Scared of heights? Then Carowinds' 301 ft tall "Windseeker" ride may not be for you.

Not scared of heights? Well, you very well may be after a ride on this thing.

Any notions that this is your basic, simple theme park swings ride should be put to rest immediately when you get close to the base of the Windseeker and slowly look up.....and up.....and up. In fact, those notions may change as soon as you see the ride vehicles themselves: two seats next to each other, one inside and one outside, where you as the rider are buckled in and only held in place with the seatbelt-like lap bar.

The next thing you know, you're slowly moving up...and up....and up....and then....up some more. It's a very smooth ride to the very top, but so high up you may get weak in the knees and disoriented, particularly so when the arms that hold the ride chairs extend outward and at a slight angle and start spinning.

You may be tempted to keep your eyes shut the entire ride, but I would recommend NOT doing that. At the very least, keep looking forward and do NOT look down at all, or over the side at the ground. If you stick to that, you may find that the ride isn't so bad and the height ok enough to deal with. After all, you DO great a really great view of the park and outward into either North or South Carolina (depending on what part of the spin you're in). In addition to keeping your eyes looking forward, you get some favorite movie tunes playing around you, and between that and the slight breeze as you spin around, the Windseeker can really be a fairly relaxing ride.

I've ridden Windseeker a few times now and I've found that where you sit can have an impact on the kind of experience you have. For example, the first time I rode it, I was on the outside seat.....and I really enjoyed the entire ride. The second time I rode it, I was on the inside seat, and when you reach the top and it stretches out a bit to start spinning, the inside seat has a noticable slant so that the slightest turn of your head to the left and you're practically looking straight down. That got me quite queasy and very much aware of the height so that it bothered me a bit.

Thankfully, Windseeker doesn't move fast at all and if you do like I suggested and look forward and not down, it's a nice relaxing ride.