Carowinds Discussion Thread

[arby]

It looks like the $50 Mil expansion is going to include a roller coaster. It also includes some attendance numbers that I have previously not seen.

 

We also learn from the Charlotte City Council agenda that Cedar Fair is planning a new roller coaster as a part of the expansion. The plan is to build Carowinds attendance to 2.5 million a year, up from the current 1.9 million at the park.

 

They have asked Charlotte and Mecklenburg County (where Charlotte is located) for over $900,000 in tax incentives.

 

The owner of Carowinds stands to receive about $922,500 in Charlotte-Mecklenburg incentives in exchange for its planned $50 million expansion of the amusement park.

 

Source: www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/outside_the_loop/2013/09/carowinds-could-get-city-county.html

[XYZ]

Is it going to be a... giga coaster? Nah.

 

It's going to be interesting to see what the new additions of Carowinds will be in the next few years.

[PalmTree55]

I DO NOT want a Giga unless it's Intamin. No need for two Similar B&M coasters in the same park. Fingers crossed for a Premier or Intamin luanched coaster.

[arby]

On behalf of my travel blog, I was invited to the VIP/Media preview of SCarowinds that opens tonight, 9/14. This is the fourteenth annual SCarowinds Haunt and they were previewing two of their three new attractions, London Terror, a new scare zone, and Zombie High School, a new maze.

 

Are the gates really closed?

Oh look, over here. We must be at the right place.

He withered away waiting to walk the rope.

What SCarowinds report is complete without the obligatory SCarowinds plaza sign.

Bart Kinzel, VP and GM gave his opening remarks.

Julie Whitted the PR Manager welcomed us. Chris Kirby, the director of marketing also gave some remarks and he is pictured in the background.

We're heading over to the new for 2013 London Terror scare zone. There may be someone in this picture that you know or don't know you know.

This is what London Terror looks like with a crowd of people.

In case you forgot, we're in London Terror.

A local film crew was on hand. I hope they edit out shots they got of me.

There is no getting out of this shot. That's one way to wear a GoPro. I photo bombed his walk through.

Some of the best detail that I have seen them do to date. They are really starting to step up their game.

More detail. I wonder if this is a converted still. That is a form of elixir to some...

Even more detail. There are lots of places for the SCharacters to hide.

Beer anyone?

I think he's in my family blood line.

New Carowinds policy for unauthorized on-ride photos on Intimidator.

Which one is the B&M fan and which one is the Intamin fan?

This would look great in my front yard. I wonder if it works?

Some of the SCharacters were on hand. She and I were married for about 3 minutes, then divorced when the clown took away our marriage SCarowinds map. She insisted on getting half of the bodies under my house. Why didn't I sign that darn prenup???

Yeah, he was kind of creepy. You're lucky I didn't include a fully body shot.

Looks like a distant relative, twice removed.

He was the quite one of the bunch.

I need an outfit like this. Well, maybe not.

Hope you're not afraid of clowns.

She walks like this all the time.

Here's a back shot of London Terror.

Next we move on to the new maze, Zombie High School. Trivia time: Pat Hall was the founder of Carowinds in 1973 and this pays homage to him.

More Pat Hall homage and a nice addition to the queue line.

Sorry, I don't know how this normal high school bus picture got stuck in here.

[arby]

Page 2

 

Pride rocks in the queue line.

How did they know?

We finally made it.

This ride goes high when it's working.

Since the building permit is still on the building, do they have their certificate of occupancy? We'll find out tonight.

Photos are not permitted inside the mazes but we got permission from park officials tonight. Welcome to Zombie High School.

Kids, this is what happens when you don't do your homework.

I see they accurately recreated my high school chemistry lab.

Why didn't they let us dissect bodies? Why?

The hiding cheerleader caught me off guard. I caught her off guard and expertly got this shot in sync with the strobe light. Ok, so it was luck...

So how do you sit in those desks? Oh, there's a zombie here too, by the way. Translator?

Not sure why this is in here. I remember cafeteria food exactly like this in High School.

Hmm. Apple, or arm. I think I'll have the pudding instead.

Spoiler alert. While trying to figure out who is real and who is not you might want to watch your back. Ok, so some of them are real, too.

