Carowinds Discussion Thread

[cmullin]

It would be hilarious if the Carowinds giga coaster ends up being 307' tall.

That'd be hilarious considering Intimidator is 2 feet taller than Behemoth.

[larrygator]

^Actually, it somewhat does make sense. Those two parks use entirely different business strategies. Carowinds and Kings Dominion both add major installations on a fairly infrequent basis, but when they do, they are major additions. SFMM tends to favor adding one low-cost installation every year or two. The last installation SFMM made on this scope was Tatsu, in 2006.

 

I'm sure that SFMM considered Green Lantern and FullThrottle!!! major additions.

[MrSum1_55]

^Sorry. I could have worded that better. I was mainly referring to the scale of the installations by price tag. I believe Tatsu was the last coaster SFMM installed that costed more than $15 million. Tatsu costed $21 million, while GL and FT were probably in the $7-12 million range. This does not come close to matching the $25 million or so required to build a giga. It just shows the different construction strategies between the two parks.

[PalmTree55]

^Sorry. I could have worded that better. I was mainly referring to the scale of the installations by price tag. I believe Tatsu was the last coaster SFMM installed that costed more than $15 million. Tatsu costed $21 million, while GL and FT were probably in the $7-12 million range. This does not come close to matching the $25 million or so required to build a giga. It just shows the different construction strategies between the two parks.

 

I'd rather have ZacSpin and Premier launched than a Giga at Carowinds.

[Ultimate]

^Sorry. I could have worded that better. I was mainly referring to the scale of the installations by price tag. I believe Tatsu was the last coaster SFMM installed that costed more than $15 million. Tatsu costed $21 million, while GL and FT were probably in the $7-12 million range. This does not come close to matching the $25 million or so required to build a giga. It just shows the different construction strategies between the two parks.

 

I'd rather have ZacSpin and Premier launched than a Giga at Carowinds.

Who said you can't have a Premier launched giga?

[Aceattack52]

It boggles my mind how some people can seem to draw conclusions from an article that does not even get ride specs right.

I agree, there are no conclusions that can be drawn from that article or any other article on the matter.

[cmullin]

^Sorry. I could have worded that better. I was mainly referring to the scale of the installations by price tag. I believe Tatsu was the last coaster SFMM installed that costed more than $15 million. Tatsu costed $21 million, while GL and FT were probably in the $7-12 million range. This does not come close to matching the $25 million or so required to build a giga. It just shows the different construction strategies between the two parks.

Full Throttle was 6 million and I couldn't find the actual cost for Green Lantern, but I would guess it's between 2-5 million. And Apocalypse was 10 million, so assuming GL was 5, Full Throttle was 6, and Apocalypse was 10 million, those 3 coasters cost less than 1 giga coaster.

[cfc]

It boggles my mind how some people can seem to draw conclusions from an article that does not even get ride specs right.

I agree, there are no conclusions that can be drawn from that article or any other article on the matter.

 

Because some of us, like Willy Wonka, live in a world of "pure imagination"?

Edited September 22, 2013 by cfc

[The49er]

I know this is VERY, VERY unlikely, but what if we see a Vekoma, Gerstlauer, or Mack giga? Just for imagination's sake...

[XYZ]

I know this is VERY, VERY unlikely, but what if we see a Vekoma, Gerstlauer, or Mack giga? Just for imagination's sake...

 

None of those companies even made a hyper coaster, let alone a giga coaster.

[rcjp]

Ha ha, a Vekoma Giga would be funny!

[rcdude]

I know this is VERY, VERY unlikely, but what if we see a Vekoma, Gerstlauer, or Mack giga? Just for imagination's sake...

 

If Carowinds is indeed getting a Giga Coaster, I would bet that it is either B&M or Intamin. Personally, while I do think Leviathan was a great ride and wouldn't mind seeing a similar ride built I don't think it should go to Carowinds. It felt redundant to have two very similar rides at Canada's Wonderland and the same thing would happen at Carowinds as they already have Intimidator. An Intamin Giga, on the other hand, would be a great fit for the park as they don't currently have anything quite like that (or any Intamin coaster for that matter).

[XYZ]

I'm hoping for a Steel Dragon 2000 clone.

[cmullin]

Ha ha, a Vekoma Giga would be funny!

More like a death machine.

[2012jarrett]

Ha ha, a Vekoma Giga would be funny!

That's messed up! Seriously, don't joke about stuff like that!

 

Okay, as painful as it would be, it would be kind of funny. 300 foot tall boomerang, anyone?

