HandsUp

It is awesome, and definitely worth $5 or $10.

In the Festhaus Panda Express, a lady wanted to buy a smaller, 'value portion' because she claimed she couldn't eat a whole entree, and I'm sure she didn't want to pay $8.50. I felt bad for the girls behind the counter, but I wished one of them would have said something to the effect of, "The portions aren't huge, they're just really expensive"

There's nothing like the very front, it's great to see everything and it's very smooth. But in the back you get absolutely thrown out of your seat (hanging on by your thighs), and I like the feeling of flying over the top of the 1st hill. Still, rows 9 and 10 send you in 'orbit' more, where you are falling at the same rate as the train-so you really float. They are all great, and unique.

Very true. The balcony above the entrance has a bit of the woodwork left, but it could be much better. I'm sure the country stuff plays well among certain demographics, but I miss that old world feel big time.

I was wondering if anything special was going to be done for Darlene's (forget her last name) 500th DB ride. I think she plans to do it on Saturday, and that is an amazing accomplishment especially at this point in the year. It's a testament to her, as well as the capacity of our newest friend.

I love TTD, and would love to have one, but I kinda doubt it will happen. The dive coasters looks awesome...still glad was got DB first, it was a great 1st step, but I've heard nothing but great stuff about floorless dive coasters. A more practical addition may be a wildmouse...put it in that spot by DB and call it the 'Rattlesnake'

-The awesome Don Quiote/Sancho bust on I-Street and the balcony on the 2nd floor of that building. The stairs are blocked off-not sure what it's used for. -If you stand between the ET and Starbucks, you can hear the screams from Drop Tower very clearly. I suppose it's a just a 'hole' in the sound system (so you don't hear music that loud from there), but it seems to be pretty far from the tower to be able to hear screams. -It's impossible to eat an entire elephant ear by one's self -From the Drop Tower: The old scary munitions factory, the backstage area of Timberwolf, the graveyard in the NW corner of the parking lot -These days there are too many Steeler's fans up there for my liking...Including this horrificly obese woman who was wearing Steeler's flannel pajama pants over her 1-piece swim suit...it was awful, but I just couldn't look away :-)

Outer Hanks is great, and the portions are huge. I could not finish the fish 'n chips, and I ALWAYS clean my plate.

All 3 trains today....and very minimal lines. The place seemed empty compared to Friday

Nice job! I rode it yesterday and forgot how much fun the ride is in the front seat.

Get there as close to 9 as possible and make the most of ERT. Last Saturday, I got 6 DB rides in 45 minutes during this time. I'd take advantage of this, and then at about 10-till 10:00, be sure to get a Beast ride in. After that, you'll be right by BLSC when the park opens, so you may as well hit that-then head to Firehawk. It is a slow moving line, but if you get to FH by 10:30, you should still be OK. You can hit Vortex later-the line for that is never too bad. After Firehawk, do FoF, then Racer. Also, in this 10 o'clock hour, you may want to check the prices for Slingshot and Xtreme Skyflyer...they'll be as low as they're going to get early in the AM, but they still might not be that low since it's a Saturday. Definitely do Drop Tower while you're over by Flight Deck...I'd skip Invertigo, but that's just because it rattles me pretty bad. Have a great time!

