- March 23rd, 2008, 8:35 pm
#24096
I got a season pass for Christmas, so figured I may as well use it on a nice day like today. Overall, I had a better impression of the park than I did last season. Aside from a few glitches that are to be expected on opening weekend, everything seemed to be running well. Season pass parking was pretty full, and there seemed to be a good number of people in the park.
Season pass processing took literally no time whatsoever - walked down there with my printout, was immediately directed inside, and had my picture made instantly. Then I was handed a pass without having to go elsewhere like in years past. I've always been pretty impressed with SP processing at this park in the past, especially compared to some of the nightmares I've dealt with at SFOG. Today though I was even more impressed than usual. Good start to the day.
Although I had a strong urge to head left towards a certain B&M and a certain ride "kiddie" ride in Nick Central, I headed for Hurler first thing. I never find this ride that rough, and love the airtime it delivers. First hiccup - I see the red train parked, and then not surprisingly a decent line in the station. It wasn't as bad as it appeared once people got sorted a bit further, and I ended up on the 2nd row of the front car after about a 4-5 train wait. Got some pretty good airtime pops in the usual spots, and the ride wasn't THAT rough. One improvement I noticed was that they've put a loop on the retractable portion of the seatbelts to make it easier to grab hold of.
Then over to The Ride Formerly Known as Drop Zone, with no sign in place. Got a seat on the side with the best view of the park, and got the usual nice ride. The car facing the boneyard was down, but there wasn't much of a line so no problem there.
Then I jumped on Cyclone near the back, and noticed the same added loop to the seatbelt as I saw on Hurler. Got as smooth a ride as one can expect from a 27-year-old Arrow with a good pop of air on the drop. Then wanting just a small bite to eat I got some fries from the Corn Dog place next to Outer Hanks. $3.85 for fries - ugh. They were very good, since they had to cook up a fresh batch - and I love the seasoning they use. Still, I'd be more tempted to buy some in the future if they didn't cost as much as an entire combo meal does at a place outside the park.
Ok, the time has come to head to the other side of the park while eating my fries - Top Gun is calling. Nice to see Saturator freshly painted as I walk past. As I get closer - uh oh. TG / AB is cycling empty trains. The guy blocking the entrance doesn't know if it'll re-open, but there are only a handful of people waiting so I decide to wait it out for a bit. After about 10 minutes they yell down to him to let people in. They cycle a few times more when we're in the station, then on to the ride - front seat with no additional wait. TG is it's usual early-season self, very solid ride but not quite up to it's full potential. I head back around and score the money seat, back-right corner on the yellow Shark train. Ah, this is even better. Nice whip into the batwing and flat spin, feet a bit numb in the batwing tunnel.
It was a bit odd not seeing the usual TG sign, not hearing the soundtrack, and having the different ride instructions / announcements - although I think they did re-use part of them. I was happy to see that they left most things alone, though - the F-14 is still there, the wheelcovers still sport the same Shark and Cardinal as before, and the somewhat cheesy alarm / engine sound still plays on the lift. I kinda miss the soundtrack and hearing that I completed my mission.
I figured since I'm in the area, I'll give the Yo-yo a shot. Another of those rides that would probably be damn interesting if it went about 25% faster but is too tame at the stock speed to offer any real thrills. Not something I'll ride too often but much better than a vacant spot - although not as pleasing to the eye as the wave swinger was.
Next up was Nick Central, including a quick spin on Scooby Doo which was running well, with a nice pop of air on the two "big" drops in the back seat. From here, of course, I head to the flyers. I had to wait 3 cycles to get on the first time and noticed a number of good snaps by those on the ride before me, so no taming of this ride so far. Of course I manage to find the dud tub right off the bat, and couldn't get a bit of snappage out of it whatsoever. This was tub #5, I'd avoid that for the foreseeable future if you can. I'm not sure if this was the entire reason for my lack of snapping it, but the sail movement was incredibly stiff and slow - like there was too much grease or even the wrong kind of bearing. It was by far the slowest to move I've ever encountered on this ride. Got back in line, got on after a 1-cycle wait, and grabbed tub #4 which I had noticed several others snapping handily. Much, much better, with the sail moving freely like usual.
