Scaparri Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 Carowinds has to be one of the most annoying parks I've ever been to; the operations sort of reminded me of Six Flags America's. Every single ride was stacking like crazy (except for BorgHawk which was only running one train) and the teens were just out of control. I think Six Flag's approach of attracting families rather than just a bunch of teens has been a really good move in making their parks more enjoyable, because Carowinds was just overrun with all these kids who had this "I can do whatever I want" attitude. The park was plagued with line jumpers and just overall obnoxious behaving guests that seemed to be ripping the park apart. Isn't it amazing how Cedar Fair holds CP to such high standards, and then doesn't give a rat's ass about the rest of the chain? Funny how that works. Nice report, dude. I'm in complete agreement about pretty much everything you were annoyed about. The park is just really bland. There are so many places where it lacks shade and nothing sets it apart from other parks. To me, it is "meh" in every sense of the word. I must have seriously missed something the day I went to Carowinds though, because everybody seems to love Afterdeck and I just didn't see it. Out of all the B&M inverts I've been on, I rank it the worst behind Silver Bullet. Granted, the worst B&M invert is still a pretty good coaster, but it just didn't offer much for me. The day I rode it, it was forceless and died out after the batwing. I guess I need to give it another try. It sure looks amazing. I missed the one up at Hershey too. I guess Setpoint rides just don't like me, although I wasn't really expecting this to be open. Me either! However, both were open during the days I went. I just didn't feel like waiting three hours to ride them. So, maybe I don't like Setpoint rides? Again, awesome TRs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFAfan#1 Posted May 7, 2008 Share Posted May 7, 2008 WHAT?!?!?! You like B&M flyers over Vekoma?!?!?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimace Posted May 7, 2008 Author Share Posted May 7, 2008 ^^I really liked Silver Bullet, I think my least favorite B&M invert was by far Alpengeist. I guess people just have different tastes, although I will say that I thought the final wing-over was a little rough on Afterburn which subtracted some points for me. haha, and yeah Hershey had their Setpoint thingy open when I went, but I opted for more rides on Storm Runner. ^BorgHawk was fun, but I didn't like it as much as a S:UF for a few reasons. The restraints were less comfortable, the ride was jerky, the corkscrews were sort of rough, and some of the transitions were awkward. Oh wait, I just described half of Vekoma's coasters... Thanks for the comments everybody, I'll get the final park up either later tonight or in the morning. It's a class act you don't want to miss... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper39 Posted May 7, 2008 Share Posted May 7, 2008 ^^ I think Raptor is by far my favorite B&M inverted, and most people tend to not rank it as high. I don't know I just think the zero-G roll right after the loop is ten time better than after it loses speed through a loop and an immelman. My dorky coaster opinion but yeah Raptor by far my favorite B&M invert. Plus Raptor's drop is prety damn good, all other B&M invert drops are just kinda meh, sort of like big turns to pick up speed before the first element rather than an actual element themselves. Except Raptor's, the little halfway way bank then straighten out is pretty sweet. Again my super dorky coaster opinion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParkTrips Posted May 7, 2008 Share Posted May 7, 2008 Random fact: South Carolina actually produces more peaches than its neighbor "The Peach State". putting Georgia at third overall in the nation with California being #1 Cool stuff though I tend not to mind Carowinds too much, but then again I haven't been since 06 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimace Posted May 7, 2008 Author Share Posted May 7, 2008 ^Thank you for the education Last update: Dixieland Fun Park!! So if you read the first post in the thread, you'd know that I am working for the City of Gainesville (Rock City), FL for the summer. Well I actually started working on Monday, but this TR is from Sunday when I moved from South Carolina down to Florida. I think one day I was bored and on rcdb and I found out that Georgia has a coaster that is just south of Atlanta, so I decided to stop and get a new credit! I had no idea what I was in for. This park.... wow. Yeah, umm..... see page 1..... Thanks everybody for reading and commenting! Have a great summer coaster season! I found my way back to I-75 for the thrilling drive between Atlanta and Gainesville. My thoughts exactly... Alright