Headed down there to see Phish, play disc golf, and see the wife's cousins...a great time to use our PPs too! It was a nice sunny Sunday, so we were unsure what the lines would be like. The entrance was neat how the NC/SC state line bisects the main gates. I had previously not known how close Charlotte was to SC...made me wonder what state laws they're subject to. But for as unique that is, it still seemed a small and rather modest main gate. Really made me appreciate how majestic it is to walk into KI and onto I-St. It was 4 of us-my wife, her cousin, and our cousin-in-law. I suggested that we kick things off right and do the flying Nighthawk. It looked like a winner-and bigger and more spread out than Firehawk. Unfortunately, it was shut down after we were about 2/3rds of the way through the line. Boo! We really wanted to get on a ride, so we left the queue and headed to the Carolina Goldrusher. On the way, we passed the waterpark...it was wild to see the WP so close to the main park. The Goldrusher was fun (walk on), but fairly tame. I liked the train-shaped cars, but thrill-wise, it was on par with Adventure Express. We then headed to the Ricochet..my 1st experience with a wildmouse. My mom had talked about the one that was at old Coney,so I was looking forward to it. It looked rather child-ish, but those switchbacks were no joke. It really felt like you were going to fall out. This one probably gets 'sleeper of the day' award, as it caught us off-gaurd. I'd love to see KI put one of these in. Then it was the stand-up Vortex. This one was fun and fast-although it was obviously old. Reminded me of a bigger, more intense King Cobra. It didn't bang us around too much, and there still is something about a drop while standing. Still seemed like a bit of a dinosaur. Nighthawk was still down,and we found ourselves towards the front gate again, so we rode to the top of the space-needle type ride to check out the layout of the park. In general, the park is pretty spread out, and not heavily themed (save for kiddie land). From up high, we could see a big construction site towards the front of the park. A local told me that a B&M hyper is going there, and I told him about how great DB is. The footprint seemed a bit small, but they could build into the parking lot. We then headed to the far side of the park with hopes of riding the wooden Thunder Road and the inverted Afterburn. The latter was also closed-a bit frustrating. But Thunder Road proved to be a very fun twin wooden coaster. It was fast, long, and adequately rough..also-a walk on to the front seat. After that, we sought out one of our biggest goals-find the Eagles! We found them-now called Phantom Flyers-in kiddie land. They're green and purple now, but still the Eagles. We had a blast, and the ride op actually encouraged flying high and snapping the cables. He even personally congratulated those who made the most of the ride. Then it was out to the lot for lunch and beers. By the time we finished, it was pretty warm, so we decided to do a water ride. We went to Rip Roarin' Rapids and the line proved to b the longest of the day. Like WWC, you can't tell how long the line is when not familiar with the ride layout. While in line, we could see the park's rather large ampitheater...according to the cousins, not too many big acts play there-but it is a nice looking venue-and quite big. RRR was fun, but nothing spectacular..still cooled us off a bit. We then worked that side of the park and did the Hurler. Although it is small, it really packs a punch. A lot of G's on that thing-and a fun, intense wooden coaster. We proceeded to the Drop Tower, much smaller than KI's, with 4 seperate elevators. Although it was shorter, it sped up dramatically on the ascent the closer we got to the top...took us by surprise. The Carolina Cyclone reminded me of a tamer version of our own Vortex. It had all the same elements, just a miniature version. Unfortunately, someone had yakked in a train-so they had to run that train empty-leaving only one train operational. The line was still very short though. The rest of our group wanted to sit one out an get some ice cream...but I had to try the new addition-the Carolina Cobra. I am not typically a fan of shuttle coasters-and have sworn off Invertigo, but I figured it wouldn't kill me. The line moved very quick and before I knew it, I was settling down into the nicest OTS restraint I've ever experienced. The inner straps held me down-while still allowing plenty of give. Reminded me a bit of the chest straps on Firehawk. Outside of these was the actual bars-with handles. The 2-part system seems to be the answer to the head pounding that is typically a result of traditional OTS restraints. The ride was really fun too-smooth, fast, and disorienting-without the abuse. The local I'd met said the front or the back is the best, but I went where they put me. This was a good one. We had seen that Afterburn was now running, so we headed over there. The line moved slow, as there was only one train running. But this was a great ride-my favorite of the day. It's been a while since I've ridden Raptor, but AB is in the same league, and I really liked the 'trench' that the track dips into. It helped being on an outside seat. Inverted coasters are awesome, and I'd love to see KI add one. They seem to keep you plastered enough into the seat that there is very little head banging-and it's just like flying. Would have liked to ride this one a few times. Headed back through kiddie land and did the Eagles once again..too much fun. Then saw that Nighthawk was finally running so we headed over there. The cousins were beat down by his point and wanted to sit it out...but the wife and I wanted to give it a go. Unfortunately, there was only one train running-so the already-slow flying dutchman was even slower. It had already been a long day, and we didn't want to leave the rest of our group waiting too long..so we bailed on it and headed out. Overall, it was a great time. It's always great to see different parks and ride different coasters. But it also made me realize how majestic and beautiful KI is-especially the main gate...as well as all the landscaping throughout. It was also a bit dissapointing that the 2 most modern coasters (Nighthawk and Afterburn) were closed for a large portion of the day-and once running-only had one train. Made me feel spoiled to have a mammoth capacity coaster like DB (10 min. wait tops on Friday...6 rides in 45 Min. for Sat ERT). Still, we had a great time and got toride several different types of coasters-the wildmouse was especially cool. Gotta love that Platinum Pass...now it's time to get up to CP!

