Photo TR: Carowinds Opening Day

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Jonathan
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Photo TR: Carowinds Opening Day

Post by Jonathan »

For the full gallery of photos I took on this day, including high-res versions, go here: http://www.jonathanhawkins.net/photos/t ... p?album=91

Feel free to add my photos to the Whootah gallery if you want.

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Another opening day, another breakfast at IHOP. Phil, Alan, and myself left Raleigh shortly after 5 AM, and made it in time for some pancakes. We were joined at breakfast by Mark, Wes, Max, Chris, and Jay and his family.

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After breakfast, we headed off to Carowinds, where Scott and Natividad were kind enough to offer a construction tour of Boomerang Bay before the park opened.

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Jarvis was out and looking sharp, although he didn't bring the tripod along for the day.

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I managed to find some geese hanging out in the waterpark.

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We were able to climb to the top of The Abyss slide, where we got some good views of the new portion of what will become Boomerang Bay.

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Scott notes that when complete, it will in fact not be just a bunch of dirt.

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Thunder Road was warming up for its 30th anniversary season.

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Back down we go. Thanks to Scott and Natividad for the tour!

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After the tour, we made our way to the main parking lot and then into the park. Hmmm.. what should be the first ride of the day?

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Duh. The Phantom Flyers.

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Alan enjoyed his ride...

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As did Wes.

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Next up: the Dodge'Ems. Phil was excited to drive. I guess the three hour car ride there wasn't enough.

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Max did his best Tony Stewart impersonation.

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Our first coaster of the season, fittingly, was Thunder Road. We split our group in half and had some great racing action.

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Max and Mark bailed out early. Perhaps the cold was just too much for them.

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Over at Hurler, something is different. The line has been relocated to where the exit is, and the area you see here is being prepared for a new go-cart track.

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Here is part of our group getting ready to enjoy Hurler, which was running awesomefied. Some retracking in two of the turns has the coaster running faster than it has in years.

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Underneath the Flying Super Saturator station, we found an army of trash cans.

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Jay, Eric, and Alan were excited to ride the Saturator, which was thankfully running without any water on this cold day.

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Eric and Phil were happy to stay dry.

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The Ham-On-Rye virtual reality game wasn't operating, but that didn't stop Phil and Alan from playing.

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Drop Zone was a lot of fun as always.

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Not quite sure what was going on here.

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Ricochet is always good for a ride...

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As is Scooby Doo. I mean, the Fairly Odd Coaster.

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The finger scanning used last Fall for season passes appears to no longer be in use for people who purchase a pass this season. Phil had to have his picture taken.

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KO'd.

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We had to have one more ride on Top Gun before we left.

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And now, before you leave, here is a picture of Jay with his pants off.

Thanks to everyone who came for a great day. It was great seeing old friends and meeting new ones. Thanks to Scott and Natividad for the tour. Here's to a great 2006!
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