A Fury-ous end to the Summer!

     Ever since it was announced, Fury 325 at Carowinds was on mine, as well of every single coaster fans must list. How could it not? It had all the right magic worlds we love to hear – World’s Tallest and fastest giga coaster. The only problem? Living in New York, It wasn’t close to where live. Now my wife Julie and I are no strangers to road trips. In our history, we have already driven once cross country, twice to Dollywood within the span of 3 months, and just this summer having a trip to Cedar Point for the epic CoasterRadio meetup. The thought of another 10 hour plus drive was daunting to say the least but the allure of this gargantuan steel beast perhaps was too great to resist.

As our calendar was quite full, we narrowed it down to a weekend in September, which as a bonus happened to be the first weekend of the park’s Legendary SCarowinds event. So after a long drive up Friday and an evening of some delicious Carolina BBQ with some good friends, we awoke Saturday morning and headed to Carowinds. Energized by some amazing Duck Donuts and coffee, we were ready for a nice long day and night of fun. As we approached the park, seeing awesome skyline of Fury shadowing it’s not so little brother, Intimidator, simply made my jaw drop. Even from a far, the bright green track looked incredibly tall. The excitement grew even more as we made our way towards the front gate through the beautiful new entrance. I had to of course stop on the bridge to get some video of Fury as it raced towards us and then disappeared directly below us only to shoot out the other side at supersonic speed. Even Cedar Point’s Gatekeeper main gate fly-over, pales in comparison to this stunning welcome.

Once we entered, we of course made Fury our first destination. While we couldn’t wait to ride, we graciously allowed our friends to ride first as we waited with their daughter who should be tall enough by next summer to take her first ride. This also gave me time to get all the pics and video and quite frankly geek out at this behemoth up close. It was soon time for our first ride. As we sat into our assigned row which was the second from the front, I gave a look to Julie as if to say “well, we are finally here”. I may have even had some sort of audible representation of that exact sentiment, but I can’t remember completely as I couldn’t wait to ascend that massive lift hill that stood before us. Then, before I knew it, we were off and making our climb on the planet’s tallest giga coaster. Once we reached the top we raised our arms triumphantly as we began our 320 foot drop. As we hit the bottom we could sure feel all 95 miles per hour as this bad boy just does not quit. While I will not go through every element as it would be redundant with so many other reviews out there already of this ride, I will say that every one of them is simply incredible. All I could think of when we hit that break run is wow. The fact that I couldn’t even pick a favorite portion of the ride says a lot as they were all equally impressive. Let me also say this, as incredible of a ride this is, riding at night, brings it up to a level higher than you can possibly imagine.

While the rest of the park was simply fantastic, I will have that review in my summer retrospective series.  Also, look for a SCarowinds review in the days to come as well. In the meantime, if you are a true coaster fan and have not experienced Fury 325, I ask you one question. What are you waiting for?!?!?

    Hello again Theme Park fans! I know it’s been awhile, so I felt it’s definitely time for another update. It’s been a busy summer in terms of new rides and new experiences for me which made it challenging to keep up with this blog as much as I would have liked. The way I figure I would tackle this is through a multi-part summer retrospective of sorts. These retrospective posts will be spaced intermittently between some other updates and regular blog posts. So stay tuned as a lot of new stuff will be coming your way!

Dollywood’s 2016 Game Changer

        In today’s Theme/Amusement park industry, parks all over the world try to outdo each other on a yearly basis. All types of thrill machines are debuting ever year hoping to draw not just the locals, but guests from all over the country. While they all seem to generate excitement, every so often an announcement comes along that blows the lid of the ones before it and creates a buzz beyond just the enthusiasts. On August 7th 2015, Dollywood once again, has just done that.

        Who could have thought that when the area where Dollywood now resides was just a coal fired steam train attraction known as Rebel Railroad, that it would turn into one of the most incredible and beautiful theme parks in the United States. They are also no strangers to adding first of their kind attractions. 2004’s Thunderhead (a personal favorite of mine) offered up the world’s first “station fly through”. In 2012 they debuted Wild Eagle, America’s first ever wing rider coaster. Now, announced for 2016, Dollywood will debut the World’s first launched wooden coaster, Lightning Rod!

       While speculation has been running rampant amongst theme park and coaster sites and blogs for some time now in regards to the supposed details of new attraction, I don’t think anyone was prepared for the for the simply incredible and awe inspiring behemoth that should be ready to go in March 2016. To be built by the Rocky Mountain Construction company and themed to hot rod cars, Lightning Rod took the world by storm minutes after the details were released. Those details you ask? Well there are plenty! While, as mentioned before, being the world’s first launching wooden coaster, the mouthwatering stats continue as you are rocketed up at 45 miles per hour up the lift hill. Once there, you will be treated to your first of 12 airtime moments. Yes, I said 12 airtime moments! Then, you are sent careening down a 165 foot drop where you will reach a staggering 73 miles per hour, which if you didn’t know, makes this also the world’s fastest wooden coaster as well. To continue its onslaught, the track’s circuit will include a 90 plus degree banked “breaking wave” turn, a 90 plus degree outside banked top hat, and an unbelievable quadruple down that they are calling a “twist and shout” which by pictures alone is pure coaster nirvana. When all is said and done, riders will have experienced a total of 20 seconds of airtime. I don’t know about you, but I will be counting the days until I can head on down to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee to hop on this bad boy!