North Carolina: Carowinds

29 and 30 May 2023

To keep costs down, I travelled by bus wherever I could. Sometimes this meant less than ideal situations…The Greyhound bus ride to Charlotte was horrendous, starting with the urine-soaked station of Richmond, Virginia. Homeless people were sleeping in the locked toilet cubicles, there was no toilet paper anywhere, and I think I was getting high (second hand) from various people openly smoking weed. Whilst my earlier Greyhound trip ran smoothly, this time round they had no details of me on the manifest. It was lucky they had a seat spare to accommodate me, but it meant I didn’t get the seat that I paid extra to select. I was intrigued by the soft drink bottles rolling down the aisle throughout the trip, occasionally being slowed down by what appeared to be a mixture of soft drink and urine on the floor.

I was relieved to get to Charlotte, North Carolina in one piece, but desperately wanted a shower. I booked an Uber and was grateful to be picked up by a lovely lady who rescued me from the filth and the pouring rain, taking me to the Quality Inn.

I had been so lucky with the weather up to this point, with cool and sunny days meaning most rides were open, but crowds were not huge. I arrived around lunch time, and the plan was to head to Carowinds for the afternoon/evening as the park was due to close at 10pm. However I kept checking the Carowinds app, and the park had made the decision to close the park at 1pm due to the rain, which was starting to ease. I have experienced early closures with small family run parks, but never with larger ones. In the end I was perfectly happy having a day off, because the hotel allowed me to have an early check in and I could shower to my heart’s content (thanks Matt ya legend!)

I spent the afternoon relaxing and browsing at a nearby Cracker Barrel, a restaurant and store that I grew to love. I was also in love with the Southern US accent, and enjoyed chatting with people who came across as so adorably welcoming and polite.

For the next day and a half, I had a great time at Carowinds with threatening clouds, but only a few light showers. The roller coaster gods were smiling down on me!

As I walked from the hotel across the giant Carowinds carpark, I was awestruck by a stunning looking coaster that was just airtime hill after airtime hill. This was Intimidator – not even the main attraction! The park was beautifully presented, in part because it was celebrating its 50th birthday, with lots of additional decorations.

Prior to the 10am opening, guests are allowed through the gates into the celebration plaza. Although I had a silver level annual pass (this was cheaper than buying passes for three days), this did not entitle me to the 9.30am early entry of the gold and platinum pass holders. I killed time by reading about the North and South Carolina border marker, as Carowinds crossed both states which was cool. I also bought a photo pass, and asked staff if they thought a fast pass would be worth it. They said that the park would likely be busy as it was the Memorial Day public holiday, and the heavy rain had finally stopped. As I had an extra day up my sleeve, the weather was not ideal, and several of the roller coasters were closed, I decided against it. 

At 10 am the crowd split left and right. I went right, aiming to get to Fury 325 first. Another giga coaster, this one constantly ranked #1 on coaster enthusiasts’ lists, so I was very excited! I was less excited to see there were delays with the opening. The queue was already quite long, with most people choosing to stick it out. I decided to sneak in a couple of nearby coasters first.

So my first ride at Carowinds was the Carolina Cyclone – yep, another Arrow! Like most of the other Arrow coasters I have been on, these are one time only deals due to the rough and unpleasant ride experience.

So with that one ticked off, I moved on to the Carolina Goldrusher. This small wooden coaster reminded me of the Cedar Creek Mine Ride, as it was a zippy little track without any big drops or thrills. The kids aged 8-10 appeared to be loving it.

With those two ticked off, I headed back to Fury just in time to see the chain lowered. Woo hoo! I paid for a nearby locker and joined a short queue, since many others had given up and left. The coaster was themed around a swarm of hornets which I didn’t really get. I just saw a beautiful looking teal track that would take me up to the heavens before dropping me to earth again. The single rider line was closed (damn), and there were empty seats everywhere (double damn). I was getting antsy, as I had ridden four other giga coasters before, but never one made by B&M. I managed to negotiate some line skipping with others in the queue when I could see odd numbers of people in front of me, which was a win-win for all involved. My first experience was in the back row, and it was glorious and completely grey out free. The massive 325-foot drop felt a little inverted, and the rest of the track was just so smooth. Unlike the i305, there were no overly rough or forceful twists and turns, but Fury still managed to maintain excellent speed and thrill factor on a long track that spanned a good chunk of the front of the park.

My second turn was in the front row, just as it started to rain. The on-ride photo demonstrated what happens when you are in front row of a coaster going 153km/hr in the rain. Yes, it really hurts! It was hard to keep my eyes open, and at the end of the ride they were watering badly. Despite that, I actually thought that Fury 325 was a front row roller coaster. This was odd for me, as I normally preferred the additional pull that comes with being a backseat bandit.

With Fury bagged, it was time to explore the rest of the park. The plan was to go on everything once, and then decide on my favourites for re-rides. However, Richochet was closed (wild mouse), Hurler was closed (wooden), Vortex was closed (B&M stand up) with the internet suggesting it will never reopen, and the Flying Cobras was closed (boomerang).

