Im currently at a hotel on the internet in the lobby, im limited to how much time I can have so if this seems kinda short you will have to excuse me. I'le post the full thing whenever I get home.

For spring break my family decided to go to charelston south carolina, on the way down we passed through charllotte so naturaly I had to stop at carowinds. We got in the park a little after 11 and of course I headed straight for borg, this would be my first flyer and I was extrmely excited. The guy told me thhe wait would be a little under an hour and a half but it looked shorter. I imagine the capacity of flyers must be sub-par because it ended up being exactly an hour and a half. Now ive never been on a flyer before so I cant really compare this but damn is it ever fun! You hit that first turn around right off the drop with so much speed, you just soar through it, you cant help but hold your hands out forward. The two lie to flys really grab you by surprise because you cant see them coming, the second time I rode it (around 1:30) I knew where they were at and it didnt take me by surprise so much. All and all I loved the ride to death. I would have liked to get on it at least one more time before I left but it went down around 3 and I dont think it went back up.

Next it was onto Thunder road for my parents, (they both love woodies). We rode it forward and backwords, its pretty rough but very enjoyable forwards. I didnt like it backwords at all, you get jolted around way to much.

Since ive been on raptor countless times I didnt think I would be too impressed by top gun...I loved it. I ended up riding it 3 times, one ride around closing time was without the midcourse and the second half was a bit of a headbanger.

Then it was on to vortex which really surprised me, the ride itself really didnt impress me too much but it wasn't painfull at all. The other standups I have been on im always in minor pain when i get off. The line was also extremely short, i was surpised.

Then we headed to hurler, again for the parents. Wasnt as rough as Thunder Road but i didnt care for it as much.

Drop Zone had an extremely short line when I walked by it and it ended up being about a 15 minuet wait, when i got off I got in line again and waited about the same time. I hate the later half of its name "stunt tower", makes it sound really bad. Its a great drop tower though.

Im not a fan of mine rides at all, parents loved carolina goldrusher though, they stayed and rode it again while I headed over to top gun again (for the ride that i mentioned above without the breakrun)

Bye now it was almost closing time so I got a quick ride on the cyclone and then we left the park.

To be honest, after all the hype on here about carowinds I thought it would be extremely overrated, it wasnt at all, I really liked the place and would like to go back sometime when its open past 6 at night, I really didnt get enough time there. I highly recomend it.


From charlotte we drove to charelston south carolina for a couple nights and then headed for Six Flags over georgia. What rotten luck we had, I figured the park was open during the week and its not. We drove 8 hours round trip, 4 there and then 4 back when we got there we realised that it wasnt open. Talk about your all time disapointments.

After that wasted day we came back to charleston for the night and then headed out to myrtle beach the next day. God is that town ever crappy, the entire thing is one big tourist trap. Not to mention both the parks with coasters were closed all day.

From that god awfull town we drove up to virginia which is were I am typing this from. Im currently in Emporia Virginia. Im heading out to Busch Gardens Williamsburg tomrow which im really looking forward to. I also called in advance to make sure they were open on weekdays.
From Busch Gardens were heading home, back to michigan were I will add more to this report.

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Pick it up!

Wow, that sucks that SFOG wasn't open. Carowinds sounds fun though.

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SHAME ON YOU FOR EXPRESSING YOURSELF!

I have to ask, why didn't you check SFOG's operationg schedule first?

Well carowinds was open and since its farther north than SFOG I just figured it would be open. I also new that they were open on the weekends and just figured they were open all week. My mistake.
Also, BGW trip report to come later tonight.

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Pick it up!

Well that is just sux, Milhouse.

Little late but here it is:

BGW opened at 10 on the particuler friday I was going, we got their at about 10:15 and the place was deserted. I dont even think we waited a minuet to park. My dad sprung for the "prefered parking" and grabbed a spot in the first row, we were only a few feet from the parks entrence. I got in line to buy my ticket for the day and there was an employee that just stood at the front of the line and kinda worked the crowd, he commented every time he saw someone in a shirt supporting a different park, he noted my dragster shirt and threatened to beat me with his shoe. He got kinda annoying after awhile.

