Carowinds Update - Retracking of Thunder Road!!

[hyperlink27]

I drive by Carowinds on my way to work every day and yesterday I noticed the supports missing on the back turn of Thunder Road on the backwards side. I just figured they were replacing them. Today when I drove by, I noticed that they were taking apart the ENTIRE turn. I did not have my camera with me, but I hope to get some pictures this afternoon to post.

 

I wonder if they are taking out the entire coaster or what they have planned for the park (we need some better coasters, there is only 1 great one, 1 ok one and one decent woodie...).

 

If anyone knows anything, post it!!

[hyperlink27]

Ok...since I work close to the park, I decided to "take a break" and get some pictures. They seem to be carefully taking it apart, not just knocking it down. I will try to keep this thread posted as best as I can with progress (its easy because the coaster is right on the corner where I drive by everyday)...

If you look carefully on the left of this picture, you can see they replaced some of the structure on the forward track as it heads into the turn last year.

Sad to watch

[CoasterEricHP]

Wow! Was this ever made public by the park?

[Johnny Upsidedown]

Looks like maybe they have some bad footings, or could be that they have to dig up under the ride for utilities for the new wave pool. Either way it doesnt look like a tear it down situation.

[hyperlink27]

On the front page of carowinds.com it says:

 

Bondi Beach All-New Second Wave Pool Coming to Boomerang Bay In May!

 

Thunder Road is right next to Boomerang Bay...I bet that is what they are doing.

 

Sigh...we are losing one of the couple of decent (sort of) coasters in the park...grrrr. I want a maxair!! and a good hypercoaster

 

We will see. I hope within a couple of years CedarFair can breathe some more life into this park.

[hyperlink27]

Never though that they might have to run utilities or something...that would makes sense as to why they are very carefully dismantling it.

 

Only time will tell. I will try to keep updating with pictures...

 

And I had hopes of a new coaster....damn!

[PURE]

Wow, my favorite. A take it down, build around it, then build it back up. Hope the coaster maintains well.

 

Is it just me or does it seem like there's been a lot of coaster destruction going on in the past year or so?

[Scaparri]

^Yeah, it does, but you'll have that when one company screws up a park and decides to shut it down, as well as when another company gets their head out of their ass and finally starts to make good decisions.

 

I'm a bit surprised by this, but not quite ready to assume they are taking out the entire ride. We'll see what happens in the few weeks.

[asr]

Supposedly a commercial for the park's 2008 season advertises 11 coasters, not the 12 they currently have. With these pictures, I guess Thunder Road is the one getting the cut. Strange that they didn't make an announcement (Although this is Cedar Fair we are talking about, so maybe they wanted to do it quietly) and also strange that they are removing it carefully.

[SharkTums]

I thought it was the Saturator they were taking out?

 

Let's be realistic here. There is no way in hell they would be taking this much care taking it down if it were going away.

 

Remember the smoldering piles of Hercules?

[Scaparri]

^That's a good point. I doubt anybody would jump at the chance to buy a thirty year old racing woodie that is mediocre at best, so there's no need to take it down like they are.

[kraken613]

Maybe they are just taking down the backwars side. Wasnt it closed most the season?

[Johnny Upsidedown]

If it was closed all season then I would figure they have some bad footings that are going to get replaced. Remember that they just replaced a footing on Top Gun also. So I would bet that its a footer replacement or maybe even strengthing it. If it were just structure replacements as in retrack or replace some of the bents then you wouldnt take the whole pieces of structure down. So bet its a footing issue or has to do with underground utilities or even some type of water outflow for the new wave pool. Could also be that that section of wood is just in need of replacing altogether.

[Holtskee]

lol

 

As stated above, the park is just rebuilding that section. The structure of the turn needed some work and they probably decided it would be easier to rebuild the turn from the ground up.

 

Thunder Road is not going anywhere anytime soon.

 

I thought it was the Saturator they were taking out?

 

Correct.

[robbalvey]

While it's nothing confirmed, I have heard that it's just a really extensive re-track going on to help smooth out some sections, and in order to do that some bents needed to either have some re-work or be re-built.

 

I don't think they are doing anything THAT major to the ride other than giving it some TLC.

 

--Robb "Cedar Fair rehabbing a woodie....everyone should be HAPPY!" Alvey

[Coasterlvr_nc]

^ that makes the most sense, afterall TR: silver side just had an extensive rebuild at that same section of track mid season.

[DenDen]

--Robb "Cedar Fair rehabbing a woodie....everyone should be HAPPY!" Alvey

 

Well, if MeanStreak is any indication, they're not very good at it. LOL

[hyperlink27]

While it's nothing confirmed, I have heard that it's just a really extensive re-track going on to help smooth out some sections, and in order to do that some bents needed to either have some re-work or be re-built.

 

I don't think they are doing anything THAT major to the ride other than giving it some TLC.

 

--Robb "Cedar Fair rehabbing a woodie....everyone should be HAPPY!" Alvey

 

Thank you for the information, Robb. I will continue to post pictures of the retrack as I can. Hoping to see you on the East Coast Trip in 2008!

[texcoaster]

^^ exactly.

 

It is VERY costly and time consuming to dismantle a coaster in this manner. If they were not planning to rebuild it, they would've taken a bulldozer to it and they'd already be done.

 

Texas Cyclone went from beautiful structure to pile of rubble in a half day.

[PKI Jizzman]

I hope they are just re-tracking it. It was pretty good when I went on it this season and in 2005. It was pretty jerky in some parts, but otherwise pretty darn fun!

[KDCOASTERFAN]

I'm pretty sure that they're just re-tracking it.If they weren't they probably would've started a tear down at least a month ago.

[Pufferfish]

It is only retracking. They closed down both sides to do retracking in the same area this past summer. They just did the forwards side before the Backwards side. Saturator is the coaster being taken out, it was advertised all last season.

[drpepperMAN14]

THIS IS A MAJOR ATTRACTION FOR CAROWINDS!!!!! and they just made a HUGE deal out of it's 30th birthday, They wouldn't just out of the blue go and tear it down. Plus, they all ready announced the Super Saturator was coming down......

 

Hmmmm......

Carowinds doesn't need to be tearing down everything, what they need is a GREAT Hyper coaster and a new floorless, a maXair wouldn't be a bad idea either, or maybe a launched ride..... Who knows?

[Coasterlvr_nc]

^thank you!!! and welcome to TPR! ^.^

 

Anyways, Darkstitch and I visited the park to see what was going on, and im positive that thunder road is staying, either that, or they are building new bents for it for some other random reason.

[DarkStitch626]

Yep. We got pics of the construction with permission of course and spoke with one of the on-site foremen...got a little surprise gift too which was unexpected. Its basically a refurbishment as told my many which was really needed in my opinion. The gift was a hunk of old Structure given with the foreman's permission it weighs roughly 40 pounds.