PKI's FLYERS... The review of them at Carowinds

I decided to not put this into Trip Reports since it pertains to one specific ride only, but since there are many out there who were so fond of PKI's Flyers, I thought they deserved a new ride Review.

Some may think "Who cares" but others will want to know.

We had planned to go to Savanna for our Honeymoon. No paticular reason on my part, but Carrie always wanted to, and so we wanted a more low-key trip, I said "okay" We also wanted to visit Charlston SC and Hilton Head, so while looking for plane tickets, it was possible to save a bit more to fly into Charlotte. So with that, Carowinds was in the cards.

It has been 3 years and two coasters since my last visit, so I felt I could get my Reptar credit (I rode Stealth in Calif.) and take the reins at my beloved Flyers.

Flying Eagles/ Danny Phantoms Flyers:

Lets just say this... They are different.... not a bad different... just different. There are pictures on other sites, so Im not going to link up any of mine here, but they do in fact look good.

As many of you PKI fans know, when the Eagles were removed, the triangle wood pieces on the supports were torn off. These of course have been replaced with similar-shape boards with profiles of Danny Phantom himself. Our precious "Bell" has been replaced by a Laser-sound followed by a voice-over that says something like "Lets get ready to go blast Ghosts" or something to that effect.

The tubs have been repainted with NO modifications other than new seatbelts. They missed painting the bottom of the seats, so they still have blue beneith the seat-cushons. I think the cushions were replaced, but they felt no different. The ride no longer has the light bulbs on the supports.

The ride experience..... is MUCH different. The ride has a NEW engine. The familliar "kick into speed" you felt at the second rotation is long-gone. The extremely long stop is gone. The ride stops very quickly now, so quickly in fact to where ride opts have to frequently stop the swinging tubs.. more so that when it was at PKI. (but not as quick as Fun Spot's) This new engine has allowed twice as many rides during the same time, which is good. Unfortunatly, the cycles were short.

Snapping...... is as POSSIBLE AS EVER. Yes, the ride speed is still the same, but being out of practice, and the long lines, made my two rides only mediocre. But remember, with the new braking it does, you don't get alot of the extra chances. Being in the kids section, there are a lot of inexperienced flyers, so the few that were able to snap hard got "Hoots and hollars"

The queue wraps around about 1/5 of the front, has three layers and is shaded by a canopy.

I think with the modifications done to the ride, they are for the better. I would have just liked a longer cycle.

Still a great ride, I still have to practice more at it, but it felt good to be "home"!

The end

You suck :)

The end!

Very good post! I completely agree on all factors you discussed. However, after being at the park on many busy days... I have to say the shorter cycle is a good thing, considering the realllly long lines the ride has sometimes.

I agree with Charles.

We want them back. :(

I have to agree with John on this one. The modifications made to the Flyers after being sent to PCar were for much the better. Cindy and I trekked down there in the spring to try them out.

It looked like it was well recieved by the locals at the park judging on how much they were riding it and trying to snap them! That is a bummer that you were getting shorter ride cycles, I remember the ride cycle being quite long. Then again, we were there on a really dead day.

~Rob Willi

^ From the video I have of them... the cycle is longer, but lots of the time is spent speeding up and slowing down. The ride spent like 30 seconds slowing down after it was too slow to even snap anymore. Personally, I would rather have it like it is at Carowinds, quick speed up - snappage - quick slow down - next cycle, to speed up the line. That way you can get on, get off, and ride again faster :). I really don't think we have any less time at full speed than PKI did, if anything, a little more.

It's a little shorter, but the line justifies it. The line at Carowinds has been longer than I ever saw it at PKI. It's a necessary evil.

It's harder to get started than I was at PKI, but every bit as possible.

Thanks PKI! I think I'll go ride them this weekend.

Its amazing how much work they did to the ride in terms of operations, I just wish they could have done that years ago!

It was amazing of how much better the capacity got after the shorter slow down.

Nice review John. It makes me wish the flyers were still here, but hey, maybe we'll get another one some day? We can only hope. They can put it in Nik Universe, and paint whoever they want on 'em...just get us some flyers back at PKI.

The only flyers I have ridden are the ones at HW and I hear they are unsnappable. I have always wondered what snapping is. Can someone please explain this to me?

Edited for typo. AH *** Edited 10/10/2005 10:18:31 PM UTC by a_hoffman50***

Here's a link for a short video of the Danny Phantom Flyers:

http://www.carowindsconnection.com/index.php/multimedia/videos/

Go to the section of videos by Jarvis Morant, it's the first one. *** Edited 10/10/2005 10:15:11 PM UTC by Floorless Fan***

Ok thanks for the video. I do wonder why a person would do that or want to do that though. I get a good ride out of the HW flyers without snapping. It seems to me that snapping would wear out the ride faster than necessary

Well HW's have been unsnappable since 2002. Ive actually seen a couple people do it but not in sucession.

In 2002 buried HW's in the tree by the restroom both forwards and backwards at the Golden Ticket awards day and we had all eight tubs snapping, Ask Josh Wozzny.

I definitely agree with you, John. I went down in April and the kiddie area was booming, the Flyer line was full, and I thought the snapping and cycle was even better. I'm sad they're gone from PKI, but they're making people happy there and the popularity, like BORG, has taken on a new life at Carowinds. I'm hoping that one day PKI will buy another set and put it in Nick Universe.

+Danny

I was at Carowinds this past June and was able to snap the flyers with little to no effort.

I'm very glad to hear that they're still snapping away. I'm glad to hear that mods have been for the better, even if the lighting package and bell are gone.

They still should be in Mason, but I guess I'd rather see them bouncing around rather than rusting away.

I missed my annual PCar trip this year (so far), so I didn't get to check them out.