Steel Vengence vs. Twisted Timbers and CF Parks Commentary

First, I'm self employed and work from home. Last Saturday (day before Easter) I took a good look at the SE Michigan forecast and decided to take my kids (who are on spring break) on a CF park tour, places they had never been.

First up last Mon/Tue was Carowinds. None of us had ever been. We immediately went to Fury 325 which we were fortunate enough to ask for front row, and lucky enough to be sent there. Almost 6 months with no coasters and into the front row of arguable the best steel coaster out there and WOW, what a rush! Tough for me to say it's better than MF (maybe if it had some cool station music?) but overall very impressed. Intimidator also was awesome, and, in front row, maybe nearly as good if in an entirely different way. Great coaster!

The rest of the Carowinds lineup was uninspiring, though, my kids loved the Mondial Top Scan which we had only ever experienced once before at Canada's Wonderland. Great ride, and offers unique sensations not found on other 2D flats.

From there we made the trek up to King's Dominion. Now, Carowinds was packed, which I had expected with operating hours listed from 10AM to 10PM. And weather in the mid 80's, unseasonably warm. But the weather for KD had been forecasted to be rain the week prior, which had been changed literally hours before we arrived at the 11:30am opening.

The park was dead. But more importantly, and the reason for this post, is unbeknownst to me, their former woodie "Hurler" had just received the RMC treatement and had opened several days earlier as "Twisted Timbers"!! Words cannot express just how awesome this ride was. The park was dead (due to the forecast presumably) and we were able to walk on it dozens of times. It was truly exceptional! If SV is remotely as good as this ride, pound for pound, we are in for a HUGE treat. I literally cannot wait. It was not only the smoothest ride I've ever ridden, but also the most well thought out, especially where zero-G barrel rolls are concerned. Absolutely amazing. What they were able to do with a suboptimal, old, woodie layout literally blows my mind!

Rest of the trip was great too, got to see all the sights in DC, etc, but nobody here cares about that.

What I will share is other anecdotal CF observances. Carowinds was woefully understaffed... most food locations were closed (despite a PACKED park) leading to unreasonably long food lines. Glad I did not have all season dining. Even the FL merge points were unstaffed leading to some very awkward situations as people were expected to manage the merge themselves. Carowinds FL merge points are right at the top of the station, zero wait.... definitely a good place to buy FL if you are in a time crunch.

KD was also understaffed, but that effect was minimized by the park being empty. If it had been crowded, whoa boy! CF has serious staffing issues which to me is unacceptable because it is an entirely curable problem (wages). I'd be happy to spend 50% more for a season pass if it meant I didn't have to wait 15 minutes for an all-season drink refill..

Speaking of which... last fall I had purchased the "all-season drink plan" which was to include unlimited drink refills from a 16oz cup, ie, no souvenir bottle to carry around. We got several of the "red cups", as they called them, at CW. We were also asked a couple times "do you want a souvenir bottle?" to which we responded, "no thanks", not knowing what that question really meant.

However, at KD I was asked the question in a different way which made me think I got BOTH the souvenir bottle AND the refillable cups. So I said sure. I later found out that you get to CHOOSE which you want -- either the refillable bottle *** OR *** the disposable 16oz cups ------ FOR THE SEASON! So, I went to guest services, because I was confused on the program and to see what the deal was. Apparently, when you elect to receive the souvenir bottle it INVALIDATES your option to get the throw away cups on the plan. Of course, she told me since it was their mistake she said I could keep the bottle and still have the cup option... but I suspect when they correct this computer glitch I will no longer have the cup option as promised, which will create a bit of a pain for me to explain and correct. I think this is new for this year (correct me if I'm wrong) so I think they are still working out the kinks.

All in all, an amazing trip,and we've already almost gotten the value out of our platinum passes.... and CP is not even open yet!

Sincerely,

An un-entitled enthusiast

My experience at Carowinds on Opening Day (Saturday 3/24) was the opposite. The weather was gray, cold, and damp. The park was dead but extremely well staffed. Fury and Intimidator ran three trains all day and never filled them. Every food location was fully operational. Nothing about the day felt like an Opening Day, but rather a day midseason where everything is running smooth.

