Share thoughts, photos, and reviews from visits to Carowinds or any other amusement park
User avatar
By bgwfreak
#38697
On Saturday, March 13 ACE members and their guests got into Carowinds 2 weeks early to preview the new B&M hyper Intimidator, the progress of converting Nick Central into Planet Snoopy and the makeover of Carolina Cyclone, which is turning 30 this year.

That's all I'll say, because most of you skip this part anyway. ;)

For all 176 photos visit: http://travel.webshots.com/album/577006 ... ost=travel
For video footage of Intimidator testing visit: [youtube]fGJLQBprvXQ[/youtube]


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The Geek Invasion begins

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I don't know why, but the park actually received two test seats for Intimidator. There is one up at the ride that looks almost ready to go, then there is one over in the warehouse.

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First on the tour was Carolina Cyclone and its extreme makeover. I personally like the new colors, but I'm sure many will feel different. It is a bit "RCT", but it brightens up that part of the park considerably from the old color scheme.

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Trying to be artsy.

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Apparently Dominator was supposed to have something similar, with each inversion being yellow or something like that. I guess we got that idea instead because KD ran out of time with Dominator's paint job.

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Are you ready to rumble!?!

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Cyclone looks all happy in its new colors.

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What is that I see across the park?

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Timmy looks almost purple in this shot. Guess he's trying to be like his brother Diamondback.

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Insert your own ACE/Coaster Geek joke here.

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And we're walking! (Sorry, someone came up with that Saturday and I had to steal it)

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Bill was there when they brought the first coaster over on the Mayflower. j/k I love Bill, but couldn't resist. He's a walking history of coasters, because frankly he's been on many coasters that have long since bit the dust.

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We continue backstage and get a few shots of IntRimidator.

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What? I only have 2000 pics so far today? MUST TAKE PICTURES!!!

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And we're walking...

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Hope we don't get a strong wind from the south. It might blow over.

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Sean was never heard from again.

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Watch your heads coming out of the helix.

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Bench: The Ride sees its latest installation.

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I think you're doing it wrong.

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Hyper from the bridge

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Winner's Circle is coming along.

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Ride photo is coming along as well. Notice the garage door.

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Funny how much the station reminds me of Diamondback, but everything is in reverse. The stairs are on the left, instead of right, queue on left instead of right, etc. Someone also made a good point that the soon-to-be grassy area in front on Timmy will be a great spot for a flat ride.

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This is torture being so close, but so far away. (No rides today)

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We missed the crew before they went to lunch, so after hanging around Planet Snoopy (pics to come later) we finally got to see the ride run a few times to get pictures and video.

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The trains look fantastic, but I'm a bit biased as red and black are two of my favorite colors. Oh and yeah Carowinds is my home park.

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I'm glad we finally got a coaster tall enough that it would need one of those red beacons on the top.

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From this angle the helix looks an awful lot like a B&M Flyer Pretzel Loop!

More to come: Planet Snoopy!
User avatar
By MarkD
#38754
And we're walking! (Sorry, someone came up with that Saturday and I had to steal it)


That would be me sir. I stole it from the movie Dave.

In your pic of the Geek invasion Lynn said we looked liked a crowd of Zombies. :lol: I guess because I play Left 4 Dead alot.
User avatar
By RiDeWaRrIoR
#38759
lazor 22 wrote:I'll take the extra test seat off their hands.... :lol:



Yea thats what we ALL said on the tour, unfortunately they didnt need any more riders.....
User avatar
By bgwfreak
#38770
I'm back with the Planet Snoopy pics, enjoy!

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Snoopy's Gr8Sk8 (try typing that 3 times really fast) is coming along great. I have a soft spot for this ride, mostly because the year it debuted (as Gauntlet) in 1990 was the year I graduated high school. I remember riding it the night of Project Graduation (R.I.P. PG) and then seeing Expose in the soon-to-be remodeled Palladium!!! Too bad I wasn't a shutter bug back then. :(

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Flying A.C.E. (hehe) Aerial Chase, like someone said, looks more Nick than it ever did as Reptar.

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Nick Store out, Snoopy Boutique in.

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Hey! Why are you taking pics of a kiddie land? I'm over here! Take pics of me!

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The cafe is coming along and looks very purdy.

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So we had some time to kill before we could watch Timmy (sorry, I like calling Intimidator that for short. Deal with it!) so we hung out and then went exploring the expanded water park. Oh and yeah, in the background is the secret frog hopper we are getting! ;)

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Sharon!!!! See, it says "ozzie", oh never mind.

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Thunder Road's multi-year rehab is coming along.

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This part of the park seems so far away from the rest of the park, that it doesn't even seem like you're still in Carowinds. Oh yeah, you're in Boomerang Bay!

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And we're walking!

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Ship wrecked.

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Noted!

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Something just looks dirty about that position.

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Malaria! The Ride!

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I'm surprised they haven't yanked the mini golf out yet. It's so uncommon to see them at corporate parks.

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Head Banger's Ball used to be a good show when I was a teen.

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Giant beemers always make cafes look better.

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Back to Planet Snoopy...Tommy took off, and Snoopy is landing.

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I already like Woodstock 100% better.

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I just can't remember the name of the remodeled kids area.

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I see Dora hasn't totally been forgotten. ;)

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I was ecstatic to see the Nick crap taken off the carousel! I hope they don't put Peanuts on there in the next 2 weeks. It looks soooooooo much better like this. I love classic carousels, and they have an oldie and goodie.

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Mommy why don't they have more red rides!?!

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Our only remaining monorail. :(

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There can never be enough red.

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Geek-gasm! It's running! It totally changes the look of Planet Snoopy. Go back one page for more pics of Timmy.

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I'm feeling rather Crabbie all of a sudden.

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Lucy's Crabbie Cabbie train was sitting on the lift. I know you're so excited. Please, please refrain from starting 10 threads about how awesome this ride is.

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Carowinds leave it like this. It looks so much better!

And we reach the brake run of yet another trip report. Hope you enjoyed. Thanks for reading.