Carowinds: General Discussion

[AstroDan]

Personally I am not disputing that it won't be a 'good' coaster. It's a big B&M.

I am simply speaking from experience of riding both B&M coasters which are airtime based and Intamin models which aren't always. Plus other manufacturers.

Here are the mega/hyper coasters I have done:

B&M
Nitro: A good coaster, lots of floater airtime and a forceful helix.
Apollo's Chariot: not as much airtime as other B&M coasters, but a more unique layout - but for me it didn't really deliver on the front of intensity or airtime - so I didn't particularly rate it highly.
Silver Star: Lots of floater airtime - but without the forceful helix of Nitro.
Shambhala: Lots of more intense floater airtime with a speed hill, the better of these four B&M's but still not "quite" there as it peters out before the end

Intamin
Millennium Force: Very fast but with only one airtime hill, the sense of speed is diminished because you're so high in the air for most of the ride.
Skyrush: Absurdly intense ejector airtime with quick corners. A phenomenal experience.
Expedition Ge Force: Intense ejector airtime by the dozen. The middle is a bit plain, though.
Bizarro: Some good hills but the poor restraints and current way the coaster is running looks bad on Six Flags.

Arrow
Pepsi Max Big One: A theoretically good first drop but rough in places and crawls over the hills.
Magnum XL-200: Lots of quite sudden airtime although ride comfort isn't always ideal.

Morgan
Steel Force: A bit bland in all honesty.
Phantom's Revenge: Some great airtime and an interesting layout! Cracking ride.

So the long and short of it for me, is that without either quick twists and airtime hills in the mix, the other big coasters I have been on generally haven't been the most memorable. Although I accept that this coaster is likely to be far better than Steel Force, PMBO, MF, Apollo's and probably Silver Star/Nitro, too. But... we'll see.

At least I should be riding it to find out!!!

 

[TheMan]

@Alastair is going for this years serious member award, whilst @AstroDan starts posting epics/trilogies.

Definitely closed season

I'd love to add to this discussion but as I haven't ridden most of those, I enjoy fast rides more than airtime by a long way, and I actually like The Big One I don't feel my opinions are worth a huge amount in this thread.

 

[Rob]

So this is moving on quickly:

Another piece of track has gone in since this snapshot with a further piece going in about now!

 

[TheMan]

So this is moving on quickly:

Another piece of track has gone in since this snapshot with a further piece going in about now!

Wow that looks tasty! Great updates Rob as always!

 

[Rob]

A lot of track went in yesterday:

 

[Rob]

A couple more photos:

I personally think some of these low but heavily banked turns are going to be great with B&M's lap bars!

 

[Rob]

Triple post but oh well! All-Americal Thrills have some brillaint aerial footage of Fury 325:



The banking on the turns looks insane! Also makes the rest of the rides in the park seem tiny.

 

[Rob]

Four posts in a row but there has been some good progress since the Christmas break:

I'm loving the banking on this! Going to be a very unique riding experience.

 

[TheMan]

As long as they don't trim the excrement out of it this looks like it could carry some great speed and tight turns!

 

[DiogoJ42]

Merlin take note: COLOUR!

 

[Sammy]

Not just colour either... One damn gorgeous colour scheme! I still absolutely adore it.

And I couldn't agree more with Rob, the layout looks sensational and the funky looking banking, combined with snappy turns and dives will only add to the fast paced low to the ground experience!

 

[Rob]

Looks like it will be completed in no time at all:

 

[TheMan]

I just watched the video @Rob

Wow. That drop into the overbank!

One word describes this coaster for me. Elegant. It's obviously going to be fast and thrilling, a big of a ground hugger which will increase that feeling of speed.

Don't understand how people can't get what this coaster is about. There's a few of us on here looking at it and drooling! Me being one!

I reckon it's going absolutely tank it around that course! And it's HUUUUUUGE.

 

[DiogoJ42]

Don't understand how people can't get what this coaster is about.

My guess is that if you look at any one part in isolation, say a couple of low hills, it looks bland. You have to look at the bigger picture... or rather, the bigger drop just before the low hills. The hill itself may not be very tall, and have a gentle curvature, but just remember how fast you will be flying over it!

A lot of people (quite understandably) think that a large steel hyper should be a series of tall, steep airtime hills. It's not until you get to ride something like Shambles or Levi' that you realise how much more fun these newer style "speed hypers" are. As I said in my Canada TR, Behemoth is more forcefull by far, but gets dull very quickly, while Leviathan is sheer fun all the way round.

