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well after the nice 5 hour drive from VA, i pulled off I77 onto Carowinds Blvd. i first noticed Top Gun, and just got really excited....today was definitely going to be a great day i walked up to the guest services window, and got my Season Pass ticket, and entered throught the North Carolina gate....here we go.....
took a spin on the Carolina Skytower, which coincidentally was my first Intamin Space Needle, or whatever you call those things...this park is impressive...all it needs now is a nice hyper back behind Hurler or Carolina Cyclone
Vortex, my first coaster of the trip, AND my first B&M Stand up!! i was going to make this my 50th coaster (upon entering the park i was at #45) but decided it was right there, so what the heck...yeah well, umm, those of you who have ridden it, you know what im about to say. it really sucked..i hate saying that, but its true. even the drop was pitifully rough...i did enjoy the hill following the loop, a nice little pop of airtime, but all the major transitions were just too painful...my only thought is that it was supposed to be bigger, but was compacted way too much.
after the head beating i got on Vortex, both back and front, i decided to take a coaster break, and got on Scream Weaver...another Enterprise!!! woohoo!!! it was great....i miss PKDs apple turnover....
Hurler..double out and back woodie...now we have one of these at PKD, and i really thought they would be identical...guess who was wrong?? first, at the bottom of the drop there is this piece of track that just slams you into the lap bar, if you are near the back...ouch!! and the rest of the ride just seemed to ride a lot rougher than the PKD Hurler...but still, not all that bad...
Carolina Cyclone...Arrow multielement...after two really bad coasters, i needed desperately to ride something that would impress me, and i didnt think that a 1980 Arrow would do it....WRONG!! whoa baby!!! this coaster has skyrocketed to my top 10 list, and is easily my new fav Arrow coaster!! i mean the drop has mean airtime, the loops are smooth and quick...the damn turnaround into the corkscrew is so fast!!! and the corkscrew itself....wow! and i had NO idea that there was a final, tunneled helix at the end....man!! this ride quickly restored my faith in this park, and showed me that despite what people think, Toomer cranked out some masterpieces
Drop Zone...Intamin 2nd gen free fall....this thing was awesome the line was really short so i did a couple rides in a row...a fitting end to a wonderful last hour
i then made my way up front to cut over to Animation Station.....for Scooby Doo....it was fun almost identical to its PKD counterpart, but i still enjoyed riding it....
drum roll please....ladies and gentlemen, presenting vacoasterfreak's 50th COASTER!!!
Top Gun: The Jet Coaster...BM Invert...i was very impressed!! the first drop is quite reminiscent of the B:TR clones, except about 40 ft taller. the first couple of inversions were smooth and powerful....then came the, umm, boomerang?? help me out here guys, i cant remember the name....its like an inverted cobra roll...Montu at BGT has one...anyway, that was my first time on this particular BM element...wow!! its way better than a cobra roll and the mist filled tunnel at the bottom made it even more of an awesome surpise i totally loved this coaster..still not Alpengeist or maybe evenB:TR, but it definitely is loads of fun.
Thunder Road...wooden racing out and back....well yes this thing, minus the white paint is the spitting image of my own Rebel Yell. however i dont think its as tall...i could be wrong but it just seemed a tad shorter. anyway, a fun coaster, and actually it seems a little smoother and better maintained than Rebel Yell got a ride on both frontwards and backwards.
after that i took another break from coasters and got a some flats under my belt...like Frenzoid, a.k.a. Berserker at PKD haha...then WhiteWater Falls....which got me totally soaked. also got a ride on Scooby Doos Hanuted Mansion..i got a score of 660...is that good Carowinds homeparkers??
now onto more coasters...next up...
Flying Super Saturator....Setpoint single rail invert...now this was my first "water" invert, so i was really excited. it would turn out to be my longest wait of the day, almost 40 minutes. but something good came of that...i figured out where on the course to release my water supply for the optimal soaking of the queue dude, you get soaked just waiting for this thing!! i was drenched when i finally reached the loading area...as far as the ride is concerned, its actually really fun, and has some nice little turns and twists in it. i bombed the queue with my water supply and was well hated for it...nice ride Setpoint
Ricochet..Mack mouse....i thought this was going to be identical to the PKD version, but its not....it doenst have the big 50ft drop. aside from the new supports, its pretty much like any other Mack mouse out there....been there done that
Carolina GoldRusher...Arrow mine train...now this was another suprise...the helices on this coaster are awesome for a mine train!! very tight, suprisingly smooth, it was very fun!! my new fav mine train, haha
by now afternoon was setting in, so i took a lap on the Rip Roarin Rapids....which were very boring, and the Powder Keg Flume....not boring! very nice drop, and good speed throughout the course....following these rides i went back around the park and lapped the favourites of the day, including Caro Cyclone, Goldrusher, Scream Weaver and Top Gun, which i closed my day on
all in all, very impressed with Paramounts Carowinds. its a neat clean, well run park that has pretty friendly staff, and an almost excellent selection of rides and attractions. i will definitely try to make it back one more time this season
Tim (ahhh....missin you already Carolina Cyclone)
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"hi, my name is Tim, and im a coasterholic"...."Hi Tim!!" hehe
*** This post was edited by vacoasterfreak on 6/10/2002. ***
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Joey Ciborek, Florida Coaster Club, Member
"WE RIDE ALL YEAR!!!" www.FloridaCoasterClub.com
"It's like an addiction" Me, The Discovery Channel, Ultimate Guide: Roller Coasters 5/27/02
Im so glad you liked my homepark! Cyclone is an awsome coaster. Vortex does really suck. And you should've rode Hurler in seat 1-2. Smoother and great ejector air. Top Gun is currently my favorite coaster. It is so intense and it never loses its speed!
Oh yeah, we are hoping to get that hyper you mentioned in a couple years!
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I like Rip Roarin Rapids but they really need to add the cave/tunnel at the end - I dont know why they took it out...
Well, they didn't exactly take it out. In late 2000 the cave collapsed, which was why the ride was closed for so long. They simply didn't build it back, although I wish they had.
Interesting enough, it looks like Carowinds has actually done more trackwork on Thunder Road over the last week. When I went today there was even more new wood on it, and it was running very well. As for the hyper, last I hear it is still on the board, but don't look for it next year. Glad you liked Top Gun.
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|| Jonathan Hawkins ||
http://www.starcoasters.com
Top Gun: TJC flights - Approx. 270 (84 in 2002)
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