Photo TR: jten11's coaster roadtrip 2015!

[jten11]

Hey guys! So this year was year I finally got a chance to do what I've always wanted to do: Take a road-trip to different themeparks around the US. I went to Ohio (from Miami, FL!) for Kings Island, Tennessee for Dollywood and N. Carolina for Carowinds. Sorry if the quality isn't great, as I took all of these from my phone. This was my very first big road-trip and I wanted to share! Also sorry if I didn't take enough pictures. Each park I've attempted to take more than the previous one, so I hope you enjoy my written review as well as my pictures. Before this trip, the only coasters I've ridden were from Florida and Georgia.

 

The first park was Kings Island. It took about 20 hours from Miami to Ohio (with long breaks in between). After a good nights rest I decided to head to one of my 'Bucket List' park: Kings Island! Never in a million years did I thought I would go to a park higher than Georgia. Since 2007 I've wanted to go to this park, among others, and now I'm here! My first reaction, after the initial geeking out, was that this place was not as big as I imagined. Also it looked like a park..with rollercoasters. Coming from parks like Busch Gardens and Islands of Adventure, the scenery looked mediocre at best. At least the park was very clean. Later in the day, however, I came to the conclusion that the park was big enough!

 

The first ride of the day was Banshee. The only other invert I've been on are Montu and Batman at SFoG, so I wondered how Banshee held up. Going up the lift hill, I noticed it was steeper than your usual invert. My favorite part of the ride is that there is no mid course brakes! Another thing I liked was all the inversions were nice and big! The pacing is not as intense as Montu, and I noticed the zero g roll didn't fling me like I expected but was still great. I loved the huge batwing element and that final inversion was unlike anything I felt in a B&M Invert. I didn't really notice the new restraints while riding; they were very comfortable. Overall a great addition to the park, especially for those who aren't able to experience the awesomeness that is Montu. The next ride was The Racer. Today they were only running the blue side, which was fine with me. Because I went on a weekday, the wait time was very minimal. I liked this coaster! It's short, but it's fun to ride. Nice first drop and I love the dips; just wished they were racing.

 

Coaster number three, Diamondback. Up to this point, the highest hypercoaster I've ridden was Goliath at SFoG (awesome coaster too!). And of course the first ride of day was in the back seat....what was I thinking?? That first drop flung me over that lift hill! Those first couple of hills it felt like the first drop over again! I was screaming my head off, but greatly enjoying myself. The second half was very welcoming, with a couple of airtime hills with the finale drop was a relaxing change of pace from the intense first half. Favorite coaster in the park, no doubt! Coaster four was a coaster I've always wanted to experience. The Beast. I've heard so many things about this ride that this was the highlight of my visit. Me, finally going to ride such a classic coaster! I was excited!...until after the first drop. I think it was because where I was seated, but this bad boy was pretty rough the first half. The layout was nice and I loved the whole terrain coaster aspect, but there was a lot of shuffling. The part after the second lift, however, was insane! Easily my best moment in any rollercoaster. I had to take three ride to see where was the best place to ride. My first ride was in the back and I was not impressed. Then I went to the front. Completely different experience! I actually had my hands up this time! The third ride was in the middle and almost no different than riding in the back. Too bad the park closed at 8;would've loved some night rides!

 

The next ride was Vortex, another classic. Never really heard too much about this ride, so I didn't know what to expect. I chose front row for my one ride. It wasn't butter smooth, but it was pretty cool, nothing spectacular. After that I decided to do one more ride before I took a break which was Night Hawk. I've been on Manta and Superman at SFoG, so I had an idea on how this was going to be. Man was I wrong! Even though both versions are flyers, the way they set you up are two completely different experiences. As slow as it looked on the ground, it felt very fast on ride and that loop was funky! It wasn't too rough on me so that was a plus. A good ride overall, albeit the load times were pretty bad, one of the longest queues I encountered so far. After my expensive break at Chick Fil A, I tagged along with another loner and went to the rest of the rides. We decided to go to Flight of Fear. Another ride I don't really hear about much. The themeing was a little on the cheap side, but did the job. The ride itself has a very forceful launch and you fly through those first inversions. The rest was pretty forgettable except the final corkscrew.

 

The next coaster after another Banshee ride, was the Bat. If it wasn't for looking at the map, I would've overlooked this ride. I never rode a coaster of this type, so I was pretty excited to try it out. My only issue that it was too short, but I loved swinging around the course and the sense of speed it gives. Another surprise was the Backlot Stunt Coaster. My friend said it was pretty lame, but I went on it for the sake of going on it. We went in the second car, so I had no idea of the track layout. Actually that what made the coaster fun for me, especially in the dark parts. Loved the launches and the tight turns. Though the helicopter part looked so sad with its toy machine guns, it was almost comical. After that we went on a couple repeat rides on Diamondback, The Racer, and The Beast. We decided to part ways soon after.

