carowinds

I agree with what others have said, get Nighthawk done 1st thing. We went last year Labor Day weekend. We did not do it as we went in. By the time we got around to it, we waited an hour. Rest of park was fairly short waits. It was hot & miserable both days! Dealt with some rude employees, non-air conditioned restaurants. Loved Afterburn and Intimidator. The 2nd day their, wife got cranky from heat. So I drove the 30 minutes back to hotel, dropped her off and returned to park and rode Intimidator rest of day. If it weren't for that ride, I would have no desire to return to the park.

If you like Nighthawk and want to ride again, you can always get in line "one minute before park closing" as some of us do. Sure, you will still have to wait a while, but don't have to worry about missing out on other rides or arranging your day around the long wait.

When i went back in May 2010, the only ride people were interested in basically was Intimidator. However, it was new that year and even then it was no more than probably a 25 minute wait for the two rides i took on it. Once early and once in the afternoon.

I did Nighthawk after fearing a long wait. Thankfully the line was maybe a 15 minute wait, but it significantly got longer during the day. However, with that being said only one ride was enough for me. The end of that ride with the corkscrews was more than enough for me to call it a day. Firehawk/X-flight finishes better with the in line twists.

Afterburn is a can't miss coaster. It truly is underappreciated as an inverted coaster. It is probably one of the smoothest while having an insanely compact layout for a coaster that has so many inversions following an inversion.

I also have to agree the carolina goldrusher is a unique little mine train especially with those awesome trains.

A few other highlights for me were getting to ride some of the old Geauga Lake rides they have such as the Yo-Yo swings and Carolina Cobra, but they are a dime a dozen if you have been on such rides. Enjoy.

I've seen a yo-yo swing but actually never been on one.