Dixieland, it's time for me to roll out. Thanks for the $6.50 credit. The straight sections were really fun, the turns.... not so much.... The turns were actually more just awkward and slow rather than rough or painful This little thing packed some pretty good airtime! Hey! This ride was actually pretty fun. It's at least just as fun as anything they have at Wild Adventures. Side note: I've never been on a coaster that makes you enter through a picnic pavillion before. Ok, enough screwing around. It's time for me to conquer the Scream'n Eagle Random flat ride. This place was pretty much a carnival that doesn't move. I didn't see this running today, and it looked pretty much closed down. I assume it only runs during Dixieland's "bring your lawyer to the park with a video camera" promotion. What?!?! There are fish in there? Let me just walk away now... Bridge walk and feed the fish? huh, lets check this out... Ooh look, Dixieland features TWO credits. What?!?! Dixieland charged me $1.50 for this $1.00 ticket!! I am outraged!! Hah! I found you! I went up and asked to buy one ticket and the lady laughed at me because she thought I was kidding. I don't play games. I came for the credit. The zip-line in action The zip-line tower is centerpiece of the park, so it's kind of like the Cinderella's Castle of Dixieland... The zip line was probably the most popular ride in the park, it actually looked kind of fun Walking down the paved midway of sunny death we can see a couple of the larger flats. (no this isn't a Cedar Fair park, they clearly don't have enough trash cans) It costs $5 to park at Dixieland, but that price comes with two free tickets. It costs three tickets to ride Scream'n Eagle, so I'm off to find another ticket! Good thing I'm not leaving anything valuable in my car. Besides my tv, computer, stereo, autographed guitar, and half of my clothes of course. I found the parking lot and it's lookin classy... Oh yes... I can tell this park is going to be a winner already. Awesome landscaping btw A picture of Scream'n Eagle from the road to the parking lot... Welcome to Dixieland Fun Park everybody! Wait, I think I found it! Holy crap! Free standing Panda Expresses do exist!!! Well I think I found the exit, so I'm just driving through the land of endless traffic lights in hopes of finding a coaster STUPIDSTUPIDSTUPID!!!!! I completely forgot about the downtown repaving project, you can usually just blow through downtown on a Sunday. Well, there goes an hour of my day... Since all of the computer labs at Clemson were closed, I couldn't print out any directions since I don't have a printer. The only way I could remember how to get there was from downtown, so I skipped the 285 bypass... I didn't leave Clemson till about 11 since Dixieland didn't open until 1, so I stopped at the Mall of Georgia to get some lunch Driving away as fast as I can for fear of having to take more final exams.... Goodbye student ghetto housing! I'll miss you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParkTrips Posted May 7, 2008 Share Posted May 7, 2008 << was not invited even though I have a Dixieland season pass wait, of course I don't actually have such a thing! I AM having my birthday party there though.. every year for the rest of my life. Have a good summer dude Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimace Posted May 7, 2008 Author Share Posted May 7, 2008 ^haha, I know I'm sorry. I thought about calling you, but I thought you'd just laugh at me when I dropped the Dixieland name. ^^It's a pretty easy stop if you guys are ever driving down to Florida. It's also probably about 30 minutes or so from SFOG (although I may be a little off on that since I'm not from Atlanta). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKI Jizzman Posted May 7, 2008 Share Posted May 7, 2008 Well, I guess I've been lucky with ym visits in the past, usually a friday evening in the first week of June. I've been there twice, and the only reason I'd go back is for Afterburn. BorgHawk progressivly got worse IMO, Hurler is Crap, and T-Road is okay. Afterburn is the saving grace! I also liked Vortex, it was a nice stand up...I guess only when you have to wait two trains to ride it. Maybe I'll stop by if there's something new in the next two years? -JZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinciDAWGS12 Posted May 7, 2008 Share Posted May 7, 2008 ^Yeah I would wait a couple years so you can ride the new Aquatrax!