Today is our 3rd day on our big roller coaster tour and it's time for a brand new park! Carowinds!
Upon waking up though, it looks like it won't be too bad early in the morning, and just have a consistent threat of rain as the day goes on. Let's head to Carowinds first!
Hello breakfast crew! Nothing tasty to speak of. I chose cereal over anything else.
Our hotel is so close to the park, it was an easy drive to get there. Even though it's Saturday, the threat of rain seems to be keeping most people away.
Oh yeah. Right across the entryway is a great big roller coaster. Let's definitely go on that one!
Carowinds is located right on the North Carolina and South Carolina border. It's slogan is "Where the Carolinas come together." Splitting the entryway straight down the middle is a different colored line on concrete showing the demarcation of South Carolina on the left and North Carolina on the right.
The park is opening at 10am today and we arrived right as they opened. Of course I'm going to make use of my all-season, all-park photo pass.
Fury 325!
This Gigacoaster (300-399 ft) has a height of 325 feet. Sounds awesome!
Getting our picture from our first ride.
This coaster is fast too, reaching speeds of 95mph. Even with all that speed though, the ride time is almost 3.5 minutes, thanks to having a track that is well over a mile long!
And then again.
And why not another time for good measure. It's not raining yet, so we should be riding something if we can.
Boarding was quick and efficient with 6 different workers at the station making sure everyone loaded onto the coaster properly. It was amazing compared to some of the other coasters we've ridden where there is only 1 or 2 operators who have to check everything.
And did it live up to all the hype? Absolutely it did! Such fun drops, lots of airtime on the big hills, super smooth turns and transitions, plus a dive underneath the entry walkway. So much fun! 
With such a fun ride, and super short lines, we had to go again immediately. Thank you Theresa for all the photos from the ground.
The ride from the front seat was so much louder than the back seats. That plus the wind hitting you directly makes it a much different experience.
We ended up riding 4 times before finally deciding that we should go explore some of the other coasters this park has to offer.
Afterburn was next. I thought it would be similar to all the Batman coaster copies that we've done before. We requested the front row, especially since the park wasn't busy, but were told they had to fill up the coaster. We got row 5 which made it difficult for Theresa to get photos. The on-ride photos were broken here unfortunately.
Our next big coaster here is called Thunder Striker. It has a height of 232 feet and maybe it's just because we finished doing Fury 325, but all of us found it to be very tame.
Even in the video you can see the hairband graveyard at the very end.
Just 1 ride for that one. On to the next coaster!
I wasn't sure what to expect from Copperhead Strike. It looks like a lot of twists and turns.
I loved the slow roll right as you leave the station. Then you launch out of the barn into lots of twists and turns.
The only really downside for Jacob and I were the restraints. There's no over-the-shoulder harnesses, which is great, but to keep you locked in, those lap restraints sure do a number on your thighs.
And what about ride photos? Broken here too. Grr.
The Flying Cobras is a normal boomerang coaster with a fancier name. We're doing it to get our coaster credit, but it's a little rough. It bangs your head around a bit, so it was just one and done. When we loaded we were underneath the station platform, but as soon as it started, we could feel the rain had started to come down.
Ian was also keeping his eyes out as we walked around and he saw a place that had hand-breaded chicken tenders. Those are usually much better than the regular frozen ones, so we headed there next. I could smell the pulled pork smoking just outside. Mmm. I know what I'm getting.
Chicken Tenders, Drumsticks, and Pulled Pork.
It all looks good.
I'm just a little disappointed on the portion sizes. For $19.49 for tenders and a side, I was hoping to get a bit bigger portions.
It was the same for my pulled pork. Very expensive for what you actually got.
Out come the jackets and umbrellas! Looks like a good time to pause for lunch!
Most of the crew had decided on Panda Express. Theresa has really been looking forward to the in-park Panda Express and their green beans and chicken. She was looking at previous menus and was talking all about it. We walked our food over in the drizzling rain and she was disappointed to see there were only 4 entree options and they were all fried. Boo.
On the plus side though, the sides included an apple cobbler, so I'm definitely trying that.
A good stop for lunch. Now that the rain has started to let up, let's do a few more rides!
Normally we're focused on the big rides, but even the smaller carnival style rides can be fun. Ian wanted to try the Do-Si-Do.
Theresa stayed to the side and got all our photos.
And it doesn't just spin around, it goes up in the air too!
We just ate lunch so of course it's time to ride a coaster called Hurler! It originally opened in 1994 with a copy of the coaster opening at Kings Dominion that same year.
We got on a very not busy coaster and were able to ride in the back. It was a little too rough on Jacob's long legs and beat up his knees. One and done for him.
I took the kids for another round.
You know, since we're so close, why don't we do another ride on Fury 325.
Or 2 or 3.
This looks like a wild coaster. Supposed to be like a Carolina Cyclone.
Is it ominous that we're the only ones on the ride? Front row though.
Theresa was there to get our photos while we were riding it.
Back in 1980, it was the first coaster in the world to have 4 inversions.
Ouch. Rough turns. Rough loops. Rough all around.
Yeah, no thank you. One and done.
Theresa was there for us for our photos.
Gotta grab an Icee while it's nearby. Loving the free drink pass.
Since we're in the area, we should do the Carolina Goldrusher and make sure we get our coaster credit.
How about a standup coaster? Vortex didn't have much of a line either, so we took the front row.
Man, it doesn't matter where your head goes, it always ends up getting banged around on these style over the shoulder harnesses. We'll say no thank you.
It was slow to load and slow to unload. We went ahead and got the front seats of the train. When the operator was making the announcements he said to enjoy the 100 foot drop, but maybe that's if you add all the drops together.
This ride is one of the original coaster that opened when the park opened back in 1973.
I've mentioned "Getting our coaster credit" a few times and I should probably explain what it means. I've seen a lot of coaster enthusiasts that keep track of how many unique roller coasters they've been on. If it's on rails and actually "coasts" then it counts as a unique credit. If it's on rails but is powered the whole time (like a train) it doesn't count. Flat Rides are a whole separate category. I found an app that makes it really convenient to keep track of all the parks you've been to and rides you've been on. It's cleverly named "LogRide" and it will show you current rides, past rides, seasonal rides, and more. After you've entered everything in, it will give you a summary of how many coasters you've ridden and lots more. Pretty slick!
We'll pick up from here on the next post. This day 1 of Carowinds is already starting to get a little long.
No comments:
Post a Comment