This would've been a good close to the day, as it often is, but I got a wild hair to ride Nighthawk if the line wasn't long and they were running two trains. I saw they were running both trains and I couldn't see the line so it couldn't be too long, so off I went. The line was just past the bottom of the stairs, or about 3-4 trains worth. Not bad - until about 2 trains later the ride broke. They're apparently having problems with the lapbar and / or harness unlocking on one seat, so they're working on that for a good while to "free" the kid that was in that seat. This probably took 15 minutes, which wasn't so bad for me but probably sheer hell on those folks trapped on the brakerun. I've gone through that on Superman @ SFOG before and it's no fun. With the Vekoma train, of course, you're not hanging there but have your head angled down which isn't too comfortable either - not sure which is worse. They did send some employees up to the brakerun to check on the people, but what could they really do? Finally they free the kid, move the other train in and free the rest of the people. As people have left the line I'm one train away so I stick around while they cycle a number of times. I notice a number of seats on both trains are "roped off", so it seems they're having a lot of restraint issues. The ride was decent enough until the corkscrews, where the roughness really comes through.
The paint on this is in really poor shape, as others have mentioned. I'm mixed about the removal of the BORG sphere. I liked that and thought it was something somewhat unique, but I also felt that it clashed a bit with Nick Central next door. I miss it a bit as part of the BORG theming, especially when flying around that section when on the ride - but feel overall that area of the park looks better with it removed.
I ran through a few gift shops on the way out, and wasn't too surprised to see no AfterBurn or Nighthawk merchandise - I imagine it'll be a bit later in the year before that shows up. They did have some funny shirts - one said " I ride the short coaster" (instead of the short bus) - and my favorite was "My favorite position (at Carowinds) is upside down". There was a Carowinds sweatshirt with an American flag as the background, and silhouettes of park landmarks in the foreground. Surprisingly there was no Eiffel tower here, but our very own Skytower - so this wasn't a clone of a KI or KD design. Some of the stuff was somewhat stylized, but there was clearly a racing woodie (Thunder Road), another woodie (Hurler), the two loops from Cyclone, Drop Zone, Nighthawk, and a distant view of Top Gun. Much better than some of the Paramount-era stuff which was showing something clearly not at Carowinds, or that generic "Paramount Parks" Top Gun merchandise.
On the way out from the season pass lot, I notice there's a shortcut road that goes back to the main parking lot entrance road. Either this is new or I never noticed it before - at any rate it's better than going all the way around on the road that comes out by the mall. Speaking of which, the mall looks very nice on the outside - now it's painted in bright yellows and oranges. It's gotta help Carowinds' image a bit to not have that mall look run-down and vacant like it has for many years.
Season pass processing took literally no time whatsoever - walked down there with my printout, was immediately directed inside, and had my picture made instantly. Then I was handed a pass without having to go elsewhere like in years past. I've always been pretty impressed with SP processing at this park in the past, especially compared to some of the nightmares I've dealt with at SFOG. Today though I was even more impressed than usual. Good start to the day.
Although I had a strong urge to head left towards a certain B&M and a certain ride "kiddie" ride in Nick Central, I headed for Hurler first thing. I never find this ride that rough, and love the airtime it delivers. First hiccup - I see the red train parked, and then not surprisingly a decent line in the station. It wasn't as bad as it appeared once people got sorted a bit further, and I ended up on the 2nd row of the front car after about a 4-5 train wait. Got some pretty good airtime pops in the usual spots, and the ride wasn't THAT rough. One improvement I noticed was that they've put a loop on the retractable portion of the seatbelts to make it easier to grab hold of.
Then over to The Ride Formerly Known as Drop Zone, with no sign in place. Got a seat on the side with the best view of the park, and got the usual nice ride. The car facing the boneyard was down, but there wasn't much of a line so no problem there.
Then I jumped on Cyclone near the back, and noticed the same added loop to the seatbelt as I saw on Hurler. Got as smooth a ride as one can expect from a 27-year-old Arrow with a good pop of air on the drop. Then wanting just a small bite to eat I got some fries from the Corn Dog place next to Outer Hanks. $3.85 for fries - ugh. They were very good, since they had to cook up a fresh batch - and I love the seasoning they use. Still, I'd be more tempted to buy some in the future if they didn't cost as much as an entire combo meal does at a place outside the park.
Ok, the time has come to head to the other side of the park while eating my fries - Top Gun is calling. Nice to see Saturator freshly painted as I walk past. As I get closer - uh oh. TG / AB is cycling empty trains. The guy blocking the entrance doesn't know if it'll re-open, but there are only a handful of people waiting so I decide to wait it out for a bit. After about 10 minutes they yell down to him to let people in. They cycle a few times more when we're in the station, then on to the ride - front seat with no additional wait. TG is it's usual early-season self, very solid ride but not quite up to it's full potential. I head back around and score the money seat, back-right corner on the yellow Shark train. Ah, this is even better. Nice whip into the batwing and flat spin, feet a bit numb in the batwing tunnel.
