[arby]

Taste of the Carolinas kicks off this weekend and runs on weekends through May 14th. Some new dishes this year:

Frog Legs
Smoked Egg and Pork Belly Salad
Bourbon Chocolate Fritters

They are also featuring the Shag this year - SC's official state dance. Pros will be there to walk you through the steps to learn the dance.

As usual, there will be wine and beer tastings from Carolina breweries and vineyards.

You can also relax and watch professional wood carvers transform a simple piece of wood into art.

[Edwardo]

Actually that burbon chocolate pie was there last year, and I highly recommend it. I had several.

Can't wait for this weekend!

[arby]

Yeah, I had it last year as well. I think the key word is 'fritters' in this case.

I just copied it from the Press Release I got from the park.

[uscbandfan]

Was disappointed that the "Taste of the Carolinas" wasn't open yesterday on one of the Arts Festival days. Probably would have gotten some business (I know they would have from me)

Was also disappointed at the number of "inactive" rides on such a busy arts-festival day. I get it was a school day but provisions should have been made ahead of time. Scrambler was down, wind seeker was down, GoldRusher was down, along with a half-dozen more rides. Thankfully the biggies were open.

A girl was having trouble with the heat in the Fury line so the Fury attendee who was assigning rows was down in the line helping. That caused a lot of trains to be less than full especially in rows 6 and 7. However, the bright side is that my wife and daughter and I got to ride in row 1, seats 2, 3 and 4. Love the front row. Hell, my first ride on FURY ever was back on opening week in 40 degree weather in row 1 seat 4. 4 is definitely the best seat in my opinion which my daughter grabbed, but seat 3 is just as awesome. Can't beat row 1. (AND, there's no vibration in row 1)

[Edwardo]

I doubt they have enough staff to staff all if those rides. It's April.

[Carowindsman]

Was also disappointed at the number of "inactive" rides on such a busy arts-festival day. I get it was a school day but provisions should have been made ahead of time. Scrambler was down, wind seeker was down, GoldRusher was down, along with a half-dozen more rides. Thankfully the biggies were open.

Being a former employee, It was very difficult to keep a lot of rides open due to school. We had times where a lot of lower capacity rides did not open, we had to shuffle a lot of employees around to cover the rides they did want open. Being in 2 states is extremely difficult especially when one state had school and one did not. I remember countless time with the amount of rides we worked to keep open. I remember even when there was more employees than public a few times. (Does not make a business sense) I understand your frustration dont get me wrong

[redrunner97]

I'm going to be heading out to the park very soon, definitely in time for Taste of the Carolinas (though my younger brother is actually there today and has been taunting me with pics all day ). I missed the event last year, so I'm going to overcompensate with tons of food this year!

I can't wait to finally get my butt on Electro-Spin. Top Scans always get so much love and buzz from the community, but I've never actually been on one, so that's definitely something I'm eagerly anticipating.

Hopefully by the time I get there, the lights will be up on Electro-Spin and other finishing touches (like Rock-N-Roller's sign) will be complete. I want the full County Fair experience!

[Stayseeliz]

I loved getting to the park today at 1:10 to see they'd closed at 1:00 due to the "weather" even though it wasn't raining. I checked the website and all social media before I made the hour drive. Why didn't they just close the whole day? What a waste of time today.

[arby]

Yesterday when I was there around noon, there were more employees than guests. While the weather didn't seem bad enough to prevent them from operating, I'm guessing the perceived weather from the GP kept them away enough to make it not cost effective enough to stay open.

[Chris]

They did post at 12:20 on facebook that they would be closing at 1:00. I realize you had already left, though.

[Stayseeliz]

I know it was a financial decision but they should've closed for the whole day. It's a great way to run off pass holders and others closing the park early with little notice. Like I said, I drove over an hour to find out it was closed. I had to pay out of pocket for lunch since my kids were starving and it ruined my day. As a season pass holder, this makes me not want to renew next year.

[Edwardo]

It's hard to close all day because then u run the risk if no weather and a large crowd showing up to a closed park and that's worse. All.parks do this. If it's a bad weather day and the park is empty, they risk losing money by staying open.

[Capler]

It's hard to close all day because then u run the risk if no weather and a large crowd showing up to a closed park and that's worse. All.parks do this. If it's a bad weather day and the park is empty, they risk losing money by staying open.

I agree, it is better business to open and close early. Attending the park on that day might be the only option for some organized groups. You give them a few hours and individual rain checks. As Edwardo mentioned, all parks do this, so on days where the weather is questionable, you should always arrive early knowing there is a possibility the park might close early. Arriving later is a huge gamble.

[pproteinc]

There you have it people, confirmation our next coaster for 2018 is Centurion!

IMG_5513.JPG (1.52 MiB) Viewed 2563 times

Edit: Looks like Pat it doing a tour with, I'm guessing, other GMs. 4 guys who all had on jackets with each park logo. One with Knotts, VF, CGA and WoF.

[Hiveminded]

Electro Spin + four riders working together to kick their legs to spin the seats is a LOT of fun. It is so much better than just a regular ride. In just one cycle we were able to get it to stall upside down the whole arc across the top, and then do a full double flip. If its on ERT at C3 this year, that would be be really fun if everyone tried to work together.

Also Fury in 53 degree weather and only 4 people on the train makes the ride pretty different. The 91° stall is weird, instead of having the laterals pushing you up and out to the left, you are instead balanced almost perfectly sideways with no lateral force. I'm not sure which I like better, a full train is more intense but an empty train feels more floaty in that spot. The rest of the ride is comparatively dull though, with the last two hills having almost no airtime even when the trim didn't hit.