Carowinds Discussion Thread

[prozach626]

My concern is that Cedar Fair will become the lower quality budget park and Six Flags will try to be the more premium park, while doing it the Six Flags way.

[Hilltopper39]

There have been several years in the past when we've looked at a trip to Carowinds over Spring Break but our spring break was always a few weeks before they opened for the season. Will be nice to have that option available now. 

[jarmor]

Technically the park has been toying with this for several years now.  going from being closed between scarowinds and winterfest to having the peanuts celebration covering that time period.  Now they will probably have some festival that will cover weekends from jan to feb.

[teacherkim]

On 10/18/2022 at 9:51 AM, jarmor said:

Technically the park has been toying with this for several years now.  going from being closed between scarowinds and winterfest to having the peanuts celebration covering that time period.  Now they will probably have some festival that will cover weekends from jan to feb.

Maybe Mardi Gras/Carnival? This year Fat Tuesday is Feb 21 (but I could see the parks stretch it until Easter in early April) or do MG Jan and Feb and some sort of Spring break thing in March. 

[VF15]

Fury 325, Carolina Cyclone, Flying Cobras, and Nighthawk have been added to the Winterfest ride lineup for 2022.

https://www.carowinds.com/events/winterfest/attractions

[hoppedup]

37 minutes ago, VF15 said:

Fury 325, Carolina Cyclone, Flying Cobras, and Nighthawk have been added to the Winterfest ride lineup for 2022.

https://www.carowinds.com/events/winterfest/attractions

That is great news. I've been waiting for Fury to be added. I might just have to return to Winterfest this year.

[coasterbill]

Incredible news! Hey Carowinds if you need help hauling the world's-most-hated Christmas decoration to the dump, let me know.

[BitterOldHag]

That's a pretty decent lineup of rides for WinterFest.  Really the only one I am sad about not being on the list is Intimidator, but considering Copperhead Strike, Peanuts Pirates, Fury and Nighthawk (I know. but I need the credit!) are on the list, I may have to give it a look this year. 

[grsupercity]

On 10/24/2022 at 12:46 PM, BitterOldHag said:

That's a pretty decent lineup of rides for WinterFest.  Really the only one I am sad about not being on the list is Intimidator, but considering Copperhead Strike, Peanuts Pirates, Fury and Nighthawk (I know. but I need the credit!) are on the list, I may have to give it a look this year. 

Don't let the haters get you. Nighthawk is a great ride. Better then the superman flyers. That loop while on your back is one of the most unique feelings on a ride 

[liamre4]

I went to Carowinds for the first time yesterday. I had a good time, despite slow ops. The Winterfest theming was beautiful, although it was jarring jumping straight into Christmas mode one day after thanksgiving, lol.

Here's what I rode:

Fury 325 x2
Copperhead Strike x1
Afterburn x1
Wilderness Run x1
Nighthawk x1

Fury, Afterburn, and Nighthawk were all running one train. Nighthawk in particular had very sluggish dispatches, so we waited about an hour in line for that. Copperhead Strike was running two trains and operations there were quite fast. Carolina Cyclone was down the whole time, and Copperhead Strike went down at about 7, so I only got to ride it once.

Fury was amazing, tons of airtime. All in all, a super fun ride. Hot take: Goliath at SFOG is still a better B&M hyper

A pretty good first visit with two rides on one of the best rollercoasters in the world. Can't wait to go back soon!

 

[coasterbill]

We nicknamed the dude working at Afterburn Bubba because he looks more like a Bubba than anyone who has ever looked like a Bubba.

Operations were awful last weekend too because he was busy cleaning the floor by sweeping tons of water on to the previously-dry exit stairs to make them super slippery for no reason. Then they would eventually get his attention and he would come over and check the train... slowly. I'm also pretty sure that he picked the station playlist.

Anyway, I'm glad you had fun. We went last weekend which was technically before Winterfest, but the only extras we got were a longer operating day and Goldrusher and Drop Tower were open.

The park wasn't packed, but Fastlane was a must because of one train on Fury. Thankfully it was only about 50 bucks. I'm just happy that Fury was open, beggars can't be choosers. Year-round ops is going to go great for them and I love to see them busy.

This ride is perfect...

[coasterbill]

So Carowinds has apparently just been crushing it since they decided to actually open things for Winterfest. Here are some photos from the weekend courtesy of a park Facebook group.

Sky Tower line

Rock N Roller line

I'm glad to see them doing so well. Hopefully they keep adding rides to Winterfest and tweaking refurb schedules so that Fury can always have at-least 2 trains on. I'm also curious to see if they expand their hours on Saturdays.

[thrillseeker4552]

Glad to see them doing well. It's amazing what happens when you actually open your rides! lol

Agreed about Fury needing 2 trains, at least through Winterfest. After the new year, for weekends until March I'm sure one train ops is less of a problem. But better open than closed!

EDIT: Also, now that the park is year-round, I wonder if they would consider a 4th train for Fury to cycle through maintenance. Knott's bought a third for Silver Bullet so it could have 2 trains 99% of the year. Maybe not likely but something to think about if they're serious about expanding and continuing year round.

[coasterbill]

There has been an update to the ride refurb schedule, but it doesn't impact the three rides that anyone cares about.