 

Kings Island Coaster Count:

The Beast - 3

Diamondback - 2

Banshee - 2

The Racer - 2

The Bat - 1

Backlot Stunt Coaster - 1

Flight of Fear - 1

Nighthawk - 1

Vortex - 1

Invertigo - 0

 

Overall I enjoyed what King Island had to offer. Besides being a bit generic looking, I have no other complaints about the park. The ride ops were on their job dispatching those trains and the overall day was pleasant. Luckily, I went on a weekday so line wait was around 15 minute wait. Night Hawk was closer to 30 minutes, but that still wasn't too bad. The only coaster I didn't ride was Invertigo, mainly because I wasn't interested in riding boomerangs. If you made it this far, thanks for reading my written review. Now on to the pictures!

 

An early start to an awesome roadtrip!

So long Florida!

Getting there! Driving through Tennessee was amazing compared to the flat Florida roads.

Taking a pit stop in Kentucky. Never thought I would make it this far!

Is that King's Island I see??

I finally made it! Let's do this!

Banshee, first ride of the day!

A great ride with an crazy first drop!

Enjoyed this inversion!

The Racer wasn't racing today

But at least it was still fun!

Diamondback. My first ride was in the back row. Very terrifying, but awesome!

My favorite coaster in the park; broke me in for the rest of the trip!

A glary beast photo. Was privileged to ride such a classic coaster. Would've loved to ride this at night!

An ok ride. Slightly rough transitions

Makes me wonder how this rode back in the day...

The batwing was my favorite part of the ride.

My favorite carnival rides to relax in. Though this one was hauling ass.

A weird but fun experience.

A Diamondback shot in the Night Wing queue

This coaster was a fun surprise!

And an off-focus shot of the riders. Thanks for reading! Next park coming soon (with slightly more pictures!)

Edited May 29, 2015 by jten11

[jten11]

It was a nice clear day driving from Ohio to Tennessee and the scenery was great. Upon touching down on Tennessee I took a break at their welcome center. Near the rear, I noticed a hiking trail. Curious I decided to go up the trail. It was steeper than it looked, but at the end, you were rewarded with a great view of Tennessee!

 

The next day, on to Dollywood! It was an overcast day, but the mountains in the background seemed majestic with the clouds. It was also awesome to know while heading to park I was already around 1,000 feet above sea level! Dollywood is hidden within the Smokey Mountains and getting there alone set the ambiance for the park. I arrived at the entrance via the a long trip on the tram (I was parked at Dolly's Earrings ) Going inside, the park has a very rustic, country feel, as if they made Frontier Land an entire park. I didn't know what to expect from here, but I encountered a lot of friendly people. Even though I did this trip solo, at Dollywood it didn't feel like I was alone! I spoke to someone at every line queue, even went on multiple rides with some! The food was much more affordable than Kings Island and had more or less the same things (expect for $1 cookies!). The ride ops were a little on the slow side, but considering the rides aren't B&M efficient (even wild eagle dispatch took a while), and the fact I went on a weekday, it wasn't too bad. They were nice, though!

Here are my thoughts on the coasters:

 

Thunderhead - My favorite coaster in the park and my new favorite woodie! This ride is relentless from the drop to the brake run. Especially after the fly-by, it seems like it gets more out of control! As a wooden coaster fan, I don't mind a bit of roughness, though I can't say Thunderhead is 'rough'. To me, Thunderhead is the epitome of how a classic wooden coaster should feel! It doesn't have much airtime, but it's mostly focused on speed, and boy, does this thing hauls ass! A top 10 coaster for sure!

 

Mystery Mine - I remember seeing videos of this ride when it first came out, but forgot most of what it did. So of course the drop at the very beginning threw me off! I liked the mix of indoor/outdoor elements. As far as roughness, I only had one headbanging moment, but the ride is fairly smooth. The twists were nice and tight and I enjoyed the overhanging inversion at the end. Not too much to the ride besides the nice themeing, but it was a one-timer for me.

 

Wild Eagle - Loved the high location of the ride, as if the natural setting was perfect theme for this type of ride. The first drop was great, but the rest of the ride is very family friendly. There was not much force from the inversions but they were all smooth and graceful. The ride length is a bit short for some, but it was just long enough for me. A great family thrill coaster at best.

