Carowinds Discussion Thread

[BugEyed]

It's a solid coaster with what look to be small, but important improvements on the manufacturer's previous similar coaster (in this case, Leviathan).

 

I'm not going to drop everything and reschedule my life around it, but it's certainly enough to convince me to visit Carowinds for the first time next summer.

 

And that (for me) essentially sums up most B&M additions to North American parks in the last several years.

[bigcwd2000]

This ride looks great! I like the looks of the turn-around at 157 feet tall with a 91 degree high banked curve and weightless drop as stated on the facts sheet. That sounds amazing. I also think the double helix feature is neat right into the two camelback hills to end the ride. I cannot wait to ride this thing!

[ImNotOneOfYou]

To me, it just looks like a bigger, slightly modified Leviathan. It looks good, but I was expecting it to have a less Leviathan-like design

 

Not every coaster can be i305 or Skyrush...what can you say?

 

I'm not saying it's bad, it has the same overbanked turn after the drop and the L shaped out and back design

[denning]

Also keep in mind when Wonderland announced Leviathan it was thought to be crazy for two reasons 1. the park was lacking in a proper looping coaster. A wingrider, floor-less, B&M inverted, or launched looper like Maverick or FoF was thought to be needed and 2. no one thought having dual large B&Ms would work.

 

Carowinds four years later doesn't have the same holes and the Wonderland experiment worked. It is the same combo only better.

[BugEyed]

^ an excellent point. I particularly like the part about having the "same holes".

[EricGarbo]

Guys, I am very upset about this announcement. I am not happy with the outcome.

 

They wanted to build an actual game changer that would draw people to the park? Why on earth did they not do the obvious and take SkyRider from Canada's and build it in place of this new fangled piece of junk? That is a real roller coaster that people can get excited about. Carowinds park review: 0/10; next time try a little harder, hmm?

While parks do somewhat keep the coaster enthusiasts in mind, much of their attendance is family and teenagers going on vacation or spending the day off at a park. I am sure not many people even know that there is a 300-foot tall one of these up in Canada and people will come running to this place to ride something with a taller drop than how Windseeker is tall. I think this is a great, solid addition to the park and I really like the idea of them doing an entrance very similar in concept to Cedar Point's (seen on the Bird's Eye View video). Kudos to them!

 

/s

 

I was just being ridiculous. I tried my best to sound like, "A Giga coaster sux compared to an aging Togo standup!" Leviathan is my favorite steel and I'm extremely excited for Fury 325. As an enthusiast I'm always sad to see a ride I enjoy go but the excitement for something new and improved in its place is how parks move forward. Newer isn't always better but sometimes an old ride just has to go for various reasons. See: Big Bad Wolf. I was just trying to write a stupid comment like, "Hurr durr this isn't what I wanted bring back what I like FAIL COASTER."

 

There's so much to like about this. I love the new park entrances with a major steel roller coaster and I'm excited to see a completely new entrance facade. There's so much to be said I could talk all night about it. I like how Cedar Fair is realizing that they don't operate theme parks anymore and just have amusement parks, so they're doing away with half-crapped theming and just making everything look really clean and nice. Cedar Point and now Carowind's new entrance plaza's are proof of that. Rule 1: Whatever you do, do it right. I don't see any wasted money here.

Edited August 21, 2014 by EricGarbo

[coasterchitchat]

Has anyone see Dorney challenge Carowinds again? Mike, hurry up! I know you're not happy right now, but pay up!

[rcdude]

I have not been disappointed by a B&M hyper yet, and from the video Fury 325 looks like it could be the best of the type. It doesn't matter that Carowinds already has Intimidator, they are definitely getting a top tier coaster with this addition, and it will definitely be a hit with the general public. As for the similarity debate, I rode both Behemoth and Leviathan when I was at Canada's Wonderland and while the individual elements on Leviathan felt very similar to elements on Behemoth, the overall ride was different enough. It's not like the difference between a B&M and an Intamin, more like the difference between a B&M floorless and a B&M stand-up.

 

Either way, Fury 325 is enough to get Carowinds added to my revisit list. It's unlikely a wing coaster would have done that without some type of unique feature.

[BugEyed]

It's unlikely a wing coaster would have done that without some type of unique feature.

Agreed.

[PCW_Nut]

Nice ride. I wondered this with Canada's Wunderland too, what made them choose to build a 200ft B&M sit down coaster then build a 300ft B&M a few years later. Maybe if it was a different style of car or company I would be a lot more excited about it. I wonder if CF plans on moving Behemoth and Intimidator to different parks in the future?

 

^They'll just pop it on their back and carry it to another park.

 

Both rides are there for the long haul and offer two very similar rides. Have you been on Behemoth and Leviathan? They are two very different rides in my opinion, and many others as well.

[BugEyed]

They are two very different rides in my opinion, and many others as well.

They absolutely are. The endless stream of people that believe they cancel one another out is amazing to me.

 

It hasn't occurred to me for a second that Fury and Intimidator are unfit to exist in the same park. If anything they'll perfectly compliment one another.

[eddie200330]

Good God Kinzel is having heart failure now that something has topped Millenium Force's height record........

[MagnumFreak25]

Coming to Cedar Point in 2015 Centurion 326!

[historyfreak92]

All I can say is very nice! I wish that Six Flags Over Texas would get something like this! (sighs!) But no!

[rollin_n_coastin]

I think it’s cool that this is Leviathan with a few variations. The coaster looks great, the new entrance looks great and it’ll do exceptionally well for what it is—A very fast, comfortable and floaty ride that will but a huge smile on lots of people and become a landmark. I wasn’t expecting anything more or less than what they announced so nothing really to complain about. The height at least will make a B&M mega more exciting than normal. This is Cedar Fair with a new group of acquired parks. Maybe in 10 years, the next bulk purchase of similar roller coasters will move from Morgan and B&M to someone different. I am very happy that at least it’s not another wing rider, unless it was Furious Baco then I’d take that instead

 

The whole point of Leviathan was to create an anchor attraction at the opposite side of the park that just wasn’t that busy, which worked as planned. Just like Magnum and Millennium Force at the time, this strategy definitely balances out larger properties and works well if you have a lot of varied stuff in between. Wonderland has a ton of great flats in between at the very least, along with Vortex and SkyRider (for now). I remember Carowinds having a great collection of attractions as well, including a B&M at its best invert.

 

I’m sorry you guys don’t get the mail box tunnel at bottom of the first drop of Leviathan eating itself…

 

MF to Maverick? Huh?

 

They're the same manufacturer, which is the biggest similarity that Fury and Intimidator have so ya, don't even seem similar so stop complaining!

 

Millennium Force – Out and back steel coaster

Intimidator – Out and back steel coaster

Fury 325 – Out and back steel coaster

Maverick – Launched looping terrain coaster

[BugEyed]

Coming to Cedar Point in 2015 Centurion 326!

That's funny stuff right there.

[MagnumFreak25]

has anyone noticed that weird support near the brake run? It looks really out of place to me.

[GayCoasterGuy]

^Anything out of place on a B&M is a good thing. Everything else is the same, variety is good! Keeps things interesting.

[Brassinthegrass]

I'm sure it's for an access road or something that's not in the video...

[GigaG]

I hope those last hills have some nice airtime. I love the ride, although I wish they could put a bit of airtime (like a speed hill) near the beginning. Otherwise, I love this. Does that turnaround look to you like it is designed for "sideways airtime" or is it just me?

 

I wonder if this will have the "GP Pacifier" seatbelts... the renderings don't show them,= in shots that show the trains, but I doubt they'd render those in. Doesn't rumor have it that Leviathan will get the belts? I understand safety, but those belts are sort of bull crap - nobody has been ejected from a B&M hyper/mega/giga/whatever you want to call it, or any B&M as far as I know. They are among the safest coasters in an industry where even the "unsafe" (not really) models of rides are countless times safer than driving to the park, and likely safer than even flying on a plane!

Edited August 21, 2014 by GigaG

[Generic Name]

I'm liking this a lot. I love the station and from the POV posted here it looks like a very fun ride; the sensation of speed must be great.

 

Congrats to Carowinds; this looks like a solid coaster and if I lived closer I'd definitely would go there next year.

 

Question though; will this use one large chain or 2 chains a la Steel Dragon?

[MagnumFreak25]

What I want to know is what are they calling a double helix? Because I don't see what they are referring to by saying that.

[coastercrazy216]

Love it! This is going to be a huge hit with the park guests. I see why a lot of people might be disappointed since this isn't exactly the airtime monster they were hoping for, but it is still a 30 million dollar coaster (rumored to be at least). Parks can only spend so much. With a ride of this height, there is no way they could have a ride as long as this one with huge airtime hills. Plus, look at the height of these hills! Even the smaller ones are still about 100 feet tall! Most rides could probably fit under those small hills! Very excited to see how this attraction works for Carowinds!

[Intimidator305]

Living in Roanoke, Virginia I'm exactly in the middle of Carowinds and Kings Dominion - each being 3 hours away. However, due to each park's lineup I visit KD about 8 times a season and Carowinds once about every other year. This will bring me down to Charlotte more if it delivers. How many people can say that they have 2 giga coasters 3 hours away from them?

 

I think the awesomeness of the entrance plaza to the park is being overlooked. It looks like it'll be even better than Cedar Point's nice new one. However, it does not look like any heritage and Carowinds past will survive in it's construction.

 

Also, the ride's actual entry plaza seems lackluster in the videos so I hope we have surprises left. It is nestled behind Juke Box Diner and yes, has a cool Leviathan/Gatekeeper/Banshee like sign, but other than that it doesn't really look as up to par as Banshee and Gatekeeper's plazas. I'm sure there's some details they're hiding like with the Intimidator additions.

[MagnumFreak25]

Living in Roanoke, Virginia I'm exactly in the middle of Carowinds and Kings Dominion - each being 3 hours away. However, due to each park's lineup I visit KD about 8 times a season and Carowinds once about every other year. This will bring me down to Charlotte more if it delivers. How many people can say that they have 2 giga coasters 3 hours away from them?

 

I think the awesomeness of the entrance plaza to the park is being overlooked. It looks like it'll be even better than Cedar Point's nice new one. However, it does not look like any heritage and Carowinds past will survive in it's construction.

 

Also, the ride's actual entry plaza seems lackluster in the videos so I hope we have surprises left. It is nestled behind Juke Box Diner and yes, has a cool Leviathan/Gatekeeper/Banshee like sign, but other than that it doesn't really look as up to par as Banshee and Gatekeeper's plazas. I'm sure there's some details they're hiding like with the Intimidator additions.

 

All four U.S Giga's are in a days drive form me.