Now that's I'm back home at my computer, I can finally post a trip report. Being on a two week vacation and having the All Park Passport upgrade, I wanted to take advantage of it and visit Carowinds as I've never been here before and it's been on my bucket list for a while. I made the 6 and half hour drive on Monday and got to our hotel at the Springhill Suites that was next to the park. I want to give a huge shoutout to @guy305 for the recommendation. Originally I was looking at the other hotels across the street, but having bad experiences with hotels with decent ratings and seeing the walking distance to the park from there, I opted to spend the extra money for a better experience and it was worth every penny. Clean rooms, very good continental breakfast and just an overall very convenient location to the park. Will be staying here again in future visits. I wasn't planning on visiting the park Monday as I wasn't sure how late I was going to arrive and how I felt after the drive, but after checking in and eating, I had about 2 and a half hours to kill before the park closed so I decided to get a little preview for Tuesday.
My first impressions of the park, it was very clean and had really nice layout. I was very impressed with how well it was being taken care of. There were parts around the Camp Snoopy area that was very pretty and reminded me a lot of Old Virginia at KD. It also seemed like there was a lot of places that you could eat inside in the A/C which was also nice. One of the restaurants even had a bathroom inside which was very convenient instead of having to leave and find one like most parks. For the most part, the ride ops were excellent. Mainly at Fury 325, Afterburn, Thunder Striker, Hurler, Copperhead Strike and Carolina Cyclone. Staff in general was great. I did walk through Carolina Harbor to check it out but didn't actually go on anything despite the heat, but it looked like they had a great collection of waterslides. I'll have to try them next time I visit. Another thing that stood out to me was the amount of flat rides the park had. Compared to KD, it felt like it was huge win for them in that department. I wish KD would get more flats and this is coming from someone who almost never rides them. In the 2 and a half hours I was there, I got experience all the major coasters and got some merchandise. Tuesday I went back, got to do a loop around the park for a few hours before I went back to the hotel as it was very hot out and storms were rolling in. They shut down the major coasters for a few hours, but once the storm passed I headed back to the park and did another loop around the park before deciding to marathon Fury 325 for an hour or so before I headed back for the night.
Only a few things that stood out to me. Most of the major coasters only had one train operations. It was during the week so I do partially get it. But I do feel like rides like Afterburn and Carolina Goldrusher could have benefited with two trains. The park also had no major water rides on the dry side which was a huge bummer as I love log flumes and rapids rides which would've been nice to ride with how hot it was. Also on my second day when there was still a few hours left, I noticed a few roller coasters like Copperhead Strike and Ricochet were down for the day and I'm not sure if they reopened.
As far as the coasters:
1. Fury 325 - I completely understand why this has won Best Steel Coaster in the Golden Ticket Awards for eight straight years. This ride was the highlight of the trip for me and it was an amazing experience. Smooth, nice positive and negative g's, great layout and you can easily ride it over and over again which I saw with lots of people! While Pantherian is still my number one, Fury is the perfect example of people pleaser. While I was marathoning it near the end of the evening on Tuesday, I was constantly getting in line with the same people over and over again. The ride is 10 years old and people reacting when dispatching and returning as if the ride had just opened yesterday. I got 14 rides on it in the two days I was there. It's safe to say that this is my favorite B&M. Sorry Kumba, sorry Alpengeist. 10/10
2. Copperhead Strike - A great Mack launched coaster that fits the line up perfectly. First of all, I love the theme for this ride. The moment you enter plaza before the queue, you see lots of neat elements around the ride. The pre-show before the launch is very well done and really adds to the ride. The ride it's self is loads of fun. I love the hangtime it offers in the first half of the ride. For me the best part is the second half is where it really shines. All the quick turns remind me a lot of Maverick which you can't go wrong with. The launches aren't the most forceful but that's the least of my worries. 9/10
3. Afterburn - I'm a huge sucker for B&M Inverts and this one did not disappoint! Very smooth, great forces and honestly, has a great setting. Major props to the park for keeping trees so close to the ride. It has a bunch of near misses and just makes the ride look nice in general. I also recommend the right side for the best ride. 8/10
4. Thunder Striker - A very solid B&M Hyper with a great layout. Lots of airtime and great laterals on the turnaround. I do feel bad for this ride because Fury definitely took the glory with it LOL. 8/10
5. Carolina Cyclone - So admittedly, I do feel like after the first 4, the coasters do drop off a bit as far as thrills go. But I did enjoy Carolina Cyclone much more than I thought I would. It wasn't as rough as I expected it to be and the final corkscrews and helix was a lot of fun. In fact that final helix was a lot more forceful than I was expecting. A pretty good Arrow Looper in my opinion. 7/10
6. Carolina Goldrusher - This was another Arrow that was much more fun than I was expecting. It's got a great setting that takes advantage of a lot of it's surroundings. Also, that final helix was a lot more forceful than I expected. I also found the old school trains very interesting with how the lap bars are all connected with each other and lower at the same time and the fact each car has to be manually opened by the ride op. 7/10
7. Hurler - Not as bad as I was expecting but still nothing special. I'll admit it was kind of nice to reminisce Hurler at KD without getting my kidney relocated and it made me thankful it got RMC'd. I do fee like if this was next, it would drastically improve the parks line up even better. 6/10
8. Flying Cobras - Just your average Vekoma Boomerang. It was very disorienting and had some jarring moments. Got the credit the first day and didn't bother riding it the next. 3/10
9. Vortex - One and done for me. I was in the front row and experienced some pretty bad head banging. Even trying to stick my head out away from the restraints did nothing. This ride needs to be replaced because just like Firebird, converting to floorless won't help it at all.