 

Tennessee Tornado - Rode this on the front row. A short but fun ride. Going through the inversions were surprisingly smooth and I like the natural scenery. Nothing much to say about this but it's a very solid coaster.

 

Firechaser Express - Quite the surprise. Dollywood's latest coaster, it's themed to a Fire Department. It's labeled as a junior coaster, but what a hell of a junior coaster! First of all it launches you (30 mph) out of the station into the first lift hill. There's no big drops here, so it's great for those who don't like big drops. The highlight of the ride is when you make it to the fireworks building with its backwards launch. Very great themeing here, and I loved the backward launch! Overall this coaster does more than what big coasters do. Most importantly, it's just plain fun!

 

Dollywood Coaster Count:

Thunderhead - 6

Wild Eagle - 2

Mystery Mine - 1

Tennessee Tornado - 1

Firechaser Express - 1

 

Overall a great family park with unique, yet thrilling rides that the family can enjoy. As far as family-accessible roller-coasters, Dollywood does an excellent job of maintaining the thrill/family ratio.

Taking a break at the Welcome Center

The Center had some interesting tibits, including this memorial

And this plague referencing the Civil Wars in Tennessee

The view at the top of the hiking trail

Another view!

The day was overcast, but not a drop of rain!

Hi, Dollywood!

Some signage near the entrance of the park

My baby! This ride sets the standard for a classic wooden roller-coaster expereience!

Love this ride!

What's that I see?

My next ride, of course!

Some Mystery Mine themeing

Wild Eagle from up top the mountain!

Soaring to your hearts!

I have a bad habit of taking glary pics of ride signs!

Dollywood food! I had the chili cheese fries...

Wild Eagles!

...among other exotic birds

Well noted!

Some cool info

Bald eagle side stare

A short but fun ride. They look happy!

What's that I see? Is that another awesome coaster?

Wild Eagle from Firechaser queue

Wild Eagle from Firechaser queue...with train!

Something I took while queueing for Firechaser

The best part of the ride (the building, not the track )

Lots of wet fun to be had here!

A random pic of a grave, just because

In Dolly's case, it would be double bust... get it?? Eh, whatever.

Thanks a lot Dollywood for such a great day!

[SoCal_Coaster]

Nice update! Looks like you enjoyed your visits to both King's Island and Dollywood. BTW, did you try the cinnamon bread? It's to die for!

[BDFS]

Dude! Epic trip, and an even more epic report! Thanks for sharing. I now need to get myself to Dollywood!

[BDFS]

Nice update! Looks like you enjoyed your visits to both King's Island and Dollywood. BTW, did you try the cinnamon bread? It's to die for!

 

Go on... *drools*

[jten11]

Nice update! Looks like you enjoyed your visits to both King's Island and Dollywood. BTW, did you try the cinnamon bread? It's to die for!

 

Man, that sounds like something I would've enjoyed!

 

One picture I forgot to add from the King Island review was with me and the other 'loner' I met. He made my already great experience even more enjoyable! Thanks for the awesome time!

 

[jten11]

My final park for this trip is Carowinds. After an awesome ride down the mountainside, I made my way from Tennessee to Gastonia, NC. Tennessee has some of the best scenery I've ever drove through. Also, Bojangles!

 

The next day I traveled to my final destination, Carowinds. The cool part about this park is that it's between North and South Carolina, traversing through both states as you walk around the park. I went on a Saturday and this place was packed! I knew I was going to have a challenge if I wanted to get multiple rides. As I entered the North Side, I was awed at the sheer awesomeness of Intimidator. Looking at that bad boy zoom across the course had me giggling like it's my first theme park of the trip!

 

Passing through the gates I witnessed another B&M machine, Afterburn. I was ready to go!...until I saw the line. I did a couple blinks, and headed towards Imtimidator. "B&M hypers dispatch fast as hell", I thought. "Surely the line can't be that long". Can't blame me for wishful thinking, as the line was twice as long as Afterburn. From that point on I decided to bite the bullet (and my bank account) and purchase the fast lane plus. The best decision I've ever made! Significantly made my Carowinds experience better by miles!

 

Couple of things to say about the overall day. The ride-ops were not playing on Imtimidator and Fury325. They had those trains dispatched like clockwork! Also, on the majority of the rides, they were very strict on non-preferred seating. I don't know how I feel about this, but it did made dispatching a bit more efficient, so I can't blame their decision. It's just that I was used to riding where I wanted in the previous parks. I still got my way, most of the times; being a solo rider have its advantages. The ops overall did a great job in getting people in and out on most of the rides. Night Hawk still sucked as far as dispatch, though, more so on a crowded day. For the huge crowds, the park was overall clean and the employee were somewhat pleasant. On to the coasters!