The only thing I can think of is the weather kept everyone away and they were ready and expecting a packed house.

The rest of Carowinds lineup was uninspiring?!? Did you somehow miss Afterburn? It’s a surprisingly good inverted coaster. The Batwing that dives under the old entrance is awesome.

AfterBurn is phenomenal. Intimidator is great in the first two cars, trims hurt it a bit in the middle and back of the train. A new GCI woodie (thats the rumor for 2019 on the SC side of the park) and a floorless conversion of Vortex would make their collection that much better, but it's not bad right now in my opinion. I do like Firehawk at Kings Island better than Nighthawk, but Flying Cobras and Carolina Cyclone are good for what they are. Their arrow mine train is nothing special and Hurler is blah, but at least not as awful as Kings Dominions was.

Keep in mind, colleges are still in session. When the semester ends, the park should be very well staffed.

My question is, under what rock are you living that Twisted Timbers was unbeknownst to you? It’s been discussed here, but at the very least I’m assuming you looked at KD’s website before going.
Sounds like a fun trip, though. I’ve never been to either park on days when they were particularly busy. I’m definitely planning a drive down to Richmond, probably sometime shortly after Memorial Day, maybe sooner, and I can’t wait. I’ll have SV under my belt by then, not that comparisons are particularly helpful or necessary.

Fury kills MF. Afterburn is fantastic. Only Banshee is better, in my opinion.

Regarding the all season drink plan last year if you were a pass holder you have the choice between the disposable cups or souvenir bottle. If you want to switch there is a $2.99 charge and can be taken care of at guest services, I believe. At least that was the policy last year. My understanding is both plans now have a 15 minute cool down which is slightly different than the 5 minute cool down the souvenir bottle used to have.

If you have any problems at CP this year guest services can straighten out for you.

The season pass bottle had a 15 minute cool down last year. I bought one closing weekend, ironically.

Afterburn was good, I agree. I just don't like inverts. They are great in the front seat but IMO anywhere else has zero view. And I really liked the front two seats of Intimidator. I still think Diamonback is better, but that's only an opinion.

I don't agree that Fury "kills" MF. It was quite rough in the back half of the train. It's that vibration or shaking feeling that gives me headaches. Don't get me wrong, it's an amazing ride, and maybe I'm a bit of a homer but I'd say they are pretty even and both great in their own ways. i305 at KD is a solid step down from those two.

I just didn't know about Twisted Timbers. I've pretty much taken a year off from amusement park stuff since we did not have platinum passes last year, and apparently that includes reading up on things I should know! ;)

Cedar Point is my home park but I consider MF and Fury equal,one not better or worse than the other. Different because of views,MF 1st drop seeing the water of the bay and then the return speed right next to the station,Fury's view of the parking lot. If one park had both,I'd be alternating back and forth between them.

Intimidator I prefer over Diamondback,but not by much. Of the inverteds,I prefer Afterburn. I stopped riding Raptor a few years ago because the ending double helix got to me,didn't like Talon at Dorney and rode Banshee once and didn't care for it.

My first time on Afterburn sorta left a wet taste in my mouth, literally. It was a rainy Saturday (thus the park was quite low attendance even on Saturday) and it was during the heaviest period I rode it, was like riding a water ride.I really don't have the clearest view of Afterburn yet.

As for the drink plan, Cedar Point asked me a lot in Summer do you want a souvenir cup, I always was ready to say no.

MaverickLaunch said:
I don't agree that Fury "kills" MF. It was quite rough in the back half of the train. It's that vibration or shaking feeling that gives me headaches

I know exactly what you mean by the B&M “rattle” that plagues certain rides. I have never once felt it on Fury. What year did you ride?

Regarding the drink plan, I made the same mistake last year and Guest Services was able to take care of it right away. This was still early in the season so they may have had more confusion and people incorrectly receiving the souvenir bottle. I think the disposable cup was new last year too, so could have been a training issue as well.

One year I really do want to get down to Carowinds. Probably need the kids to grow up a little before it happens though.

I'd been wanting to go to Carowinds for a couple years now. But prior to last fall my daughter was still under 54". Most of CW coasters have a 54" height requirement so we wouldn't have been able to do much together.

