More like.... Fury 795

Well, uh, when it comes to 'milestone' credits.. I've never been one to really care.
In the past I've had a couple of kiddie coasters, an SLC, and an SDC Hurricane become my X00.. But I've also had a couple of great Intamin's take the spot as well. I never really went out of my way to make a certain coaster my milestone but I also never had a wooden coaster be one either (I'm not sure what coaster was #100 for me.. since I didn't start counting till I was already over that milestone) as I was nearing my 800th coaster mark.. I started looking into what was left for my summer plans and realized at 794 and only 5 coasters between me and Flying Turns.... I started looking around where I could try and squeeze one extra ride in before making it to Knoebels (so I could try and force Turns to be #800!) the two nearest coasters to me in Orlando that I had yet to ride were both 7.5-8 hours from me.. Either in Alabama... or the NC/SC state line and since Fury looked pretty delightful, Carowinds became the easy choice. I texted Deka a couple of days before hand to see if she'd be down for a little adventure. We'd both been to Carowinds before, even together! (some 11 years earlier!) I drove up to Atlanta from Orlando and spent the night at her place before we both made the trek together up to Charlotte (woo, the most northern my Kia has made it.. and a new state for it as well, North Carolina) I also snagged some 11 new counties along the way, woo!

So yeah, for 2015 Carowinds opened a new coaster by the name of Fury 325, the second massive B&M built Giga Coaster. Also their tallest, fastest, and longest coaster to date. I was a huge fan of Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland and pretty eager to try out the newer 'plus sized' version. And while I had been day dreaming of making the trip up to ride it over the summer... I really didn't see it happening until I ended up with a last second 3 day weekend and nothing to do and the need to make Flying Turns my milestone. It also worked out well since Carowinds had announced after the start of the season that 2015 would be the last year for the parks racing coaster, Thunder Road and that it wouldn't even last the remainder of summer. Not that I was a fan of the ride.. but it was nice to get one last ride before it was removed to make way for a water park expansion.

yup

Woo, Carowinds!

And FURY 325! :D

Along with the coaster, Carowinds also built a new entrance for the park. Its pretty.. bland? Although much larger than the more homely original entrance. And its still situated on the North and South Carolina state lines.

This was one of the extremely few signs we saw noting that Thunder Road was closing forever. We ended up making it here just days before its closure.

How... cliche.

Oh look.. and Dinosaurs Alive
(Yup, still not gonna pay to do one of these...)

Plus... we're here for this!
As soon as we got in the park.. we quickly made our way to Fury
<3

Mmm.... Masssssive B&M coaster

Its extremely fast, full of airtime, and has a lovely first drop.

A train starting down the massive 320 foot drop.
(The tallest non-twisting coaster drop on earth?)

And it runs 3 trains, without a MCBR.. and minimal stacking
(Although the lack of no-choice seat... made me mad)

A train heading up the 325 foot lift.

And a train about to enter the helix, the only real 'dud' part of the ride. But it has a pretty good head chopper.
(its not a bad helix.. but.. eh?)

While I was unable to get the front row on my first ride (we got the back row, so.. yay?)
We did end up getting it our second ride <3 <3 <3

(And our third ride too!!)
The view in front is pretty spectacular, hanging over the huugggeee drop... and the feeling of speed as the wind hits you at nearly 100mph....
We planned on getting a few more rides in on it later in the day, after our 3 back to back laps, we were running out of time on our forced pay-for locker and needed to either pay more, or go elsewhere in the park. So we opted for a few different rides before making our way back to Fury.
(in the end, we ended up being stormed out of the park and never got a fourth (or fifth) ride... but the 3 we got made the trip worth it... and there's always next time)

Oh look, Hurler is still.. uh.. a thing.
Neither of us wanted to ride it.. and with its semi-new trims.... The train was just creeping over the hills on the return run.

While I always liked the one at Kings Dominion better.. it amazes me how different these clones run.
(We both also had the credit.. so skipping it was no loss)

Mmm, next up was ""Drop Tower: Scream Zone""
(lolol, what an awful name)
But I love me some drop towers, so we had to ride it.

For some terrible reason. Carolina Cyclone had a full queue when we walked past... It was pretty shocking, seeing a 35 (awful) Arrow Looper... pulling a longer line than the parks new B&M Giga... but whatever, less people at Fury in front of me!

