Share thoughts, photos, and reviews from visits to Carowinds or any other amusement park
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By mdsmith98
#101820
Hey everyone!

I know I just did a trip report on this same park almost 2 months ago, but I decided to make another day trip to this park since I missed out on 3 credits, and since my first visit was not very good. I decided to give this park a second chance and try to have a better trip this time, which I did.

We (my sister and I) left our house at 6 am. The drive is a little less than 4 hours, and we wanted to try to avoid the rush hour traffic the best we could (Atlanta traffic is terrible. If you've ever drove in it, you will know what I am talking about). We arrived at the park around 10:15, so 15 minutes before opening.

We got through the turnstiles at 10:40, and were then ready to start our day.


First ride of this trip was Twisted Cyclone, which was my third RMC. Of the three RMCs i've ridden, this was my lest favorite. My biggest complaint about this ride is it's duration. It is a little too short. Don't get me wrong, it's elements are amazing (we sat back row so they were that much better). I just wish the ride was a little bit longer. That drop is amazing. If you've never seen a POV, the drop kinda curves to the left, and is steep enough where at the crest of the lift hill, you think you are just gonna drop straight. Nope. I watched the POV before riding, and it still threw me off both times. It's a really good drop. And the wave turn is amazing, as is the zero g roll, as usual. The ride did take breaks throughout the day for maintenance to check it out to make sure everything was still good. It did not go down a single time all day though, so that is better than the last time I was there. A lot of the rows were closed for some reason, it was the same on Twisted Timbers when I rode it back in April. A very nice RMC, by no means a "bad ride" (is bad ride even in RMCs vocabulary?), just wasn't my favorite I have been on.
ImageIMG_0522 by Matthew Smith, on Flickr

Next we rode Superman - Ultimate Flight (it was down when I went in May). This was my very first time riding a B&M flyer (only other flyer i've been on is Nighthawk). I had very high expectations going into this ride (because it's a B&M), and it delivered and even exceeded my expectations. One of my biggest worries was if it was going to have slow dispatches like Nighthawk, but I figured it's a B&M, they find a way. The dispatches were very quick, wasn't an issue at all. I adore the harnesses - they are probably the second most comfortable restraint I have experienced (B&M clamshells are the best, obviously). The forces that come out of that Pretzel loop are insane! I loved this coaster so much, I had to ride it a second time.
ImageIMG_0540 by Matthew Smith, on Flickr

The third ride was Justice League. Just as good as the first time I rode it, not gonna go into it much.

The fourth ride we rode was Blue Hawk. Not gonna go too much into it since I already gave my opinions in my other trip report for this park.

The fifth ride of the day was Great American Scream Machine. I do respect this coaster very much because it is an ACE landmark. I usually don't complain about rough coasters, but damn. Somebody has to. This ride is so rough, it definitely shows it's age. I did hear this ride used to be better before they put the old Georgia Cyclone trains on it and trimmed it. I respect this ride because it is an ACE landmark but geez.
ImageIMG_0523 by Matthew Smith, on Flickr

The sixth ride of the day was Goliath. Still just as good as I remembered it, that helix is intense. I greyed out on the bottom both times I rode.
ImageIMG_0544 by Matthew Smith, on Flickr

The seventh ride of the day was Dare Devil Dive - this ride had a terribly long wait. We waited over an hour for this ride, and it didn't even have to take that long. They were in no hurry at all. Still a very fun ride though, I like these euro fighters. Fun little rides.
ImageIMG_0528 by Matthew Smith, on Flickr

After Dare Devil Dive, we walked back to the general direction of Blue Hawk and grabbed some fries and icees to cool off.

Next we went down to Batman. We rode back row. Still prefer afterburn, but this is a very fun little invert.
ImageIMG_0530 by Matthew Smith, on Flickr

Next we rode Mind Bender. This is truly the hidden gem of the park. I wasn't amazed by it my first visit, but wow. One of the best rides in the park. I absolutely love this thing. From it's lapbar, comfortable trains, forceful loops, airtime, etc. This is such a cool ride. It's waterfall is nice too. We rode this twice. I did not realize this was an ACE landmark until I got home. That's pretty cool.

We then hiked up the hill and went to ride Twisted Cyclone a second time. We rode close to the back. Still a good ride.

We then rode Dahlonega Mine Ride. It is a little jerky, I think mainly because it has a lot of tight turns and long cars. I am not an engineer, so I don't know. That is just what it seemed like.

We then rode Monster Mansion so my sister could experience how weird this ride is. It is VERY weird. The A/C did feel nice though.
ImageIMG_0535 by Matthew Smith, on Flickr

We then went back to superman, but it's line looked very long, and the app was reporting it's wait as 90 minutes. We decided to not ride it a third time, because we were trying to leave in like half an hour. So we instead rode Goliath in the second row to finish up our day. We ended up leaving the park around 6:45ish.


Overall, I have to say I still like Carowinds better. The atmosphere at Carowinds is better than Six Flags Over Georgia in my opinion. Maybe it's because I have been going to Carowinds since I was little (or because it's my home park, or maybe because they have Fury :lol:). Not a bad park though, I had a much better experience than my previous visit.

I do have two complains about the park though that have been an issue both visits.

The staff. Some of the staff here are very rude, others are very nice. The lady at the ticket booth was so energetic and awesome. Others were so rude and looked like they only cared about going home. For example, on Goliath, the ride op was very rude to one of the riders. Apparently, you can only put drinks where the cup holders are. No bags, glasses, hats, etc. I can understand why this is a thing, if they allowed people to put these items here, the lockers would be pointless. The fact that he enforced that is not the problem. It's a problem that he called him out in front of everyone in a very rude manner, and when he was riding and they were loading the other train, he was talking crap over the microphone to his coworker. Very unprofessional. And another scenario was in the station for Twisted Cyclone, a customer asked a ride attendant a question, and he kinda rolled his eyes and shrugged. That is my BIGGEST issue with this park. Rude employees has been an issue both times.

The other issue is operations. On some rides, they take a while to dispatch. Like Goliath, I noticed they have a little timer in the station that is for a minute and 45 seconds, which is their goal for dispatches. If you exceed the 1 minute and 45 seconds, it starts counting upwards. I have seen that timer count upwards every single time. I once saw it at 2 minutes, which means that train took nearly 4 minutes to dispatch. I understand safety is the top priority, but that was a little excessive.


I hope you enjoyed my trip report for SFOG. A very nice charming park, and I had a great time. I look forward to writing more of these next months when I make some more trips to some better parks :wink:

A good chunk of pictures from the day aren't included in this forums post. You can view the album containing all 23 photos I took from the trip.
By mark40511
#101868
Glad you had a better time this time. I grew up going to both Carowinds and SFoG as we lived between both of them. Growing up, I always liked SFoG better but that hasn't been the case the past few years. I'm still trying to remember which was my first coaster. It was either Carolina Cyclone or Mind Bender.... I seriously can't remember. Mind Bender is GREAT!!
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By mdsmith98
#101872
mark40511 wrote:Glad you had a better time this time. I grew up going to both Carowinds and SFoG as we lived between both of them. Growing up, I always liked SFoG better but that hasn't been the case the past few years. I'm still trying to remember which was my first coaster. It was either Carolina Cyclone or Mind Bender.... I seriously can't remember. Mind Bender is GREAT!!


Yea I was thinking it wouldn't be that great because it was made by Schwarzkopf... let me say, I was very wrong.