Hmm, I have no leftover brains. I'm using all 10% of mine. Ok, 8%.

Yeah, I was jacking my jaw and didn't see him. My friend found it quite hilarious that I could jump that high. There goes my man card.

Dinner was great! I could go for more of the Tilapia right now.

Hey, this wasn't on the menu!

No caption needed.

She talked his head off and then wasted away waiting for him to listen.

Heading back to London Terror, here's what it looks like at night. It's hard to tell but supposedly this tower is 35' tall.

He's just hanging around.

Smoke on the water... Sorry, 80s flash back after being in 1980s Zombie High.

Although not officially part of the preview, everything was nearly ready at the new Scary Tales Scare Zone where all of your childhood fairy tales have gone wrong. You can't tell from the bad picture but all of those trees are upside down.

Raggedy Ann and Andy would like to invite you to dinner.

This little pig's house was blown down. Don't worry, the wood one is also blown down right beside it. I bet you can't guess which one is still standing...

Rapunzel got tired of waiting and hung herself. With such a nice dress, you'd think she could find some coordinating pumps.

My child took your child's brains at Zombie High.

Good night. Thanks, Carowinds!

 

Here's the similar post on my blog if you're so inclined. The jokes don't get better. www.tarheelcamper.com/2013/09/scarowinds-vip-preview.html

 

These three new areas are great additions to SCarowinds. They have also updated the music sound tracks and they are an improvement over previous haunts.

[PalmTree55]

Awesome, I can't wait to see the new mazes and areas. These look like great additions to Scarowinds!

[jray21]

Nice Haunt update. Looks like it could be a fun event. As for the $50 million over the next three years, that's great news! I'm excited to see what they announce in the future.

[Meteornotes]

I'm excited to see what new restaurants they announce in the future.

 

Fixed!

 

dt

[arby]

^^They have a good Haunt event. I went opening night and I have never seen it so busy in September.

[PalmTree55]

More details released on 50 million dollar investment. Also an interesting fact is that Carowinds was chosen over Kings Dominion for this upgrade because NC/SC offered better incentives.

 

The first phase of the expansion includes a $30 million roller coaster, a $2.5 million water slide, a $7 million food complex and about $4 million for upgrades to ticket booths and frontage areas.

 

http://m.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/going_green/2013/09/more-details-on-carowinds-expansion-as.html?ana=fbk&r=full

[cmullin]

30 million dollar coaster is interesting, are there any ideas on what it might be? My guess would be either wing coaster, or maybe a flying? But they already have nighthawk, so that seems unlikely.

[arby]

^There are all kinds of rumors but there is currently no real indication of what it's going to be. I won't even begin to speculate right now because Ouimet is just starting to show us what he is bringing to Cedar Fair and we don't have a lot of history on his choices, yet. I am certainly keeping an eye out for any clues but right now I think it's still too early. Even where it's going to be located is full of speculation all over the place.

 

You can have fun speculating, though, if you want. I personally need more clues before I can begin speculating.

[mhuffva]

More details released on 50 million dollar investment. Also an interesting fact is that Carowinds was chosen over Kings Dominion for this upgrade because NC/SC offered better incentives.

 

The first phase of the expansion includes a $30 million roller coaster, a $2.5 million water slide, a $7 million food complex and about $4 million for upgrades to ticket booths and frontage areas.

 

http://m.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/going_green/2013/09/more-details-on-carowinds-expansion-as.html?ana=fbk&r=full

 

If Cedar Fair was asking for incentives for Kings Dominion in VA, they must have been doing this behind closed doors. And I have a feeling they could have had that door shut in their face. There is hardly any regional cooperation between the City of Richmond and the surrounding counties. Course, Hanover county, where Kings Dominion is located, is primarily rural in character and forms the northern edge of the Richmond metro area. The county abuts another more suburban county to the south, Henrico County; which in turn, abuts the City of Richmond. You have a better chance of herding cats than getting the metro area to cooperate on anything. I am not sure if anyone else other than Hanover county would benefit unless visitors stayed further south in Henrico county or the city of Richmond.