How about keep the building and put in a dark wildmouse with a haunted mine theme? Make the riders feel like they're about to fly off a huge cliff...down an endless mine shaft

I had previously not liked it because of the roughness. I then realized that for woodies, it's necessary to hold on tight, lean, and brace yourself accordingly. I do this even for the 'toned down Beast', and always leave feeling fine. Just this year, I had really begun to like SoB. It's a great contrast to the smooth as glass, all 4 limbs hanging free feeling of DB. Plus, it is just a beautiful structure...slap a warning outside the queue, make us sign a release form, do whatever..but fire that thing back up!!

Agreed. I think alot of it has to do with the KI you 'grew up with'. Mine was Hanna-Barbera, Icees in The Beast line, Antique cars, etc. Paramount did away with much of that-and so I feel a personal resentment towards those years. The KI of today is much more of what I remember as a kid. +1 on the Action Zone. While the rides are good, that area lacks all personality (and shade!). IMO, themed rides are fine, but it is more important to have good theming in the areas overall--when you're not riding is when you can appreciate the atmosphere.

I always felt like the movie themes were really pushed upon me at PKI in terms of the music. I prefer the current tunes. The exception would have to be The Godfather theme at closing time...it just seemed so fitting. I also loved MTV's The Grind back in the day. There was nothing better than riding the rails all afternoon and then flirting and dancing with cuties till 1am. In all though, I'm glad CF has it now. To me, it is just as magical because it's all about the rides and the present moment...not having media and movies shoved down your throat. I'd rather chat with my friends in line as Elton John plays in the background as opposed to us all being mesmerized by obnoxious TVs in the queue line.

I really hope they don't tear this down. Yes-it is tame and lame now, but it could be re-vitalized and re-themed. I like the idea of the haunted mine that someone posted. It would fit perfectly in RT, and could utilize the existing space and building. I'd just hate to see the whole thing wasted after a relatively brief stint.

Agreed to all points. Also, there is a definite learning curve to getting the most air time. If you time it just right, you can kinda push yourself out of your seat and not have your butt touch again until the hill bottoms out. It is the closest thing to flying. Is work over yet?...I need to get up there!!

Wow...18 years ago today. It's almost as if a lot of bad energy was released on one day to balance out the thousands of great days the park has enjoyed.

The 1st time I rode it was after lunch and a few beers in the lot. I figured it would be an amped up kiddie ride, and had no knowledge of the track layout...then BAM.. I didn't quite black out, but I definitely see stars and have a bit of tunnel vision. Same goes for the first banked turn of MF.

I'd love to see KI back when it first opened, just to see how it's grown and changed. But really, I'd take Magic Mountain right now...that place was great 10 years ago when I was there, but they've since added a host of awesome coasters that look CRAZY

As intense as it is, Drop Tower is pretty easy on the body. You sit, you fall, you float, you brake slowly.

I'm sure it's known by other names-and maybe it's just because I'm getting older. But I find that if I either get my head banged around too much early in the day-or if I go on rides that are 'spinny', I get kind of queesy, and am more or less out of comission for the rest of the day. This feeling stinks. It happened to me a few years ago when we rode Invertigo 1st thing-and I will not touch that ride anymore...it really ruined the whole trip, and I was the downer when everyone else was raring to go. I've found that if I stick to the smooth and fast rides, have a full stomach upon entering the park, and down a few alleve-I'll be good to go. Does anyone else ever get this feeling and/or have their own remedies??

On DB, they announced, "You will be paired, and a seat will be assigned to you. This will be your seat for the entirety of the ride" It was also pretty cool when they announced some guy's 200th ride.

Same here. Before last year, I hadn't been to the park for three years-and hadn't had a pass for about 13 years. Now I have a pass and have been to the park 6 times this season-all thanks to DB.