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fallen xxi Posted May 7, 2008 Share Posted May 7, 2008 Carowinds being my home park, let me stick up for it a little bit. -You won't find to many B&M Stand Ups that don't stack or have long dispatch times. -Nighthawk has vehicle malfunctions on a daily basis, so when it "broke down" it was a malfunction on the loading dock, and you can't use a broken train, can you? -The blandness? Blame it on Paramount. It created a movie style park and it wasn't too shabby during it's tenure, but Cedar Fair was forced to take it all away, making it themeless (Other than Nick Central, the boardwalk and sort of the County Fair). But Carowinds used to be themed to important history of the Carolinas, bringing North and South Carolina closer together. It used to have a cool main street (Was torn out for that crappy looking stage at the front PARAMOUNT). BORG used to be home to the Carolina Queen, a cool ship really secluding it from being bland, and it once took you to "Smurf Island", a cool island themed to the Smurf TV Show, so about 10-ish years ago, Carowinds was a REALLY cool park, and 4 years ago, it was pretty cool too. Cedar Fair took Carowinds and made it a generic, worth nothing park. -The Umbrellas? Idk, always been there. And Thunder Road is being totally rebuilt. Carowinds is a Cedar Fair park in training, give it another year or so and it should get it's identity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParkTrips Posted May 7, 2008 Share Posted May 7, 2008 ^ You have that last line backwards, Cedar Fair helps parks lose its identity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fallen xxi Posted May 7, 2008 Share Posted May 7, 2008 I guess what I mean is it's 'Cedar Fair' identity...I know Carowinds isnt in the shitter QUITE yet, but I know it would be 10x better if Paramount would've given them to anyone else, even Independent investors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoasterEricHP Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 Great TRs and pictures! I've always wondered about these parks but when it comes down to it I always end up going to the other larger more established parks in the areas. Its good to know I didnt miss much driving past Wild Adventures on the way to SFOG last year. Plus I've always been avoiding Carowinds just out of a "Meh" feeling I've been getting from reports about it for years. I have that same TV! Makes an awesome computer monitor too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexTitan01 Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 Hey Clemson Athlete. I dont think you own enough Clemson stuff...maybe you should get more, HAH moving right along... I didnt know there were so many parks in the deep south. I thought it was just SGoG, Dollywood, the Florida bunch and that was it. Cool...great TR! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimace Posted May 8, 2008 Author Share Posted May 8, 2008 ^^haha, that's funny you noticed that, I hook it up to my laptop sometimes to play movies on. ^Hey now I get the Clemson stuff free so I'm not about to be turning anything down. You should check out my custom Clemson Nikes, holler!! -You won't find to many B&M Stand Ups that don't stack or have long dispatch times. Umm, I beg to differ. B&M Stand Ups may have longer dispatch times than normal sit-down coasters, but they shouldn't take 5-7 minutes to move one train out of the station. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 Hey now I get the Clemson stuff free so I'm not about to be turning anything down. You should check out my custom Clemson Nikes, holler!! Oh, Clemson athletes don't have to steal sneakers from the mall like the athletes at FSU (Free Shoes University) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimace Posted May 9, 2008 Author Share Posted May 9, 2008 ^ That just made my night. I remember when people used to bring shopping bags (I think it was Belks?) to the Florida v Florida State game. Then this year there was the whole ordeal with FSU getting a bunch of players suspended for cheating on online tests. Trust me, athletes can get a lot of help when they ask for it, and it can sometimes walks a fine line between tutoring and cheating. How they got caught for it is beyond me, because that really takes talent. (...and just to clarify, I don't cheat in school. I'm just saying that I know it can sometimes be easier for athletes, but that's sort of off topic) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexTitan01 Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 Us athletes dont cheat. We just take offered assistance when we feel its needed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Johnson Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 Wait a minute....Did I miss something. You did ride the flyers at Carowinds, right???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimace Posted May 9, 2008 Author Share Posted May 9, 2008 ^It came down to the flyers versus me getting another credit before the park closed because the line was so long, so I sadly missed the flyers (and the wild mouse credit at that). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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