It was a bit odd not seeing the usual TG sign, not hearing the soundtrack, and having the different ride instructions / announcements - although I think they did re-use part of them. I was happy to see that they left most things alone, though - the F-14 is still there, the wheelcovers still sport the same Shark and Cardinal as before, and the somewhat cheesy alarm / engine sound still plays on the lift. I kinda miss the soundtrack and hearing that I completed my mission.
I figured since I'm in the area, I'll give the Yo-yo a shot. Another of those rides that would probably be damn interesting if it went about 25% faster but is too tame at the stock speed to offer any real thrills. Not something I'll ride too often but much better than a vacant spot - although not as pleasing to the eye as the wave swinger was.
Next up was Nick Central, including a quick spin on Scooby Doo which was running well, with a nice pop of air on the two "big" drops in the back seat. From here, of course, I head to the flyers. I had to wait 3 cycles to get on the first time and noticed a number of good snaps by those on the ride before me, so no taming of this ride so far. Of course I manage to find the dud tub right off the bat, and couldn't get a bit of snappage out of it whatsoever. This was tub #5, I'd avoid that for the foreseeable future if you can. I'm not sure if this was the entire reason for my lack of snapping it, but the sail movement was incredibly stiff and slow - like there was too much grease or even the wrong kind of bearing. It was by far the slowest to move I've ever encountered on this ride. Got back in line, got on after a 1-cycle wait, and grabbed tub #4 which I had noticed several others snapping handily. Much, much better, with the sail moving freely like usual.
This would've been a good close to the day, as it often is, but I got a wild hair to ride Nighthawk if the line wasn't long and they were running two trains. I saw they were running both trains and I couldn't see the line so it couldn't be too long, so off I went. The line was just past the bottom of the stairs, or about 3-4 trains worth. Not bad - until about 2 trains later the ride broke. They're apparently having problems with the lapbar and / or harness unlocking on one seat, so they're working on that for a good while to "free" the kid that was in that seat. This probably took 15 minutes, which wasn't so bad for me but probably sheer hell on those folks trapped on the brakerun. I've gone through that on Superman @ SFOG before and it's no fun. With the Vekoma train, of course, you're not hanging there but have your head angled down which isn't too comfortable either - not sure which is worse. They did send some employees up to the brakerun to check on the people, but what could they really do? Finally they free the kid, move the other train in and free the rest of the people. As people have left the line I'm one train away so I stick around while they cycle a number of times. I notice a number of seats on both trains are "roped off", so it seems they're having a lot of restraint issues. The ride was decent enough until the corkscrews, where the roughness really comes through.
The paint on this is in really poor shape, as others have mentioned. I'm mixed about the removal of the BORG sphere. I liked that and thought it was something somewhat unique, but I also felt that it clashed a bit with Nick Central next door. I miss it a bit as part of the BORG theming, especially when flying around that section when on the ride - but feel overall that area of the park looks better with it removed.
I ran through a few gift shops on the way out, and wasn't too surprised to see no AfterBurn or Nighthawk merchandise - I imagine it'll be a bit later in the year before that shows up. They did have some funny shirts - one said " I ride the short coaster" (instead of the short bus) - and my favorite was "My favorite position (at Carowinds) is upside down". There was a Carowinds sweatshirt with an American flag as the background, and silhouettes of park landmarks in the foreground. Surprisingly there was no Eiffel tower here, but our very own Skytower - so this wasn't a clone of a KI or KD design. Some of the stuff was somewhat stylized, but there was clearly a racing woodie (Thunder Road), another woodie (Hurler), the two loops from Cyclone, Drop Zone, Nighthawk, and a distant view of Top Gun. Much better than some of the Paramount-era stuff which was showing something clearly not at Carowinds, or that generic "Paramount Parks" Top Gun merchandise.
On the way out from the season pass lot, I notice there's a shortcut road that goes back to the main parking lot entrance road. Either this is new or I never noticed it before - at any rate it's better than going all the way around on the road that comes out by the mall. Speaking of which, the mall looks very nice on the outside - now it's painted in bright yellows and oranges. It's gotta help Carowinds' image a bit to not have that mall look run-down and vacant like it has for many years.