Anyway, the total park/get ticket time was only about 10 minuets tops so I was in the park by 10:30. In my rush of excitement I forgot to get a park map. I noticed this after I was in the park for a few minuets. I knew it was smaller in size and decided I could do without for right now...I was wrong. This parks pathes confused the hell out of me at first, I literaly spent 20 minuets looking for alpengeist, I didnt mind though. I can not get over how amazing this park looks. I finally asked directions and the guy ended up sending me over to apollos chariot, I wasnt complaining.

Apollos Chariot
The entire que was roped off except for the straight line around to the station, I waited about 15 minuets total and grabbed the second to last seat on the far left. I had extremely high hopes for this coaster and I can proudly say that it lived up to every one of them. The layout (which im sure youve already seen) is kind of a twisted out and back. The first drop and the two hills that follow it are absolutely exhilerating, the floater air over the two hills is amazing. You literaly feal like you are flying around that banked turn around, it was about that point in the ride that I realised I had a new top 10 coaster. On this particuler ride the helix felt a little sluggish, nothing to really complain about, it felt fine during later rides. The location for the onride photo is genius, I love that little drop, thats the only part on the whole ride were you get jerked out of your seat type air. For the first time in a while I was really chearing when I got back into the station, fantastic coaster.

9/10

After I got off I thought about jumping back in line again, it was still very short. Since this was during virginia schools spring break time I figured the park would get very busy eventually and I wanted to get everything in before I re-rode stuff so I passed up getting in line again and headed over to alpengeist. This was by far the hardest ride in the park to find, you have to go out of the way to get to it and there is just a little sign at one place in the park telling you how to get there, like I said, the paths here confused me. Anyway:

Alpengeist
I finally found it and noticed it also had an extrmely short line. Like Apollo, a lot of the que was chained off. It only took me about 10 minuets to get to the station but the station itself was absolutely packed, I probubly waited a little under 20 minuets for it. I grabbed a seat towards the back and on the far right (I dont really have a preference, I just usually prefer the back but I go for whatever line is the shortest). Now this is another one I had very high standerds for, once again it was ever bit as great as I thought it would be..actually alpie was better. I knew it was going to be a great ride when the first drop completely and totally startled me, just past halfway you really start pulling some g's, i could feal it pressing my harness into my ribbs by the time we got the bottem. Easily the best drop on a suspended looper (at least that ive ever been on). I can not even begin to describe how amazing this ride is, its hard to put into words. All I can say is if you havent already, you NEED to get to BGW and ride it, its worth the price of admission a lone. By the time the ride ended I had a new top 5 and a new favorite suspended looper (surpasing both the raptor and DD's). The only thing I can say against it is that the ride ops were rather slow in checking everyone, they really slowed down the capacity and throught the course of the day made even the shortest lines much longer than they should have been. Im sure this was just because it was only the thrid week of operation and it doesnt hurt alpies score at all.

10/10

As soon as I got off I completely forgot about my "ride everything then re-ride" rule. I jumped right back in line for alpengesit. I was surprised over that short period of time how much longer it had gotten. I waited around a half hour for it this time. I got the second seat over fromt he left this time, again towards the back. I noticed you dont feal the g's as much from the left as you do on the far right, still an amazing 10/10 ride though.

When I noticed the lines were picking up a bit I decided I had to hit Loch Ness and Big Bad Wolf before the lines got so I wouldnt feal like waiting. I walked around a bit and ended up finding Loch Ness next, from the midway the double interlocking loop looks so cool. Hell, the whole ride looks so cool.

Loch Ness
The hill getting up to the que for this ride was very steep, I can see a runaway wheel chair or stroller or something rolling down it. Anyway, I jumped in line and it didnt look too bad. The themeing is enjoyable, especialy when im used to garbage like disaster transport. The problem was I got stuck behind this ghettofied rich white kid who was annoying the living hell out of me while I was in line. He kept talkign about how he was going to spit loogies behind him on the ride and such. He also lit a cigaret in line..I hate people like this. Needles to say I made sure I sat infront of him on the ride. I sat in the middle of the train, I honestly dont remember which side, I was a single rider though so it was just me.
Now I didnt know the layout of this ride and it surprised me very much, its very long. Up the lift you go around a big banked turn and there is about 20 second of ride time from the top of the lift to the first drop. On this particuler ride I didnt think to brace my head when we hit the loop right off the drop, I ended up banging my head and my vision was a little loopy for a few seconds. No biggie, didnt take away from the ride at all. And what a great ride it is. I didnt know about the second lift hill either, or the HUGE enclosed helix that it leads to. When I got off of this I was extremely surprised and happy. And the ride length has gotta be around 3-3 1/2 minuets.
8/10

Big Bad Wolf was the only one left and it ended up being the longest line I waited in all day.