Regarding the B&M rattle on Fury, I'm referring to my rides on it just this past week over spring break.

I felt none of that on Opening Day this year. I felt it a bit on Intimidator toward the back, but nothing up front. Perhaps it was a different train.

To be fair, it wasn't terrible... I just had a dehydration headache already starting and hence, was more susceptible to the sensation because it made a headache worse.

I remember a few years back DB had the same issue. I think it's the wheels or train, because the following season it was back to it's buttery smooth self.

I’ve barely met a B&M anywhere that didn’t have that vibration.

I find it funny how I just finished a road trip to CW, KD, and SFA just this past weekend, so I have some relevant input.

Carowinds:

I went to Carowinds this last Thursday night and all-day Friday with good weather. Park got pretty crowded on Friday, so I got FLP to ensure I got all the credits and to ride Fury over and over (both achieved).

First, Fury > MF. You can fight me on this, but I can't see Fury as any lower than my #1 of 115. I love MF's color, theming, music, view from the top, and a more forceful drop (I gray out on MF but barely on Fury, so all those "Millennium Forceless" critics can suck it), but Fury capitalizes on the speed a lot better with those amazing overbanks, the treble cleft, and the more forceful airtime hills. I rode it 5 times, 3 front, 1 middle, 1 back, and while I will always love MF, Fury is just better. Never noticed a rattle, either.

Intimidator was cool, but I still prefer Behemoth as my favorite B&M hyper just because of Intimidator's more noticeable rattle in the back.

Afterburn > Raptor. I had a real hard time coming to this conclusion, especially when I LOVE Raptor's double helix, but I appreciate Afterburn's better elements, lack of a MCBR, and relentless transitions.

Unfortunately, that's the best I can say about Carowinds (besides the food, which lives up to the hype). Despite it being one of the nicer CF parks, its supporting coaster lineup is extremely poor, not to mention that the operations were considerably slower than I was expecting (even though the park appeared well-staffed). I'll go back when they add a new coaster, though; I don't regret going.

Kings Dominion:

Woo boy, KD. I got there Saturday at ERT. 40s and light rain. There were SEVEN PEOPLE at the front gate at 10am. I don't think I will ever go to a more dead park in my life, and I was loving it. Unfortunately, the park had to close at 1pm because of falling temps and snow, but I will be back in the summer.

First, I'm really disappointed that I can't gauge how good TwT is because it was down all day Saturday and on Sunday morning. Apparently it was because of the cold, but the operator said its MOT is 36 degrees and it was at least 5-10 degrees warmer than that on both mornings. I didn't act like a bratty, entitled enthusiast and just took it for what it was, but I was disappointed nonetheless. I guess it's now confirmed that SV will be my first RMC (which sets the bar REALLY high for the others lol).

What didn't disappoint me was I305. Not only was it my 100th coaster, but it was my first zen ride (riding in the train completely alone). I guess no one wanted to freeze to death at 90mph (that's why I did second row, not front). I actually prefer both Maverick and MF to I305, but that may change when I get around to riding it during the peak of summer. It's still a top-10, easily.

Volcano was really cool, despite a bit of annoying headbanging. Surprised I didn't get a rollback, either, considering it was cold and first thing in the morning.

Rougarou > Dominator. When I rode Dominator, I told myself, "Is this what everyone complains about Rougarou? Fun but a bit jerky?" I found Rougarou to be a lot smoother than Dominator. They're both still fun, but I don't think Dominator's relocation did much good for the ride experience.

Overall, I need to go back in the summer to gauge my opinion of KD. It was less interesting visually than CW (Eiffel Tower aside), but it has a stronger ride collection overall, the operations were better (though there was no one there, so it's hard to really judge them), and the employees seemed a lot friendlier (shout-out to the I305 ride ops for being really cool to talk to about other coasters and parks in general). Also, the Mac Bowl was probably one of my favorite theme park meals ever; everyone needs to try it at some point.

Six Flags America:

I got the credits and left. To summarize, S:RoS's helices were surprisingly fun, Wild One is now one of my favorite woodies, and Apocalypse is trash.

And now, for sticking with reading this dreadfully long post, this amazing picture that will now be going in the living room of my apartment: