CoasterStock 2010
I’ve been to Carowinds already a bunch this year. Not that I’m complaining, but with CoasterStock coming, and me having not spent a full day there, I really didn’t know if I’d want to be at the park from before opening to after close, especially since I’m not a morning person.
I slept a bit later than I’d intended, and I missed my exit because I wasn’t paying attention, so I got to the park later than I meant to, but it wasn’t a big deal. The only morning ERT I wanted was on Afterburn. When I got to the park, that’s where I headed first (Well, 2nd, I had to make a potty stop). Rode in the 2nd row and the ride was really good. Once I got off I headed out to find Gator and Jill. I ran into them close to Afterburn, so we went back for 2 rides in the front. The ride is so different front to back. It rides very intense (but not really rough) in the back, and I can’t take much of it. This early, and this hot, I wanted nothing to do with the back. But I can power ride in the front all day.
We walked over to the Flyers. Can’t remember if they rode that or not, but I knew I wasn’t going to be in the mood for spinning with it this early and this hot out. Once we made it to Intimidator, though, we got in line to wait for the park to open. We were on about the 3rd train of the day, near the front, and the ride was great as usual.
We headed over to Boo Blasters and did that next since they were having the tournament. I sucked with my score of 450, but whatever. I’m glad the mist was on. Is it me, or did the ride open with just a set of eyes and a mouth projected into the mist? I seem to recall that and not Boocifer, which is there now. Glad they got that back to working; it really does make a difference in the ride.
So next we went over to Thunder Road. My last ride on the blue train was pretty rough, so I wasn’t looking forward to it. Jill and I sat in the very front with minimal wait. We asked to race, but the guy running the silver side didn’t race. The ride wasn’t quite as bad as my July 4th visit, but it was jackhammering in all of the non-refurbished sections. We headed over to the silver side and got the ops to race it. Rode in the front with Bill and the ride was actually very good.
Next we headed over towards Ricochet, with a stop for water first. Bill decided he wanted to do Goldrusher, and since I hadn’t ridden it in quite a while, I got on with them. Boy, are those trains uncomfortable. However, the ride was actually the best ride I’ve ever had on Goldrusher. It seems really fast and fun.
We got in line for Ricochet, which was about a 10 minute wait. Good ride, not overly braked. I still freak out on wild mice. I thought we were going to eat at the picnic area in the back near Afterburn, so we headed there, and I was wrong. We ran into some other geeks after looking at a map, and led them to the right pavilion. The lunch ‘mix-up’ or whatever of hot dogs and chicken was fine. I was hungry and really didn’t care what was to eat. I know that there were some vegetarian issues that cropped up, so I’m sure that the park will be able to fix that next year.
Lunch was fine; listening to the guy from B&M answer questions was interesting. Jill & Bill left to go nap at their hotel after he finished. I’d planned to head into Charlotte to wander around, but it was too hot. After Jerry Helms got up and started to talk, I heard him say he’d worked at Star Trek The Experience in Vegas, so once he was finished and I had gotten more to drink in my new Intimidator cup, I asked him about it and told him how much I enjoyed it.
He got there in 2005 when it was still under Paramount and took over as General Manager with the intent of turning the property around. I must say, it was a great experience when we went. He asked if I got to do the backstage tour, but it didn’t start until after we went. He said it really took off, and mentioned that he felt that if the last Trek movie had came out earlier as they intended, that he thinks people would have been more willing to re-up the contract.
I visited twice under his leadership, and I have to say, he ran the place great. He mentioned how they upped the food quality, and we did eat there on my 2nd visit, and were highly impressed by the food (and I was there with a chef, who heaped praise upon our lunch). Plus the staff at Quark’s were very happy and loved working there, so I’d say that Mr. Helms must have been quite popular. I’m personally glad he’s at Carowinds. He did mention that Intimidator wasn’t intended to go where it is in the park, but he lobbied to put it up front. Definitely the best decision, and what better billboard for the park that a huge red coaster facing the highway?
After lunch I went to my car to get my swimming trunks. Paid for a locker (man I wish I’d have gotten one in Boomerang Bay!) and changed clothes, then headed to the newer wave pool. I spent about 3 hours between wave pools; the kinds play area, and even took a turn on the lazy river. The older wave pool was actually too warm, so I headed back to the newer one. I hadn’t been to the water park since 1998 here. I think they need a couple of newer slides, but otherwise it’s very nice.
I left the park around 3:30 and headed over to Plaza Fiesta. I hadn’t been since they changed it over. I hung out there for a while and enjoyed being indoors. Then I sat in my car and tried to nap for about 30 minutes, but as soon as I fell asleep, thunder started rolling in and woke me up. I ended up going over to the park and heading in to dinner.
I must say, dinner was very good. The chicken and prime rib was much better than I’d expected. Nice job Carowinds staff! I had done the construction tour for ACE so I opted out of the backstage Intimidator tour. Jill, Bill, and I instead went over to ride some more. We hit up Gr8 Skate, they rode the flyers again, and we planned on riding Woodstock Express, but the line was long. Instead we headed over to Hurler, but because of lightening in the area, we stood in the station for a while to see if it cleared up.
It didn’t, so we headed to the theater for Snoopy Rocks on Ice, which was a decent show. Jill & Bill headed out to ride, and I ran to the restroom before heading back for Q&A and Park Jeopardy. Both were fun and informative and we got to watch the 3 videos, 1 that the staff made, and the other 2 that were in the contest.
Once it was time for ERT on Intimidator, we all headed over and waited for the park to clear and for them to get the ride ready. And get it ready they did. ERT was great, they had the 2nd trim basically off (I think at one point I felt it hit slightly), and much airtime was to be had. The crew was riding, the marketing team was there, everyone was having fun, all three trains were running, and it was just a lot of fun. Plus did I mention the ride was just really incredible? I like that they had a sign on one of the maintenance boxes as you leave the station showing that the 2nd trim was turned off. Nice touch.
CoasterStock, aside from the heat, was great. I really enjoyed it and after hearing that the park has plans to expand and really become a resort destination in the coming years, I really have confidence that Carowinds will grow and that they have a good foundation for a great management team. Everyone was a class act all day and went out of their way to make 120 coaster geeks happy, and I didn’t hear any major complaints, outside of the heat. Still not sure why they had the heat on all day in July.
Couple points they talked about at the 2nd Q&A-
They really are trying to turn the park into a destination park. I asked about the addition of a hotel, and was told that it could definitely come in the long term.
They've done their research when it comes to areas that are still growing even in the poor economy and Charlotte (as well as Phoenix and other areas) is one of them.
They just finished up their 5 year plan, and depending on what Intimidator does will kind of set the bar for what they're going to do.
The park IS getting something next year (announcement will come in August). The Marketing Director (who was really a lot of fun) said that they are getting something, but that it won't be huge (obviously after getting back to back coasters).
Kinzel wants Carowinds to be the CP of the south. That comment has been made by the park on numerous occasions.
The park is 122 acres. The have a 100 acre car park, and about 300 acres overall (this came from the VP during lunch).
Next year they're going to take a big step in moving the park towards being a resort destination. They're hoping to extend weeknite hours to 10 for 7 weeks during the summer. This hasn't been done in the park's history, IIR, and they're very excited to see the results.
This is SCarowinds' 10th anniversary, and they're changing it too. A new huant is coming this year and they're chaning the pricing structure to reflect Knott's. Speaking of Knott's, they're trying to grow SCarowinds' event into something more like Knott's Scary Farm.
There was definitely more to be said during the day, but those are some of the big notes.
Topic: Carowinds CoasterStock 2010 (Read 1156 times)