Since joining ACE in 2016, my dad and I have attended many different ACE events around the country. One of our favorite events is the Carolina Coaster Classic at Carowinds each September. 2019 brought us back to this event again with the promise of Fury 325 and Copperhead Strike behind the scene tours and ERT!
We started off the day catching up with our regional ACE representative, Josh Harrington, as well as Dwayne from Coaster Addict. After that, we moved to the growing line of cars waiting for the parking lot to open. At 9:00 AM, they opened up the parking lot and the day began. Carowinds may have the single greatest entrance ever just because of Fury 325. The coaster is an absolute monster on the skyline and never ceases to amaze me. Now to officially kick off our day at Carowinds, CCC attendees received a half-hour of ERT on Copperhead Strike. This ride is fantastic. The airtime is amazing, the hangtime is pure bliss, and it may be the most photogenic coaster in the world. Even after riding over 60 new coasters this year, Copperhead is still in my top ten coasters.
While I was taking pictures between rides I had the pleasure of talking to Lisa Stryker (Carowinds Director of PR) and Pat Jones (VP and General Manager of Carowinds). Both are absolutely wonderful people and I can't thank you enough for setting up such an awesome event for ACE! After that, my dad and I headed over to Carolina Cyclone and Carolina Goldrusher to get our classic arrows in for the day! Then it was time for Fury 325. This is currently my 3rd favorite coaster in the world, and man does it kick butt. It is non stop from the moment you leave the lift hill until you hit the brake run. While in line for Fury we ran into our friends Lana and Dustin from Carowinds Fans Only, Dawn from Just Out n’About, Dwayne from Coaster Addict, and Butch from The Crazy Pop and together we took over the back of a train on Fury! If you don’t already subscribe to them on YouTube and follow them on Social Media, stop reading this now and go give them a follow. (I will leave all the links down below!) These guys are some of the coolest people around and we love to hang out with them! After that, it was time for our behind the scenes tour of Fury 325 and Copperhead Strike. We started out by touring the Electrical room of Fury 325 and seeing the massive computer towers that control the coaster. Super cool. Then we headed over to the maintenance bay and got to see where the trains are serviced as well as all the spare parts for Fury 325. While we waited on the rest of the groups to catch up, I got to take some cool pictures of Fury that are usually unavailable.
I also had the pleasure of meeting Eric from Carowinds Captured. Make sure you follow him because his pictures are amazing! After that, we hightailed it over to Copperhead Strike to go behind the scenes and take a look inside its Electrical room and get some exclusive angles of the ride as well.
At this point, it was 4 o'clock in the evening and we were all hungry, so in true ACE fashion, we headed to the picnic grove for a chicken dinner. Carowinds hospitality never ceases to amaze me. We had a great time hanging out with old friends and catching up with some new ones. I also got to meet Granny Byrd, and I think she's got a crush on me! After dinner, we headed out into the park for some evening rides. We also got to walk up into the "Winner Circle" (Helix) finale for Intimidator and take some unique pictures.
That evening we hung out with Alex from Stateline Thrills (Go give him a follow too!) and a couple of other guys! Around sunset, I had the chance to photograph Copperhead Strike and get some fantastic pictures of it.
The park closed at 8 PM, but the night wasn’t over yet, we still had an hour of ERT on Fury 325! During that hour I got in over 10 rides, with four being in my all-time favorite seat on the coaster: front row, unload side! (Also known as seat 1-4) Fury is a force to be reckoned with during the day, but at night, she is a whole different beast. There's honestly nothing quite like it! And just like that, the day at Carowinds had come to a close. We had an absolute blast! I want to thank the Carowinds team for being such great hosts as always! We truly had a spectacular time! I also want to thank everyone we got to hang out with! You all are awesome! Be sure to check out the updated Carowinds gallery to see all of my pictures from the weekend, and don't forget to follow all of my friends (Links below!) Thanks for reading and catch y’all next time!
Coaster Addict: http://coasteraddict.com/
Just Out n’ About: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=just+out+n+about
Carowinds Fans Only: https://www.facebook.com/carowindsfansonly/
The Crazy Pop: https://www.youtube.com/user/bbenn01
Carowinds Captured: https://www.instagram.com/carowinds.captured/
Stateline Thrills: https://www.instagram.com/stateline.thrills/
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