds. 5:30 is probably the cutoff for regular hours, and then the Scarowinds activities commence that night.

[thrillrider]

They do. It's called Scarowinds. 5:30 is probably the cutoff for regular hours, and then the Scarowinds activities commence that night.

 

Oh, ok. The schedule does not mention that. Thank you.

[Millenniumfan94]

I am planning to visit Carowinds for the first time on Saturday, June 20th. We plan on driving down from Ohio on Friday afternoon and will be staying at the Best Western across the street. We were planning on spending a full day at the park that Saturday and then continuing on to the next leg of the trip on Sunday. Kings Island is our home park, so I was wondering how the typical Saturday crowd at Carowinds compares to Kings Island. I am thinking about indulging in Fast Lane but am still on the fence.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions or tips so that we can get the most out of our visit?

[fraroc]

Well the moment of truth is a week from today, if my hopefully not-so-fat-anymore A$$ can fit in Fury 325.

 

What size are you down to now?

 

I'm wondering the same thing, i'm visiting the park on June 20th. i was too fat in April, I've lost 20 pounds since then, hope to lost another 10 by the June 20th.

 

I guess i'm right at a 44/46 waist...i just hope my legs are small enough...since that's really where the bar rest.

 

I still wear 46 pants but the last time I measured myself I was 44 inches getting closer to 43. Also, I've noticed that my leg muscles seem a lot harder than what they used to be, which means that my legs are slightly leaner and not as fat.

 

People have been noticing that I've lost quite a large amount of weight. I'm currently 260, and when I went on Apollo's Chariot (and made two clicks) last year, I could have possibly been 48 inches in the waist and a possible 280lbs. Now I'm nearing 43 inches and my 46 pants are super-loose.

[fraroc]

double post sorry.

[chknwing]

I am planning to visit Carowinds for the first time on Saturday, June 20th. We plan on driving down from Ohio on Friday afternoon and will be staying at the Best Western across the street. We were planning on spending a full day at the park that Saturday and then continuing on to the next leg of the trip on Sunday. Kings Island is our home park, so I was wondering how the typical Saturday crowd at Carowinds compares to Kings Island. I am thinking about indulging in Fast Lane but am still on the fence.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions or tips so that we can get the most out of our visit?

 

probably the busiest day. I would avoid saturday like the plague. Monday/tuesday is best.

[Shavethewhales]

So I got back yesterday from my 2000+ mi road trip, of which Carowinds was the farthest point. I was impressed by this park and am really glad I got the opportunity to travel all the way from Tulsa to visit this year. The coaster collection here is superb with the big 3 B&M's, a great classic arrow, and the classic out and back wooden combo, and the vekoma flyer.

 

I was pessimistic about Fury after it was announced. From the renderings it looked like it was a coaster made mostly to make the front entrance look good and was too stretched out to provide any fun moments. I can now say I was 100% wrong and that B&M knew what they were doing because this coaster was probably the funnest ride to ride over and over again on the entire trip. It does have a couple of blah moments that might have been addressed better if they weren't working around the entrance, but the total ride experience was tremendous. I was blown away by how much fun the outbound curves were while going that fast, and by how much airtime was given by the final hills. I've been around this hobby long enough that I should have known better than to make judgements before riding, but this will be a lesson I won't forget!

 

I found Carolina Cyclone to be surprisingly good for a classic arrow looper. It wasn't too rough, and the inversions were taken at the right speed to be pretty fun. Afterburn is probably the best B&M looping coaster I've ever been on, and of course I thought Intimidator was excellent as well, albeit with a disappointing ending. With this trip I've experienced three B&M 200ft+ coasters now, and I'm definitely a huge fan.

 

It's a shame that Thunder Road is leaving this park as I really did think it added a lot of appeal to the place, but it seems like the locals and the PTB don't feel the same. It's like the coaster is a red-headed step child for the park with the way its unpainted and worn-looking and with its station is tucked away in a back corner behind games and a frozen ice stand. It didn't feel like a celebrated coaster, in contrast to Racer at King's Island that I also experienced on this trip. The ride itself is good though. While it doesn't have a huge amount of airtime and is a little rough in the wrong seats, it is fun and a classic experience that I enjoyed marathoning. It felt like a little more work put into it would make it really great again, but it simply isn't looked at as a good coaster now that there are so many great steel coasters in the park. The only thing wrong with this coaster is that it is in the way - it just seems like a big waste of our quickly diminishing classic wooden coaster population. Let's hope they don't get any ideas about KI's Racer!

[aLFREd_25]

So I got back yesterday from my 2000+ mi road trip, of which Carowinds was the farthest point.

 

I hope you didn't make that drive alone. My girlfriend and I are doing the same thing. Well, kinda; We stopped at Dollywood on Saturday, did Carowinds yesterday, and are currently in Atlanta to do SFOG before driving back to Tulsa on Thursday.

 

Fury was a huge surprise to me. It was built for speed and did a great job at maintaining throughout the course! Afterburn was by far the best surprise of this trip. I knew it would be intense, but that old school B&M was just..amazing. Forceful from the drop to the breakrun!

[Joe Cool]

Well at least I have one side of Thunder Road. Didn't seem that rough when I rode it. Hurler is what really should be torn down that ride is terrible.

[Keetz]

Fury was a huge surprise to me. It was built for speed and did a great job at maintaining throughout the course!

 

Agreed! I visited the park this weekend, and Fury was running much faster than when I rode opening weekend. The ride gave some very forceful floater on the turnaround dive that had me thrown sideways in the back left seat, it was amazing!

 

I also FINALLY got a front seat ride, after riding 10 times. They still don't have a mechanism in place to wait extra for the front row which really bugs me. The front seat lets you feel all of the speed and is by far the best row on the ride.

 

Other notes, Intimidator was running very fast the one night (compared to opening weekend). It was much more impressive this time around and gave great airtime. Overall the faster running coasters made the trip a great surprise.

[DJeXeL]

Webcam view of Fury definitely makes you "feel the sting".....

[nannerdw]

[SFOGdude25]

There has to be a nest up there, because I just checked out the webcam and there's a bunch of those wasps flying around.

Pretty cool haha.

[GCI Wooden]

There has to be a nest up there, because I just checked out the webcam and there's a bunch of those wasps flying around.

Pretty cool haha.

 

Same here.

 

I love it.

[LiftThrill]

...page 666. kewl

 

Fury's theming is about to go through the roof if these "hornets" keep at it

[Ape]

\m/

[ImNotOneOfYou]

Hey look! Theming!

 

Page 666

[nannerdw]

[Intimidator305]

^ What will happen when Cedar Point listens to the GP and builds a coaster taller than 500'.

 

On a different note, three weeks after the Thunder Road announcement and it seems like the #SaveThunderRoad campaign is calming down. I'm curious what park execs thought of the outcry (even though it was to be expected).

[Jwalther420]

Heading to the park tomorrow (daughter's birthday - can't avoid a Saturday). We're serious riders. I'd rather not blow the money on Fast Lane + but will if its necessary. What kind of wait times should I expect on a really really hot Saturday on Fury, Intimidator, etc.?

[LiftThrill]

Heading to the park tomorrow (daughter's birthday - can't avoid a Saturday). We're serious riders. I'd rather not blow the money on Fast Lane + but will if its necessary. What kind of wait times should I expect on a really really hot Saturday on Fury, Intimidator, etc.?

Since it's a Saturday I'm guessing from this TR that FL/FL+ would probably be a good investment, but I recommend getting into the park first and then deciding if it will be worth it to get the passes.