I kept walking in an anti-clockwise direction until I found one that was actually opened and landed at Copperhead Strike. With paid lockers needed once again, I stashed my belongings and went to the queue that was showing a 45-minute wait. The app said the wait was only 20 minutes, but the actual wait was 90 minutes. The theming was impressive, with a threatening looking snake greeting you, before winding your way around various old shacks, cars and hillbilly signage. Despite the decorations, the queue tested my patience and was getting close to the maximum that I was prepared to wait for any ride these days. There was no single rider queue, and I did find that the fast pass queue was preventing much movement of the general queue. Staff were consistently letting everyone in the fast pass queue through first, as opposed to a few from one queue, and a few from the other. I saw some of the same people have multiple rides and I had only gone a few metres in that same time. There was only one train operating which carried 16 people at once. Who am I kidding, there were rarely 16 people on board! So many empty single seats that I could have filled!

I liked to think of Copperhead as a less fun Maverick. It started with a slow roll before moving into some kind of factory or kitchen. I’m not sure what exploded, but whatever it was, it launched you back outside into a couple of vertical loops. These were pretty great, because they intentionally slowed you down at the peak of the loops, making it feel like you were going to fall out during the hang time. Another launch mid-way increased the speed again, with a few zippy little turns along the way.

I wandered into the brand new Aeronautica landing area which had only opened a few weeks prior to my visit. Complete with new, flat family rides, Carowinds had made a good attempt at theming an entire zone.

Aeronautica didn’t quite match the names of the other zones, which were Carousel Plaza, Carolina Boardwalk, County Fair, Blue Ridge Junction and Crossroads. Apart from Aeronautica, I didn’t find the zone names memorable, and therefore didn’t assist with navigation. The lines for the flat rides all looked long and slow moving, so I prioritised coasters first. The only coaster in Aeronautica was not new but was awesome. Afterburn had been around for a while, an inverted B&M (is there anything they can’t do?) I am still not entirely sure of the difference between an inverted and suspended coaster, but either way the train hung below the track, allowing your feet to dangle.

Afterburn packed a lot of punch with a couple of really intense moments plus great speed. I enjoyed this a lot more than the standard suspended coasters at other parks, like Batman: The Ride. The major bonus was that this coaster didn’t seem to have any of the head bumps associated with the harnesses on similar rides. With only a short 15-minute wait, I jumped on twice.

In typical Cedar Fair style, Camp Snoopy was filled with noisy small children enjoying the kiddy rides.

I lined up for Kiddyhawk, which reminded me of Escape from Madagascar/Rugrats Runaway Raptor at Dreamworld. These small, inverted coasters often appeal to kids who have outgrown the baby rides and are looking to up their game. I thought this one may have turned some of the kids off coasters forever though! It was the roughest coaster of this size I had ever experienced. Perhaps the kids got away with it, and the issue was just that I was the perfect height to have the sides of my forehead smacked around continuously?

As usual I couldn’t ride the Wilderness run without a kid, and I felt awkward asking an adult to borrow theirs. Instead I waited about 25 minutes for the Woodstock Express. I had come to expect slow loading procedures with this one, which I could see was directly related to the age of the target demographic. Staff seemed extra cautious checking the seatbelts and lapbars, as the little kids were not concerned with doing this themselves.

Not that it would have been hard to improve on good old Woodstock, but far out Intimidator was a blast! This B&M hypercoaster didn’t really sit in any of the lands and was in a space of its own. My first thought was why give this and the giga coaster at Kings Dominion the same name (minus the 305), when they were totally different rides manufactured by different companies? In my mind, this Carowinds coaster needed some kind of mountain or mythological theming, as the track really was a thing of beauty. Big call, but Intimidator was the greatest hyper coaster track I had ever experienced. You lose count of the airtime hills, the drops are great, and I love the freedom of movement in the trains. These were like Diamondback at Kings Island, where the open air seats are levelled with individual harnesses. Give this coaster a fast launch and a bigger drop, and it would easily fit into my top 10!

Apart from my first turn which required a 30 minute wait (thanks in part to another spewer), the quick loading meant I could ride again and again with only 5-10 minute waits.

I had been keeping an eye on Nighthawk all day, which was conveniently located in the centre of the park. There were numerous down times, and when it was opened the wait was always estimated at 1-2 hours. I decided to suck it up to tick it off, but damn that queue was painfully slow, and I was getting hangry. It didn’t help that I was surrounded by teenagers, including boys who were yelling with their screeching voices in the process of breaking. One of the boys said “shut up b*#$%” to a girl in their group (charming), and another was coughing, spluttering and sneezing almost the entire time. I checked my bag, but had left my face masks at the hotel. 

Like Copperhead, the Nighthawk queue was regularly at a standstill due to large groups of fast pass people being prioritised, and the fact that only one train was running. I had been on this same Vekoma Flying Dutchman model before at Kings Island, with a now defunct coaster called Firehawk. I really enjoyed that experience of my first ever lying down backwards coaster though, so was still excited about Nighthawk despite the wait. I appreciated that nature came to help me. As the coaster was situated over water, there were colourful dragonflies, lots of tadpoles, baby ducks following mother duck, and a giant banded water snake keeping me entertained. In fact there were about five members of staff including security keeping an eye on that snake to make sure in didn’t enter the queue area. I wished those staff had been working to speed up the ride load area instead!

