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Carowinds Discussion Thread

P. 417 - Fury back open now with 100% less crack!

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If you want to do Nighthawk, hit that first, before the line becomes the only significant wait in the park, and then hit Intimidator. After that, I'd go to the back, and do Afterburn, and anything else back there you'd like to ride. After that, just work your way back towards Fury, riding whatever else you're interested in, and then marathon Fury with the rest of your time there! Oh, and despite what coasterbill says, AVOID VORTEX AT ALL COSTS!!! Your body will thank you!

I'll see how my body feels that day after driving 10 hours to SC to see if I think I can manage a ride on Vortex. I've only ridden 2 stand up coasters, Mantis (which was uncomfortable) and Shockwave back in the 90s (which was just unpleasant). I'll try to make Nighthawk my first ride just to get it out of the way, last flying dutchman style coaster that I was on was X-Flight at Geagua Lake, they seem similar. I'm interested to see how I feel about those now that I'm not a teenager anymore.

I'd like to get on all of the coasters but the main goal is to make sure I get a few rides on Fury and Afterburn because they just look great.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Dollywood and Silver Dollar City run every ride (aside from water rides). I believe the same is true for Sea World San Antonio.

 

Aside from those parks though, Six Flags is miles ahead of everyone else when it comes to running coasters in the winter (and nobody's really all that impressed that a park is running coasters in the winter in San Antonio so that barely counts anyway). Obviously the further north you go, the more closed coasters you'll encounter per park but in every case Six Flags is dominating the other parks in the region when it comes to their Christmas coaster offerings. Cedar Fair is ridiculous conservative in that area.

 

Just for perspective, Carowinds is running 2 adult coasters and they live in a region where the average temperatures are in the 50's and 60's through the duration of the event. Six Flags New England is running twice as many adult coasters this winter as Carowinds... in Massachusetts, where the average high temperatures are in the low 30's by the end of the event, almost 10 degrees below most park's start up temperatures for a B&M and I can already assure you that they will not give a single sh*t.

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So is this the first B&M CF has announced would be open for a winter event? If so, that's promising.

 

*waves at Dominator*

Well technically Patriot at WOF was announced for WinterFest, but was replaced with Prowler recently. Also, CGA runs Flight Deck and I believe Knott’s runs Silver Bullet.

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So is this the first B&M CF has announced would be open for a winter event? If so, that's promising.

 

*waves at Dominator*

Well technically Patriot at WOF was announced for WinterFest, but was replaced with Prowler recently. Also, CGA runs Flight Deck and I believe Knott’s runs Silver Bullet.

 

Well, Knott’s doesn’t really count since it runs all year, every day. But you’re right about CGA.

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The Winterfest ride list is out.

 

... god I love Six Flags Great Adventure.

 

Ditto. Is there another (seasonal) park that has a better ride list for its holiday celebration? Dollywood is the only other park I can think of that comes close.

 

The last two years I believe SFOG has had everything minus SUF, GASM, Blue Hawk, and Skyscreamer running.

 

It will be interesting to see how many people will still come to these with such limited rides being available.

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So is this the first B&M CF has announced would be open for a winter event? If so, that's promising.

 

*waves at Dominator*

Well technically Patriot at WOF was announced for WinterFest, but was replaced with Prowler recently. Also, CGA runs Flight Deck and I believe Knott’s runs Silver Bullet.

 

Well, Knott’s doesn’t really count since it runs all year, every day. But you’re right about CGA.

 

Yeah, but even CGA is in a market where the Six Flags park an hour north of them is fully open year-round. I don't understand why that park is seasonal at all and as it keeps expanding I wouldn't be surprised if that changes.

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^I agree. I’m sure year-round operation is squeezed into their master plan somewhere. It is the only major park in California that is still seasonal.

 

As for Carowinds, does it ever get REALLY cold in North/South Carolina? Does anyone think they could ever get away with year-round operation? Just a thought.

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Does anyone think they could ever get away with year-round operation? Just a thought.

 

It's debatable. It rarely gets THAT cold there, especially assuming that if they were open after Wintefest they'd probably have short hours of 10 to 5, 10 to 6 or something similar and would be closed before the sun went down. Once every few years they get a dusting of snow and lose their sh*t over it but it's really not that cold aside from a few odd days.

 

My concern would be that without a gimmick to get people through the gates in January, February and early March they might struggle. I lived in the area for about 6 months and have spent a lot of time there, I never thought it was cold, but the locals felt differently.

 

Personally I'd much rather walk around Carowinds on a typical sunny 45 to 55 degree January day than a typical 95 to 100 degree, ridiculously humid July or August day but I don't claim to speak for everyone.

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^I agree. I’m sure year-round operation is squeezed into their master plan somewhere. It is the only major park in California that is still seasonal.

 

As for Carowinds, does it ever get REALLY cold in North/South Carolina? Does anyone think they could ever get away with year-round operation? Just a thought.

 

The weather in NC always seems to swing around a lot. The average high for December is 51 F, but it varies widely. One day you will have a high of 35 F, then the next day they high will be at 80 F. It can feel very bizarre. The lowest I have seen things go is ~7 F but that was once over 5 years. To answer the question of year round operations, I don't think they could get away with it. The months of January through early March feel more like winter than not, and I can see most people not wanting to go to the park.

