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CAROWINDS

Park News - (6/18/09) Carowinds has posted the currently planned schedule of events for their Coaster Stock enthusiast event on July 24th. The day’s events include morning ERT on the Carolina Cobra, Goldrusher, Nighthawk and the Phantom Flyers. Later on there will be a Jeopardy game, a Scooby Doo’s Haunted Mansion Shoot-Out competition, Q&A session, backstage tours and of course food. At night they will offer ERT on Hurler, Drop Tower, Thunder Road and Afterburn. I’ve also been told that anyone who attends the event will receive a very big surprise in the mail a couple of weeks after the event as well that you will not want to miss.
  (5/19/09) Carowinds has announced all the details for their 1st annual Coaster Stock event, taking place at the park on July 24th, from 7am to Midnight. Admission and the Picnic is $40.98 for adults, $36.98 for kids/seniors, and if you’ve got a season pass it will only cost you $15.99. To buy your tickets now go to the ticket page on the official website, click on “Corporate Partner” and enter “stock” as the password.
  As for the actual schedule of events, we’ve been told to keep an eye out here for the most up to date information. Currently it mentions morning ERT on Afterburn, Nighthawk, Carolina Cobra and Night ERT on Thunder Road, Carolina Goldrusher and Hurler. There are a ton of other events taking place such as the BBQ Picnic, a Q&A session, a Scooby Doo Haunted Mansion shoot-out contest, scavenger hunt and much more.
  (4/21/09) You can find a few pictures of the demolition site for the log ride here, along with a few more from the Skytower here. From the looks of things, the only thing left is the hard flume from the big splashdown to the old station building, which also seems to have been left intact.
  (4/3/09) A great update from Carowinds opening weekend has been posted to Theme Park Review. It contains some great pictures of the new Carolina Cobra, a look at the awesome new paint job on Nighthawk that is just incredibly striking, as well as al ong distance peek at the Afterburn train that valleyed on the track.
  (3/31/09) I’m not sure how true this is, but I’ve been sent a couple of message from people claiming that Afterburn valleyed after the Batwing just before or after the rise over the lift-hill. Obviously this has caused the ride to be closed since Sunday, but can anyone else confirm this story or have a picture to share?
  (3/25/09) I’ve got a couple of quick items to mention today. First off, apparently the park has been testing the Carolina Cobra for the last several days, making it quick easy to spot from the park’s webcam so check it out in the daylight hours. In other news Carowinds has just announced the appointment of an all new General Manager to the park, one with a name familiar to Cedar Fair park fans. The new VP andf General Manager of Carowinds is Bart Kinzel, son of CEO Dick Kinzel.
  Bart began his career at the age of 15 in Valleyfair in the Foods Department and as of 2005 he was actually the Director of Food Service at Geauga Lake before the park was shut down. Bart has also worked as an Operations Manager at Valleyfair, the Director of Finance Operations at Cedar Point, Director of Franchise Operations, and even served as the GM of Star Trek: The Experience for a time. According to the press release:
  “In late November, Kinzel joined the Carowinds’ team in Charlotte armed with a vision for the only amusement park that straddles two states. “I expect to see the continued growth of Carowinds,” Kinzel expressed, “and it is my goal to position this park as a strong regional entertainment destination that is committed to thrilling rides and family fun.”” He also mentions that Carolina Cobra is “only the beginning of a new era” for Carowinds.
  (3/12/09) Carowinds has announced a new WOW PASS for the 2009 season, aimed at the budget conscious. The pass will cost $59.99 and allow for unlimited admission from March 28 to September 7th, though it doesn’t include free parking or free admission to Scarowinds.
  (2/24/09) Screamscape was able to confirm with Carowinds that the demolition of the log flume has begun. While this seems to be difficult to spot from outside the park, some pictures showing off some of the vacant footers has been posted to Theme Park Review.
  (2/17/09) If anyone is interested in seeing the new Nighthawk colors going up, check out the Carolina Cobra Facebook page which can be seen here.
  (2/3/09) In a e-newsletter Carowinds has mentioned a few other changes coming to the park this season. In addition to the Thunder Road rehab and new paint on Nighthawk the park will be adding all new landscaping and improvements to the Southside picnic pavilions. The Lazytown Sporticopters have also been given a fresh coat of paint and they say to watch out the new cooling fans just installed into a number of ride queues. The Camp Wilderness Resort behind the park will also enjoy a newly renovated second lodge building, new landscaping and Sat. TV in all the luxury cabins. They also say to keep and eye out for a future announcement about an exciting concert lineup and special events they have planned.
  (1/30/09) A bit of interesting news came out during an interview with Carowinds PR (Dani Swords) posted here. They show off some video footage of the Carolina Cobra and at 2:45 into the report they confirm that Nighthawk will be getting repainted this year. The new paint job will feature bright yellow track and navy blue supports. At about 7:10 into it they talk about 2010, but don’t really confirm anything.
  (1/19/09) Carowinds is rebuilding more sections of Thunder Road again this winter. Last year the majority of the work on Thunder Road was spent rebuilding the two large turn-arounds at back end of the ride and a little bit of the return track half way back. Now they have completely removed the old track in between last year’s rebuilt sections which will make a nice long new smooth section of the ride to enjoy.

