- March 29th, 2016, 9:07 am
#87303
Opening Day at Carowinds was as close to ideal as possible. A cool breeze, overcast, yet warm that turned into bright early Spring sun. For a Friday, and the first day of Spring Break in Charlotte, the lines were surprisingly sparse.
So here's the first trip report of 2016:
I arrived exactly at 9:00 A.M. and the lines for parking queue were at best 4 or 5 cars deep. I had not processed my season pass yet, so I had to pay for parking ($15.00) and got it refunded by Guest Services. Everyone there at 9:00 got to park right next to Preferred Parking and saved $10.00. Season Pass processing was a breeze. They used my photo I uploaded on the website so I was in and out in literally 45 seconds. The queue at the Main Gate was light. Mainly a few families. Security was awesome opening precisely at 9:30 and only a handful took the short stroll to Fury. Some others made the beeline for Nighthawk.
Fury 325: I got on the first train of opening day, 2nd row. In a word, Fury is simply amazing. Just as smooth and fast as brand new. I got three more rides in during the first hour, the last two in my favorite chair, back row, right side.
Myself and three other guys ended up on the Cyclone side of Drop Tower...20 feet off the ground, it stopped climbing. We were stuck on it for about 10 minutes while ride engineering responded. It re-opened about an hour later and was as un-exciting as it was the first time about 15 years ago.
Seriously, being in the same section as Fury makes the tower very anticlimactic IMHO
Plants vs. Zombies was a pleasant treat. I was expecting something cheesy and it turned out to be very entertaining. I'm not familiar with the Pvs.Z game so I thought the theme was funny and cool. The hot sauce guns, the high pitched "Zomboss." The ride itself is pretty interesting. The left side of the "arena" is split into two screens. The first side is plants. The second is zombies. So if you are close to the door in the queue, you will fight for plants, if closer to the stairs, the zombies team.
The chairs buck back and forth while you shoot at the 3D targets on the screen. So it's similar to Boo Blasters (Scooby Doo) and keeps up with the score. I would say the kids from 5-10 will be crazy for this. It's just as long as an experience as Days of Thunder, SpongeBob and the other shows formerly in the building so the line swells quickly.
The food was good, but always expensive. I had a fresh cheeseburger, fries and tea ($15.00) from Wings at lunch and BBQ from Harmony Hall ($13.00) in the evening.
NOTE: Find the manager/supervisor and ask for "fresh food"....they will be happy to give it to you. It costs so much, get something that tastes great.
Other rides/complaints:
Wow, how quickly has The Intimidator started to show its age. The cycle times for the queue were dreadful. Awful loading and unloading times, three trains always bunched up and no energy from the ride staff. It's like all the park cares about is Fury and getting Boomerang Bay finished by May. Speaking of which, there is still a lot of work to be done before it opens. The new wave pool is still a big dirt hole. No cement poured yet!
I secured my beloved piece of Thunder Road from the "Premieres" gift shop up front. The website said they would be $9.99....nope they are $12.99. So be warned.
Still, because I got to ride everything...that was running, and the day was nice, I feel very pleased with my first ever opening day. I took some photos of Plants vs. Zombies and put them below.
Cheers,
Sean
So here's the first trip report of 2016:
I arrived exactly at 9:00 A.M. and the lines for parking queue were at best 4 or 5 cars deep. I had not processed my season pass yet, so I had to pay for parking ($15.00) and got it refunded by Guest Services. Everyone there at 9:00 got to park right next to Preferred Parking and saved $10.00. Season Pass processing was a breeze. They used my photo I uploaded on the website so I was in and out in literally 45 seconds. The queue at the Main Gate was light. Mainly a few families. Security was awesome opening precisely at 9:30 and only a handful took the short stroll to Fury. Some others made the beeline for Nighthawk.
Fury 325: I got on the first train of opening day, 2nd row. In a word, Fury is simply amazing. Just as smooth and fast as brand new. I got three more rides in during the first hour, the last two in my favorite chair, back row, right side.
Myself and three other guys ended up on the Cyclone side of Drop Tower...20 feet off the ground, it stopped climbing. We were stuck on it for about 10 minutes while ride engineering responded. It re-opened about an hour later and was as un-exciting as it was the first time about 15 years ago.
Seriously, being in the same section as Fury makes the tower very anticlimactic IMHO Plants vs. Zombies was a pleasant treat. I was expecting something cheesy and it turned out to be very entertaining. I'm not familiar with the Pvs.Z game so I thought the theme was funny and cool. The hot sauce guns, the high pitched "Zomboss." The ride itself is pretty interesting. The left side of the "arena" is split into two screens. The first side is plants. The second is zombies. So if you are close to the door in the queue, you will fight for plants, if closer to the stairs, the zombies team.
The chairs buck back and forth while you shoot at the 3D targets on the screen. So it's similar to Boo Blasters (Scooby Doo) and keeps up with the score. I would say the kids from 5-10 will be crazy for this. It's just as long as an experience as Days of Thunder, SpongeBob and the other shows formerly in the building so the line swells quickly.
The food was good, but always expensive. I had a fresh cheeseburger, fries and tea ($15.00) from Wings at lunch and BBQ from Harmony Hall ($13.00) in the evening.
NOTE: Find the manager/supervisor and ask for "fresh food"....they will be happy to give it to you. It costs so much, get something that tastes great.
Other rides/complaints:
Wow, how quickly has The Intimidator started to show its age. The cycle times for the queue were dreadful. Awful loading and unloading times, three trains always bunched up and no energy from the ride staff. It's like all the park cares about is Fury and getting Boomerang Bay finished by May. Speaking of which, there is still a lot of work to be done before it opens. The new wave pool is still a big dirt hole. No cement poured yet!
I secured my beloved piece of Thunder Road from the "Premieres" gift shop up front. The website said they would be $9.99....nope they are $12.99. So be warned.
Still, because I got to ride everything...that was running, and the day was nice, I feel very pleased with my first ever opening day. I took some photos of Plants vs. Zombies and put them below.
Cheers,
Sean
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