[chknwing]

Matt Ouimet on CNBC - Memorial Day weekend was the best 3-day weekend in Carowinds' history.

http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000381947

[RollerBee]

What was the first year Carowinds sold season passes?

[stephanie4136]

I had no idea there would be so many school kids here today. It's not slammed, but mostly school kids

[RollerBee]

It will be like that the rest of the school believe it or not. my senior year of high school, the last two weeks the school said the seniors could stay home so in those two weeks, I went to Carowinds three times finding the park busy during the middle of the week with field trips.

[stephanie4136]

I was shocked. I thought they usually did field trips on Fridays, so we try to avoid that day (made the mistake of coming Good Friday this year though, I didn't think it would be that bad bit WOW). It's still not horrible though, we didn't get here until 10:30 and still got a parking spot near the gate. Sunday we were at the back of aisle 16. Only had to wait about 15 minutes for Fury today. Hopefully I will get at least 1 more ride on it today, waiting on my crew to get off Cyclone.

[uscbandfan]

5th grader from Sumter, SC elementary school got left at Carowinds yesterday. Evidently he was there for the headcount before boarding the buses and, after getting permission to go get a drink, the bus left without him. Scary for that kid I'm sure. He found security and his dad drove up to get him. Wild how no one missed him on the bus.

[dianals]

I know that at least one Charter School here is out already, so there may be others, as well.

[Tosu97]

Yeah my charter school is out. So I went today for the 4th time this year. After 4 straight rides today begging for the front I finally got it on Fury.

I will report the Skytower was indeed open and I took a ride. The recording has been updated with Fury as well.

I had the chance to meet the legend from the In The Loop Podcast it was nice to talk to him for a few minutes and grab a ride on Fury together.

I was only there for a couple hours but there were no crowds.

Afterburn x3 front row without getting off
Boo Blasters once as a walk on.
Goldrusher once as a walk on.
Cyclone once after 5min wait with 1 train operation
Hurler once as a walk on.
Fury x4 (15 mins once, walk on 3 times)
Skytower once as a walk on.

Also if Fury is literally a walk on with some rows sent empty... WHY CANT I WAIT 1 EXTRA TRAIN FOR THE FRONT??

[stephanie4136]

Had a great day today. Longest wait was when we first arrived, about 15 minutes for Fury and everything else was either a walk on or <5 minutes. Cyclone did take a bit longer, but I didn't ride that I just waited for my husband and kids. My last 2 rides on Fury were <5 minute wait. I absolutely love that coaster!

[Jetp]

Whatever happened to our Thrillcaster?

[FamousAmos]

I'll just put this here:
http://www.wheretraveler.com/charlotte/ ... ce=twitter

John Taylor was in an interview which can be fully read on the above link.
Towards the end, he was asked about his favorite rides at Carowinds and this one sparked my attention:

Vortex. “This was one of the first stand-up roller coasters ever built. You don’t see a lot of them anymore. It’s pretty unique that we still have one!”

So I don't think that Vortex will go anywhere. This was an interesting read though.

[kirkgun]

I saw that they took down the fence at the entrance to RRR. It's now just the rope and sign again. Maybe that means progress on getting it back open? At least it doesn't look like it has been condemned now.

No rides on Thunder Road yesterday, it was not open either. It was a slow day and a lot of stuff was closed/unstaffed.

I just went by myself for a short while, for lunch and a few rides. It was hard to leave, because I felt like I had to take advantage of the very short line on Fury. It was fun to talk to a bunch of people before their first ride on Fury. It was absolutely hysterical to witness their screams as they rode it their first time, and their reactions as we pulled back into the station. Predictably, after they caught their breath, they were running around to get right back into line.

Intimidator still was only running two trains, and looked like the longest and slowest line in the park (did not ride).

[arby]

^^Mike said nearly the exact same thing at Winter Warm Up when we asked him about converting Vortex.

Renting out parks by big corporations is not unusual. When I went to Microsoft TechEd in 2012, it was in Orlando and they rented out Islands of Adventure just for the attendees from around 6 PM to midnight. That is when I finally got my Pteranodon Flyers credit. ...and everything in the park was free to us including the restaurants with limited menus, alcohol, games, etc. It was a blast.

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Although I was disappointed in how many of the attendees treated the park.

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It's not often you see an open bar setup in Dr Seuss Land.

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The food was really good, though.

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[aoriole19]

5th grader from Sumter, SC elementary school got left at Carowinds yesterday. Evidently he was there for the headcount before boarding the buses and, after getting permission to go get a drink, the bus left without him. Scary for that kid I'm sure. He found security and his dad drove up to get him. Wild how no one missed him on the bus.

Sorry to go backwards, but this is absolutely awful. As a camp counselor, I know that you have to take head counts before you start moving, while you're moving, and again when you get there (as in when you get to the bus) Also they should have a seating chart for the bus so that they know where all the kids should be (in case of an accident, also in case this happens!) and they should check it before leaving. Also if I was the chaperone I would've asked him to take a buddy with him to go get a drink.

Sorry to rant; I know mistakes happen, but in this case it was just the people in charge not taking good measures to ensure the children's safety, and that's upsetting.

[aoriole19]

I'll just put this here:
http://www.wheretraveler.com/charlotte/ ... ce=twitter

John Taylor was in an interview which can be fully read on the above link.
Towards the end, he was asked about his favorite rides at Carowinds and this one sparked my attention:

Vortex. “This was one of the first stand-up roller coasters ever built. You don’t see a lot of them anymore. It’s pretty unique that we still have one!”

So I don't think that Vortex will go anywhere. This was an interesting read though.

Yay! I am definitely emotionally attached to Vortex. It was my first roller coaster that went upside down. (That was a huge deal for me back then). And I didn't just choose any random upside-down coaster, I chose Vortex because I wanted to be just like my older brother; it was his first too.