DAY 6- CAROWINDS
The cool thing about this park is that it's located on the border of North and South Carolina. Sadly, that's the
only cool thing.
I slept the entire way to the park, but as we were approaching, I could see Intimidator from the highway. Shortly after, we were pulling into the parking lot of a park which I thought would be as good as the other former Paramount parks, though sadly, I was mistaken. At least the entrance areas looked nice!
I caught Gavin's head in there.. Whoops!
First coaster up was Nighthawk, located right at the entrance. It's just like the other Vekoma Flying Dutchmen, only this one has corkscrews rather than inline twists. It also seemed a bit rougher, but that could have been my imagination.
Cool sign, though!
After Nighthawk, we got in line for Intimidator, hoping that it wouldn't be as disappointing as the other one! We waited just a few minutes, and boarded near the back of the train (except Jerry, who got the front).
Intimidator 232
I've been spoiled by Diamondback and Behemoth I think, because after riding those, none of the other B&M hypers can compare. I was truly disappointed with my first ride, because I got almost no airtime at all, but after riding later in the day it seemed to improve slightly, providing slight amounts of air over the hills. It really doesn't compare to a lot of coasters of the same type, but if you take it as an individual coaster without comparing it to the rest, it's still a good deal of fun, just nothing that'll break the top twenty.
Since Boo Blasters had a short line, we decided to hit that up, the last shooter of the trip. We split up into team minority vs. team majority again, and though my team lost, I beat Marcus, which is basically all that matters.
Marcus, after he lost!
Afterburn was next up, and since it was basically a walk on, we opted for the front seat. As Gavin noticed, quite excited by the discovery, the trains do in fact have red birds and grey sharks on the wheel covers :lol: .
Afterburn
This coaster is terribly underrated! Seriously, this is easily one of the best inverted coasters I've been on, and certainly the best of the trip. It's consistently forceful throughout the entire thing, has very little headbanging, an amazing Batwing, tunnels with mist, and it just doesn't ever let up. I was very impressed, and it surely made it into my top 15-20, without a doubt.
It was time for some Thunder Road, a coaster which is absolutely atrocious in the back, but very fun in the front. The fact that it doesn't race kind of eliminates the purpose of having two side by side tracks, but whatever, the ride operator's amazingness made up for that!
Do you believe you can fly? Do you believe you can touch the sky?
We walked over to Carolina Cobra next, which, although not a new credit for me, I was excited to ride due to the new restraints.
I wasn't convinced about the restraints when I first sat on the ride, but it really does make a lot of difference once you're actually traveling through the circuit. There's nothing to bang your head on at least, which seems to be the main problem with these types of coasters.
The mine train thing was next, which was just as crap as pretty much every other mine train I have been on. Even so, it wasn't even close to as painful as Marc said it was ("ahh, the sheet metal cut my leg!")!
The only decent piece of scenery in like, the whole park.
Getting kind of hot and hungry, we headed to the only restaurant in the park with air conditioning.
We had some pulled pork and chicken, which was good, but the portions were huge and the heat was making me lose my appetite.
We spotted Woodstock's Flyers, and knew that we had to ride them! So we took a spin on those, which was hilarious.. I was laughing the entire way through! Kevin was the only one that was snapping his cables, though.
After going for a ride on Flying Ace Aerial Chase, an unfortunately rough kiddie coaster, as well as Woodstock's Express, we thought we'd go for some rerides on Intimidator. We also went on Hurler, which I almost skipped out on because the pain isn't worth the credit, Carolina Cyclone, Vortex, and Ricochet. After doing Timmy once more, we decided to call it a day.
All of them were terribly mediocre coasters, which is why I didn't go into detail.
After a day at what could be considered my least favourite Cedar Fair park, we stopped at a Sonic on the way to our hotel, where I had some mozzarella sticks and a lime slushie. I also saw THE cutest mini-merry-go-round EVER!
PEACHES!
We entered the Smoky Mountains, which was quite exciting to me, eventually arriving at our hotel in Asheville, Tennessee.
It was a pretty awesome night, if I do say so myself.. It was the night of Dairy Queen, Gavin's discovery of the "Suck my Taint" song, and many more fun things :lol: . At nearly two, we went to bed.
