[Jay]

You consider Carowinds to be your home park even though you have to drive 3 hours? Just curious...

Carowinds is my homepark and I drive 2 hours...

[jasonwilson88]

I grew up in Charlotte and lived 15 minutes from Carowinds until I went to college at NCSU. Now I live in Raleigh and still consider Carowinds to be my home park, rather than Kings Dominion which is 30 minutes further.

[Mountain3307]

There was one thing that was odd this weekend. The newly built drink kiosk outside Intimidator was selling Carolina Cobra souvenir mugs???? Granted they may not have arrived yet, I would have thought the park would be flooded with big, red Intimidator mugs.

Maybe its just me..

[dailyshow]

I grew up in Charlotte and lived 15 minutes from Carowinds until I went to college at NCSU. Now I live in Raleigh and still consider Carowinds to be my home park, rather than Kings Dominion which is 30 minutes further.

That was what I was getting at. I figured that if you were 3 hours away from Carowinds then you were just as close to either Dollywood, SFOG, or KD and BGE. Just being curious...

[The Jet Coaster]

^ Agreed. I can't believe our park got such an amazing coaster. I just rode it yesterday and I'm already ready to make the 3 hour drive again soon it's so great......

You consider Carowinds to be your home park even though you have to drive 3 hours? Just curious...

3 hours is nothing. I drove more than 12 hours (and again more than 12 hours on the way back) just for opening day. Like Jason I go to college away from home (Rochester, NY in my case) but Carowinds is still my home park no matter what.

Verdict is it's pretty f'n awesome. I would put it behind Behemoth, but only because I had good, hot, fast runs on Behemoth and it was a bit chilly on opening day for Intimidator.

TWO days until 305 for me.

[RiDeWaRrIoR]

Thats a long drive! It would definately be worth it though! Luckily I live about 45min from the park so I have it pretty easy. Hope you have fun on 305! It looks like a nice coaster, I just dont like the idea of OTSR on a non-looping coaster, but oh well. Maybe I will go to KD for an ACE event in August, not sure yet. You will have to post a review of 305 or something, I keep track of it some on kdfansite I am sure there will be videos and reviews by Saturday evening. Have fun.

[Wormy]

Intimidator may not have shown us all it's tricks just yet, it may have a few surprises in store on those 80 and 90 degree days.

With the weather forecast approaching 90 degrees, tomorrow is going to be a good day to find out.

[RiDeWaRrIoR]

I will most likely be up there tomorrow. How big of a difference do you think heat makes on the speed of the coaster?

[lazor 22]

Can't wait to ride it tommorow. I really hope the lines are short enough that I can pick my on seat later on. I hope most people are going to the beach or something, but from the looks of the comfort inn parking lot, there's gonna be alot of people.

[RiDeWaRrIoR]

I was looking at the webcam and check this out.... I guess he has the best view in the house...

Also looks like they are running all 3 trains today so I guess they are expecting a lot of people.... I will be up there in about an hour!

[lazor 22]

I'm at the hotel taking a break ATM. My only complaint is the restraint is to far up. Makes it kinda uncomfortable. I've rode in the very front and the middle and I hope to ride in the back. The trims are turned off too. It's not better then Goliath though...

[Mountain3307]

Dropped the young'ns off at a birthday party this morning and had some free time.. Since I was close by, went to get a ride or 3 on Intimidator. I have some catchin up to do...

THe park was packed and the que was full.. good sign.. To my delight, the SR line was forming at the bottom of the stairs.. This shouldnt take long.. Boy was I wrong!!! 45, yes 45 minutes later I got on.. It took 25 minutes to get to the first landing.. But what was more surprising was all the open seats as the ride came back into the station. Needless to say, I only got 1 ride.

I did manage to get a front seat, boatloads of air.... Much more than last week.. She seems to ride better in the heat.. And I dont think its done with its bag of tricks yet..

[lazor 22]

Concluding thoughts, Intimidator is great! It is one of the best looking coasters Ive seen. I can't wait for the grass to come in. As for the ride, it took a few times to get the full effect. I got a front, and 3 middle trips. The new trains look great, but, they just don't feel as comfortable as the 4 across. Overall, it's a nice ride. I'm putting it as my number 2 right behind Goliath. 9/10 for sure. Full trip report tommorow when I get home.

BTW, this is my 4th hyper (Steel Force Goliath, Apollo, and Intimidator).

[KenB]

Oddly, it seemed somewhat sluggish first thing this morning. I got a ride in rows 2,6, and 16. Row 2 was completely "meh", although sometimes my first ride of the day just does nothing for me on Afterburn, too. 6 was better, 16 better still, but still lacking a good bit from rides last weekend

After a great front-seat Afterburn ride and getting some snaps on the Flyers, a ride in the middle somewhere (12?) delivered a better ride, about the same as I was getting last weekend.

[chargercrazy]

I got rides on row 5 and the last row (row 16?) today and I much prefer the floater air over the ejector air. The last row ride you get some good pops of air, but only after the rest of the train jerks you over the hills. The floater air kicks in halfway up the hills and doesn't subside until you are halfway down the other side.

The crew today was stacking trains a good bit. I don't know the reason. I also saw empty seats on several trains when the single rider line was to the bottom of the stairs -- that looks bad on the crew operating the ride today. I didn't see Anthony, so the crew today must be second string. I guess they've been riding the pine a bit too long.


Off topic side note: The left (blue trains) side of Thunder Road is running ridiculously good (at least in the first car). The right side has some major potholes right before the retracked section just before the turn around. The right side still needs a lot of work to be on par with the left side in my opinion.