Take a Spin on the Best Roller Coaster in the Carolinas
Due to popular demand, I’m finally getting around to writing my full review of Afterburn; an underrated inverted roller coaster at Carowinds (Charlotte, NC). It was formerly Top Gun: The Jet Coaster until the 2008 season. The movie theming had to go when Paramount sold the park to Cedar Fair. It’s too bad because the ride’s Top Gun theme really added to the experience. I’ll never forget jamming to the Top Gun movie soundtrack in the queue. I wasn’t jamming for too long as the ride’s capacity was spectacular. With two trains that can hold 32 riders each, the line moved quickly.
After boarding the ski-lift style inverted trains, Afterburn lifts riders to its 113′ tall peak. Then, in textbook Bolliger & Mabillard fashion, the train dips into a swooping first drop. The train picks up speed at a rapid pace and before you know it, you’re back in the air for a large vertical loop. The train finishes the loop then races along the ground for a 
moment. Next up, is a smooth Immelmann. It’s a fitting inversion as it’s named after a real fighter jet maneuver. Heading back towards the lift hill the train traverses a sweet zero-g roll (AKA heartline spin). It’s many enthusiasts favorite inversion and always especially fun on an inverted coaster.
For me, Afterburn’s highlight is the batwing inversion. It’s similar to the cobra roll found on the park’s new Carolina Cobra, only it’s upside-down. So on Afterburn, the train dives and inverts downward into a ravine. Montu has a batwing as well, but in the entire coaster world they are not very common. After the subterannean dive and twisting return to the surface, the train swings over pathways and spirals through the final loop; a corkscrew. Your journey ends with a wide, banked helix and then the station brakes.
What Makes Afterburn So Good
As with the best roller coasters, Afterburns pacing and order of inversions is near perfect. They’re not too close together. There’s no wasted areas where you find yourself just waiting for something to happen. And most importantly there’s no break in the action due to a brake run. It’s also super smooth like most B&M 
coasters and encourage re-rides with its quick moving line. Afterburn is an excellent roller coaster that pretty much maxes out the potential of a what an inverted roller coaster can be. It’s a can’t miss coaster if you’re ever in the Carolinas. Final Rating – 9.0 (Excellent)
Afterburn is rated TH for Thrilling. You better be a somewhat of a brave rider to attempt this one. It’s tall, fast, and turns you upside-down six times. Thrilling roller coasters are a 3 out of 5 on my Thrill Scale. See the full scale here.
What’s Your Take?
What do you think of Afterburn at Carowinds? Leave a comment below.
Coaster Critic 
57 responses to “Afterburn @ Carowinds | Roller Coaster Reviews”
This is my second favorite iverted coaster. Alpy is just a tad better because of it's height, speed, and amazing theming.
C.C., are u serious about the HRRR twitter post?! Im going there IOA and Seaworld Sunday-Wednesday!
Afterburn is definitely my favorite inverted coaster (as you can tell by my willingness to drive to Carowinds from Pittsburgh several times each year!) For us middle-aged female coaster enthusiasts, it scores bonus points for cooling us down with that fine mist! I have an idea … we'll send you the new Kennywood coaster in trade for Afterburn. I agree with you about the efficiency of moving people through the queue. I especially like it in the evenings when they allow you to stay in your seats for a repeat ride provided there is no one in your exact queue line. I'm normally a back seat rider, but since there are always people waiting for that, we have learned to take the next-to-the last seat at night. Last spring, we got 7 rides in a row without ever leaving our seats!
Judy, 7 rides in a row would be great. I'll have to go back to the park in the night again. I'm sure during Scarowinds that'd be doable. I think we'll keep Afterburn down here. Thanks for the offer though.
JaMeS. Yes. I haven't found anything official from the park's site, but here's an article that talks more about the soft open. Seems like there may be some random times throughout the day over the next 4 weeks. So your best bet is to ask as many employees there as you can as to exactly what times it will be open for public riders.
THANK ALL I KNOW IS GOOD TO ME!
When Ii get back ill give a review of HRRR
I agree 100% with the review. Top Gun/Afterburn is my favorite inverted along with Fire Dragon at IOA. Carowinds and its visitors are very lucky to have it.
this is by far the my favorite inverted coaster. I visit carowinds many times and I love how afterburn has the shortest line in the park! It is by far the best ride at carowinds (so far!)
Afterburn was my top inverted coaster, until I rode Montu for the 1st time last summer. Although Afterburn is now my 2nd favorite invert, it's still one of the best coasters period; regardless of the kind. Carowinds has been my home park for most of my life, and Afterburn is one of the FEW rides there worth visiting for. With the new coaster coming next year, Carowinds might actually be getting the press and attention it's gone without for years.
But it does not have raptors helix of death.
Yes, but it is longer and a better ride overall.
Hey, it's me again. I have found a super video of Afterburn, maybe the best one on Youtube. If you want to take a look at it, here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M84RNSFDJsU
P.S. I decided to use this as my Afterburn video on my website.
Hey, CC. Like, what does the sentence "Your comment is awaiting moderation" mean when you sometimes post a comment?
Peace is far out, man!
GroovyDude, please post on topic. If you have a question about comments, please post them here: General Site & Web Updates. And please read the section called "Be a Good Commenter".
Thanks for the link that WAS a good video,
PS- CFC, you said you had a website, i was wondering if you could send me a link.
I think I posted it on one of the Intimidator articles, I can't remember which one. Look there, and you will probably find it.
I know this isn't on the right area but there isn't a carowinds review so I was wondering, Someone said that KI had only developed 336 of its 700 acres. Does anyone know how much land carowinds owns and if it has already developed all its land?
CC, isn`t there a batwing clone at Cariwonds, and also, could you review the Hurler?