I'd say a good analogy would be comparing these new generation B&M hypers to the older style is like comparing a modern GCI to an older woody (roughness not included )

 

[Sammy]

I couldn't agree more with @DiogoJ42 on this, I believe what he's just said is exactly right! Though admittedly I haven't ridden either Shambhala or Leviathan, to me this is exactly what those rides are all about, the shear size/contrast in height and the speed through, what would otherwise be fairly boring.

Like Diogo said, this is where you have to take into account the bigger picture. I feel a very good example of this is the airtime hill towards the end of the ride pictures below.

That hill is 111' tall! Now let's look at the bigger picture... That hill is taller than Saw - The Ride, taller than The Smiler... In fact taller than the majority of Coasters in the UK! Now stack almost 3 of them on top of each other, and that's Fury's first drop. I honestly can't imagine the speed/force of the transitions on the frankly tiny first small curve having dropped from that height!!

I know many people aren't, but I really am, very excited by this coaster!!

 

[TheMan]

Like Diogo said, this is where you have to take into account the bigger picture. I feel a very good example of this is the airtime hill towards the end of the ride pictures below.

That hill is 111' tall! Now let's look at the bigger picture... That hill is taller than Saw - The Ride, taller than The Smiler... In fact taller than the majority of Coasters in the UK! Now stack almost 3 of them on top of each other, and that's Fury's first drop. I honestly can't imagine the speed/force of the transitions on the frankly tiny first small curve having dropped from that height!!

I know many people aren't, but I really am, very excited by this coaster!!

Not only that on the video it shows it I believe to be an overbank turn - it's going to absolutely rocket through it.

This, the Dynamic SFX, and of course the insane looking Karnan are three extremely exciting installations and I really wish we had all 3 of them over here!

Fury is just gorgeous.



(Just a reminder to everyone I'm not a B&M "fanboy")

 

[CGM]

I'm very excited about this coaster. How can you not be? It's literally the largest project that B&M have ever taken on. The layout looks fast, ground hugging, it has elements we've never seen before and it's a decent length too. It's sure to be an excellent coaster.

However, I do wish it had just one airtime hill towards the beginning of the layout. Shambhala's first hill is probably the most sustained moment of airtime in existence. It's the closest you can get to weightlessness this side of a vomit comet ride. To not have a similar element on a significantly taller coaster seems like a bit of a wasted opportunity to me.

The lack of big airtime hill won't ruin the coaster and it is nice to have some variation in layout between similar rides. It's not like Fury won't have airtime. It's just a slight disappointment that this coaster won't include one of my favourite parts of Shambhala. It's a bit like Helix not having Blue Fire's roll. It doesn't stop Helix from being excellent but it would be nice to have anyway.

 

[TheMan]

I'm very excited about this coaster. How can you not be? It's literally the largest project that B&M have ever taken on. The layout looks fast, ground hugging, it has elements we've never seen before and it's a decent length too. It's sure to be an excellent coaster.

However, I do wish it had just one airtime hill towards the beginning of the layout. Shambhala's first hill is probably the most sustained moment of airtime in existence. It's the closest you can get to weightlessness this side of a vomit comet ride. To not have a similar element on a significantly taller coaster seems like a bit of a wasted opportunity to me.

The lack of big airtime hill won't ruin the coaster and it is nice to have some variation in layout between similar rides. It's not like Fury won't have airtime. It's just a slight disappointment that this coaster won't include one of my favourite parts of Shambhala. It's a bit like Helix not having Blue Fire's roll. It doesn't stop Helix from being excellent but it would be nice to have anyway.

Haven't they already got a B&M airtime machine there though?

I do agree though, I think having an absolute speed monster all the way through, then BOING, pop of random huge airtime in the middle (give a bit of an unexpected surprise) would have been good.

It doesn't look like a massive airtime machine by any stretch, but until we see how it moves through those transitions, who knows, it may have a surprise or two in store?

 

[Rob]

It's a bit like Helix not having Blue Fire's roll. It doesn't stop Helix from being excellent but it would be nice to have anyway.

Helix does have Blue Fire's roll (although it is not quite as good as Bloofi's)!

The airtime hill is almost complete. I cannot believe how quickly it is going up. The coaster should still be carrying a fair amount of speed by the time it does reach that airtime hill.

 

[CGM]

Helix does have Blue Fire's roll (although it is not quite as good as Bloofi's)!

Yes, that's what I was getting at. For the record, I haven't actually been on Blue Fire but everyone has unanimously said that Helix's roll isn't as good so I'll take their word for it.