On Thursday morning, we piled into the car, (and brought Trevor with us, too,) and swung by the Harris Teeter for a dozen donuts before hitting the highway and driving about three hours southwest to Charlotte, North Carolina...
...and Carowinds, "the thrill capital of the southeast". Whoo hoo! Carowinds is a 122 acre amusement park that opened up in March of 1973.
Carowinds was built basically on the state border between North and South Carolina. The physical address for the park is in North Carolina, but our motel was exactly one mile away...and in South Carolina.
We spent two days in the park. Thursday was packed full of rides...
...a few of them were not really thrilling or scary, like Peanuts Pirates, but still, they were fun.
This is the Night Hawk. This is what the Carowinds website says about the coaster:
The Carolina's only flying coaster soars riders through eight inversions, most while flying facedown, zooming toward the ground and turning skyward just in time for the next inversion. The unique rider position offers breathtaking and virtually unobstructed views of the park.
I don't know for sure, but I don't think Steven was paying too much attention to the views of the park. If you click on the picture above, you can see the look on his face if you don't want to just take my word for it.
This is The Intimidator, and, according to the Carowinds website, it is the tallest, fastest, and longest coaster in the Southeast. Inspired by race legend Dale Earnhardt, the ride is complete with a Winner's Circle, Victory Lane, Wall of Fame tribute to Dale, and a replica of Dale's No. 3 Monte Carlo. When Steven saw the video of the coaster, he said to turn it off...that it was putting him to sleep. He hoped that this coaster wasn't the best they had to offer. Then he rode it. Then he ate those words. Apparently, it's a very scary coaster. I wouldn't know. I like to keep my feet on the ground. Check out the video here:
This was called the Flying Ace Arial Chase and was one of Scotty's favorite rides. Here are Mylee and Trevor in the front car. Scott's on there somewhere as well. Steven rode this one with Scott many times.
Steven and Scotty watching the Afterburn coaster. Yikes.
It's a 32-passenger, inverted steel coaster with floorless cars suspended below the track. It takes guests on six inversions including a space drop, a vertical loop, an immelman, a batwing, a flat spin and finally into a spiral. Before the day was over, Steven rode this with Maya and Trevor. He said it was one of the best coasters he's ever ridden.
I chose to stay on level ground with Booterific. I did ride the bumper cars with the kids. Maya calls this my evil face. Scott was trash talking me in line and I had to teach him a lesson. Why was I after Trevor? Well...he was there and it was fun. Do I really need more of a reason than that?
I also rode Whitewater Falls with the kids. See us in the back row? We're the ones waving like idiots. :)
Click on this shot for a better look. Pay special attention to Scott's face. He likes big, steep drops even less than his mom does.
Whew...that was a wet landing. That's okay, though. It was in the mid-90's and the cool water felt great.
Are you seeing a recurring theme here? Trevor and Maya were the Coaster Kings. Crazy, crazy, kids. Nothing scared them. They had no limit. Here they are, in the first car again, on the Carolina Cobra.
Wow.
This is the Ricochet. Think Wild Chipmunk from Elitch's and you about have it...only this ride looks a heck of a lot more fun.
The coaster duo taking a spin on the Carolina Cyclone,
and Scott and I waiting for Steven, Maya and Trevor to ride the Hurler. Yeah...you read that right. The Hurler. It's a wooden coaster that travels at 50 miles per hour.
You can probably see the three of them if you click on the photo.
As you can tell, it was a big hit.
After the Hurler, the trio decided they wanted to be dropped down in a 100-foot, 56 mph free fall.
The legs in white tennis shoes farthest to the right belong to my husband. Maya and Trevor are in the center left.
The Carolina Goldrusher was more my speed. This is Carowinds' oldest coaster, debuting at the park's opening in 1973.
Mylee, Steven and Trevor scored a front row seat on one of the last rides of the night, the Afterburn.
This was only one day! There was a bit of sunburn, but not too much. The kids posed for one last picture at the park. Amazingly, they were in two different states...in ONE picture! :)
We were all very, very tired and shuffled back to our little motel room wiped out and ready for sleep. We had a blast but needed to rest up as our adventure was only half completed.
Coastering all day takes a lot of a kid.
Carowinds day two coming soon....
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