June 4, 2001-Monday Paramount’s Carowinds
*** out of 5 stars. This is the 2nd park out of 11. This is a small, well-landscaped park. The weather was perfect, sunny but not hot. The park was not very crowded. We got there at 9:30. Parking was $7 but we got real close to the entrance. This was my first Paramount park in the states that I have been too, and I was impressed with how well organized this park was. We purchased season passes for $75. The process went by quick, but not like SFOT.
Rip Roarin’ Rapids ** This rapids ride spun like crazy. It kept on going faster and faster. No one got very wet though. 5 minute wait
Vortex™ *** ½ This is a small B&M standup. It was smooth and intense. The pacing was great, but is too short. The trains looked new. Wait was less than 15 minutes.
Hurler™ ** ½ This is one rough woodie. It has a good layout, fast and furious. Walk-on
Carolina Cyclone *** This is a somewhat smooth arrow looper. It’s lots of fun, but too short. Arrow has some great designs, but they are hard to enjoy with a headache. 5 minute wait
Great Wall Of China **** Excellent sweet & sour chicken. My parents said the Chicken cashew was good also. The rice was terrible brown rice. It cost $6:50 each.
Carolina Goldrusher ** A tame and uninteresting mine train. Walk-on
Scooby-Doo’s™ Haunted Mansion **** This was fun to shoot targets while riding. Though a kid ride, this is great fun for everybody. I also beat my combined parents score :) 20 minute wait.
Thunder Road™ **** This is a smooth airtime filled woodie. This ride is underrated in my opinion. Backwards is great but forwards is the best. Walk-on
Smash Factory *** An average motion simulator. Stupid story but fun movements. Walk-on
7th Portal™ ** Stupid story with not much action. Not a good movie for motion simulation. Some of the 3-D effects were nice though. Walk-on
Top Gun® **** The entrance was very hard to find Very smooth, fast inverted. Mist filled tunnel was great. This one seems longer than the Batman the Ride clones. 5 minute wait.
Powder Keg Flume * Very rough. We bounced up the lift hills and there was not enough water in the trough. We bottomed out numerous times. 10 minute wait
We finished by 2:00 but we didn’t ride the flat rides or the coaster again as we had to drive to Williamsburg, VA. A good but small park. The water park looked fairly big. The Super Saturator looked like lots of fun but we didn’t want to get wet.