 

With Carowinds, I always thought they were undersized for the metro area they served. Charlotte is about 25%-30% larger than the Richmond metro area. And the park seems to be 75%-80% the size of Kings Dominion. If you go out to a 150-175 mile range outside of Carowinds that would include Raleigh, NC and several large cities in SC. It sounds like they enlarging Carowinds to be at least the size of KD or maybe 15%-20% larger when all is said and done.

[beatle11]

30 million dollar coaster is interesting, are there any ideas on what it might be? My guess would be either wing coaster, or maybe a flying? But they already have nighthawk, so that seems unlikely.

 

If I were to guess, I would lean toward a B&M Giga like Leviathan. The 30 million price tag fits. Of course we will just have to wait and see. Sounds like I'm waiting another year to go down to the Deep South.

[Vonni]

I just hope it isnt a Gatekeeper clone. Any clone for that matter. I think it would be cool if it were to interact with the Front Gate, like Gatekeeper, but with a custom and unique layout.

[2012jarrett]

A while ago I had this crazy idea for a wing coaster layout over the front entrance kind of similar to GateKeeper, but not quite. It would require its fair share of moving things around, but I think this could work.

 

 

I was thinking that wiwth Skytower's colors, this one could have mostly white track with a red spine stripe and blue supports, and theme the trains to cool silver eagles and give it a patriotic theme complete with an antebellum-style station that would match the front gate.

 

Just a thought...

[DJeXeL]

My money is on a Wing Coaster. I'm hoping (and praying) CF won't play the Behemoth-Leviathan card again.

[PalmTree55]

A while ago I had this crazy idea for a wing coaster layout over the front entrance kind of similar to GateKeeper, but not quite. It would require its fair share of moving things around, but I think this could work.

 

 

I was thinking that wiwth Skytower's colors, this one could have mostly white track with a red spine stripe and blue supports, and theme the trains to cool silver eagles and give it a patriotic theme complete with an antebellum-style station that would match the front gate.

 

Just a thought...

 

This would be cool, but the one thing the park need is a launched coaster. Wether it be Mack, Intamin, or Premier we need one. I could still see it interact with the gate, maybe with a top hat or Zero-G roll right over it.

[cmullin]

^ I hadn't thought of that, an Intamin LSM would be perfect for the park, something like a Cheetah Hunt.

[2012jarrett]

^ I hadn't thought of that, an Intamin LSM would be perfect for the park, something like a Cheetah Hunt.

It seem like Cedar Fair has moved onto just B&M and GCI for their coasters, and I feel like they're pretty bitter with Intamin after I-305's issues. It's unfortunate because I really like Intamins. I feel like both the good words about B&M on the Banshee mini site and the remark about the "ride's manufacturer" in KD's announcement that they're opening I-305 back up.

 

I'd say for a launcher they'd turn to Premier. They don't seem to put out that many coasters with reliability problems and should be able to fit something Skyrocket-ish in Vortex's plot after the park hopefully gives it to Valleyfair or Michigan's Adventure. If not Premier I could see them giving Intamin another shot.

[Pyrozooka0]

I hope it's either a Wing Coaster or a RMC woodie. Preferably the woodie, due to and weird looking inversions.

[DJeXeL]

CF hasn't shown any interest in RMC yet but if they do, said interest will be directed towards Mean Streak I'd imagine.

[XYZ]

I'd say for a launcher they'd turn to Premier. They don't seem to put out that many coasters with reliability problems and should be able to fit something Skyrocket-ish in Vortex's plot after the park hopefully gives it to Valleyfair or Michigan's Adventure. If not Premier I could see them giving Intamin another shot.

 

The problem with a Sky Rocket-like coaster is that it doesn't have that high of a capacity. With what Cedar Fair has been adding lately, it seems that they want rather high capacity rides, as shown through their installations of Leviathan, Gatekeeper, Gold Striker, & Banshee.

 

Also, doesn't Hurler take up a large amount of space? I could see the large, new coaster being built there.

[PalmTree55]

I'd say for a launcher they'd turn to Premier. They don't seem to put out that many coasters with reliability problems and should be able to fit something Skyrocket-ish in Vortex's plot after the park hopefully gives it to Valleyfair or Michigan's Adventure. If not Premier I could see them giving Intamin another shot.

