General Carowinds discussion

How long will the wait time be without winning the ride action?

under 30 minutes
6
14%
1 hour
8
18%
1 hour 30 minutes
7
16%
2 hours
9
20%
2 hours 30 minutes
5
11%
3 hours or longer
9
20%
By hdmech
#36976
If you get to carowinds at park opening and you have not bid on the ride action, How long do you estimate the line would be?
User avatar
By coasterbruh
#36977
yaaaaay another topic to close!!!
User avatar
By rctdcifreak
#36984
I said about an hour and a half. Theoretically if you were to walk into the park right at the moment the gates were opened to the public at 10 am....you could get better wait times. This also implies you need to arrive at the park no later than 9:30 am. Last year on opening day the crowd was only about maybe 700 people total at 10 am but then again there was also some rain and what not; not to mention that was the only day I have EVER seen Carowinds close early due to weather and give out rain-checks to the guests that were forced to leave early.
User avatar
By Davidtmp
#36988
I'm going with 1.5hrs, but I could see it being closer to 1hr. Some of the responses from Diamond Back were around 45min. I think they are going to be busting it opening weekend to get these trains in and out as quickly as possible, due to possible larger crowds. I am anticipating a large crowd around the Intimidator, which is why I am going with 1.5hrs. If they control the crowds as well as they have done with Cobra, they could very well run quickly and efficiently.
User avatar
By JShafer
#36990
Considering it'll be running with 3 trains, I see it going fairly quickly. My vote will go to an hour. I agree with David about them probably operating it quickly as with Cobra.

As a sidenote, let's just pray this thing doesn't end up like Nighthawk!
I've had to wait up to 3 hours for it before, and even on slow days it can take over an hour ...
By hdmech
#36993
Jonathan wrote:I'll leave this one open because it at least has measurable choices in the poll.



Yaaaaaaaaaay finally it wont close.
User avatar
By !ntimidator
#36995
I think that it will take way longer than 1 hour! Look at the borghawk thing i mean its five years old and it still has waits of two or more hours. Intimidators is way more apealing and you say only one hour? Ill bet that the line will be out of the gate!
User avatar
By Ethan
#36997
Nighthawk has horrible capacity due to its load times and the fact that they often run only one train. Intimidator's line will be even faster than Afterburn's with 3 trains and a simple restraint system.
User avatar
By Dude
#36998
ill say about 1 hour because
1.There are 3 trains running
2.The trains have simple pull down restraints
3.The workers will be moving fast because there exited for the coaster lol..
User avatar
By cwgator
#36999
I would say it would be 1.5 to 2 hours, unless of course it rains. Even with the 3 trains, alot will depend on the training of the crew (which I would hope they would put their best on) as to how fast they get loded/unloaded. The closest experience I've had to a long wait for a similar ride was a 2.5 hour wait for Goliath @ SFOG back in '08 on the 1st Saturday in May (with only 2 trains).

(Somewhat off topic) Being one of the few on this site that actually likes Nighthawk (from the responses I have read thus far...lol), I understand the pains of waiting. So far it's the only flyer I have been on besides S:UF @ SFOG and I prefer the Vekoma over it. I'm amazed at how the wait is crazy even on slow days (as mentioned by someone above), when I have waited about 40 minutes with both trains running. I think it would be great if they could reconfigure the station to allow unloading on the waiting platform while the other is loaded in the station.
User avatar
By rctdcifreak
#37003
cwgator wrote:I think it would be great if they could reconfigure the station to allow unloading on the waiting platform while the other is loaded in the station.


See here are a few problems with that though: 1) you would have to create another "block" to stop the train in an emergency situation, 2) you need the heavy machinery equipment to raise and lower the seats on the holding platform, and 3) you would need more ride attendants.

The ride is fine the way it is. Yes it would have been nice to have a 2 station system. But the fact is we don't. And there is nothing really that can be done to improve the coaster...unless Carowinds wants to get rid of the prototype trains that are still in operation (one of the many reasons why the ride breaks down so much) and replaces them with the newer trains. Also switching the OTSR from the "life-jacket" type to the pull down type that are like the ones on S:UF @ SFOG. That would also help improve the load/unload times. Thus speeding the process up.