Did not get to ride Ricochet, Woodstock, Snoopy's Racing Railway or Wilderness Run. Also very bummed about Nighthawk being torn down prior. Not sure if I'll even get to experience Batwing one last time on that note. Overall, I had a great time at Carowinds and I absolutely would love to make it back in the future.
My first impressions of the park, it was very clean and had really nice layout. I was very impressed with how well it was being taken care of. There were parts around the Camp Snoopy area that was very pretty and reminded me a lot of Old Virginia at KD. It also seemed like there was a lot of places that you could eat inside in the A/C which was also nice. One of the restaurants even had a bathroom inside which was very convenient instead of having to leave and find one like most parks. For the most part, the ride ops were excellent. Mainly at Fury 325, Afterburn, Thunder Striker, Hurler, Copperhead Strike and Carolina Cyclone. Staff in general was great. I did walk through Carolina Harbor to check it out but didn't actually go on anything despite the heat, but it looked like they had a great collection of waterslides. I'll have to try them next time I visit. Another thing that stood out to me was the amount of flat rides the park had. Compared to KD, it felt like it was huge win for them in that department. I wish KD would get more flats and this is coming from someone who almost never rides them. In the 2 and a half hours I was there, I got experience all the major coasters and got some merchandise. Tuesday I went back, got to do a loop around the park for a few hours before I went back to the hotel as it was very hot out and storms were rolling in. They shut down the major coasters for a few hours, but once the storm passed I headed back to the park and did another loop around the park before deciding to marathon Fury 325 for an hour or so before I headed back for the night.
Only a few things that stood out to me. Most of the major coasters only had one train operations. It was during the week so I do partially get it. But I do feel like rides like Afterburn and Carolina Goldrusher could have benefited with two trains. The park also had no major water rides on the dry side which was a huge bummer as I love log flumes and rapids rides which would've been nice to ride with how hot it was. Also on my second day when there was still a few hours left, I noticed a few roller coasters like Copperhead Strike and Ricochet were down for the day and I'm not sure if they reopened.
As far as the coasters:
1. Fury 325 - I completely understand why this has won Best Steel Coaster in the Golden Ticket Awards for eight straight years. This ride was the highlight of the trip for me and it was an amazing experience. Smooth, nice positive and negative g's, great layout and you can easily ride it over and over again which I saw with lots of people! While Pantherian is still my number one, Fury is the perfect example of people pleaser. While I was marathoning it near the end of the evening on Tuesday, I was constantly getting in line with the same people over and over again. The ride is 10 years old and people reacting when dispatching and returning as if the ride had just opened yesterday. I got 14 rides on it in the two days I was there. It's safe to say that this is my favorite B&M. Sorry Kumba, sorry Alpengeist. 10/10
2. Copperhead Strike - A great Mack launched coaster that fits the line up perfectly. First of all, I love the theme for this ride. The moment you enter plaza before the queue, you see lots of neat elements around the ride. The pre-show before the launch is very well done and really adds to the ride. The ride it's self is loads of fun. I love the hangtime it offers in the first half of the ride. For me the best part is the second half is where it really shines. All the quick turns remind me a lot of Maverick which you can't go wrong with. The launches aren't the most forceful but that's the least of my worries. 9/10
3. Afterburn - I'm a huge sucker for B&M Inverts and this one did not disappoint! Very smooth, great forces and honestly, has a great setting. Major props to the park for keeping trees so close to the ride. It has a bunch of near misses and just makes the ride look nice in general. I also recommend the right side for the best ride. 8/10
4. Thunder Striker - A very solid B&M Hyper with a great layout. Lots of airtime and great laterals on the turnaround. I do feel bad for this ride because Fury definitely took the glory with it LOL. 8/10
5. Carolina Cyclone - So admittedly, I do feel like after the first 4, the coasters do drop off a bit as far as thrills go. But I did enjoy Carolina Cyclone much more than I thought I would. It wasn't as rough as I expected it to be and the final corkscrews and helix was a lot of fun. In fact that final helix was a lot more forceful than I was expecting. A pretty good Arrow Looper in my opinion. 7/10
6. Carolina Goldrusher - This was another Arrow that was much more fun than I was expecting. It's got a great setting that takes advantage of a lot of it's surroundings. Also, that final helix was a lot more forceful than I expected. I also found the old school trains very interesting with how the lap bars are all connected with each other and lower at the same time and the fact each car has to be manually opened by the ride op. 7/10
7. Hurler - Not as bad as I was expecting but still nothing special. I'll admit it was kind of nice to reminisce Hurler at KD without getting my kidney relocated and it made me thankful it got RMC'd. I do fee like if this was next, it would drastically improve the parks line up even better. 6/10
8. Flying Cobras - Just your average Vekoma Boomerang. It was very disorienting and had some jarring moments. Got the credit the first day and didn't bother riding it the next. 3/10
9. Vortex - One and done for me. I was in the front row and experienced some pretty bad head banging. Even trying to stick my head out away from the restraints did nothing. This ride needs to be replaced because just like Firebird, converting to floorless won't help it at all.
Did not get to ride Ricochet, Woodstock, Snoopy's Racing Railway or Wilderness Run. Also very bummed about Nighthawk being torn down prior. Not sure if I'll even get to experience Batwing one last time on that note. Overall, I had a great time at Carowinds and I absolutely would love to make it back in the future.
