Just got back from a fast Carowinds & Kings Dominion trip

I was in South Carolina all week, so when I left Friday, I stopped by Carowinds & Kings Dominion. I managed to both in the same day, but just barely.

Arrived right after park opening at Carowinds and immediately ran into security, who were nice and professional. Looked pretty permanent for those who care. Rode Fury 325 twice. I'll have to say, it keeps its overall speed up much better than M.F. They were doing that ridiculous scan, clear, all clear thing with every dispatch, so some trains stacked occasionally. I also made it a priority to try out that new zombies vs plants arena game they just opened. It has a sign out front that it is still beta testing and that they would like feedback. It was cool, but some cut scenes weren't done and the overall weight of the gun meant I had to hold it two handed pretty quickly to maintain accuracy. It was sort of hard at first to figure out what color your "dot" was on the screen when you shot. I liked it overall, but its pretty rough around the edges still. And only one side of the arena is open right now, I looked in the door for the other side and it is more or less under construction. Squeezed in a few other rides on the more notable things there up until noon, they handled the crowds well.

FOOD!!!! Harmony Hall!!! Why do we not have a food place like this at CP? Real food that was really good, especially by cedar fair (and amusement parks in general) standards...Either find a way to clone Carowinds food director or beat the one at CP with a stick...a very, very large stick...the size of a naval submarine.

With what ended up being a grueling 5 hour drive from there to K.D., it was just before 6pm when I arrived. Thabto, you would despise the security here. Its Six Flags style metal detectors and the whole get-up. I joked with the security guy about being spoiled by Cedar Point's security and he got upset and chastised me more or less. I knew I wouldn't be able to do much, since they were closing at 8pm. 1st things first, get a ride in on Intimidator 305. That thing was hands down the most intense coaster I've ever ridden. A few people passed out (slumped over anyway) in that turn after the drop. I got very extreme greying out and tunnel vision both times I rode it. Imagine M.F. speed and the bottom of the 1st drop, sustained almost the whole time, with Maverick airtime (Maverick is my favorite CP coaster btw) and snappy transitions. That first turn after the drop is at full speed for those who don't know, so you get a heaping helping of g-forces. Other than that, I got a ride in on the backlot stunt coaster, which was OK, but the ride ops were very disinterested and obviously didn't want to be there. Same with almost everyone working at that park that I encountered while I was there. You would have though you were at a 6 flags park. They closed multiple rides well before park close, due to what appeared to be a lack of wanting to be there. I saw Delirium running, but since it's a miniature MaxAir, I didn't bother riding it. It looked less forceful and it was smaller in size also.

Anyway, I had one meal left on my meal plan, so I figured I might as well eat before the 14ish hour drive back Chicago way. That too, was a joke. I understand the park was closing in 30 minutes, but the crowds were still fairly large. One Food place, the hungry hippo, had evidently stopped cooking burgers (and maybe fries) and only had chicken strips left but didn't say anything to people who were ordering other items. Shook my head and walked out of there and figured I was going to have to find something outside of the park after trying other places with no success. To my surprise, a place all the way up front, the border cafe, was open and NOT out of food. Ended up getting a fajita meal after the park closed. They kept at it until the crowds stopped coming in, roughly 830pm. Props to them, the crew leader guy in there was trying to get management to let him lock the doors right at 8pm :-\

I'll be back to both in June sometime, if K.D. hasn't cleaned up their act when we visit again, we will head to Carowinds for some extra time there and will most definitely fill out a complaint card. The Point is still a step above both parks, minus that super awesome Harmony Hall food. Kings Dominion...the jury's out for now, but aside from I305, disappointing.

I'm at Carowinds now for a few days. Yeah, I noticed they changed their pre-dispatch procedure. Generally goes like this: "Load side, clear?" Load side: "clear." "Unload side, clear?" Unload side: "clear." "All clear?" All: "All clear." "Dispatch."

It's so strange. Some rides they'll do this multiple times per ride cycle, depending on the ride.

Drove down from Cleveland way Friday to do Kings Dominion Saturday. I don't know if the 4 of us in our group got upset intestines (to say it nicely) from Denny's at Best Western or if it was the chicken strips and Philly from Dinner Bell in Candy Apple Groove. That was the only food we ate Saturday. As expected the service was slow as it was only day two and they weren't at full staff yet.

As for the rides, it was Volcano and I305 numerous times for early entry. This was my first visit since the reworking of the Volcano station. The ride was much much smoother then I recall. I305 just doesn't do it for me. Give me Fury 325 or MF or Intimidator at Carowinds.

