[aoriole19]

I guess what I mean by broken down is not serious problems, but basically any time the ride stops, or is not open to riders because it is having technical difficulties or whatever. I don't know, I haven't been to the park this year, and I've been really busy with school so I haven't been following much coaster news or even these forums until like 2 weeks ago. I just didn't realize that (at least in the GP's eyes) Fury was so problematic. My friend that I talked to agreed that everyone says Fury is always down.

[LocalYokel]

I have not seen or heard of Fury being inoperable in several weeks. My impression is that Fury is not any more or less reliable than other rides. However it is one of the few rides visible throughout the park, so a train stopped on the lift hill is seen by a lot of people and becomes well known.

[kirkgun]

My impression is that Fury is not any more or less reliable than other rides. However it is one of the few rides visible throughout the park, so a train stopped on the lift hill is seen by a lot of people and becomes well known.

This is exactly how I see it also. I've been to Carowinds about once per week, sometimes twice, since opening day. Fury has been operational every day I have been there. And compared to the other "real" coasters (Intimidator, Afterburn, TR, Hurler, Vortex, Cobra, and Nighthawk) it has been open, operating, and churning out the the trainloads of people more reliably than every other ride in the park.

Have I seen it "down" for up to 15 minutes? Yep. Have I had to exit a train before the train left the station? Yep. Did it quickly get tested and restarted? Yep. In other words, it has been a completely normal roller coaster being responsibly operated with safety for the passengers being the top priority. But it has been open and operating more than every single other ride in that category of rides. Now we could compare Fury to Rip Roarin Rapids, or Skytower...

--on a somewhat side note

I did notice they put an additional sensor array a few weeks ago on the chain near the motor (it's on the downward-traveling chain trough, on the lift hill side of the motor). And the next week, they modified that sensor (additional wires were going into the box). I figured it was to have a more accurate (or a redundant) measure of chain movement/speed. I was going to post pictures to ask if anyone else had noticed, but I always leave my phone in my car so I can't take a picture of it. Anybody else notice that, or am I just hallucinating?

I really think this might have been added to allow a greater degree of variance in lift speeds, so the train on the lift never has to fully stop (even if just for a few seconds) to wait for the train in front to clear the block. It used to happen, on occasion, that the train might pause near the top for a couple seconds. I haven't seen it do that for a few weeks now.

[intaminboy]

Yeah I saw that too last time I was visiting. Now that I think about it, on opening day during testing sometimes the train would stop at the top and it would take some time to get going again.

[Dharma_Guy]

Just got home. I finally broke down and got a fast pass. My reasoning was that my girlfriend was going with her Mom and friend to the waterpark and that doesn't interest me. So, I got 14 rides on Fury 325 today. I finally got to ride up front. 4 times in fact. Got to witness 2 puke incidents. The first time they actually ran all 3 trains empty for 2 cycles. Not sure why exactly. The second puke incident, I believe they only ran the 1 train empty a couple of times. Plus, I got to witness a jerk in the fast lane pass. He had his bottle and the person assigning the seats told him he couldn't have it with him. So, he proceeded to drop the bottle off the side of the stairs. She made him leave the line, he was cussing and said he was going to report the girl. How many times must people be told that they can't bring items on the ride? I know some people just don't know the rules, but I have encountered a couple of times now where people are being hateful to the ride ops because they can't read the rules. All that does is delay the ride experience for everyone else. The lines were literally empty in the station because she was having to argue with this jerk. Oh well, since it was clear and I had a fast pass, at least I got the front row out of it.

[intaminboy]

Fury crew rocking it today. Dispatch before previos train clears the lift and no stackin at all.

[aoriole19]

Hmmmm
I was there today too.

Yeah, they were going fast, but you could tell they were trying incredibly hard to go fast. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it felt super rushed every time I got on and off (and I am very quick about these things!) and it made the overall experience just a tiny bit worse. But probably worth it because efficiency is good.

I officially HATE row assignments. I almost cried today. Can somebody please explain to me why they do it? I'm being 100% serious; it really doesn't help. If they are concerned that people can't figure it out for themselves and will send out empty seats, I really don't think that's justified. Sometimes the ride ops are too slow, make mistakes, or are too concerned with trying to figure it out perfectly that they get messed up it ends up sending out more empty seats than it would have anyway!

Also, even with row assignments, why can't we wait for a specific row if we really want to? It's MY decision to do so, even if I know it means I have to wait longer. Then they can just let me go and continue onto the next guest and continue filling up the seats as they were before. It literally does not affect anyone else. My friends and I were so frustrated because we were trying to get in the first row, and I think the ride op ended up hating us.

[JosieQ]

I too like them being fast, but not madly rushing people. On the Intimidator these last two Fridays when they were going quickly, I was in constant danger of being locked out of my seat because I have to put my water bottle in a bin. I basically had to start rudely shoving through the people exiting and getting their things OUT so that I can dump mine in in order to get back my seat in two seconds. Because in three seconds they'll have come by and slammed my lap bar down into my empty seat.

It's friggin' awkward the way they glare at you for having to open it again, too, when they're the ones who locked in TWO EMPTY SEATS without bothering to think why there was a whole empty row and maybe someone was coming back and I was only gone THREE SECONDS LITERALLY JESUS. I began to try to pick the back rows now to give myself extra time before they could get to me, and they countered that by having extra people starting in the middle. I mean they're basically there before the other people exit, just waiting to lock down an empty seat whyyyy?? D:

That's why I hate riding alone -- no one there to stop the frakkers from locking me out when they get over-eager. ._.

[LocalYokel]

^Thats why I don't like bins. Hopefully all of the rides will follow Fury's example and go to lockers next year.

[JosieQ]

Yeah, forcing people to pay for stuff is always a good idea. <.<

[intaminboy]

A gentleman in front of me asked to go to the front row and of course the lady assigning seats said no. He asked why and she said that the ride lead is always watching over her and she could get fired. I find that rediculous.

[TheCoasterMan1]

I personally do not mind the lockers. I don't feel like 2 dollars is much to ask. Now I do understand if the wait for the ride is less than 5 minutes and you only want to ride once but if Carowinds is wanting to become the "Cedar Point of the South" then lockers are going to be a necessity on all major rides. I would expect to see Afterburn and Intimidator with lockers within the next two seasons. Also, the lockers make a huge difference when it comes to ride capacity. I feel like the Intimidator line moves much slower than the Fury line!

[Firechaser]

The lockers are not my favorite thing but they definitely speed up the line. In a way I think that Intimidator is fine without them but if Afterburn were to get them the line would move twice as fast.

[JosieQ]

Ahhh, $2! I couldn't get a price before and assumed they were more than that. Of course I still don't know how they work... do you like pay $2 every time you ride or can you have it all day? ~.^

Of course two dollars isn't bad, but when you put it in perspective and realize that you're being charged two dollars to ride a ride you've already paid for... it's pretty ridiculous. Bringing in pay lockers for all rides would definitely drive me to boycott the whole park out of principle. >.<

But then, the upside there is that's shorter lines for you devotees who don't care about small, trivial things like business ethics.

[kirkgun]

I think it was $2 for the first hour... but then I've never used one so I'm not exactly sure.

Anyway, I think the price is reasonable. And I love the lockers. I love them so much I want to hug them.

And they aren't charging you $2 to ride the ride. I've ridden it dozens of times, and never paid 1 additional penny. And everyone else can do the same. The ride has zero additional cost.

You pay that money for Carowinds to protect your personal stuff from theft while you ride the ride. If you take care of your stuff on your own (take it to the car, leave it with a friend, don't bring it in the first place), there is zero cost.