Carowinds

SmugMug Daily Link

The kids and I went to Carowinds amusement park on Wednesday.  The last time we went was 2010, and Madi wasn't with us.  We were very pleased that she was able to go this time.  There is a great deal right now where everyone pays kids prices now through May 31 with online ticket purchase.  That saved us quite a bit.  Note that the swim area doesn't open until 5/13, though.

The park has a really nice small kid area called Planet Snoopy.  In 2010, we spent a lot of time there.  This visit, we were able to go on rides throughout the park.  Johnny is 53", and there are just a few rides that require 54", so he was able to go on all but one ride that we wanted to (Night Hawk).

I think the consensus on our favorite coaster was the Carolina Cyclone featuring two full loops and two barrel loops.  We all rode it back-to-back and then Madi and Johnny rode it 3 more times.  Wow!

Cyclone Video We also really liked the Gold Rusher which Johnny was thrilled to discover looks like a train.  We all rode it at least twice with Madi and Johnny staying on for even more rides.

Gold Rusher Video The Carolina Cobra was a pretty intense ride for us going both forwards into a loop and then backwards back through the loop.  I felt like my body didn't know how to naturally move going backwards, but I still enjoyed the ride. Another ride called the Ricochet was pretty cool too.  It looked so harmless from the ground going back and forth but up in the air it was designed to make you feel like you're going to go off the edge any minute.  Look at our faces!

SmugMug Link I think the tallest ride we went on was the Wind Seeker which is basiclly one of those swing rides, but it's more of a real seat and takes you waaaaaaaay up there.  It moves reasonably slow up, down, and around but you're up high enough to get real wind...

SmugMug Link
We left The Intimidator, Nigh Hawk, and After Burner for next time:-)