Carowinds

Visited: October 27, 2024

Attending: Just Brian

My Saturday evening hotel was pretty close to Carowinds, but I took some time in the morning to be responsible and practice my conference talk, so I didn’t get to Carowinds until 45 minutes after open. Which I figured was fine, as I didn’t need to get any credits. The day itself was gloomy, heavily overcast with highs in the mid-50s, which may have kept the crowds down a bit. It seemed that during the day, the park was mostly populated by families with kids doing Halloween activities, and the real scare stuff would draw crowds after dark. Bottom line: although it seemed crowded, nobody was riding roller coasters. An ideal situation!

Nighthawk

The last couple times I was at Carowinds, I mainly rode the “big four,” but this time I decided to be a little different. I hadn’t ridden Nighthawk since 2017, and the Vekoma Flying Dutchman is an endangered species, so I wanted to give it another shot. Although the line wasn’t too long, there was only one train running, and operations on this coaster take forever even when things are going well. Still, I think I only waited maybe 10-15 minutes. I ended up in row 3, which wouldn’t have been my choice, but the grouper had her reasons. It’s not like there’s a bad view from any row on this one anyway.

Rolling out of the station on our backs was uncomfortable, but the tilt of the lift hill soon fixed that. I wish there was a better view, but Carowinds is mostly flat. After that, it was OK. The layout doesn’t really compare well to B&M flyers, especially not Tatsu, but it has some nice swoopiness over the water. The vertical loop is the inverse of a pretzel loop, and I did feel the g’s in my legs as that was happening. Overall, I don’t think it was as rough as people say. I’m not in a huge rush to ride it again given the pokey ops, but I wouldn’t say no to it either.

Update, December 2024: Carowinds announced that Nighthawk was closing for good. So I guess that last ride was my goodbye ride. Kinda wish I’d known at the time, but I don’t think I would’ve done anything different.

Vortex

Riding Vortex next was mostly an act of masochism. Now that Apocalypse has been converted, Vortex is easily the worst of the remaining stand-ups. That said, there aren’t many remaining stand-ups. Green Lantern is rumored to be on its way out as of this writing, and Vortex isn’t doing much better. In fact, I was surprised it was open at all, so I took the chance.

I went for row 4, choosing not to invite disaster, and kept my head forward in the accepted B&M defensive riding position. That mostly worked out, as I didn’t get banged around, but I was aware that I could have. I braced extra carefully for the signature double-corkscrew, only to discover, much to my surprise, that Vortex only has one corkscrew, followed by a relatively tame helix. I don’t know if “didn’t hurt as much as I expected” counts as a win, but if this was a “goodbye ride,” that was worth it.

Copperhead Strike

After those two, I decided that my desire to be fair to things I’d last ridden in 2017 didn’t extend to the wild mouse or the Vekoma boomerang, and I had no compelling reason to ride Hurler, so I had a leisurely lunch at Chickie’s & Pete’s, and then moved on to Copperhead Strike, which was also a station wait, even though the park was getting more crowded. I was dismally aware that the jo-jo roll this ride opens with might cause a similar reaction to the slow roll on Thunderbird last week, and also that I’d eaten way too much cheese with lunch, but I managed it with no ill effects.

I really wish I could remember the layout for this ride better, because it is a lot of fun, but “twisted mess” is the only way I can really describe it. As always, the inversions are intentionally slow, providing a lot of hang-time for the rear of the train, where I was. There’s a few hops with a little air, but mostly it’s just about twisting around. Which is kind of a shame, because I think it could be a little more exciting than it is. But it’s still fun, and those seats are totally comfortable.

Afterburn

Afterburn is the traditional next stop, so I went there next. Once again, there was no line, so I opted for the front row. I like to do front row on inverts, but I’m pretty sure I never have on Afterburn, for reasons, usually involving rain. This time, I finally got a front row ride. However, I suspect that like Montu, Afterburn really is better from the back, because there isn’t a whole lot to look at. Being able to see my way through the batwing tunnel was nice, but does reduce the impact of the element just a bit. On the whole, perfectly fine ride.

Thunder Striker

I then decided to hit up the former Intimidator, also known as “not that Intimidator, the other Intimidator,” which isn’t a problem anymore since it was renamed. I don’t have a great history with this ride, as it often feels bland and forceless. But I’ve had one good ride, and other people say it’s good, so I keep trying. Except today, it spited me. The line was still very short, but the trains were cycling empty, with no indication of how long it would be down, so I bailed.

Fury 325

Fury is the jewel of this park, and currently my #1 coaster. It had just a bit of a line, maybe 10 minutes, and I opted for row 6 instead of the back row, but the ops still crank the trains out on this ride, so I was on my way in a hurry. I figured that because of the cold, the ride might be a touch slow, but I needn’t have worried. Fury soon made it clear that it had no intention of slowing down. I was on the right side of the train, which doesn’t happen too often, so I got dipped downward on the first right-angle turn, which was pretty cool. I was also in prime position to appreciate that one support that looks close enough to touch (it isn’t). As always, the airtime was pristine, the forces are perfectly balanced, and the treble clef drop remains one of my favorite elements on any coaster. Fury just has something that the others don’t, even more than my favorite hypers. I don’t know if it can be duplicated, but I’d love to see them try. Although I’ve often said I could ride Fury all day, I wanted to get to Raleigh in the early evening, so I left after just one ride. It was a short but satisfying visit overall.