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A few weeks ago I saw on Twitter that Carowinds was having a flash sale on tickets for $30. I thought that was fantastic knowing that they have the world's best roller coaster on their property. So my father and I decided to buy tickets for September 25 of 2016. Two days ago (from when I am writing this), we began our four-hour drive from south of Atlanta.
Before I get to our arrival, I need to address the massive butt in South Carolina... So yeah...
Okay! So we're driving down the highway, passing the Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, and I am watching and waiting for that large, blue and green monster to pop its head from the behind the trees. All of a sudden I see:
The tallest coaster I have ever ridden is my former favorite (sorry boo; Fury and Intimidator are too amazing), Goliath at SFOG, so seeing this massive creature looming over the park from two-ish miles away is insane.
As we pull into our parking spot, I begin to hear the roar of the beast.
I am shaking with excitement as we walk into the park. Obviously, I stopped to take pictures from the bridge. (my dad took a picture of me taking a video of the ride)
The line to get into the park was extremely short, so we practically just walked right in. First up, Fury 325! (I decided to take a picture from the perspective of many of the pictures on Google Images)
First off, NO LINE! Not even 2 minutes before I was in the front seat! Secondly, OH MY GOD! That is such an amazing ride! I cannot, through words, express my wonderful feelings towards this ride! It definitely blew Goliath out of the water! I rode it two more times right after that! 11/10! Would (and did) totally ride again! I belive I rode it 3 times in a row right then.
Following the best ride of my life, we rode Hurler. I didn't take any pictures because I forgot how to be a human for a minute.
Overall, not a bad ride. It was jerky but also comfortable at the same time. I was a huge fan of the cushioned seats because of past issues with the Georgia Cyclone and GASM. I liked the pacing, and it was slightly more floaty over the hills than GC. 8/10. Would ride again.
Then we tried getting on Carolina Cyclone. I don't know why, but it was closed for the beginning of the day until about 11:30.
After that failure, we walked over to the nearby Carolina Goldrusher. Not a bad ride. It was enjoyable. I definitely like Delonegah Minetrain more, but this was a good mine train ride overall. Kinda jerky, but that was expected. 7/10. Would probably ride again.
Next up, Carolina Cobra, my first boomerang.
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It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. I basically just rode it for the credit because of previous "rumors" of roughness on boomerangs. I liked the branding on the restraints. It made me happy to see that Vekoma wants you to know who sent you to the chiropractor. 6/10. Might ride again.
Following that, we sat down for a second because that was oh my what?
THEN, we went to Vortex.
I was expecting more out of this ride. SFOG is my home park, so I have ridden the Georgia Scorcher many times. That is a great standup, so I was hoping that Vortex would be much smoother than it was. It was very jerky, and I had to hold my head out of the OTSRs to make sure I didn't have my ears smashed. I liked the layout, but it was rough. 5/10. Might ride again.
Lunch time! Except, what? An $11 burger? oh my god it better be good. Too bad it wasn't that great. At least the flies liked it.
5/10. Would burger again if I had too.Following lunch, we rode(?) the Carolina Skytower because airconditioning is amazing. Basically that was the only reason. It is nice to see a view of the park from above, while being "relaxed." It was also nice to see just how many people were actually there:
That was about as full as it got all day.
Now to my new second favorite coaster, Intimidator!
(This picture was taken after the park closed)
This ride was fantastic! The airtime was fantastic, even with the two trims! I loved letting my arms just float around when cresting the hills. It was very smooth throughout the whole ride. 10/10. Would ride again! I rode it 3 times back to back because I didn't have to leave my seat. Nobody was in line!
Then I made the second worst decision of my life. I rode Nighthawk.
This was another one where the layout wasn't bad, but gees Vekoma! When explaining to my father about how this worked, I told him "Imagine Superman, but like Ninja" (both at SFOG). He followed with "Ow. Why did you put yourself through that?" I figured it very well describes Nighthawk because it is a flyer, like Superman, but it is very painful, like Ninja. Entering the corkscrews was the worst part because of the way it slams you to the side. 3/10. Probably wouldn't ride again.
After that ouch fest, we went to ride Windseeker and Flying Ace Ariel Chase. Windseeker was fine; not much different than SkyScreamer. 8/10. Would ride again. Flying Ace was... interesting. It wasn't bad; it was jerky, and I could probably touch the track during the ride, but it wasn't bad. 7/10. Would probably ride again.
Now to Afterburn! I didn't get any pictures because I was busy getting videos (which I will probably add later) because it's awesome! That is a great ride! After having ridden the ever-so-famous BATMAN: The Ride a countless number of times, I was ready for a change. This was an amazing change too! I have never experienced anything like that batwing before! The speed, the intensity, the squirrel that almost didn't make it off of the rails in time; it was all quite a rush. 10/10. Would ride again!
We began walking back to the other side of the park to ride the Cyclone (bad choice) and stopped at Woodstock Express on the way. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked this ride. It definitely had small seats (my dad couldn't fit), but it was very fun! I really like how fast it went around the turns, which was a big difference from other woodies I've been on, to be honest. Obviously, it was a little jerky, like any woodie, but it was still comfortable. 8/10. Would probably ride again.
We also rode Boo Blasters, mainly for AC. It was enjoyable. 8/10. Would air condition again.
As we continued to venture towards Cyclone, we stopped by the Intimidator again because it was so great. Another 3 times (That made 6), then off to ride Fury another 3 times (which also made 6).
Finally, we got back over to the Carolina Cyclone. (still no pictures. I'm really good at this)
I wasn't exactly excited to ride, but I wanted the credit. That was the most awful ride I have ever ridden. I thought Nighthawk was bad! This was the worst thing I did all day. The pain from that ride exhausted me! We went back into the parking lot and took a nap in the car! 1/10. Would not ride again!
After about twenty minutes of napping, we walked back in and sat in Starbucks because it was freezing and AC is nice. Free water is also pretty great. We then walked back over to Afterburn because I wanted to ride it one more time before we left. (2)
Then back to Intimidator for another 3 times (9). We passed Fury because I wanted it to be the last ride of the night.
Ricochet... I... What?
I hadn't ridden a wild mouse before Ricochet, and boy was I in for a surprise. I guess I can't really criticize the turns because that's the point. I'm still not sure if I liked it. I guess I'll give it a 7/10. Would probably ride again.
Back to Fury again! Another 3 times made my total go up to 9 rides on it. On one of them I took a POV with a crappy video watch, but at least you can see what's going on. This definitely is my favorite coaster now.
Overall, I'd say that this was a pretty successful day! No lines on anything, and a lot of pretty good rides! Carowinds is a much cleaner park than SFOG. Not nearly enough shade though. 9/10. Would drive four hours to Carowinds again.
Did I do good?
