Coaster reviews

Fun Intensity Discomfort

When I rode this for the first time 8 years ago I called it the worst roller coaster ever. I expected to have a similar opinion after riding it again, but surprisingly I actually quite enjoyed it! I'll admit that I'm weird and sometimes enjoy riding defensively, so that plays a part here, but once you learn how to properly position the stand-up restraints you will experience no crotch pain and minimal headbanging. To have the best ride on Vortex, though, you absolutely have to ride in the front right position. Any farther back and you will headbang, and any further left and the corkscrew will be painful. Thankfully this ride barely gets a line so you should be able to no problem. 7/10 - as a ride op I was assigned to this coaster but it was closed all summer so not only did I never touch it but it was also my last Carowinds credit

Inversions Layout Headbanging Harness Discomfort

We rode Dragon Khan only once. A classic twister coaster, this thing is almost 30 years old! Unfortunately, you can now feel this in the way it rides, accompanied by uncomfortable over-the-shoulder restraints. The elements (almost all inversions) per se are not bad; however, everything is jerky and shaky, leading to headbanging. It would be time to install a modern, compact, and intense coaster here, for example, a Vekoma in the style of Lech Coaster.

Airtimes Comfort Smoothness Intensity

Shambala is a classic B&M Hyper Coaster. An airtime machine with beautiful design and color scheme. The hills are so perfectly balanced that you enjoy seconds of floater airtime and hardly notice when you touch the seat again. It's the perfect floater. The ride is as smooth as it can be on a coaster, and the turnaround element looks great. However, you shouldn't expect ejector airtime or aggressive turns and lateral forces. It is a relaxing ride, we enjoyed 15 rides in one day.

Launch Intensity Rattle

A wild ride! This coaster is absolutely crazy. You can either hate it or love it. I belong to the first group. Admittedly, on the wing seats, you get shaken up in the curves like in a shaker. But the hydraulic launch is absolutely insane, the ride is fast, the Heartline Roll provides great hangtime, and the last curve over the lake is just fantastic. The ride is short and wild, the inside seats are significantly less affected by the rattle than the wing seats. A night ride in complete darkness was the highlight; I love this coaster.

Inversions Pace Intensity

Great floorless. Very unique layout with some great forces. My favorite part is the low turn after the first loop. The first loop is also gigantic and offers some great hangtime. Airtime on the midcourse drop too.

Location Layout

A fairly basic spinning mouse, but it wins points for the view. Being set on a rooftop, it's absolutely spectacular. However, the ride itself is pretty average. I found it pretty dull compared to most spinning wild mouses, and both the midcourse brake runs basically stopped us, completely ruining our momentum. Average coaster, worth it for the view.

Theming Pointless

I expected to have difficulty reviewing this ride as a roller coaster, because it's barely a credit and is basically a flume in essence. The problem is, it's not a good flume ride either. The theming is impressive from the outside but visually deteriorating on the inside. The "dry track" section that qualifies it as a coaster is absolutely dull and pointless. The drop is OK, but don't expect any airtime. It's just not a good ride at all.

Lap Bar Duration

This was a "meh" for me. It certainly suffered from being the first ride we went on after multiple Wildcat's Revenge rides, but so it will go for its placement in the park. It's a passable, dueling woody; albeit, Lightning was closed due to rain/demand/capacity so the dueling aspect was not in play on our visit. Not sure that would've changed much. We went on it twice and was glad I did, but wouldn't go out of my way to get to it again. The lap bars were actually worth noting as particularly impressive - automatic and lot's of leg room! Daughter's POV: it had more than I expected from it. I liked the tunnel part. I like when first hills bank on a wooden coaster and so I enjoyed that component especially.

Airtimes Layout

This was actually a slightly pleasant surprise. Sure, there's not much to this ride, it's just a U-shuttle, especially with the spinning feature long-since disabled. But the weightlessness on the spikes is actually super impressive. It's a very fast ride, I only wish the positives could have been slightly better in the valley. Theming is very nice too.

Theming Headbanging

Mayan Adventure is a Vekoma SLC. That's all that needs to be said about the coaster itself. It's a headbanging machine. But the theming gets it some well-earned extra stars. The queue looks incredible, and the integration of the theming into the cloned layout is perfectly executed. In particular, the temple surrounding the lift hill and the interaction with the waterfall are great moments. It may be a nightmare coaster, but it's worth a ride for how good it looks.