Big Bad Wolf
I waited a little over a half hour for this thing but I didnt really mind, they do a great job of getting you excited for it by the TV's in the que's, they really make it look like a great ride and do a good job of getting you hyped up.
To be completely honest, I really didnt care for this coaster too much. Granted, its probubly the best suspended swinger ive been on but god was it ever a headbanger. I had a wicked headache when I got off of it. I do have to say again, the two lift hills were extremely cool and I love how close you come to the buildings and roofs and such during the first half of this ride, they really took advantage of the type of coaster it was. Great effort and I know a lot of people love it, I just didnt really care for it though.
7/10

I didnt do either of the water rides because except for around 2 it was pretty chilly all day. I was going to eat at the italion place around 3 but the line was way out the door, I came back an hour later and although the line was a lot shorter, I still had to wait quite a while for food. It was (for a park) reasonably priced. I got a big plate of spaghetti, cheese sticks with marinara sauce, a salad, and a pepsi for 13 bucks. I didnt think it was too bad. The only shows I saw were the italion one while I was eating and the irish dance one. Neither one was really my thing but they were both still enjoyable. My ride totals for the day were:
Apollos Chariot - 9
Alpengeist - 7
Loch Ness - 2 (would have liked more but the line wa salways very long)
Big Bad Wolf - 2

Overall, 3 of the parks 4 coasters are world class (and im sure most of you would still love the 4th one) and the park itself is absolutely amazing, the attention to detail is stunning. Italy was my favorite section of the park as far as themeing goes, the entire thing is damn neer perfect though. I would highly recomend the park to anyone.

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Pick it up!

Funny, the only one I didnt care for much when I went was Alpie....I rode it 6 times and just couldn't see what the big deal was. Iadore AC though as it is my #3 coaster.

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HANNAH MONTANA!!!!!!!!!
TAKING THE WORLD BY STORM!!!!!
"I'm living proof....THAT GIRLS CAN ROCK!!!!!!"

That really sucks about SFOG, but it sounds like the rest of your trip was awesome. I should be up to BGW and Carowinds either this year or the next, and I'm really looking forward to them.

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TV/Event Guide Editor

Um... Top Gun doesn't have midcourse brakes. But glad you liked it and finally a non Carowinds fan that went and LOVED BORG! YAH!

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October 30: Toulouse Zenith, France
October 31: Nantes Zenith, France
November 06: MTV European Music Awards, Liverpool, UK
November 11: Good Morning America, ABC

Phil I will be at Carowinds June 1st......have you ever been?

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HANNAH MONTANA!!!!!!!!!
TAKING THE WORLD BY STORM!!!!!
"I'm living proof....THAT GIRLS CAN ROCK!!!!!!"

Nope, I was hoping to head up there for Spring Break but my family had some scheduling conflicts. I will make it there either this year or next because my uncle lives 15 minutes from the park and we haven't seen him in a while.

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TV/Event Guide Editor

I couldnt have imagined it...maybe it was a trim that was off or something, all i know is the second half was a bit more "wild" than usual. I really seem to remember a midcourse though..i dunno. And yes, I loved borg.

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Pick it up!

There are no trims of any kind from the top of the lift up until you hit the service brakes under the shed. Maybe you rode different trains each time you rode it. Maybe it's just me, but it seems that the yellow train is slightly faster crossing the station than the red one.

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-Blaq Mamba-

Glad to see somebody else that thinks the yellow train is faster/better. I hate to ride on the red one because it seems rougher and slower. Some people just don't believe me!

I agree with that. The yellow train is faster and alot smoother.

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