Carowinds Discussion Thread

[Skycoastin Steve]

Won't be there on opening day, but I'll be there Easter Sunday!

[Homeboy23]

^^ This it? www.macspeedshop.com/

[larrygator]

^^ This it? www.macspeedshop.com/

 

 

Yes, that's it!

[Pufferfish]

Mac's BBQ is okay, I personally prefer Sticky Fingers (easy to stop at for those of you coming south bound), Maurice's, or Burk's(both of which are easy to get to for those of you traveling north bound).

 

For those of you worried about the trims, don't be. This ride is going to be one of the best come time for the Mitch Hawker poll. I will be working opening day, so make sure those of you who are coming say hi to me.

 

I'm ready for a great year, and I hope you all are too. See you on opening day!

[larrygator]

^I had Sticky Fingers in Chattanooga and they are awesome. Oh man, I guess I'm gaining some weight when I make it to Carowinds later this year.

[carolinacaniac]

Either place might be worth a lunch break from Carowinds this weekend, or maybe even dinner after the park, either way, I am looking forward to trying out a new place!

 

-Gary T.

[DarkStitch626]

I agree Sticky Fingers all the way. Looks like I won't be doing opening day myself but the weekend after is looking pretty likely for me.

[derek_lentz]

I am really really jealous that I can't be there on opening day. I am coming home in the summer tho and an Intimidator marathon is in the cards. I hope they do have a single riders line.

They did say that there is a single riders line.

[jmicha]

I just realized a fun situation. I will be driving right by Carowinds on my way to Savannah for co-op on Saturday. Hopefully I will be awake lol, I'd love to see it operating on its opening day.

[CoasterGuy06]

Well it looks like I'll be visiting Carowinds for the first time on opening day...I guess this will be an interesting experience.

[Skycoastin Steve]

Won't be there on opening day, but I'll be there Easter Sunday!

Nevermind on this one. I'll be there opening day!

[Pufferfish]

Media day is coming up in only a matter of hours. As soon as I get back expect a comprehensive review of the ride. I just hope it doesn't decide to rain during the event. I will have plenty of pictures, and I will post a couple of them here, but once I get them all uploaded, if you want to see them all they will be hosted at Theme Park News Direct. I'll inform you all when they are up.

 

One final thing, for all of you coming on opening day, please be sure to say hi to me. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one named Andrew on the crew, so I shouldn't be too hard to find.

[SunsetKali]

^ Well sweet then! Then I'll be rock'n the single riders line (as long as there aren't families and groups that go in there thinking it's gonna be quicker, therefore making it a longer wait than the regular line. That happens at Rock n Rollercoaster and it's annoying)

[Pufferfish]

^That won't happen, we are running the single rider line like Diamondback's, you will have to get a pass to use it. This gives us the ability to tell people EXACTLY what the line is for.

[SunsetKali]

Oh that's good news. Maybe Disney should do something like that (cough cough)

[willh51]

^That won't happen, we are running the single rider line like Diamondback's, you will have to get a pass to use it. This gives us the ability to tell people EXACTLY what the line is for.

 

Are you serious, that's awesome? Where do you get the pass? Like from guest services?

 

I can't decide whether to go tomorrow or Sunday. Tomorrow is going to be out of control but sunny, Sunday might be less crowded but it's supposed to rain.

[Homeboy23]

^^^ When did Diamondback start doing that? I was there in June and they had no such tickets. I walked right into the single ride line.

[angryemobeaver]

On opening day and the first month or so, Diamondback had little ticket things that said "Single Rider" and you had to wait for a Ride Opt. to give you one, than walk in the single rider line, than wait until the seat assigner had an odd number of riders in the stand by queue, than you (or a different single rider) will give the seat assigner your ticket and he/she will assign you a seat with a stranger. Sometime in May or June they got red of the tickets because guests were tearing them apart.

[CoasterGuy06]

So if Carowinds is going to use the original KI method are they also going to tell a group of people that do not mind being split up that they cannot use the single rider line?

[willh51]

Watching them run it with people on the webcam right now...gotta go tomorrow.

[Pufferfish]

Well, I just got back from media day, pictures will come later, and I must now say, Intimidator is my new number 1 coaster. I was able to get 21 rides on it today in multiple rows, this brings my total ride count to 26.

 

This ride is a testament to how B&M coasters SHOULD be. Anyone who dares say that B&M no longer makes intense coasters, need to come ride this thing. By the way, as I said before, there's no reason to fear the trims at all, you seriously can barely even feel them. If they didn't make the sound they make, you would probably even assume they were off.

 

Now here's the rundown of my experiences in each part of the train.

 

Front: The front of course gets amazing views and all the wind in their face, but it also tends to be pushed down the hills into the valleys, causing very high gforces between each hill. The front also, while not having the most intense airtime, it still has very strong air over every single hill. Thanks to the shaping of the hills, the airtime does an increase and decrease in the intensity of the airtime going up and then down each hill, spiking in the middle with good ejector. This is currently my favorite place to be on the ride.

 

Middle: The middle of the train is loaded with seemingly non-stop floater air. The gs between hills isn't as powerful as the rest of the train, but it still feels like a good 3gs in a couple of the valleys. The middle on this ride slightly dissapoints me with hearing how Diamondback's best seats are near the center, but it really doesn't matter, I still loved this ride no matter where I was sitting.

 

Back: The back of the train gets THE best treatment from the first drop. The whipping action thanks to the length of the trains throws you out of your seat even before you are truly going down the hill, and then your butt is in the air until the very bottom. The back gives the most intense ride out of the rest of the rows. The gs are extremely high in every single valley, and there's ejector air on almost all of the hills. While the back does give the most intense ride though, it kind of annoys me. The airtime on each hill doesn't start until you crest the hills, while everywhere else gets airtime the entire way over each hill. That little annoyance aside, if you enjoy a really intense ride, the back's where it's at.

 

Well thank you for reading my review, I will try to post a couple pictures a bit later.

[Skycoastin Steve]

^Sounds awesome! Can't wait to ride it tomorrow!

[willh51]

^ YES YES YES! Blast through that midcourse. (My comments actually were in regard to the trip report post above, didn't see the video until after I posted).

Edited March 26, 2010 by willh51

[Pufferfish]

^^Good job doing something you weren't supposed to. The park does have an anti on-ride film policy, and that included today. That's why there was a camera bolted to the front of one of the trains, so that there will be a real professional pov instead of stolen ones like this taken against park regulations.

[Skycoastin Steve]

^No worries, the video won't last long on here.