My main reason for going to KD is Dominator. I miss having to drive only 30 minutes to ride it. Due to crowds I only got to ride it a few times Saturday, in my favorite seat (right rear). It did not disappoint.

What did disappoint is the lack of interest by most ride ops. (The exception was the ride op running Grizzly when I rode it.) On Dominator the two trains constantly stacked. I understand its opening weekend, but I have seen staff at other parks on opening weekends with more hustle.

The back of Rebel Yell was painful, but had a nice ride near front ride on Grizzly. All other coasters (minus Hurler of course) gave good rides.

I skipped Delirium due to long lines and have MaxAir 60 miles to the west of me. My 9 year old daughter wanted to do the bumper cars. She even commented on how sad/slow they are and how sad they looked. All the bumper cars still had layers of dust on them.

My daughter wanted to do the Robinson Crusoe 3-D movie in the former Action theater. It was enjoyable. First time I have been in the Action theaters since the days of Spongebob and Days of Thunder.

I am always impressed when we head south and the crowd actually gets quiet and turns toward the flag when the National Anthem is played at park opening. But then there was an occurrence that was disturbing and makes me wonder about what is wrong with the late teens early 20 somethings of today.

While my wife was waiting by herself for us to ride Dominator, a group of about 8 'children' sat around and across from my wife. They sat their and rather loudly made fun of patrons of other color as they walked by, but not of those who were the same color as themselves. Others people got up and left while others who were walking by made comments in return. My wife being a teacher who deals with much younger version of these types, bit her lip and did not leave.

All in all, it was an enjoyable trip, after I got my coaster fix until Kings Island opens in April.

Sledge4cp said:
My main reason for going to KD is Dominator. I miss having to drive only 30 minutes to ride it. Due to crowds I only got to ride it a few times Saturday, in my favorite seat (right rear). It did not disappoint.

I was at KD on Saturday as well, I got to ride Dominator in the back right seat and it was a lot better than I expected. Smoothest cobra roll I've seen (felt) on any ride.

(The exception was the ride op running Grizzly when I rode it.)

This guy was great, and I really enjoyed his level of enthusiasm. While I was waiting, he had one train attempt to do the wave, saying if they didn't everyone would owe him a funnel cake, then he continued to say how he could build a house out of funnel cakes. Then when one of the trains came back he mouthed along to the auto spiel with hand motions, it was perfect.

Both of these parks are on my to-do list. One of these years we will load up the camper and do a leisurely trip down the east coast. It won't be a rollercoaster trip, but we will visit several parks. Yep, one of these years...

I wish I would have had more time at the park to get rides in on dominator and volcano. Those slow ride ops, I'm glad I wasn't the only one who noticed.

Did either of you experience the pains of "no preferred seating"? When I was at Carowinds last year, on my way into the boarding station, I saw a sign that discouraged preferred seating. Apparently, riders had no choice over which seat they got to ride in. This turned out to be the case, because when I attempted to enter the line for the front row, one of the ride ops impatiently directed me to the fourth row. I asked if I could stand to the side until the front was available and she loudly, almost rudely, yelled, "NO! Get into row four!" It was the most frustrating experience - why couldn't I sit wherever I wanted if I was willing to wait for my seat?

Playing Devil's advocate here- was the line long? If so, and a lot of people had the same idea as you, you'd have a big logjam waiting for the front seats slowing the rest of the line down. (I've been directed away from Raptor's front seat before for the same reasons.)

That said, there was no reason for the ride host to snap at you like that- it's not like you were being a jerk about it, just asking a question. Not cool.

No actually, it was just about a walk-on and I got right back in line. The steps they took really kept the line moving. Sadly though, I never got a front or back seat ride like I wanted.

Yes, they generally assign you a seat. I have no problem with this. It's luck of the draw, I guess. The Fury station, for example, isn't designed to handle kind of crowds that Millennium Force's experiences. I just listen to what they tell me to do.

I understand, but I don't agree with the system. If the person assigning seats calls out the rows in order (1, 2, 3...) then it might be worth positioning myself in line by letting people pass me to make sure I get the seat I want.

There was no preferred seating limitations of any sort. The only think I noticed was the auto spiel on the stairs going up to Dominator's station. The looped message said to stay to the right side of the stairs if you wish to wait for the front row.

That still did not prevent the every present (same as when it was at Geauga Lake) back up once you got into the station. Once you squeeze to the left the rows were pretty much a one train wait.

Both times that I have been to Carowinds they were doing assigned seating on most of the busier rides but the park wasn't busy, at least not by Cedar Point standards. I didn't notice any assigned seating at K.D.