2009 - Carolina Cobra - (7/2/09) A great video has been posted to YouTube showing off a sort of time-lapse look at the construction site so far this season. Check it out.

  (5/6/09) Video footage of the new Carolina Cobra coaster has been posted to YouTube and I’ve embedded the clip below.

  (3/9/09) Carowinds has announced all the details for the first ride auction for the Carolina Cobra, which will take place on Saturday, March 28th.
  (3/1/09) You can spot some new pictures of the brand new Carolina Cobra train design, with a good look at the new restraint, over at the ride’s Facebook page. While I’m talking about Carowinds and Facebook, a reader has created a Carowinds WinterFest fan page for anyone who experienced WinterFest at the park or wishes they could have. Unfortunately one of the first things Cedar Fair did upon buying the Paramount Parks chain was cancel the first new WinterFest event in years back in 2006.
  (1/23/09) According to the latest update to the Carolina Cobra construction gallery includes pictures of the new trains along with a good look at those new style restraints. I’ve got a feeling these pictures were not shot at Carowinds but at a Vekoma facility instead.
  (1/20/09) Feel free to check out the Carolina Cobra webcam in the daytime hours to see the completed and fully repainted coaster. From what I’ve been told they really only have to finish up the queue and then the construction work will be finished until they are ready to start doing test runs with the new trains.
  (11/25/08) Carowinds has sent us some new official Carolina Cobra construction pictures taken fresh just this morning showing off the now complete track, as well as a few more taken a couple of days ago when there were still a few pieces left to go.
  (11/20/08) The Carolina Cobra website has posted some new construction pictures that shows some amazing progress. It seems the two large lift hills for the Boomerang coaster have already been lifted into place. So far it looks like only the staircase has been painted the final Coral color and a few supports laying around have been painted the final Teal color. While I’m not sure when those pictures were taken, you’ve only to make the jump over to the live Webcam to notice that as of right now, they’ve already installed the cobra roll and all but two or three pieces of track for the top of the vertical loop, so the track is already over 90% installed right now.
  (9/22/08) I dropped by the park for a couple of hours this weekend to peek at the Carolina Cobra construction site. The old Flying Super Saturator is now gone without a trace and the entire site has been dug up to make way for the new coaster. I took a couple of pictures with my cell phone so forgive the poor quality.
  (9/10/08) Carowinds has announced Carolina Cobra as the name of their new coaster for 2009, maintaining the number of coasters in the park at an even dozen. The press release points out that the 125 foot tall Carolina Cobra (Vekoma Boomerang) will open in early Spring 2009 and actually be the second tallest coaster in the park. For anyone who hasn’t experienced a Boomerang coaster you can read all about the design’s history here, but the bottom line is that this forward / backwards rolling coaster that will flip you upside-down six times will be a unique feature for Carowinds at least.
  Now for the really good news however, as Carowinds mentions that the Carolina Cobra will feature “a newly designed train exclusive only to its tracks. No other parks in the United States have yet to utilize this spacious style of trains, designed specifically for a heightened rider-experience. This new sleek 28 passenger train will create an aerodynamic experience unlike any other on a coaster as riders undergo the sensations of wind and speed at an amplified level. With its narrowed nose and widened harnesses, Carolina Cobra is sure to provide a smooth ride.” More information and photos of this new train design can be seen at the official website for the coaster here. This is a new Vekoma design that seems to be an off-shoot of their new restraint system put to use on their SLC coaster at Morey’s Pier stuffed into a sit-down train design. You can see a good picture of the SLC version at the top of this page.
  (8/17/08) Stopping into Carowinds the other day I took a moment to look around the large crate they’ve got set up near the front gate. In addition to all the reptile warning stickers they’ve got all over it there is one in particular that drops the hint about the Boomerang ride with a warning that the dangerous creature is rumored to “strike twice”. From the look of the amount of track on site next to Thunder Road, they may have almost all of it on site by now. Speaking of Thunder Road… the new turns-arounds built by GCI this season are butter-smooth. Nice! Oh… and there is also a large new warehouse building going up next to Thunder Road, just to the left of the lift hill. It’s just the framework so far, so I doubt we’ll see this finished in time to put any kind of haunt up inside of it, but you never know. As for the coaster itself… one of our spies has sent in what is said to be the new official name for the coaster… “Carolina Cobra”. 
  (7/3/08) According to a Screamscape source that old rumor about Carowinds getting the Vekoma Boomerang coaster formerly known as Head Spin from Geauga Lake is coming back into play. According to this source we can pretty much count on seeing the Flying Super Saturator leaving at the end of the summer to make room for the Boomerang coaster.

