I hope you all are feeling better than me right now.
ugh. Thankfully I don’t have anything severe like the swine flu but still- the headaches, body aches, congestion and coughs ain’t a bed of roses neither!!
a week after our visit to Carowinds, one of their coasters malfunctioned with riders on board. yikes!
I can’t say that I’m surprised at the news since we had witnessed a number of rides breaking down during our visit to the amusement park. Luckily none of the coasters broke down while WE were on them.
It’s interesting to note that the coaster that broke down is their newest coaster. You’d think that the newer coasters would be “safer” than the older ones.
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Carowinds coaster breaks down with riders on board
Published: Monday, Oct. 19, 2009 From Staff Reports – WSOC – TV
Carowinds newest coaster, the Carolina Cobra, failed to catch on the lift hill and rolled backwards with eight passengers on board Saturday afternoon.
The passengers were able to exit the ride onto a nearby platform. All of passengers were taken to first aid. Seven of the riders were released back into the park; the eighth was taken to a local hospital and examined.
No serious injuries were reported.
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yes, I get my kicks searching for konglish-type items at my local korean grocery store.
yup, I’m just a little kid trapped in an old man’s body. heh. 
now with colder temperatures upon us, we took our winter comforters out from storage. They smelled like the needed some freshing up so we decided to head out to the local laundromat to get those comforters washed. as you might have guessed, they’re a bit too bulky for the washing machine at home. anyway, we haven’t been to a coin operated laundromat in AGES so it took a while to find one near us.
luckily we found one that had one of the washers that could handle larger loads. it took $8 in quarters plus a couple bucks for detergent (we forgot to bring our own – that’s how out of practice we are!!).
then of course there’s the additional time waiting around for the dryers to do their thang. anyway, it was fun sitting there reminiscing about our youngers days when a visit to the laundromat was a regular requirement.
of course we’re thankful that we no longer have to spend time each week at the coin operated laundromat!! 
We took the kids to Carowinds over the weekend. We opted to do the park during the fall since it’s less crowded and the weather is nice and cool. And it turned out great – no long lines and no sweating profusely under a blazing hot sun. Here’s my quick sum-up of what we experienced during our visit to the amusement park.
The Good
- Carowinds had an october special that discounted the adult ticket prices by almost 50%. awesome!
- Afterburn is a great coaster. Nighthawk made me disoriented. and the “Drop Tower” almost made the wife pee her pants.
- the younger set LOVED Danny Phantom’s Flyers. I think they rode that particular ride the most out of all the rides. but it’s a bit scary to think about the amount of wear and tear the riders must have on these cables that hold the individual carts. if a cable goes snap, that rider is a goner! yikes!
- found an ultra clean men’s bathroom in the park. it’s located at the far end of the park near the Jukebox Diner. some of the other bathrooms were a bit dingy and old. but for some reason, the bathroom near the Diner was clean and almost looked brand-new.
- the kids give thumbs up to the following: Flying Dutchman’s Revenge, Fairly Odd Coaster, Rugrants Runaway Reptar, Hurler, Carolina Cobra, Vortex, Afterburn and Danny Phantom’s Flyers
The Bad
- they have a go-cart track and a bungee/flying contraption thing-y but they both cost extra. harumph. they should be included with admission if you ask me!
-the following were pretty darn lame: Scooby-Doo’s Haunted Mansion, the Dora the Explorer train ride, the LazyTown Sporticopters.
- the “age factor” reared its ugly head again. man, I can’t keep up with my oldest son any more. He was having a blast riding all the thrill rides and after the fourth or fifth coaster, I was pretty much done for the day. ouch.
- most of the newer steel coasters were too short for my tastes. since it wasn’t crowded, we had the opportunity to re-ride ‘em multiple times if we wanted to. but man, if I had to stand in long lines for some of those coasters, I’d feel gypped afterwards.
- ugh, the food/refreshment prices are high. yeah, it’s pretty standard for amusement parks but still, feeding the family put the hurt on my wallet. ouch.
- the park closes at 5:30pm in the fall. 
The Ugly
- what in the world possessed me to eat their BBQ pork sandwich for lunch? ugh. bad choice. it felt like I had a bowling ball in my stomach for the rest of the afternoon. avoid the BBQ at all costs!
- I’m guessing Carowinds is still in a “transitional phase”. From what I understand, Paramount is no longer running the park. The park is now with the Cedar Fair Entertainment Company. All the Paramount movie references are gone and the rides now have generic names like “Hurler”, “Afterburn” and “Vortex”. Surprisingly, the Nicktoons portion (the lil’ kids section) of the park is still around. but for how long? who knows. This might be the last year we’ll get to see the Nickelodeon characters in the park. sadly, most of the attractions in Carowinds are in need of a facelift. lots of rides showing their age. lots of faded colors and we saw a couple rides malfunction during our visit. yikes. hopefully things will improve with the new owners.
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