Carowinds Discussion Thread

Which is why I said if . . . You . . . Have . . . The . . . Time. Besides, it's a Tuesday. He should be able to do almost everything in 3 hours.

Well, as I said, I had the exact same amount of time as he will have, and I regret every minute I waited in line for that thing. And that was without Fury being open. As someone who had the exact same experience, don't ride that trashy trash trash hunk of junk garbage pile. Ride a better coaster.

Life is too short to waste time riding Nighthawk.

You know, it really wouldn't matter to me who rides what guys. No need to be defensive. I don't get cookies or brownies or Russian whores either way it goes.

I'm planning to make my first ever Carowinds visit today.

 

I'm on a last minute work trip in Columbia, SC. I didn't even put two and two together until I drove right past the park yesterday and saw Fury 325 towering over highway 77.

 

My plan is to get off work at 5 PM, purchase a discounted afternoon ticket, drive the 1.5 hours to Charlotte, and sneak in as many rides as possible between 7-10 PM tonight. I don't know much about Carowinds, so I'll probably just lap Fury 325 and Intimidator, unless I'm missing something. Hopefully crowds won't be too bad on a cloudy Tuesday.

 

Wish me luck!

Well all, thanks for the advice in this thread, because I just got back from a fun and successful first night ever at Carowinds!

As promised, I'm posting up a little mini photo TR as a token of my appreciation.

I got off work a little later than expected, and I didn't make it into the park until about 7:15 PM. On the plus, flying through the parking booth and into the park a breeze! Maybe it's just been a while since I've been to a park, and maybe I'm just easily impressed by low tech, but I thought the Carowinds' eticket/app was really awesome! Less time buying tickets and more time riding coasters!

Like I mentioned, I was very nervous about having less than three hours to get everything in, and I was even more nervous when the parking lot looked much more crowded than I expected. In any case, armed with the GPS app in hand, I stuck to the plan and marched right towards Intimidator.

To my relief, there was NO LINE. Literally a one car wait for front row. And you guys must have sufficiently tempered my expectations, because I had a GREAT RIDE. I was really impressed. The first drop felt steep, trim brakes were minimal, and I got huge floater air over every hill.

I resisted the temptation to go for another ride by reminding myself that Fury was still to come, and headed on to Afterburn. The app predicted an 11 minute wait and... another walk up! I got two rides in less than 15 minutes... a one train wait for the front row and a one train wait for the back row. B&M inverters are usually all about the front row for me, but I enjoyed my back ride more on this one. Definitely intense back there!

Headed over to the main attraction: Fury. Again was nervous about the wait and was pleasantly surprised to time it at no more than 10 minutes. I forgot about the "no seat choices rule" and my first ride was assigned in the second to last row. The ride was nuts as expected, but not as nuts as I expected, and I think I overhyped it in my mind or just didn't enjoy my seat that much.

That said, I quickly lapped around and went for another ride on Fury, and another. Before my second ride I noticed the front row had a group of three and asked the line monitor if I could fill it in. She sent me on my way and I was feeling lucky to score a front row ride!

And I have to say, Fury is a pretty great ride in the middle seats. And it's and abso-freaking-lutely mind melting INSANE ride in the front seat. Seriously, my second (front row) ride absolutely blew me away. The sense of speed was totally different, and I can easily say it's one of the most incredible coasters I've ever been on.

I lucked out again on my next ride and scored a back row seat, before doing something that may get me kicked out of coaster clubs everywhere - I abandoned Fury for... Hurler. Haha!

Not the best wooden coaster ever, and I had read about the complaints going in, but what can I say? I'm a sucker for the raggedy woodies... there's just something about how much character they have and how alive they feel. I thoroughly enjoyed my ride.

By this time it was about 8:50. I decided to try to sneak in one more run on Intimidator before finished the night with more Fury. Well, they closed Intimidator early, and as I walked back to Fury, out of nowhere the skies opened up and it started pouring rain. Fury was immediately closed, and I checked the radar and realized that was probably it for my nighttime riding dreams. Feeling pretty satisfied anyway, I happily called it a night.

All in all, in two hours I scored 1 ride on Intimidator, 2 rides on Afterburn, 4 rides on Fury, and 1 ride on Hurler. Not bad! You Carowinds folks have an awesome park on your hands!

What a beautiful sight for somebody on a coaster drought! I haven't felt coaster excitement like this since I was a kid.

Straight to Intimidator, which I was pleasantly surprised to have an AWESOME ride.

I expect this sexy Afterburn train shot to be the next RCT cover photo.

I don't care what anyone says, Intimidator is one beautiful coaster!

But this is one even more beautiful coaster! The reason I'm here. The 5-10 minute wait times were pretty sweet too...

Fury getting rained on... and looking bad ass. No nightime ride for me.

Glad that you had a great time! Sucks that the rain ended your night a little early.

Glad that you had a great time! Sucks that the rain ended your night a little early.

It shouldn't have ended his night. We were there too. Rain lasted like 45 minutes TOPS and after the rain storm Fury opened immediately back up and night rides were a walk on.

PROTIP: Never let a bit of rain "end your day" early.

Alright Robb, I'm dying to know... what did you think of Fury?

When we went out there I fully expected another Leviathan style fun but forceless B&M but B&M pretty much blew my expectations away with that thing. I know you're hyper critical of modern B&M's also so I've been interested to hear your feedback on this one.

Sounds like you had a great quick trip. I'm glad you enjoyed Intimidator. I also still find it fun. Your picture from the outside of the park does a good example of representing how this small feeling park just seems wrapped in massive coaster track.