Cyclone was my first coaster in North Carolina when I rode it back in 2004.... And I was not a fan... and since the line was so long, we skipped it
(but later in the day it was a walk on so we regrettable, gave it a pity lap)

Aww, tiny baby Kona Ice truck.

(for Jeff)
Eh, Scream Weaver... SKIPPED
I gave it its last pity ride during my 2009 visit to the park.... I'm not sure why the ride cycle was shorter than the load cycle (especially when they only loaded 4 cars!)

Ricochet had been repainted since my last visit, it looked nice.. but neither of us cared to ride it this time around.

Since the line was short looking, we took Carolina Goldrusher for a lap... But due to horrible operations by the staff... we waited nearly 20 minutes for what was only a 3 train wait... Dispatch times were completely out of control and the 3 employees were more focused on talking to their friends in the line than cycling the damn coaster.

Oh my! WindSeeker was.... open?!

Deka had never ridden one before.. And I had only been on the one at Wonderland (since the KD one was closed... due to high winds.......) So we took an uneventful ride on it.

BorgHawk still looked rather nice in its newer colors... But due to the Vekoma Flyer being pretty notorious for awful load times.. we skipped it. (but I do actually like these things...)

Intimidator was new for Deka.
I had ridden it back in 09 when it first opened.

Its a pretty fun ride but I still place it near the bottom as far as the B&M Hypers go.
It was also funny how 'short' the coasters 211 foot drop felt after having ridden Fury a bunch that same day

I'm pretty sure Cedar Fair is gonna replace this soon enough with some more trashcans.
I mean, you can only see one in this photo!

Oh hey, that guy.. and dog not sharing his cookies...

After walking around a bit we made our way over to the Carolina Skytower

Overview of the main entrance to the park

Downtown Charlotte

Also new this year, the park added a mid-sized Funtime Sling Shot.

Mmm, Top Gun.. er, Afterburn.

The best B&M inverted coaster ever made
(..... in the US)

But for real, this ride is super good.

<3

Yo-Yo, more like LOL-YO.
Poor Geauga Lake.

Oh right... and Thunder Road was about to close forever

Poor old Thunder Road, no one cared about it..
and now its gone.
I myself stopped caring since Cedar Fair decided to stop running backwards facing trains and lack of will to actually race the racing coaster.

This was the only sign within the park we saw notating that the ride was going to be closing.
(And it wasn't even placed near the coasters entrance!)

And while I criticized the park/owners for rarely racing their racing coasters... They were doing a pretty good job during our visit of duel dispatching.

But again, empty rows, and zero line... Its not a surprise the park wanted to remove the coaster for what will clearly be a more profitable and well received addition. 

Frenzoid had reappeared in the park since my last visit, now going by the name Southern Star.
It had been removed for a season or two before returning to the park in a new location.

I also convinced Deka to try out Carolina Cobra.
She hadn't ridden it here but did at its original home at Geauga Lake

She was against riding it.. but I assured her the new trains make all the difference and she was pleasantly surprised.

Unlike over at Vortex, this poor coaster has deteriorated massively over the years

While I still think the layout is rather fun, it tracks so poorly now
:(

Woo, Flying Scooters!

We also rode Woodstock Express since there was no line.
<3 Junior woodies (more parks need these)

And for some reason.. we did the Caripro built Woodstock's Whirlybirds Cycle railway
(And oddly enough... both of us had already ridden it before?)

It was pretty clear storms were rolling into the area as the day went on. Most of the bigger rides kept cycling out and shutting down just to reopen without the storm ever really reaching the park (but from the Skytower and such.. it was clear the areas near the park were getting hammered) rather than risk getting in a long line just for a ride to close.. or getting stuck on the midway when the skis open, we decided to just leave and try to make it to my car beforehand.

We drove over to the old 'south' entrance and took some photos just as the storm hit.

As the rain started we both quickly grabbed our last photos of Thunder Road.
(since I was lazy at posting this.. by the time it got posted, the ride had already been completely removed!)

And one last shot of Intimidator from the south end of the parking lot.

So after fleeing the massive thunderstorm we made our way over to a little firework shop along side the parking lot (where they had the news on saying the storms had the potential to spin off Tornado's)  and picked up some fun...things... and also got some amazing numnums at a Culver's across the way before making the 4 hour or so drive back to Atlanta.

And for fun, a Fury 325 POV via CoasterForce

Woo

(Also, Fury is for sure, one of the best coasters I've ridden and an all around fun ride)