Carowinds is an excellent amusement park. Between the park's three anchor rides, Fury 325, Intimidator, and Afterburn, and the excellent landscaping and food options, this is one of the nicest parks in the Cedar Fair chain, if not the nicest, and it easily has one of the best trios of steel coasters of any park. As far as landscaping and food options go, this is far and away the best park in the Cedar Fair chain. Additionally, Fury 325 is one of the best, if not the best, steel roller coaster that we have ever had the pleasure of riding. This coaster is fast, flawless, has excellent laterals, tremendously creative curves, transitions, and turnarounds, and some great airtime. Coupled with the extreme comfort of B&M clamshell restraints, this is a flawless ride.
Fury 325 has what is easily the finest sequence of turns in the history of steel coasters. The high speed turns leading to and from the epic treble clef turnaround, in addition to the turnaround itself, are simply phenomenal.
We were blown away with how awesome this coaster is. Truly one of the best coasters ever created.
My second favorite coaster at the park is Afterburn. This B&M invert is my favorite within the genre. Up until this point, Raptor was my favorite. Afterburn upended that with its seemingly endless onslaught of tight and forceful inversions, mist filled tunnels, and more.
This is everything that an inverted coaster should be. It has the compact and snappy inversions of the early B&M inverts, without the drawn out and less forceful inversions of their more recent invert creations. I was blown away with the quality of Afterburn.
Aside from the airtime, the turnarounds on Intimidator are my favorite aspect about it.
An Intimidator sunset.
We got to spend the morning with Derek Sailors of RCDB. He is a great guy and we are glad we got to take in the park with him.
Scream Weaver, the park's Schwarzkopf Enterprise ride is awesome. I believe this is the first Schwarzkopf Enterprise that I have experienced, for most are typically produced by Huss. We always stop for Enterprise rides. You can see the ride framing the park's Ricochet coaster, a Mack variant of the Wild Mouse genre.
Cedar Fair has seriously upped their game with food lately. Harmony Hall is fantastic with options ranging from BBQ to Salads, Italian Food, and more, along with desserts. The food was top quality too. Plates ranged from 10-15 dollars, which is expensive, but the quality was up there with the price. I was too busy eating to get too many shots, but the main room area has a stage and everything and the seating area can probably accommodate more than 500 people.
The John Allen designed Woodstock's Express family wooden roller coaster was really pretty good. I place it at fourth in the park behind Fury 325, Afterburn, and Intimidator.
Kiddy Hawk has an awesome new paint job and would be a great family ride if the trains tracked well.
The park's boomerang, which was once located at Geauga Lake. This area of the park is themed to a county fair, with lights strung all around, along with a parked carnival transport truck with pieces from an old whip ride, and more. I thought they did a great job with this section and really came up with an original and charming idea. Additionally, they recently placed a classic Huss Troika in the midway.
The Carolina Gold Rusher is a fun little Arrow Mine Train. When our full train arrived back in the station, no one was there. They rechecked the train and let the whole train ride again.
Once we finished the entire collection of coasters at the park, we went back to have a bunch of rides on Fury 325. Intimidator, Afterburn, and Fury 325 The capacity on these, and most B&Ms, is tops in the business. The excessive heat on the day that we visited meant that most of the people stayed in the waterpark. This left all but one of the coasters as complete walk ons. The only coaster that was not a walk-on was Nighthawk, the park's Vekoma Flying Dutchman, which has low throughput. Both Fury 325 and Intimidator were running two trains instead of three, but even with that, the coasters were walk-ons. They cycled trains quickly and never let them stack. Fury 325 is even equipped with a screen that lets the operators know if the restraints are adequately closed, and the speed at which they are dispatching trains. It is obvious that the park takes great care to ensure that their operations are as safe and quick as they possibly can be. Even on the smaller coasters, they worked to always have two trains on the tracks. All parks should place emphasis on running multiple trains this upon the operation of their coasters.
This photo illustrates the efficiency with which they dispatch trains on Fury 325.
Hurler was not bad. It had some decent floater airtime and runs way better than its twin did at Kings Dominion. While it does not have the ejector airtime of the similar Thunder Run at Kentucky Kingdom, it is good enough to be fifth best coaster at the park, in our opinion, after John Allen's classic Woodstock's Express family wooden roller coaster.
Carolina Cyclone. I usually like Arrow loopers, but this ride just did not do much for me.
Back for more Fury 325!
The park's carousel serves as a beautiful centerpiece. This 1923 Philadelphia Toboggan Company Carousel is a beautiful gem. The recently updated main midway was beautifully done, including the area around the carousel. You can find more information about the move and the restoration work on the ride at this link. There is a smooth and deliberate flow to the midway that is both aesthetically beautiful and really relaxing. This year it was moved over to this spot from Camp Snoopy, and with this being our first visit to the park, we did not even know that the carousel was moved. The shelter does a great job of maintaining the classic feel of the carousel, and showcasing it to everyone in the midway.
This carousel is beautiful. Everything about it is pristine, though I would prefer if it moved a little more quickly. This carousel also has a unique layout, with three rows of jumpers on the outside, and smaller standing horses on the inner ring of the ride. I have never seen this configuration before.
The landscaping at the park is a cut above the rest of the Cedar Fair parks. This arbor that serves as a tunnel through foliage provides a beautifully shaded place to sit on benches, or to walk on through. I believe this was an original feature at the park, and I am glad they held onto this.
Vortex. I am not a fan of these old stand up coasters. It was just a little bit better than Six Flags America's Apocalypse.
Did I say that the landscaping at the park excellent?
Nighthawk. I am often in the minority when I say that I do not mind Vekoma flyers, but after the first drop, this one rattled a good bit.
The star of the park is Fury 325. Here you can see the main entrance midway from above on the Carolina Skytower, the park's classic Intamin Observation Tower. These towers are great, especially on a hot day when the air conditioning provides a great respite from the heat.
Approaching storms
A look at the area of the 2019 coaster addition to the park. Crews were hard at work all day, working on land moving, drilling for footers, and more. Derek at RCDB has seen some deliveries to the site and footings that are consistent with that of a Mack coaster. It will be exciting to see the first full size Mack addition in the country after seeing the spectacular things they are doing overseas.
Some views of the construction from ground level
Fury 325 passes both over and under the main entry path into the park, providing a very exciting greeting into the park. Additionally, underneath the pedestrian bridge, riders pass through an exciting light display.
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