- November 6th, 2005, 5:15 pm
#15635
I went to the park today (11-6-05), and it was INSANELY busy. I think the only time I've seen the entrance road like that was during a Christian concert a year or two back on a Saturday. The combination of perfect weather and free tickets appear to be a big hit. They probably did well despite the free admission based on the number of people I saw buying season passes.
I got there right at 10, and had to wait a bit to get in due to the amount of people there. Top Gun's station was full already, so I grabbed a backseat ride. Headed over to the flyers, and the line was already snaked around the first 2 sections - and had the last section full by the time I got off the ride. I'm rusty or my tub (#10) sucked, I couldn't get it to do much. Then I grabbed a backseat ride on Scoo...er, Fairly Odd Coaster, and got a few good pops of air.
The highlight of the day though was Hurler. I was meeting some friends to get our passes done at 11:30, and figured I had just enough time to ride Hurler. The lines weren't too bad in this area of the park yet, so it was about a 3-train wait for the 2nd row - 6-train wait for the front. I went ahead and hopped in row 2. KILLER airtime this ride, probably the best daytime ride I've had on this coaster in years. I even caught some air on the final hill going into the brakes - I rarely ever get air there, so I knew this ride was running great. WHY do they taunt me with this running this well on the LAST day? Please please please run like this next time I ride it on opening day.
Met up with my friends and got our passes, then went to pass processing. Carowinds continues to impress with the way they can move people through here, which is even faster with the new finger-scan system - they don't have to wait to print your pass anymore. Curious to see how this works next year. There were a TON of people getting passes done.
After this my friends wanted to get a last ride on TG at least, so we headed there - to be met with a FULL queue. We waited it out, and then waited for the front seat for the last ride of the year. TG ran great. The crowds were just too much, and the Panthers game was about to start so we headed out. Not the slow day I was hoping for, but still managed to get rides on my big favorites.
Another great year at Carowinds! TG ran great as usual all year, and Hurler was much improved over the last few years with the first-turn trackwork and is back to it's old self. The Nick Central area looks great and appears to have been a great addition to the park overall. Of course, the favorite new thing this year has been the Flyers. These are such an incredibly fun ride. We have one of the best steel coasters anywhere, and now one of the best flats as well.
KenB
I got there right at 10, and had to wait a bit to get in due to the amount of people there. Top Gun's station was full already, so I grabbed a backseat ride. Headed over to the flyers, and the line was already snaked around the first 2 sections - and had the last section full by the time I got off the ride. I'm rusty or my tub (#10) sucked, I couldn't get it to do much. Then I grabbed a backseat ride on Scoo...er, Fairly Odd Coaster, and got a few good pops of air.
The highlight of the day though was Hurler. I was meeting some friends to get our passes done at 11:30, and figured I had just enough time to ride Hurler. The lines weren't too bad in this area of the park yet, so it was about a 3-train wait for the 2nd row - 6-train wait for the front. I went ahead and hopped in row 2. KILLER airtime this ride, probably the best daytime ride I've had on this coaster in years. I even caught some air on the final hill going into the brakes - I rarely ever get air there, so I knew this ride was running great. WHY do they taunt me with this running this well on the LAST day? Please please please run like this next time I ride it on opening day.
Met up with my friends and got our passes, then went to pass processing. Carowinds continues to impress with the way they can move people through here, which is even faster with the new finger-scan system - they don't have to wait to print your pass anymore. Curious to see how this works next year. There were a TON of people getting passes done.
After this my friends wanted to get a last ride on TG at least, so we headed there - to be met with a FULL queue. We waited it out, and then waited for the front seat for the last ride of the year. TG ran great. The crowds were just too much, and the Panthers game was about to start so we headed out. Not the slow day I was hoping for, but still managed to get rides on my big favorites.
Another great year at Carowinds! TG ran great as usual all year, and Hurler was much improved over the last few years with the first-turn trackwork and is back to it's old self. The Nick Central area looks great and appears to have been a great addition to the park overall. Of course, the favorite new thing this year has been the Flyers. These are such an incredibly fun ride. We have one of the best steel coasters anywhere, and now one of the best flats as well.
KenB
