McJoshvitt

Good to know! LR is pretty intense and the thought of another 20 mph sounded pretty scary! But there are no quick turns on Fury like on LR... that has to account for something. But that's a seriously HUGE drop! I think I've come to that conclusion too. We enjoyed Carowinds a lot and had a great time! It's just different. And we enjoyed that it's an hour closer to us than Dollywood. I've been pretty apprehensive about Wild Eagle due to dangling over the sides like that! But I've told myself that I'll ride that thing one day. That's the only coaster I haven't ridden in Dollywood. Maybe I'll get in the Kiddy Hawk ride at Carowinds or the new Vekoma Dragonflier at DW to see if I can overcome that! But dang I love Thunderhead. It's just intense from start to finish! You really feel like you rode something when you get off that ride. Definitely gonna have to brave up for Intimidator next trip! Can't wait! Been lurking of this forum all of last year, reading up on Dollywood, Disney World, and both Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Tampa. Now this year that we decided to take a chance on Carowinds been following this thread in the forums. And it's just a great community of Theme Park / Amusement Park fans! Thanks to all of you!

Thanks for the information everyone! Because of the weather, we did end up waiting to get to the park until almost 12pm. It was perfect. It was slightly cool and barely raining at all. Just a slight drizzle off and on. I was concerned about crowds too since they were having a program with schools that day as well, but it wasn't really a factor either. I know it had something to do with STEM, but I know they also had students from Chorus and Band playing at the auditorium. But that never was any problem until we went to eat lunch at Chic-Fil-A. It was packed out. Who knew I'd ever spend $7 on a Chic-Fil-A sandwich?? We headed up to Copperhead Strike after a quick ride on Goldrusher (which is so terrible). Got 2 back to back rides in on Copperhead strike with practically no wait. I have to say that the employees worked fast on Copperhead strike at trying to keep load times very minimal! Kudos to them! Other rides that we went on were not quite as quick and efficient. Goldrusher was the worst I think, however that was slowed down by a rather large man trying to fit into the ride which he was not able to do. Coming from Season Passes at Dollywood last year, and this being our first trip of the season to Carowinds, I was a little surprised by some things. I was definitely not used to the metal detectors and emptying of my pockets when entering the pack. So I'll be a little more prepared next time for that. However I thought all the employees at the park were pretty friendly and helpful. Dollywood seems to brag about their customer service but I never was impressed with it and Carowinds seemed to be right on par with Dollywood's CS. To yawetag: Wasn't me on Reddit, but I really appreciate the tip! I would've pretty much expected them to open regardless, but I will keep an eye on their twitter and such if weather is a question! Thanks! I hate to keep comparing it to Dollywood, but Dollywood does seem like a much nicer park. Carowinds doesn't have much theming to it and the over-all look of Dollywood is much nicer with trees and such. Plus the rides just didn't seem to be in as good of shape... at least the ones we rode. Me and my son LOVE Tennesee Tornado, so we were somewhat excited to try Carolina Cyclone since it's another Arrow and looks very similar. But it's not near in the same league as Tennessee Tornado. Hurler is another that shocked me. SOOOO many people down Thunderhead as "rough", however I thought the Hurler was way more rough, but everyone getting off of our train LOVED it. To each his own I suppose? I love Thunderhead. But I loved the layout of Hurler. In the end, we rode Goldrusher, Copperhead Strike, Flying Cobras, Carolina Cyclone, Hurler, Boo Blasters, & Woodstock Express (which is surprisingly a fun little ride). Next time we will make sure to give Vortex a try and possibly The Intimidator. We're not much on suspended coasters as we're a little nervous with heights so being suspended is quite scary to us! LOL. And we're not quite brave enough to try Fury 325 yet. The fastest coaster we've been on is Lightning Rod, so we're work our way to that! Still pretty new to coasters.

Thanks Canobie Coaster! I appreciate the info, especially about the opening time of the parking lot. I tend to get places early if I've never been previously. We'll definitely have to head to Copperhead Strike first! Can't wait to get a ride on that coaster as it looks incredibly fun!

I'm planning on heading to Carowinds tomorrow (4/5/19) with my family to celebrate my son's 10th birthday. The weather looks to be terrible (rainy with a high of 59 degrees) but we're hoping to make the most of it. We've never been to Carowinds, so could anyone share any helpful tips to make the first experience a great one? Any tips on parking, or the park in general? We spent quite a bit of time last year at Dollywood and loved that experience, but I'm expecting our trips to Carowinds to be a lot busier and different than the Dollywood atmosphere.

Any thoughts on how crowds will be this Saturday? We were planning on going to see The Blind Boys of Alabama in the park, but apparently the Spring Rod Run is going on the 19th-21st. So, I'm not sure I want to take that 2.5 hours journey for it to be packed out at the park. This is our first year with season passes, so we're just trying to figure out good times to go.