Trend Magazine Online™
Travel Review Summer 2021
Carowinds NC/SC

By Jay Whipple

Trend Magazine Online™

New Season in Full Swing!

Portions re-published from a previous edition...
See end of article for NEW Updates!

I have had a fascination with roller coasters since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. You name it, and I rode it while growing up and as a young adult at theme parks like Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL, Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA, Kings Dominion in Richmond, VA, and of course Carowinds in Charlotte, NC, and Fort Mill, SC; which is the only one that straddles two separate States. There is something special about the thrill of traveling at break-neck speed while being literally tossed from side-to-side and climbing a very steep incline while bracing for the pending drop that makes you feel as though your stomach has temporarily left your body. Add to that the accompanying shrills of other brave souls who too have a need for speed and danger. Over the years I have ridden many different type coasters including one that left you suspended from the shoulder down giving its riders a sense of literally flying through the air like Peter Pan. My favorite one to date is Space Mountain at Walt Disney World which I believe was the first indoor coaster in the U.S. when it opened in 1977. I can remember waiting for hours to experience what amounted to 2 minutes and 38 seconds of thrilling speed, darkness, and the colorful lights of the other cars. I can also remember my high school sweet heart riding beside me and screaming her head off from start to finish. Now that was really cute.


It had been quite some time since I had ridden one of these wonders of speed when I decided to check out the new Intimidator coaster at Carowinds when it opened in 2010. I actually watched them build that thing from the ground floor up and most of the construction could be seen from Interstate 77; which runs parallel to the theme park. This new 232 foot tall monster travels at a top speed of 75 miles per hour and features a 211 foot first drop. I watched that thing go up and down many times from the interstate before I decided to try it myself as I wanted to make sure that all the bugs and kinks were worked out of the system first. I was listening to the radio one day and lo and behold they (Carowinds) aired a promo that said that all veterans would be given a free pass on the 4th of July. Perfect, I thought, now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their coaster calling. As such, I walked up to the will call, showed my military I.D., and was elated that there was no catch 22 as often times is the case. I chose an evening visit to escape the extremely high humidity that dominates the dog days of summer in July and/or August here.