Carowinds 9/28/02

This was my first time to Carowinds which is strange considering it is only a little over 4 hours from me (with the way I drive) :-) I went with a good friend of mine, Traci, and her son and another little girl. The kids were 6 and 9 and had only been on the kiddy coasters at PKI, so they were pretty excited (almost psychotic) about getting on the "big rides". They were able to get on all of them except for Top Gun and Vortex, which I did solo.....:-)

Top Gun: The Jet Coaster: A B&M inverted that is one of the most intense I have ridden to date. The "batwing" element under the tunnel is kick-ass. It has plenty of action and never gets boring, even for a split second like a few inverts do. And would you know my first and only ride is in the front row? Ah, the perks of being a single rider. SWEET!!!! I felt like I was in a dream.

The Carolina Cyclone: I was contemplating riding this since I do not care for old Arrow headbangers. It looked painful, and considering the coaster is 22 years old I really didn't want a headache so early in my visit. The kids wanted to ride it since they have never been on a "upside down" coaster before. I was really worried. I thought, OK, if they have a bad experience on this they will never want to ride a coaster again, especially a steel looper. Suprisingly it was VERY SMOOTH! It's actually the smoothest Arrow I have been on in a long time. They were happy and wanted to ride it over and over again.

Drop Zone: A minime version of the one at PKI, except it has four chairs on each side. It was nice, but obviously I have had MUCH better..........:-)

Hurler: One of my faves. This one seemed a little more relentless than the one at PKD. In any event it was VERY fun.

Thunder Run: Typical racer. Backwards is always the best. A bit rough on the front.

Flying Super Saturator: This would have been a very fun ride if they actually had the water on. Other than that there is nothing to it.

Ricochet: A very nice mouse. Lotsa fun and laughs.

Ghoster Coaster: A little woody with a hint of airtime. All the Ghoster Coasters are fun.

Taxi-Jam: Cute. Just did it for the "credit" LOL.

Vortex: This felt more like a TOGO than a B&M. Not bad, but I have had better. A little on the rough side.

7th Portal: Always fun. I love this show. The kids were blown away since they had never seen anything like it. We didn't have time to check out the Meteor thing but maybe next time.

A great day! I wasn't that overly impressed with the park but we still had a blast. I don't think I would go out of my way to visit again unless I am passing through or they get something new and over the top. Maybe I will swing by there next year around Con time.

Now, onto SFWOA and CP this weekend for the good stuff..........LOL!

Look for Carowinds photos on my site in a few! Check out the funny Ricochet on-ride photo! Insane!

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Feel The Adrenaline....
www.intenserides.com

You should go out of your way just to get a backseat corner on Top Gun, the forces you feel are unlike anything else. Long, steady application of forces, not hints & bangs of a g here & there, LOL.
You would have been blown away;).

Did you hit up the Scooby Dark ride? Well worth the wait, a lot of fun.

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All I need is 4.5 million bucks and a half a mile long sliver of land and maybe someone could build me my very own Shivering Timbers. ;)

I have to agree with p_c_r on the backseat seating on Top Gun. The G's you feel during the batwing (especially the first inversion) are some of the best I've experienced on a coaster. Just beautiful!

MagnumForce said:
Did you hit up the Scooby Dark ride? Well worth the wait, a lot of fun.

No, I wanted to but we kind of forgot all about it. By the time I got to it again it was time to leave. :-)

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Feel The Adrenaline....
www.intenserides.com

I agree with the backseat theory of Top Gun riding....but....I really love the second row, far right side too :) I found it to be just as wicked as the backseat. Front seat does nothing for me except for the view.

Max

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Max, that's exactly where I got to have my first ride. The forces there are even much greater than what you can feel in the back of Alpengeist.

As for the first inversion at the batwing, that's where she's peaking, total body g-forces. Easily blows away any ride I've ever been on;).

Ah yes, the second row. That is also the first place that I rode Top Gun. I still think that the G's in the back are the best, but if I'm not in the front or the back, I'm usually in the 2nd row. There's just something I like about it. I'm going to be hitting Montu at BGT next weekend and am eager to compare the backseat G's during its batwing. Has anybody else compared the two?

I found Montu to be more intense than TG (and prefer it over TG by a mile.) In fact, there have been times when I've gotten off Montu, that I've had the proverbial spots in front of my eyes. (The Hulk is the only other coaster that this has happened to me on.) The Batwing is more intense because its not as spread out as TGs, which has that walkway through it. Montu's flips you in and out so fast its not even funny. The second half of the ride diving in and out of the trenches is what makes the ride.

Even though people complain about Montu's braking, I've never had a problem with it. Its never ruined the ride for me. But, then again, I'd consider myself a bit more open minded about things. I think you should get several good rides out of it.

Max

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Max Cannon
TomServoMC@aol.com or gwazi@carolina.rr.com
"I love you like the mother I had committed against her will."

Amazing! Montu more intense!?!
TG blew the whole experiences of Alpengeist, B:TR, & Raptor off the map.
To think of another more intense, & I'll take your word on it, Max.

The thing I was seeing while looking at TG was to invision a 0g in the middle of the batwing, to die for!