Great Time At A New Park

It’s very rare that Kara and I visit a new theme park that neither of us have been to. As we’re both pretty well-traveled, her more-so than I, it’s cause for celebration when we end up visiting somewhere that is new to both of us.

We got this opportunity this past weekend when we made the decision to visit Carowinds in Charlotte, NC. Now, the park is addressed in North Carolina, but one of the extremely cool oddities of this place is that the location is actually right on top of the North and South Carolina state lines. As you enter, you’re immediately presented with a sign, dead-center of the main midway, that has a pole with the Carowinds logo on it, with wings that say “North Carolina” and “South Carolina.” If you walk to the right, you’re in the North, and to the left is the South. Also, adorning the cement is a 2 foot wide brick walkway that represents the state lines. Its a very cool, and unique, park entrance.

First up for us on this day was their brand new, 235ft tall, hypercoaster named Intimidator. The ride is themed to the late Dale Earnhardt, and I’ve gotta say that Cedar Fair did an amazing job in tying everything together for this ride. The main ride plaza is called Winner’s Circle, and features a real Number Three race car, that is positioned in front of a three-billboarded “plaque” displaying each and every one of Dale’s wins throughout his career. Once in line, the queue is surrounded by guard rails and fencing to imitate what is used to protect the track from the fans at a real NASCAR event. And finally, once you’re actually on your train, you’re greeted with a beautiful Bolliger and Mabillard chariot that is black in color, with red accents and silver seats. The front car is a mock-up of Dale’s race car, complete with all of this sponsor stickers, headlights and real hood pins.

We arrived at the park around 8:45am, with opening set for 10am, and being the awesome staff that this park came to show us the entire weekend, we were in line for Intimidator at 9:05am. As the line continued to grow, security came through and informed us that they would be walking everyone to the queue, and anyone who stepped out and ran would be sent to the back of the line. It was a very efficient and thoughtful way to handle crowd control. Once in line, it was just a waiting game.

Around 9:50am, park personnel commenced opening ceremonies from the exit line with the Earnhardt family. They were presented with a $10,000 check for the Dale Earnhardt Foundation that was raised from the First Riders Auction. Once the red tape was cut, the family took the “first” ride on the coaster, and then it opened up for us! We managed to be about the 10th train out on the day, and by 10:05am, were already off. After exiting, and I’ll get to my feelings on the coaster in a bit, we ran across the midway to get the Nighthawk credit before the line got too long, and then it was back to Intimidator via single riders line.

The rest of our day was spent running through the park and riding as many of the coasters as we could. We managed to get every credit except for the Wild Mouse, which was down, and the rest of the day was spent riding Intimidator.

At some point during the day, we decided we wanted to be on the last train out at night, hoping for a dark ride, and around 7:45pm we talked to the Lead on the ride, who was stationed at the entrance, and he told us to wait there til 8 and he would let us be the last ones in. Our plan worked perfectly, until we ran into some rude, Holier Than Thou enthusiasts in the station. Avoiding a confrontation that ultimately would have ruined the night, we decided to make our final ride be in the front of the train, and after some maneuvering, managed to be on the final train of the night in row 2, while our new enthusiast “friends” got stuck with the second to last train. It really was poetic justice to see them leave the station a bit upset because they were second.

Our night ride capped an amazing first day at the park, that turned out to be far less crowded than anyone was expecting. We managed to get 12 out of the 13 coasters ridden on this day, and got the chance to ride Intimidator ten times. It was a perfect day, and one we both agreed was easily among the best days we’ve ever had at a park.

That night, we made a stop at CiCi’s for dinner, and then had to endure a two hour issue at the cabin we were staying at Camp Wilderness, that left an extremely sour taste in our mouths. Basically, when we returned from our day at the park, we came back to realize that the lights in the bedroom and bathroom were out, and none of the electrical outlets in the living room were working. We tried calling the office at first, and got no answer, and ultimately had to contact Carowinds Security about the issue. After thirty minutes of waiting and no one calling back or showing up, we called back again and they told us someone would be out there shortly.

Another thirty minutes went by and still no one, so we called again and spoke to a new person who said he knew nothing of our issue. After being on hold for about ten minutes, he came back on and told us that there were no other cabins available for us to switch to. A few minutes later, someone showed up and tried to fix the problem, but ultimately failed. By this time we were both just absolutely exhausted and decided to just deal with it and go to sleep.

Morning came and still no electricity but we somehow managed to get ready without it, and headed to check-out where we informed them of our wonderful evening and didn’t even get so much of an apology. Once again, this was Camp Wilderness Resort. Just sayin’.

Our second day at the park was just as good as our first, as the weather was a bit dreary and kept the crowds away. We immediately rode Intimidator, and then spent a good amount of time re-riding After Burn, the flyers (SO MUCH FUN), the credit we missed the day before and their Sally Dark Ride, which was awesome. The rest of the day was spent just sitting on Intimidator!

The crew was amazing, and let us just sit in our seats if no one was waiting for our row, and if there was, we were able to just jump into a different row. We managed to get 15 rides in on this day, and each and every one of them were amazing.

Now, this finally brings me to my views on this ride.

I had high expectations for it; Kara, not so much. Everything we had heard from the days before were glowing. And it did NOT disappoint, whatsoever.

The trains are very, very open and extremely comfortable. Right out of the station is the 235ft tall lift hill, which leads right into the amazing first drop. There’s great ejector air in the backseat on this drop, and then your thrown into the second hill which gives a great pop of air in the front, before dumping you to the right. The whole ride was filled with ejector air, and some hills had a weird mix of air that started with ejector and ended with a nice little float down, AFTER you had already landed back in your seat.

The coaster won us both over immediately, and quickly became both of our new favorite steel coaster.

Overall, Carowinds was a big surprise for us, and the entire trip will go down as one of our favorites.