Carowinds Discussion Thread

[michaellynn4]

It's intimidating.

[coasterbill]

So we went to Taste of Carowinds yesterday since we’re visiting the in-laws who live ten minutes away.

Before going I was confused as to why this event was even a thing and after going I’m infinitely more confused.

I’d review it in depth but there’s no point since they’re now closed for the season since why would you want your Christmas event open during the holiday week where you could do daily ops anyway? 

Here are the cliff notes:

- The food samplers were very hit or miss, mostly miss. The best thing was a chicken tender. It was bangin’ though.

- If I paid to get in I would be livid unless I was the kind of person who just went to ride Afterburn and Copperhead Strike for hours straight. If I went for the Christmas stuff or the food like a normal person then I’d be pissed.

- Cedar Fair should go to Six Flags and learn how to actually a run a theme park in the age of covid. I can’t believe I’m saying this but loading all rows on Afterburn but only in groups of two and having people sit 2 on the inside, two on the outside, two on the inside is the dumbest thing ever. Honestly most of the things that they’re doing make you scratch your head.

- The decorations were really thrown together which was to be expected.

- It was nice walking around looking at palm trees without a jacket on in December thinking about how thankful we were that Fury was closed for our safety. On the same day our friends were posting pictures of this:

- On a more positive note like a half assed compliment sandwich, Afterburn is such a fantastic ride and Copperhead Strike is too.

I ate crow on Copperhead. I had no expectations for it whatsoever but I love it. The first loop is just so great, so is the jojo and honestly the whole package is really solid.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got. 

[thrillseeker4552]

Yeah, I can't help but wonder why Carowinds closed their event before Christmas! Even if they didn't do daily operations, ending it so early is just strange. Nonetheless, like you said, Afterburn and Copperhead are excellent rides. I loved both of them during my June 2019 visit.

And even before 2020, Six Flags has always crushed Cedar Fair in the Holiday/Christmastime department in my opinion (outside of Knott's). That photo of Nitro is just so awesome.

[SharkTums]

I really need parks to get their act together by next season. We're clearly still going to be operating in a very covid positive world, but many parks seem to be doing a good job...just copy those!

[coasterbill]

 

16 minutes ago, thrillseeker4552 said:

Yeah, I can't help but wonder why Carowinds closed their event before Christmas! Even if they didn't do daily operations

It’s the most nonsensical thing...

I’m not complaining about that because it impacts me in no way but if I were the shareholders watching how this chain has handled absolutely everything this season I’d be running. 

 

[KIEnthusiast]

3 hours ago, coasterbill said:

 

It’s the most nonsensical thing...

I’m not complaining about that because it impacts me in no way but if I were the shareholders watching how this chain has handled absolutely everything this season I’d be running. 

 

Orion was amazing. I would be running toward Orion and not away from Cedar Fair.

[coasterbill]

I don’t think you get what I’m saying at all. 

As a fan, I’m really glad they opened Carowinds for like a month even though this event was really stupid because I got to ride two coasters and I was down the road anyway. I don’t care that they closed before what’s normally their most profitable week of Christmas because that’s not my problem. I’m thrilled that Kings Island opened a giga coaster in a pandemic year where they opened in July and had to cap attendance so it couldn’t really move the needle or do anything it was supposed to do but all of those things are objectively stupid.

I said “If I were the shareholders”. They’re not going to go on a conference call and go “Yeah sure we suck at running a business but have you been on Orion? So much airtime!”

[Baffles]

That photo of Nitro running in the snow is hilarious and awesome. The majority of B&M rides can run in sub-zero temperatures, and as the pacing is so quick on Fury I would not expect it to be an exception.

I remember working at Alton Towers and the only reason Nemesis wasn't able to run in snowy and icy conditions was due to icicles on the track - so maintenance went around and smashed them all off to get it open.

[coneyislandchris]

17 hours ago, coasterbill said:

- It was nice walking around looking at palm trees without a jacket on in December thinking about how thankful we were that Fury was closed for our safety. On the same day our friends were posting pictures of this:

You're just going to keep dunking on them year after year, aren't you? I'm here for it. 

[coasterbill]

Probably. It’s a Christmas tradition.

