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Anyway, the next morning, I woke up early and got to Carowinds at 9 when it opened and met my friends there. The entrance is very Six Flags-esque if you ask me. I hadn't been to Carowinds for quite a long time; I believe the last time I went was around 2001 or 2002. The additions since then have really changed the park and really gave it a different personality. Anyway, the first ride we headed to was Intimidator, which had a very short line. We rode it twice, and then the line became too unbearable for us to handle. Overall, it is about the same as any other B&M Mega Coaster I'd ever ridden. But, the newly designed seats featured on Diamondback and Behemoth as well, were very comfortable and a vast improvement over the older design featured on all of the other Mega Coasters.
Then, we headed over to Nighthawk, the Vekoma Flyer. I didn't really get the theme. First off, all of the signs seemed to have been left over from when the coaster had the "Borg Assimilator" theme. And, I don't really imagine a Nighthawk being yellow and blue. The coaster was rough and quite intense, but the line was absolutely huge. Probably at least one hour. I would wager to say it had a longer line all day then Intimidator, but that could be due to the train loading complexity and capacity differences these two rides have. That being said, it is a very popular coaster with the general public.
Unlike Nighthawk and Intimidator, I had ridden Vortex before. I love this coaster, it packs a lot of fun into a very small package. The trains were very comfortable and the ride is absolutely spectacular for its age. Afterwards, we decided to head to the other side of the park. On my way, I noticed a well dressed official from Premier Rides, builder of coasters such as the new Skyrocket at Kenneywood and Flight of Fear. Considering the park has no launching coasters, I'm crossing my fingers that they get one, perhaps from Premier sooner than later. While in the County Fair section of the park, we rode Afterburn, Thunder Road, and Southern Star. Afterburn was absolutely fantastic, I love almost any B&M Invert I come across.
On our way over to the very well themed Carolina Boardwalk, we rode Carolina Cobra. I absolutely love the new Vekoma train design featured on this ride. I hope to see it implemented on older Arrow coasters with similar track styles to help with the roughness that causes shorter guests heads to hit the over the shoulder restraints on the older, outdated trains. While at the Carolina Boardwalk, we rode the classic Carolina Goldrusher, Scream Weaver, Ricochet, and the Carolina Cyclone. Goldrusher is such a classic ride, my friend's legs were to long to fit under the train's restraints, so he couldn't ride, but my girlfriend and I rode and had a great time on the Goldrusher. Carowinds Ricochet has a much more interesting theme and layout than its sister at Kings Dominion. I love how they blended it with the classic boardwalk theme. Cyclone is just a mess, it apparently is having in identity crisis or something. As I recall the track was painted three different colors. It made absolutely no sense, even at a theming-impaired Cedar Fair park. Hurler and Drop Tower were also in that general area, but are considered in the "Thrill Zone" section of the park. Hurler was extremely bumpy and lacked airtime. It was a nightmare of a wooden coaster, ten times worse then the one at Kings Dominion. It has aged badly over the years. Drop Tower was great, I like it better than the conventional Drop Tower at Kings Dominion.
It was around Five after getting through all of those rides, and the park closed at six, so I decided to head back to Motel Six to get some rest. The next day, I stayed at Carowinds for a couple hours with my girlfriend. We rode just about all of the other more minor coasters and rides, and got some of the pictures you see on the blog today. I made the whole drive home which was not very fun. I had a great time at Carowinds. Now, I'm going to give my opinion on a couple of debates that have taken place the in coaster community many times before now and will continue on into the future...
Carowinds vs. Kings Dominion:
Being so close to each other for two parks in the same chain, most would think they would be very similar, but that does not hold true in this case. Carowinds is a much smaller park and incorporates their coasters into the park's paths to save room. Some of their ride placement is spot on, while other placement is quite puzzling. The park is very well maintained, the pathways are spotless, and the rides are generally reliable. The Planet Snoopy re-theme did wonders for their kids section, it made it look bright and new. The park lacks a launched coaster, and comes up a bit short in the flat ride department. The placement of Drop Tower which is very out of the way is an awful mistake, the ride shouldn't been placed somewhere else. Overall, Carowinds packs a lot of punch into a small, charming package. It does have some shortcomings, but no park is perfect. Especially, considering the park's competition is very below average.
Kings Dominion is a bigger park than Carowinds, has a bigger variety of coasters, and clearly has superior flat rides to Carowinds. They do generally have more problems keeping their rides up and going for an extended period of time, but that is to be expected when you have a 400 acre amusement park full of rides to operate. The parks' wooden coasters which are all identical (Rebel Yell to Thunder Road, the two Hurler's, and Ghoster Coaster to Woodstock Express) are virtually tied. But, I have to give the edge to Kings Dominion due to extra wooden coaster (Grizzly) and the fact that Kings Dominion's woodies have been maintained much better by Cedar Fair. I will give Carowinds a slight edge in the steel coaster department due to the fact that they have three great B&Ms and two popular Vekomas (which usually are hard to find within 500 miles of each other).
.My final verdict is Kings Dominion, it is a bigger and better park. I still love Carowinds for what it is... a somewhat smaller park with virtually no competition in its area.
Intimidator 305 vs. Intimidator Carowinds
I'd like to start off saying these coasters can't really be stacked up against each other. They are too different. They are both at or near the top of their respective categories. Intimidator 305 is a world class ride, something never seen before, a unique mix of Millennium Force, an Intamin Mega-Lite, and perhaps Maverick to a degree. It is in my top five for sure. That being said, it's train is simply uncomfortable and it has had some reliability problems with its train's wheels and it's anti-rollback system. It is very rough and packs a whole lot of punch.
On the other hand, Intimidator Carowinds brings a reliable, fantastic ride to Carowinds. It is a beautiful peace of B&M engineering. A high capacity, reliable, crowd pleaser that will be THE signature ride at Carowinds for years to come. Its trains are comfortable and it rides very smoothly.
If I was Kings Dominion, and had to pick between a reliable, smooth, high capacity coaster which may not be world class, but will still stand out as the best ride at the park OR in some people's opinion the best coaster in the world, a unique, massive coaster that will be a bit rough and may have reliability problems due to its relatively new, unseen features, but perhaps would make roller coaster history if the gamble turns out right... I would probably have gone the opposite direction that Kings Dominion. I would have played it conservative and took the more reliable coaster. But, that being said Intimidator 305 is by far better than Intimidator Carowinds when you look at them purely ride wise.
Well, that' concludes it, thanks for reading this massive edition of the Kdlvr Blog. Stay tuned for more soon and have a great week.
-Jake
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