Ok here we go...
Update #2
All the ACErs have probably figured out this thread by now, but for those that haven't here's what I did.
Friday I took off from work and headed out to the park and arrived about 10:15.
On the way there or whatever, I had remembered there was a thread on Thrill Network where these guys had gone to Cedar Point and tried to ride EVERY ride in the park within a day.
I was by myself since most people were at work/school so I thought I'd just go and have my OWN Amazing rACE! Last Saturday was just too hot for me to feel like participating in the Amazing Race, although I wanted to originally.
So my goal was to hit all the rides (that were open) that I could ride.
First let me say this: Friday was an usual day at the park for sure. It was August, and in the morning it was down right comfortable!
Because of the longer weekly season (by two weeks) this year and the fact that school had gone back on Thursday the park had NO regular staff (teenagers).
So who ran the rides you ask? Why the managers and maintenance folks!
I've never seen this many managers and such in the park before and quite honestly didn't know there were so many!
So as I said earlier the back entrance was closed (due to staffing and the size of the crowd).
First ride after entering (and doing a short survey at the front of the park) was
Carolina Skytower. This was basically to confirm what I already thought, the park was EMPTY! I ended up talking with the ride op (a 70 something dude who was really nice) and we chatted going up and down since I was seated next to him.
After leaving
Carolina Skytower of course I hit
Borg Assmilator. The park only had one train running, and that was all they really needed. I waited 15 minutes or so, and the people behind me (because I had my Borg shirt on) started chatting with me and asking me questions about the park (I should do this for a living). lol
I rode Borg (my 60th ride) and it was fun as always. Yeah it's a Vekoma, but it's still my favorite flyer for reasons of themeing, "smoothness" and the fact that they installed some SWEET magnetic brakes this year! No more slamming into the brakes!
After Borg I headed right (counter-clockwise) around the park. I came to
Rip Roarin' Rapids and it was closed (part of staffing issues).
Kaleidescope was also closed so on to
Vortex!
First off I have to give major kudos to the Carowinds ride maintenace guys. From here on out you will here hardly any problems with the coasters. For the most part all of them are running as good, if not better than they have in years!
Vortex - Not being a big fan of stand-ups I had gotten to the point where I skipped this ride every time I was at the park. Now however, Vortex has been smoothed out and is running great! I'm of the opinion on stand-ups that the shorter the better. Even a B&M. My favorite stand-up is
Georgia Scorcher and it is about half the size of
Mantis at Cedar Point!
So my personal Amazing Race is going well. I've gotten 1 ride on Borg, 2 or 3 rides on Vortex.
Next I hit
Ricochet.
As when I rode this coaster at C3 (Carolina Coaster Classic - ACE Event) this ride was running virtually trimless on the top turns with some insane laterals! Why can't all mice run this good?
That's all for this update... coming up my Amazing Race Continues!
The Wild Thornberry's on-ride of me is worth the wait!