 

Imtimidator - This ended up being my first coaster of the day. Diamondback at Kings Island broke me in, so I was ready for the first drop! I enjoyed this layout much more than Diamondback! More of the same really, but Imtimidator to me has more of an edge. My new favorite hyper.

 

Afterburn - I don't really hear much about this ride. I wonder why, though, because this is an awesome coaster! This has more of the old school intensity that I enjoy greatly on Montu. Interesting layout as well! My favorite inversions are the zero-g roll and the final corkscrew. I also like how it cruises over the park goers. And gotta love that B&M roar! A very solid coaster at Carowinds!

 

Thunder Road - I didn't know until after my trip that they were going to close this coaster down soon. Very glad I got my last rides. As far as the ride itself, similar to the Racer at Kings Island; short but good fun. Unlike my Kings Island trip, they had both sides running, though barely racing. My first ride was on the north side. My second ride was on the south side and also my final ride at the park. To my luck they were actually racing the trains! And with the sun down, my final ride was a fantastic night ride racing the other train under the Carolina stars. A very memorable moment.

 

Night Hawk - Not much to say here. Same as one in Kings Islands, but much rougher. Didn't enjoy this one at all. Though it has much prettier scenery.

 

Fury325 - Fortunately I went on Intimidator and Diamondback to prepare for this mammoth of a coaster. The climb is very long, but quicker than you expect. After you crest the top, it's nothing but drop city. I counted at least 4 seconds of pure drop action. After it hits the bottom, prepare for a wild ride across the park. And it really doesn't matter where you sit. The speed will hit you at all locations! When I got a lucky first seat ride, I was surprised how forceful it was up there! I dare say it's the best seat in the house. The course is somewhat low to the ground and those transitions are sharp. The second best part (after the drop) is the turn around. You're in this weird slant position at the top of the airtime hill and you're flying down the walkway! Also, while I love Imtimidator's airtime, the few hills Fury has have ridiculous airtime, none that I've ever felt on an B&M! Come to Carowinds and ride this now!

 

Hurler - I wasn't expecting much out of this ride, but it surprised me a bit. If this coaster had some better tracking, I can see this being very reride-able, given the sense of speed it has. The drop was ok, but I like the fast turnarounds. The roughest part was the final turn into the station. With more care this can be a better ride.

 

Carolina Cyclone - This ride reminded so much of Python at Busch Gardens (my first looping coaster, RIP), so I had to give this a ride. Not super smooth, but a quick fun ride. I love how it corkscrews down the walkway, similar to Python ( and I'm sure other similar coasters)

 

Vortex - Not much to say here as well. Very rough at parts, transitions are not fun standing up and overall unpleasant ride. I hope Georgia Scorcher is still holding up well, because that's still the best stand up I've ridden.

 

Carowinds coaster count:

Intimidator - 5

Fury 325 - 4

Afterburn - 2

Thunder road - 2

The Hurler - 2

Carolina Cyclone - 2

Night Hawk - 1

Vortex - 1

 

My favorite park of the trip! A park with a hyper and a giga? Yes, please! The park has a Six Flags over Georgia vibe with it's natural setting and the park overall was nice. I can see another trip here very soon!

 

 

 

On the road again...

...to Bojangles!

I see you Carowinds...

...and you see me!

Made my visit 100x better! If you ever go on a crowded day, get these!!

I'll deal with you later...

...but let's deal with you now!

A crowed day in Carowinds!

My number 2 inverted coaster

Love the layout of this ride!

Passengers returning from lift-off

Darn it! Timing was off!

A very non-steep lift

Zooming along the way!

Okay attempt number 2. Here it comes...

Doh! Close enough! Time to move on!

Obligatory glaring ride sign shot #1

Glad to have ridden you, Thunder Road

South side representin'!

Poor riders. They were stuck there for a while.

Not today, thanks

Rough ride, but you are pretty photogenic!

Tracks and trees...

The loop look much bigger close up

Fast Lane. The only way to ride!

Going up the lift...

Is that actually a good timed shot of Night Hawk? Say it ain't so!

Dammit, Fury! Stop taunting me!

They were real strict with this. Didn't bother me too much.

Okay okay, I'm here. Let's get this over with!

Going up the incredibly long lift

Obligatory glaring ride sign shot #2

Not bad, not great. Pretty in between.

Obligatory glaring ride sign shot #3

Fun to ride a couple times, but too many will give you a headache.

random postcard pic

A pretty loop to such an ugly ride

Will they make it back in one piece?