    Boo Blasters on Boo Hill (January 2, 2023 - February 17, 2023)
    Camp Bus (January 30, 2023 - February 17, 2023)
    Carolina Goldrusher (November 21, 2022 - March 10, 2023)
    Drop Tower (November 21, 2022 - March 10, 2023)
    Hurler (November 14, 2022 - March 10, 2023)
    Intimidator (November 7, 2022 - March 10, 2023)
    Kiddy Hawk (January 2, 2023 - February 17, 2023)
    Mountain Gliders (January 2, 2023 - February 17, 2023)
    PEANUTS Pirates (January 30, 2023 - March 10, 2023)
    The Flying Cobras (February 18, 2023 - March 5, 2023)
    Vortex (October 31, 2022 - March 10, 2023)
    Wilderness Run (January 9, 2023 - January 27, 2023)
    WindSeeker (October 17, 2022 - March 10, 2023)
    Woodstock Express (October 31, 2022 - March 10, 2023

Carolina Cyclone is actually broken so it's listed with no dates and will probably open whenever they manage to fix it.

I want to criticize the Boo Blasters decision since it's their only indoor heated ride, but after riding it in November honestly... just set it on fire, I don't care,

[tndank]

Good news Carowinds pass holders (gold and above):  now through Feb you can enter the park a half hour early to ride Nighthawk and the Carolina Skytower.  

[coasterbill]

Carowinds is opening Intimidator today, a full month earlier than originally posted. Year-round ops must be working out for them.

[Skysthelimit]

We just arrived at the Carowinds campground and will be at the park this weekend. 
 

With limited ride availability and cool temps (Florida boys here), we are debating getting Fast Lane. Sounds counter intuitive but if there are less rides to go around and chilly weather, we’re spending time inside between rides lol and keeping waiting to a minimum.
 

 It looked from the webcam that Fury still has one train. Is it possible there was only one because it’s a Friday or are they still in Winterfest-mode?
 

Carowinds isn’t one to let their coaster trains sit idly on a transfer track if the wait times exceed 10 mins (looking at you Dollywood with Tennessee Tornado), so my assumption is that it’s still one train but if someone could give me a sanity check, I’d love that! 

[tndank]

Fury has run 2 trains recently.  No idea how that decision is made.  Many assumed it would be 2 train ops going forward but it was back to one today.

[Skysthelimit]

Great news, thanks!

[KIJester]

Anyone know what the delay is with Gyro Force? I have not had the opportunity to visit the park this season but I recall a "trabant" style ride was intended for the new area.

It shows on the park map but is non-existent in all the YT videos from the new area's opening day.

[coastersandhockey]

On 4/22/2023 at 11:12 AM, KIJester said:

Anyone know what the delay is with Gyro Force? I have not had the opportunity to visit the park this season but I recall a "trabant" style ride was intended for the new area.

It shows on the park map but is non-existent in all the YT videos from the new area's opening day.

Not sure of the reasoning behind it, but it either just hasn't been built yet or straight up not even delivered yet. I recall Cedar Fair going across Europe looking for old flat rides to buy, refurb, and rebuild. Carowinds was the main beneficiary of this before so I wonder if this is a ride that they've had in storage for a few years and hit a snag when rebuilding. Especially being that this is the only new ride the park got this season that to my knowledge isn't a Zamperla 

[CedarFlags]

Hey all.  Visiting for the first time at the end of June.  Any rookie mistakes to avoid?  I'm planning to buy Fastlane, but I don't know a ton about this park other than the attraction lineup.

Cheers!

[AmyUD06]

6 hours ago, CedarFlags said:

Hey all.  Visiting for the first time at the end of June.  Any rookie mistakes to avoid?  I'm planning to buy Fastlane, but I don't know a ton about this park other than the attraction lineup.

Cheers!

With FL you won't have any issues.  The whole park is basically a circle, so when you get in, pick a direction and work your way around.  I prefer going left initially, saving Fury for last, since it's easily the best ride there and others might seem disappointing after it.

Edit:  Forgot to say to do Ricochet first if you need/want the credit.  Not on FL, and due to being a mouse at a CF park, runs with abysmal capacity.  Kiddy Hawk and Woodstock Express are also not on FL, and I've always found standing in long lines with a bunch of kids as a lone adult to be weird, so you might want to hit these early as well.

Also, don't skip on Scream Weaver.  When I was last at the park they ran a pretty decent cycle, and the Schwarzkopf Enterprises are a lot more rate than the Huss models.

[tndank]

Unless you are there on a Saturday, FP is probably not needed.  Can also be bought all over the park.  No reason to buy early.

 

[teacherkim]

12 hours ago, CedarFlags said:

Hey all.  Visiting for the first time at the end of June.  Any rookie mistakes to avoid?  I'm planning to buy Fastlane, but I don't know a ton about this park other than the attraction lineup.

Cheers!

You didn't mention the dates for your Dollywood/Carowinds trip (and you probably have it all planned out already) but do keep in mind that CoasterCon will be at Dollywood 6/18-6/21 and Carowinds 6/22-6/23 with a post days at SFOG the evening of 6/24 and Fun Spot Atl the morning of 6/25. I wouldn't try to change if your dates coincide at this point but just be aware that will be going on.