ThrillRide! Special Features

Massive bonus points for a dark ride! A shooter, okay, not my favorite, and maybe they would have run into legal trouble with Disney had they dressed it up with a more antebellum mansion look and feel, but still: any dark ride is better than none.

I sure wish I could have ridden Nighthawk when it was still BORG Assimilator, just because the Borg are kick-ass. But I did ride it when it was Stealth, back at Great America. And none of us were all that keen to get on it. But look at the paint job, really tasty. Carowinds gets another big gold star for the general cosmetic upkeep of all their coasters.

Bolliger & Mabillard have pretty much cornered the market on flying coasters, but I will say this for Vekoma's models: the flip at the top of the lift hill, from looking up at the sky to looking straight down, is a great moment of drama the Beemers lack.

Now we're getting to some rides we did go on, starting with the park's original coaster, Goldrusher, or Carolina Goldrusher, more properly, which was okay, as mine trains go.

There's a decent spiral through a cement trough that might have had water in it at one time? Anyway, I've been on better and worse. But I'll never turn down a mine train.

I picked up some mental scars riding Iron Wolf that have still not heeled – never will, probably – so I approached Vortex with much wariness.

Guess what? This wasn't bad at all! Out of all the early B&M stand-up coasters I've ridden, Vortex was BY FAR the least punishing. Very Pleasant Surprise No. 1. If you like stand-ups, give it a try.