 

Honestly, I think this'll be an Intamin. I might be wrong, but that space in the drawing that was shown didn't look large enough for a Leviathan-style coaster to fit. However, I feel like an I-305-esque coaster could fit there. While Cedar Fair has definitely had issues with Intamin and I wouldn't be surprised at all if they went with their B&M/GCI only "policy" again, but at the end of the day, I-305 WAS a first in many aspects. First time they used the double spine track, first giga coaster to use those newer restraints, it was new in a lot of respects. It's great that they fixed it and I doubt it has any issues again. Skyrush was also the first type of Intamin with those new trains and restraints, so it was almost no surprise it had its share of issues. If Intamin can somehow put something out to convince Cedar Fair that they've learned from their mistakes and have developed better ride systems that break down less, then I think we could see them go back to them in the future if they aren't already.

 

Just a thought...

[loop-de-loop]

I think if Cedar Fair/Carowinds wants this new ride to push the envelope, they will go with Intamin. However, I think they will go with the company that is more conservative and reliable, B&M, because Leviathan hasn't had the issues I-305 had. How do we know that space in that drawing is the only amount of space it will take up?

[Aceattack52]

It would be hilarious if the Carowinds giga coaster ends up being 307' tall.

311' and it takes 6th tallest.

[cmullin]

I honestly don't get why we're getting so worked up about this, the announcement, if the article is correct, won't be until at least next year, and it also said over 300 ft. tall, but 65 mph, is the article actually reliable? We should just keep the speculation until we have more details on this project.

[willh51]

There's a lot of talk about Cedar Fair not being pleased with i305. Now, I don't claim to know the inside scoop but from what I've seen it's the exact opposite. From casually talking with a few Kings Dominion park higher-ups during my visits I got the sense that they absolutely love the coaster and were beyond thrilled that the general public and enthusiasts thought Intamin knocked it out of the ballpark. Now, that may not transfer to the corporate checkbook but I don't think anyone at Kings Dominion is upset with Intamin over this particular ride.

 

Plus, they're obviously working hand-in-hand with Intamin on the Volcano improvements. And i305 is one of those rides that you experience the first time and know it's WORTH that little bit of extra effort.

 

Of course, Cedar Fair and B&M have a great relationship, too, and Carowinds already has a track record with the company.

 

I think Afterburn (I still call it Top Gun, old habits die hard.) is my favorite B&M inverted. Carowinds is a nice park but has until now had nothing to really draw me back except Afterburn. I remember being so excited when they announced Intimidator. It's a fun ride but it doesn't call to me. I am halfway between KD and Carowinds and I have been to KD many more times in recent years.

[Aceattack52]

Ha ha, a Vekoma Giga would be funny!

The $30 million doesn't include a hospital.

[PalmTree55]

Ha ha, a Vekoma Giga would be funny!

The $30 million doesn't include a hospital.

 

Best post of the day!

[arby]

I was at a Q&A session with park officials this past weekend. Here's what was discussed.

 

The only news on the new coaster is that it appears it will be opening in 2015. They kept using that date although they never came right out and said it. Additionally they said that Xtreme Skyflyer, the sky coaster, will either be moved or removed to make room for the coaster. It wasn't clear and the PR manager cut him off as he was saying too much.

 

Off to other news. The new restaurant building will be a Festhaus like the one in Kings Island. It will seat approximately 500 people and will be located in the grassy field in front of Intimidator. Look for an official announcement soon.

 

The final few bunny hops on Thunder Road will be rebuilt this off-season completing the 5 year total replacement of the track. If you ride in the second row the ride is quite enjoyable. The first banked turn of Hurler will also be rebuilt during the off-season. I have yet to find any seat on this coaster that is enjoyable.

 

In the new Cedar Fair tradition, there will be a lot of painting coming up. Afterburn is still sporting its original paint and it will be repainted red (track), white, and blue. It was scheduled for this past spring but we had too much rain so it's been postponed until this fall. It costs around $250,000 to repaint a coaster. Ricochet will also be repainted in the next year or two. The current partial paint was done for maintenance reasons. Some of the water slides in the water park will also sport new paint next year.

 

As part of the front gate overhaul, it will be closed at some point in 2014 for the work. They will use the south gate instead. Once the work at the front gate is finished, the south gate will be closed and removed.

 

The biggest news: blue ice cream is coming back. Darn this low-fat diet!

 

That's all I can remember right now. I will update if I remember anything else.

[megametal]

Looks like Cedar Fair is going all in on beefing up the former Paramount parks. Be interesting to see if redoing that first curve on Hurler does anything to help it. It wasn't painful to me until about 2004.

[arby]

I would love to seem them remove the trim on the first hill. Since they've added it there is little to no airtime on the first few hills. (camel backs?) Maybe a complete rebuild of that first banked turn will keep up some of the speed so the airtime returns without removing the trim.

[The Westate]

I had to go back a page and re-read what you said. I thought you were talking about Intimidator and they had added ANOTHER trim to it.