[boldikus]

13 hours ago, Baffles said:

That photo of Nitro running in the snow is hilarious and awesome. The majority of B&M rides can run in sub-zero temperatures, and as the pacing is so quick on Fury I would not expect it to be an exception.

I remember working at Alton Towers and the only reason Nemesis wasn't able to run in snowy and icy conditions was due to icicles on the track - so maintenance went around and smashed them all off to get it open.

Great Adventure has run Batman with snow/ice on the track and riders on the trains getting hit in the face with said snow/ice.

Source: I was one of those riders. (Dec 2017)

[pproteinc]

On 12/22/2020 at 6:46 PM, boldikus said:

Great Adventure has run Batman with snow/ice on the track and riders on the trains getting hit in the face with said snow/ice.

Source: I was one of those riders. (Dec 2017)

Well Afterburn is open during the winter months. As for hyper Intimidator has the longer trains. I’d say in normal Winterfest run it during the day but it has valleyed before during a cold Scarowinds night before. Fury has the shorter trains and yes goes way faster but I’ve been on it on a cold November day and it almost didn’t make it through the treble clef turn around. They closed after that for the remainder of the day. On top of all this non factor we all now Cedar Fair Christmas events are more so for foods, entertainment and family rides and atmosphere. Nothing new here 

[coasterbill]

Maybe Intimidator wouldn’t valley if they would turn off even one of the 837 trims that line the track.

As for them closing the ride just because it “almost valleys” with riders on the previous cycle... that’s adorable. The person at the Nitro panel just has to take a deep breath, remember that “mama didn’t raise no bitch” and press the dispatch button again (it’s in the operations manual just like that I think).

PS: That said, I don’t expect every park to do that. Still, does this even matter? These are the highs as far out as the forecast go. Carowinds is in Charlotte, not Barrow, Alaska. We just spent a week there. It was unseasonably cold. It was still not cold. It’s going to be almost 60 degrees today. Stop.

Even if they kept their own dumb policies they could run anything they wanted almost every day for the next nine days... well, except they can’t because they’re closed for the holiday week because Carowinds is gonna Carowinds.

[boldikus]

9 minutes ago, coasterbill said:

The Nitro person at the Nitro panel just has to take a deep breath, remember that “mama didn’t raise no bitch” and press the dispatch button again

 

[Baffles]

On 12/22/2020 at 11:46 PM, boldikus said:

Great Adventure has run Batman with snow/ice on the track and riders on the trains getting hit in the face with said snow/ice.

Source: I was one of those riders. (Dec 2017)

Haha, it seems you aren't a real enthusiast unless you have experienced this sensation.

[chschris1]

Y'all need therapy.

[coasterbill]

Get ready! You’ll have plenty of time to get ready...

[CoasterGuy06]

I use to joke SF was better than CF because they still ran their B&M hypers without seatbelts...but SF really has run circles around CF during the pandemic 

[KIEnthusiast]

9 hours ago, CoasterGuy06 said:

I use to joke SF was better than CF because they still ran their B&M hypers without seatbelts...but SF really has run circles around CF during the pandemic 

Did 6 Flags open Orion? No. They just kept Jersey Devil closed. So there.

[CoasterGuy06]

The point was Six Flags has tried to extend seasons where they were allowed to open whereas Cedar Fair cut back the season at most of their parks.

[dankeykang]

Yeah, really nice of Cedar Fair to extend season passes through 2021 and subsequently remain closed for all of March and April.  The passholders will really appreciate that.

[thrillseeker4552]

Hopefully the park will be able to remain open from May all through the end of the year. That's still a decently long season.

[prozach626]

On 12/28/2020 at 11:17 AM, coasterbill said:

As for them closing the ride just because it “almost valleys” with riders on the previous cycle... that’s adorable. The person at the Nitro panel just has to take a deep breath, remember that “mama didn’t raise no bitch” and press the dispatch button again (it’s in the operations manual just like that I think).

I'm way late to this conversation. Maybe Six Flags is trying to take a few pages out of the Action Park playbook.

[KIJester]

For those that are interested....

Carowinds Skytower cams back on-line. FINALLY!!!!

[ilyf15]

now it's up to Kings Island to turn the webcams back on