 

The problem with a Sky Rocket-like coaster is that it doesn't have that high of a capacity. With what Cedar Fair has been adding lately, it seems that they want rather high capacity rides, as shown through their installations of Leviathan, Gatekeeper, Gold Striker, & Banshee.

 

Also, doesn't Hurler take up a large amount of space? I could see the large, new coaster being built there.

 

Burn Hurler! Something like Cheetah Hunt would be perfect because it has a very high capacity!

[Jhcbiinoc]

Looks like this *could* be a giga coaster:

 

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/09/18/4323933/new-carowinds-ride-to-be-70-feet.html#.UjqthhC76tN

 

"Cedar Fair Entertainment, the parent company of Carowinds, plans to build a 300-foot-tall roller coaster – 70 feet taller than the park’s biggest attraction, the Intimidator – according to a closed-session transcript the Charlotte City Council released Wednesday."

 

I am guessing this might be another coaster similar to Leviathan at CW...

 

Full Article:

 

Cedar Fair Entertainment, the parent company of Carowinds, plans to build a 300-foot-tall roller coaster – 70 feet taller than the park’s biggest attraction, the Intimidator – according to a closed-session transcript the Charlotte City Council released Wednesday.

 

The council and Mecklenburg County commissioners voted this week to give Cedar Fair $922,000 in incentives through rebates on property taxes over three years.

 

The incentives drew some criticism from council members, who said the projected number of new jobs from the park’s $43.5 million expansion would be too small. Carowinds expects to create 15 full-time jobs with an average salary of $43,000 and 270 seasonal jobs that would pay as much as $8.25 an hour.

 

Some also questioned whether Cedar Fair would expand with or without the incentives.

 

The closed-session discussion, held in June, gives additional insight into Cedar Fair’s plans and the city’s deliberations:

 

• At a news conference in August at the Charlotte Chamber announcing the expansion, Cedar Fair was vague about its plans, saying only that it would build new rides, improve restaurants and make other infrastructure improvements.

 

The city economic development office had given council members more details about plans for the park in June.

 

The new 300-foot roller coaster would cost $30 million. In addition, the park would spend $2.5 million on a new water slide, $7 million on a new food complex and $4 million on ticket booth and parking lot improvements, according to Peter Zeiler of the city.

 

• In the June closed session, only two of 11 council members voted against the project – Democrats Patsy Kinsey and Michael Barnes.

 

Barnes voted against the deal again Monday, but Kinsey has since been elevated to mayor. She did not veto the incentives Monday.

 

Her replacement, Democrat Billy Maddalon, voted no Monday, as did Democrats Claire Fallon and Patrick Cannon. Fallon and Cannon voted for the incentives in closed session.

 

“I just have a sense that when something like this comes through the Chamber or somebody else, I feel pressured for one thing, but secondly I just don’t know if the Chamber says, ‘Oh, well, you can go to the city and county to get some money,’ ” Kinsey said during the closed session.

 

• Carowinds also told the city that half of the 270 seasonal jobs likely would be filled by North Carolina residents and half by South Carolina residents.

 

The city estimates the expansion would generate an additional 20,000 hotel room nights, about 0.4 percent of the total Mecklenburg hotel market. The city doesn’t expect that to be large enough to drive any new hotel development. Carowinds told the city that about two-thirds of its current hotel stays are in North Carolina.

 

• When the city’s incentive, called a Business Investment Grant, expires after three years, the city expects the Carowinds additions to generate an additional $110,000 a year in new city property taxes.

 

• The city said in June that Sandusky, Ohio-based Cedar Fair was deciding whether to expand Carowinds or its King’s Dominion park in Virginia. Some council members were skeptical, saying they believed expansions were likely at both parks.

 

But city staff didn’t discuss in detail the park’s announcement in 2011 that it had bought 61 acres of vacant land next to Carowinds. That purchase suggests that a Carowinds expansion was a priority for Cedar Fair.

 

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/09/18/4323933/new-carowinds-ride-to-be-70-feet.html#.UjqthhC76tN#storylink=cpy

Edited September 19, 2013 by robbalvey