I was relieved to be strapped in, then remembered that heading up a lift hill while lying down generally means being blinded by the sun. I could open my eyes as soon as we twisted into a face first fall. James had been to Carowinds before, and warned me that Nighthawk would be rough. This was not my experience at all though. I found the soft harnesses worked a treat, although I did question if they were strong enough to support my weight and keep me from falling out as I flew face first around the majority of the track. I would have happily ridden this one again if the line shortened, but alas it did not. Apparently there are only two of these coaster models left in the world, the other (Batwing) being in Maryland. I felt a little sad about that, because they offer a very unique and trippy experience for riders.

The middle of my day was very slow, and I was frustrated that it took hours and hours to notch up a few rides. Things were about to go from slow to whoa though! The park closed at 7pm, and it was about 6.30pm when I was on my way back to Fury. To my surprise I saw that Ricochet was open, so lined up for about 10 minutes to get that credit. This standard wild mouse was nothing special, but from the ride I could see that Hurler had also opened! Woo hoo, a good-looking wooden coaster! 

I got off Ricochet as fast as I could, and power-walked to Hurler. There was no wait, and about 2 minutes later I understood why. Hurler was not a “hit your head on the harness” kind of rough, it was more like shaken baby syndrome kind of rough. My spine felt like it was compressing at several points along the track, and the ride was really unpleasant. The former Hurler coaster (same model) at Kings Dominion had been magically transformed into the RMC Twisted Timbers, and this one absolutely needed the same treatment. As I left the ride, I overheard some kids saying “so many trees died for this roller coaster.” I felt their pain and sadness. Unless Hurler gets a makeover, there was no benefit in cutting down all that timber.

With five minutes until closing time, I was motivated to run for only the second time this trip. I sprinted (let’s be honest, I am overweight and unfit, so sprint is probably the wrong word) to the lockers, dumped my bag, and continued running until I got to the Fury queue area. As that closing chain jangled behind me, I felt like I had won a gold medal. Instead of people cheering for me, all I could hear was my own body, struggling for breath. I was thrilled that Fury was my last ride for the day, and that I got to be on the very last train for the day. I got in the front row, which I can confirm is a total joy without rain. As the train came back into the load station, every person on board was chanting in unison “ONE MORE RIDE! ONE MORE RIDE!” The staff graciously played along and sent us again.

Five rides in the last 40 minutes of the day was awesome!

Day 2

As I had already ridden every roller coaster available at Carowinds (noting that Vortex and The Flying Cobras did not open throughout my two days at the park), my second day was really relaxed. This was becoming the norm for me. My first day at each park would be quite manic, feeling a bit of pressure to tick off every roller coaster. On the second day I would just re-ride my favourites, spend time looking in the souvenir shops, try out some flat rides, and soak everything up that little bit more. With that in mind, and the fact that the long weekend was over, I opted not to get a fast pass for day two.

With knowledge gained from yesterday, I intended to go straight to Copperhead Strike and Nighthawk first to try and minimise wait time. I went on Copperhead twice thanks to two trains and only a 10 minute wait. Why the heck would they have one train operating on a public holiday, and two now??! Sadly, Nighthawk still only had one train going, so that was still a 60 minute wait.

I returned to Aeronautica for Gear Spin, a quirky looking flat ride where four arms rotated simultaneously on different axes.

I got straight on which I was grateful for, because the line grew and grew throughout the day. The nature of the ride meant that there was no way to speed up loading. 16 riders were loaded at the bottom, while the other 16 hung around at the top for five minutes. It was quite uncomfortable, as the hard plastic seats supported you to the middle of your hamstrings. With legs dangling and my circulation being impacted, I lost a bit of feeling in my legs until we started moving again. Gear Spin looked cooler than it really was. The sensation was similar to carnival rides like Music Trip. Still, the novelty factor meant Gear Spin was a great little inclusion.

My second flat ride was The Airwalker, a typical disc spin ride over a half pipe track. I awkwardly had a whole side to myself, with a grand total of two people sharing the other side. I was hoping to give Air Racers a crack too, but it was down for maintenance.

The last non-coaster attraction I went on was the Carolina Skytower. I found it really interesting that these towers were down at every other park I had visited. Drop towers and Windseekers were also commonly closed, and Carowinds was no exception. The Skytower was perfect for a rest and some great aerial views of the entire park and big cities in the distance.

I re-rode my other favourite coasters of Afterburn, Intimidator and Fury multiple times. My bus to Tennessee was leaving at 6pm, so I left Carowinds around 3pm to go and collect my luggage and grab an Uber to the station.

I never want to get complacent about the joy and excitement of amusement parks. We have so few of them in Australia, and only a handful of good roller coasters, that I really do try and appreciate every overseas park and find something good about every ride. However I was worried that the novelty of Cedar Fair parks was wearing off. I was pleasantly surprised then, that Carowinds had its own identity and a great range of attractions that made the visit amazing. To date, Carowinds is my second favourite Cedar Fair park after Cedar Point.