Carowinds July 4, 2010

[Edwardo]

Since I had done most of the yard work and wanted to see fireworks, I opted for Night of Fire.  I almost went down town, but decided I'd go to the park and get some Video to try my hand at putting together a vid on my still new iMac.  I knew the park was packed, and I knew I wouldn't ride much, but I've already gotten enough use out of my pass, and had already been to the park earlier in the week, that I didn't care.  Rode 2 things, Intimidator & Thunder Road, ate, and the just hung out.  Had a great time, the crowd was HUGE, and I enjoy people watching.



I parked near here.



The line for Top Gunburner was too long, so I passed since I rode twice already on Tuesday.



The line to eat was too long, and I was really hungry.



You really should get that Monkey off your back...



Yeah, that's the line.  I waited in the single rider line for about 25 minutes.  I love it even more every time I ride it.



Intimidator, Behemoth, and Diamondback were in a contest to see who could get the best capacity.  The crew was HAULING.  Carowinds won on July 3rd as that was Canada's holiday, not sure what the result was on July 4th.



YA RLY!



No te gusta.



I like Ricochet, but never feel like waiting for it.



I didn't feel like inverting on the Fourth of July.



Yuck.



Seriously?



Still better than Scooby.



Annnnd We're done.

Rest of the pix at Flickr, video hopefully coming soon.

[B-mac]

Those are some good pics... Love the intimidator Hammerhead!

[Edwardo]

Thanks.  Intimidator is growing on me more and more.  I'm honestly thinking of going back again this weekend just to ride it.

[WadeJ]

Nice PTR.  How does this Intimidator compare to Nitro?

[Edwardo]

Wade, I'm weird when it comes to B&M Hypers.  My first hyper was Bull in 1999, I loved it, and haven't ridden it since, so I rank it high.  Didn't ride another one again till Apollo in 2007, and didn't care for it at all.  Could have been a bad ride, anticipointment, or both.

Last year, I wasn't really excited about Nitro.  I'd rode oG's Goliath for the first time in March and really loved it, but I know it's the 'anomaly' of the bunch, but when I rode Nitro, I loved it.

I went to ride Intimidator the 2nd weekend it was open (I was out of town the first weekend), and I had just bought my new iMac that afternoon in Charlotte, went to the park, processed my pass, and got in line.  I was underwhelmed to say the least.  I rode the re-themed dark ride and went home to play with my new toy.

Since then, Intimidator has grown on me A LOT!  I went for the first Saturday that the park was open late enough for nite rides, got 4 or 5 rides in, and every ride save for one was incredible.  Some of those good rides were even better than others.  The front of the train is the best place to sit, but the back really throws you over the hills too.

I went back last week during the evening to meet up with friends who had went down for the Bert the Conqueror shoot and rode it 5 times, and it was just amazing.

I only rode once on July 4th as I wasn't there long and mostly went to play with my still new camera and do video with it, but my 1 ride was great.

At this point, because I've ridden it about 12 times as opposed to 3 (great) rides on Nitro, I have to say that I like Intimidator better because I've been lucky to get some awesome rides.  That it's only 45 minutes away helps too.

My only problem with the ride (aside from trims, but that's to be expected) is that after the MCBR its drop, helix (which is meh), pop up into the brake run.  If CF wasn't stuck on highest capacity (even if the park needs it), they could have done 2 trains like oG's goliath and just had bunny hops and a helix at the end.

If you like Nitro, though, I think you'll really like Intimidator.  And since Afterburn is only a few feet away (and it's running great this year), I'm happy to finally call Carowinds my Home Park.

[AV Matt]

  Didn't ride another one again till Apollo in 2007, and didn't care for it at all.  Could have been a bad ride, anticipointment, or both.

Those were the sickest rides ever on Apollo! I can't believe you didn't love it.

Wade, I'm weird

Oh that's right.

[Millennium Force 44]

Thanks for sharing the pictures. I think B&M hypers vary a lot in the way they ride. I can have an awesome ride on Nitro one visit while another visit I will just have a meh ride. They are very dependent on the weather, temperature, and time of day. Intimidator looks great, but the fact that it basically does nothing after the MCBR looks really disappointing.