Yeah, there is one, Quil, near the end of the ride on Afterburn, after the Zero-G Roll.
PS – I looked, and my website address isn't there after all. I guess CC didn't let it pass through. The link is this: http://cedarfaircoasters.webs.com/
You're thinking of Nighthawk at Carowinds.
All comments with hyper links are held for approval because you never know what people might post. I don't mind you posting a link to your web site as long as it's relevant to the discussion.
I'll add both Batwing and Nighthawk to the review queue. Maybe I'll review them as part of my flying roller coasters week.
Oh, I was thinking of the batwing inversion. I've never heard of a coaster called Batwing.
PS – Thanks CC. I didn't know that piece of info. I'll try to limit my posts with hyper links from now on.
In the Email thing theres a box that sayes "website" you can put the name of your website in the box and it will highlight your name in your posts, make biot a hyperlink to your site.
Is it just me, or dose the it`s track look a little dirty.
a lot of people said that it was better as Borg Assimilator, what do you think about it.
Thanks for the info, Quil. I'm still learning about chat rooms and blogs and stuff, so I know I can sometimes sound like an idiot.
I want to start continuing my site, and I will as soon as possible. I got stuck at Michigan's Adventure, and I'm still there.
About Afterburn, I think that's the way it's always looked. At least, I've always seen it that way. It's such a good ride, you don't usually criticize it on that.
Yeah for some reason at carowinds ever since the parks got taken over by Cedar fair the rides (mainly afterburn) are looking kind of dirty. I rode it when it was raining and I got a little bit of rust on me! But its still a great ride
Sounds like a sweet ride, then again, All B&Ms do. Haven't been down there yet, but it is a ride that I want to go on. I especially want to go down there now because of the Intimadator coaster going up.
Yeah, afterburn looks great.
For now, it's the best ride in the Carolinas. Inverted and Flying coasters are my favorite types of coasters. They make you feel like you're in space.
CC, what score would you have given Afterburn if it was still called Top Gun and had the Top Gun theming?
actualy, those are my least favorite types of coasters. Flyers make me feel sick, but i`ll try one again soon to see if i`ll like it, and i just havern`t had good e=xpeiriences on inverts (mostly SLC`s).
?
What does that mean?
A "soft opening" means it may be open for riders at random times … to give it some test runs with Joe Public in the seats. These are not announced, so consider yourself lucky if you stumble across a soft opening.
Judy, I meant about JaMeS's comment. What does he mean by that?
i dont know, i was just so excited by the soft opening, i think i meant that it was good to be me then
Carowinds used to own 112 acres, but they added 10 more acres to make room for Intimidator, and yes, Carowinds has developed all its land. For such a small park, it's suprising to know that they have 50 rides. Cedar Point is over 3 times as big, but only has 50% more rides. For such a small park, Carowinds is pretty efficient with it's space.
good question CFC, CC?
I would have given it a 10. Then again, since this is the best steel coaster I've ever ridden, so far I'd give it a 10 anyways.
Im just happy cedar fair didn't name it flight deck
What's the question?
#38 CFC says:
January 23rd, 2010 at 6:16 pm
CC, what score would you have given Afterburn if it was still called Top Gun and had the Top Gun theming?
ilike the name top gun
Thanks Judy.
I actually haven't ridden it since it's been re-themed, but I don't losing the TG name and soundtrack is enough to bump it down any. It's still a great ride. There wasn't that much to the TG theming, I just have a nostalgic connection to that soundtrack. So, looking back at the review I guess the rating is based on it as it was even though I describe how it is now (without the theming).
Does that make sense? Was the station very different in '09?
I've been on the flight deck at California's Great america, but I think it is pretty different. But it's very intense. Same here?
most people reffered to it as smooth.
It's one of the smoothest rides I've ever been on.
Yuck! You got rust on you? Thank goodness that's never happened to me!
Yes, but rides can be smooth and intense at the same time.
Exactly. And that's why I love Top Gun/Afterburn so much. It's my favorite coaster due to its smoothness and intensity. That is, unless I232 becomes my new favorite this year. But one thing will stay the same: it will remain my favorite coaster with inversions for quite some time.
It helps if you go on a B&M flyer instead of either a Volare or a Flying Dutchman.
YAHOO! Carowinds is finally open, and the others will soon follow suit!
Best coaster in the Carolinas? Sorry, but Afterburn's just been dethroned. Intimidator takes the cake as the best I've ever ridden.
You would actually be wrong about the height. I believe Afterburn is actually 144 feet tall. The DROP is 113 feet tall. Think about it: When the Cobra opened in 2009, it debuted as the second tallest coaster in the park at 125 feet tall. Nighthawk was named the tallest coaster in the park back in 2004 at 115 feet tall. How does that makes sense? The Cobra would be taller than Nighthawk (which supposedly is taller than Afterburn) making it the tallest coaster in the park back in 2009. But it can’t be the tallest if it was named the second tallest in the park. And it can’t be smaller than Nighthawk because that coaster is 115 feet tall. So, Afterburn would be the only answer to make sense.
Afterburn at Carowinds makes my top 10 as does Fury 325. Afterburn is my favorite suspended coaster … intense g-forces, no midcourse brake run plus a crew that allows re-rides if no one is waiting in your queue line.
3/23/19, 8:06 PM, arrived at Afterburn. At the end of each of the first two rides, I walked around and got back in line. After the third ride, I never left my seat in row 7, far right until I chose to finish riding at 9:42 PM. I lost track of how many laps I got, but I was in roller coaster heaven!
I also enjoy Montu, Banshee and Talon, but none of those crews can move trains out as fast as the Afterburn crews … and I mean year after year after year. Kudos to the Afterburn crews!!