2010 - New Coaster - Under Construction - (6/22/09) A new construction update from Carowinds for the 2010 coaster project has been posted to Carowinds Connection this week.
  (6/3/09) Carowinds Connection has posted a good construction update showing off the huge site where land has been cleared and survey markings for the new ride have shown up out in the parking lot running all the way down to the South Gate area. It also looks like they’ve redone the Dora Train to have a new smaller loop that stays closer to the station and Rocket Power flat ride. We’ve also heard that some interesting new “containers” have been spotted over near Hurler too. More new pictures, including one or two that show off the tiny containers in the middle of the Hurler structure can be found here.
  (1/29/09) If you had any doubts that Carowinds was planning a new roller coaster for 2010, this should set your mind at rest. Click here and scroll down a bit until you see the first entry for 1/30/09 for a “Carowinds 2010 Coaster” project bid to discuss “Bid Invitation & Instructions, Ride Confidentiallity, Contractor Policies & Insurance-General Term”. While this gives nothing away as to the size and scale of the project, I’m sticking to my guns and predicting that we may see the next evolution of Cedar Fair’s B&M Hypercoaster design, from Behemoth last year to Diamondback opening in a few months, to the Carowinds 2010 project slated to cause the removal of the Log Flume this year to make room.
  (12/11/08) If your looking for another hint about what may be coming to Carowinds in 2010, then make the jump over to the last page of the coverage for the ACE Coaster Christmas event held last weekend. Scroll down a bit and look for the pictures of the guy in the red shirt, that’s the PR rep from Worlds of Fun who mentioned to the group that several of the former Paramount parks would be getting very big rides in the near future, apparently name dropping Carowinds specifically at this point.
  (12/9/08) For the last couple of weeks I’ve been hearing rumors here and there about a very impressive new coaster project being lined up for Carowinds for the 2010 season. Of course the big item holding these rumors back was that they all involved the removal of the park’s Wild Thornberry’s themed log ride, which has now been confirmed today.
  That said, I’ll now share with everyone the basic gist of what I’ve been holding back on, Assuming the poor economy doesn’t kill the project, the rumors indicate that Cedar Fair has a massive B&M Hypercoaster project planned for the park. Placed right in front of the park next to the parking lot, this massive ride would easily become the park’s new signature attraction. In fact one source even claimed that portions of the ride’s layout may even venture out into the parking lot itself on at least one of the layout’s under consideration. While it’s still too far away to consider this project 100% locked in, another source also claims that the park already has a tentative name picked out. As a throwback to one of the park’s most popular former rides, the new coaster may bring back the White Lightnin’ name as well along with a possible marketing campaign based around the concept of lightning striking twice. (ie: “They say lightning never strikes twice… they were wrong.”)
  (10/27/08) I’m listing this one as a Wild Rumor and not just a “Rumor” at this point, because it’s so far away there is no way to know if there is any truth to it yet. That said... I received word from a reader claiming that the big rumor around the park is that the Log Flume could be removed by the end of next season to make way for something big and impressive. Certainly the park is due for a major new attraction after getting hand-me-downs and Cedar Fair droppings for the last several years straight. The last large impressive NEW coaster the park got was Top Gun (now Afterburn) way back in 1999, followed by the gently used Borg Assimilator (now Nighthawk) in 2004, so clearly the park is well over-due for a major new coaster. Time will tell I suppose, though it is true that Cedar Fair has been on a kick for a few years removing old flume rides like the one at Cedar Point to make way for Maverick and they just removed the log ride from Valleyfair this past month.