DAY 7- DOLLYWOOD
Sadly, my camera decided to die on the day we went to one of the best parks of the trip. Seriously, Dollywood exceeded my expectations, and the expectations of most of the others, I think. We got there, got on the tram, and headed toward the entrance.
When we got in, I couldn't help but notice the awesome atmosphere. Not only is it set in the Smoky Mountains, but even the buildings are cute!
AWW.
We thought that riding the VeggieTales Sideshow Spin would be a good choice, and once again, we took up the majority of a train, looking like foolish credit whores.
It was a cute ride, but I think Kosmo's Kurves took the cake for the best kiddie coaster of the trip.
The Ferris Wheel was next on the agenda, something I knew many people would be delighted to watch me ride. It was my first old fashioned one, and I knew that sitting with Marcus would be a bad choice, so I sat with Jerry, who I trusted to not rock the seat. I was sadly mistaken, though. You guys need to pay attention to the warnings which CLEARLY state "Danger! Do not rock the seats."
Unfortunately my camera died at this point, but everyone else that went has lovely pictures for you to enjoy!
Blazing Fury was next up, another pleasant surprise of the trip. I totally forgot that this coaster even existed, and had no idea what to expect, but the ride itself is actually a whole lot of fun, with lots to look at, and a few decent drops, as well as a small water splash at the end. It's probably one of my favourite family coasters I've been on to date.
With Tennessee Tornado just around the corner, we headed for that, which had about a twenty minute wait. Most of us decided to wait for the front seat, with the exception of Marc and Athena, who took the middle. I wasn't overly impressed with the ride like most were, and though it was a smooth coaster, which is a rarity for Arrow, it just didn't blow me away. As dirty as it may sound, I'd prefer something rough and interesting than smooth and dull.
Now it was time to ride the two coasters that really make the park what it is. Since Mystery Mine seemed to be down, we went to Thunderhead first, and I didn't go in with super high expectations considering GCI had disappointed me plenty of times before (yes, Kentucky Rumbler, I am looking at you). I took the back seat, and before we knew it, we were off.
Thunderhead
Well, it's better than Rumbler, but not as good as Evel Knievel. It's very fast-paced, has great laterals, and is a good deal of fun, but didn't blow me out of the water. The station fly by was cool, and it had the infamous sideways airtime that GCI is known for, but it just wasn't fantastic. It has a good rerideability factor, soo we did end up going back on it at the end of the day, which is when I discovered that it rides a lot better in the front, but still, EK reigns as my favourite GCI so far.
Noticing that
Mystery Mine had opened, we headed over there, where we waited only about fifteen minutes. The ride has some of the best theming I have ever seen, and without it, I doubt the experience would have been as good as it was, because the ride itself isn't great. The only good thing about the ride is probably the final section, with the drop and the inversion, because the other part with the overbanked turn is just a little weird. Either way, in the end, it didn't blow me away, but it was an experience different from that of any other coaster I have been on.
Sadly, the Topple Tower was down, so we didn't get a chance to ride it, but we were getting hungry anyway and decided to eat at Granny's restaurant, where we saw an abundance of fat people. But who can blame them? The food down there is good!
The rest of the day consisted of a ride on the train, which I fell asleep on, and a few rerides on Thunderhead and Mystery Mine. I enjoy parks like this, because there isn't too much to do, and you can just chill out and have a nice day rather than rushing around for credits. After getting some souveniers, we headed out in late afternoon, ready for a five hour drive back to Cinci. Sadly though, this meant that we had to depart from Jerry, Aidan, and Gavin, but unlike in previous years, it wasn't a tearful goodbye since I knew I'd be seeing them again in just a few weeks!
Also, on the way back to Kevin's was an interesting trip to Subway, one where I realized that America doesn't have sub sauce (wtf? That MAKES a sub), and one where Marcus shared very explicit stories about the deuce he dropped earlier in the day.
When all was said and done, we got back to Kevin's around midnight, where I instantly crashed. I had to get up at five in the morning to catch my bus for seven, which was a smooth bus ride, getting me home right on time, at 2:30 in the afternoon.
I have to say, I had a fantastic week thanks to the awesome people who went. I can't wait to do it all again in thirteen days <3