Glad that you had a great time! Sucks that the rain ended your night a little early.

It shouldn't have ended his night. We were there too. Rain lasted like 45 minutes TOPS and after the rain storm Fury opened immediately back up and night rides were a walk on.

 

PROTIP: Never let a bit of rain "end your day" early.

Wow, especially after the early Intimidator close, I figured there was no way they'd open a wet track just for 15 minutes of late night riders for a handful of guests. Guess I was wrong! And very impressive of the staff.

Can't believe I missed you there either. Would have liked to say hi... the TPR ERT on during the New Texas Giant Bash several years ago was one of my best coaster memories.

Sounds like you had a great quick trip. I'm glad you enjoyed Intimidator. I also still find it fun. Your picture from the outside of the park does a good example of representing how this small feeling park just seems wrapped in massive coaster track.

I was surprised by how small the park felt. Between Intimidator being right at the entrance, and Afterburn to Fury being a relatively short walk, it really feels like a cozy park packed with some coaster gems.

I was in your exact same boat about three years ago (work trip to Columbia, drove up to Carowinds, spent 7-10 at park). Fury was just a pile of dirt and a "Centurion"-sized dream in enthusiasts' minds then, so it wasn't a factor in my planning. I wanted to take the loop around the park and get on all the coasters and managed to do so with extra rides on Afterburn and Intimidator. However, if credit whoring isn't in on your agenda, I agree with Bill - get a ride or two in on Intimidator, then a few on Afterburn, then make your way around the loop and stick to Fury for the rest of the night.

 

DEFINITELY don't ride that ever-loving piece of s**t Nighthawk - not only does it suck A$$, but it'll have the longest, slowest-moving line of the night. The three hours will go by a lot faster than you may realize (it did for me), and It's more time that could be spent on Afterburn or Fury. If you were gonna be there the whole day, maybe, but you need to focus on what counts.

I’d be curious to hear more about this. Were there some challenges in getting the Fury project started?

To the nighthawk debate, I don't think it was running so that made the choice easy. At least I didn't see a train on it all night. I did snap a somewhat cool sunset pic of it though:

I’d be curious to hear more about this. Were there some challenges in getting the Fury project started?

I visited the park in late July 2014, during the initial phases of construction on Fury and a few weeks before it was even announced. Fury opened as planned the next spring with no issues.

I’d be curious to hear more about this. Were there some challenges in getting the Fury project started?

The only challenge that I know about was when they went to put in the tunnel underneath the new bridge entrance they hit water. Ended up costing $1mil to get the natural spring that they didn't know existed rerouted! Here is a great 45 min documentary on the building of Fury that aired a whopping 2 times on Travel Channel a couple years ago, never to be seen on tv since. https://vimeo.com/135352766

Your video is broken. Do you have a direct link?

^ You should be able to view it here.

I just visited Carowinds for the first time this afternoon/evening, and I'm going to write up a full report once my entire trip is over, but I thought I would pop in here and say that Fury 325 lived up to all of my expectations, Intimidator felt exactly like Diamondback (which is a good thing), and Afterburn was INSANE. I have a new favorite B&M Invert.

We only spent about 3 hours in the park today, so we didn't get to ride everything, but we will be back for a full day tomorrow from opening to closing. First impressions so far are great!

Also, if you would like to follow along with me on this trip, follow my story on Instagram. Check my signature!

I may POSSIBLY be visiting Carowinds for the first time next Summer. Here's hoping!

To chime in and give my advice. If you have 3hrs in the park particularly the last three hours the park is open, it's pretty easy to hit everything in the park with multiple rides on the top three coasters during the week. Saturday's are different. Always I mean always jump in nighthawks line last by 9:58pm it's almost always a walk on by then. Lines dont close until 10pm or what ever time the park closes so hit everything and jet to nighthawk last minute.

Zach - I have no idea what happened to the Fury documentary link I tried to post up above - sorry! I just saw this. Technology and I go together about as well as oil and water. Thanks coneyislandchris for providing the correct link!

Hey, so I'm flying down to Tampa on August 25th. I currently have a one hour layover at CLT (arrival at CLT at 10 am). Before I try to get a later flight, (and since I'm not willing to get a rental car/uber) anyone willing to pick me up at the airport for a couple hours (aka: a ride or 2 on Fury, Afterburn, and Intimidator)? I am willing to compensate--which could take the form of one (1) park admission ticket, parking at the park/airport if necessary, a meal outside the park, or something else within reason. Please PM me by the 20th if interested.

Caught a glimpse of Fury 325 from the Charlotte airport overlook!

Hey, so I'm flying down to Tampa on August 25th. I currently have a one hour layover at CLT (arrival at CLT at 10 am). Before I try to get a later flight, (and since I'm not willing to get a rental car/uber) anyone willing to pick me up at the airport for a couple hours (aka: a ride or 2 on Fury, Afterburn, and Intimidator)? I am willing to compensate--which could take the form of one (1) park admission ticket, parking at the park/airport if necessary, a meal outside the park, or something else within reason. Please PM me by the 20th if interested.

Why would you be willing to have a complete stranger from here pick you up and drop you back off yet not want to take an Uber? It shouldn't even cost that much.

Seems to me being willing to have a complete stranger pick you up and drop you off and compensating them is the very definition of hiring an Uber.

I think you guys are missing the point. He very easily can do Uber but wants somebody who is also a coaster fan and would want to hang out for a bit.

There's nothing wrong with that at all! If I were a local I'd be more than happy to!