...at least it looks good!

Vortex at Carowinds gets a thumbs down. Aslo obligatory glaring ride sign shot #4

Yay! A Fury two train shot!

Some Intimidator 'themeing'

My favorite ride in the park!

I love the green lights on Fury's lift hill at night. And yes, the night runs on this beast is something to experience!

Final pic of the park. Walking toward the entrance...or was I walking towards Intimidator? I had an awesome time at Carowinds and one hell of a roadtrip!

Final pic is me checking my fluids and tires for the trip back to Miami. I put in 2.1k miles and traveled through six states! This was an amazing experience! Thank you very much for reading my trip report!

[SoCal_Coaster]

Great finale to an awesome adventure! Is Intimidator a lot or just a little better than fury? I thought from the beginning that firy was going to be amazing and Intimidator was just another roller coaster. Great job!

[jten11]

Thank you! Fury325 IS amazing and a must ride! While Fury is more about speed, Intimidator is more about airtime and has a lot more hills than Fury. It's really personal preference, but both coasters are great in their own right! I equally like them both for what they do differently.

 

Fury is the only Giga I've ridden so it's my favorite by default. Intimidator, on the other hand isn't my first hyper, but it's now my favorite!

[moneygrabber]

You must have driven by my hometown in Kentucky assuming you took I-75. We have the only Bojangles in Kentucky to boot.

[jten11]

^ surely did! Though the Bojangles I went to was somewhere in N. Carolina. Also wanted to note that driving through Kentucky was one of my favorite parts of the road trip!

[mike541x]

Awesome TR! Those are three parks that are still on my bucket list. Did you do this trip solo? As someone who doesn't know anyone into theme parks and traveling as much as me, I've always wanted to plan a road trip for myself. Either way I end up making friends at theme parks when I visit them alone.

[jten11]

Yessir, completely solo, and it was an amazing experience! It took a lot to prepare though.

[certifiedcoastergeek]

Great TR and a great read! I visited Carowinds during Spring Break but didn't purchase FL+, so my day looked something like:

Fury 1x

Intimidator 2x

Thunder Road 1x (#savethunderroad)

Drop Tower 1x

Scream Weaver 1x

Afterburn 1x

Vortex 1x

Also, the fact that Afterburn wasn't a walk-on for you is strange...there was no wait whatsoever when I rode it over break, which is one of the busiest times of year (after opening, Fury had a 3+hr line).

On a better note, I will most likely go back on a summer weekday in July or August, so I will be able to take advantage of the Fury passholder ERT.

I liked Fury, but I actually liked Intimidator better, since it was smoother and had more airtime. B&M has mastered the art of the hypercoaster, but Intamin makes better gigacoasters (I like Intimidator 305 much more than Fury).

[TBpony414]

Cool road trip TR! My first and only trip to Kings Island was in 2000 back when Son of Beast and Millennium Force opened. We drove from DC to Cedar Point for 2 days and then over to KI for 1 day. It reminded me very much of Kings Dominion and after waiting almost 4 hours to get on SoB the rest of the park didn't impress me one bit. Dollywood looks like a lot of fun and I'd like to get down to try out Carowinds sometime. I can always make friends with people in line too. It's a good trait to have!

[willh51]

Glad you liked Carowinds; it deserves more recognition that it gets. I think the addition of Fury is finally changing the tide.

[boldikus]

Awesome report, great photos. I want to visit these parks!

[jten11]

I liked Fury, but I actually liked Intimidator better, since it was smoother and had more airtime. B&M has mastered the art of the hypercoaster, but Intamin makes better gigacoasters (I like Intimidator 305 much more than Fury).

 

Outside of Cheetah Hunt, haven't been on any other Intamin coaster. All throughout the trip, people been 'hinting' to me about Cedar Point and Millennium Force and how awesome it is. I don't know when, but I WILL hit up Cedar Point someday,mainly because that's a huge bucket list park I need to cross off my list!

 

Other bucket list parks on my radar:

-Six Flags Great Adventure

-Six Flags Magic Mountain

-Six Flags Over Texas

-Holiday World

-Busch Gardens Williamsburg w/ Kings Dominion (Intimidator 305!)

[thepoint4life23]

You were about 3 and a half hours or less away from Cedar point when at kings island may of almost been worth then Extra Drive. I really need to hit up Dollywood

[jten11]

^Yea I realized that when I was planning, and trust me, I greatly considered that. But for a park like that, I need to make a separate trip for a couple of days alone! Not sure if I'm up for that drive again, though.