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Having lived in Charlotte the first 28/29 years of my life, I can say that the weather is very indecisive between Thanksgiving and Spring. Some days will be quite summer-like in the upper 70s and others will struggle to get out of the mid 30s. Late January into February tends to get the coldest in terms of sticking around over a period of time. The occasional snow & or Ice, or even threat of such a thing, causes the entire area to go nuts since well...it only happens maybe once a year, with some years several times. They don't know how to deal...lol

 

I've had Christmases there that were almost a "White Christmas" and others that were in the mid 60s and ready to put shorts on. With the uncertainty and randomness of the weather over their normal off season time, I can see it difficult in trying to come up with a year-round schedule that would be consistent and profitable. That doesn't include staffing it. I don't know too many people who are willing to work in that extreme of weather-permitting operation. As much as I would have enjoyed having it open year-round when I still lived there, the idea of riding most of the rides in 40 degree weather isn't appealing to most people that have grown up in the south. Remember that this park relies heavily on locals...not tourists. I could see them going to weekends only schedule if they decided to extend to "year-round". It would be easier than trying to do every day.

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^ THIS!! Such an accurate statement. Being from NYC, I didn't understand why the park wasn't an all year round park but after living here for some years now the weather is just so all over the place. from November to May. Hell preview night for Fury325 its opening year was 38F with rain/freezing rain in the forecast then opening day it was like cold in the morning then warmed up to about 55F to 60F. I understand completely now why they just stay closed JAN-MAR. February and some times early March is typically the snow/ice month. Charlotte cant hand such as they are not equipped for the weather. the WHOLE city shuts down at the threat of ice.

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A lot of people are quite ignorant about weather and tolerance for weather conditions. Many people in the northeast think every state south of Washington DC has beautiful weather in the fall and through winter. It might be warmer to those in the North but if the people in the community will not be as tolerant to the cold weather.

 

Let's not forget that in order to have year round operations you need year round staff. Many parks are struggling to staff all summer, where are they going to get employees. They can't justify raising the pay if the income to pay for the employees is not present. Many of the potential off season customer are likely to be season passes holders lower the average spending per customer at the park.

 

These numbers are completely estimated, but suppose a regional park wants to operate for 10 hours, and 200 employees are needed at all times to completely staff the park (rides, games, shops/food, security, admission, maintenance) and the average employee costs the park $15 per hour. That's $30,000 to cover just the expenses I mentioned. The average season pass holder only brings $10-20 in incremental income to the park each visit. Non-pass holders bring in about $30-$50 per park visit. If 80% of the off-season visitors are season pass holders the park needs about 1,500 visitors a day to break even.

 

It might not be that easy but if it was I'm sure every park would jump at the opportunity to make more money.

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Carowinds also has fairly short hours during their current schedule. Until a park is open 'til 10 most of August they just don't have the draw to be open year round, even if the weather was perfect.

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Carowinds also has fairly short hours during their current schedule. Until a park is open 'til 10 most of August they just don't have the draw to be open year round, even if the weather was perfect.

 

Oh

 

Buddy, I can't think of many (any?) REGIONAL parks that stay open until 10:00 on weeknights when local schools are in session. Schools in the area start around the second week of August. They get out in early to mid June. The calendar reflects this. Schools in the northeast are only open until 10:00 through August because school doesn't go back until after Labor Day. Those parks also don't have 10:00 weeknight closings as early in June as Carowinds does. It balances out.

 

How a park draws on a weekday with local schools in session has nothing to do with their ability to draw crowds for weekend only operation year round. As I mentioned earlier, I mostly agree with everything Larry said (though he laid it out better than I could). I do think people would visit in the winter with a good gimmick (Winterfest is sort of proof of that if it's popular, and since it's hours are basically nights only it would likely be colder than standard operation in January and February which would likely have closing times of 5:00 or 6:00) but there just isn't one.

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I am currently in the United States for a while and have the chance to visit Carowinds upcoming Sunday, during daytime. Since the park hours are quite short compared to the summer, should I consider Fast Lane, or should the wait times be doable? Hope any locals could give an indication.

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I am currently in the United States for a while and have the chance to visit Carowinds upcoming Sunday, during daytime. Since the park hours are quite short compared to the summer, should I consider Fast Lane, or should the wait times be doable? Hope any locals could give an indication.

Sundays in October are a great time to go to Carowinds (generally Sundays are great days to go anyway unless it's a holiday weekend). The longest you'll have to wait is maybe 10-15 minutes at most, with many rides near walk-on. Just get there when the park opens and head straight to Nighthawk to get it out of the way. It's very low capacity and is likely only running one train currently. Ricochet (wild mouse) is pretty low capacity as well. Everything else you should be able to get re-rides on to your heart's content.

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Don't buy Fastlane. Lines will be nonexistant.

 

Ride Nighthawk first, then Ricochet and then everything else will pretty much be a walk-on all day. Have fun!

 

I am currently in the United States for a while and have the chance to visit Carowinds upcoming Sunday, during daytime. Since the park hours are quite short compared to the summer, should I consider Fast Lane, or should the wait times be doable? Hope any locals could give an indication.

Sundays in October are a great time to go to Carowinds (generally Sundays are great days to go anyway unless it's a holiday weekend). The longest you'll have to wait is maybe 10-15 minutes at most, with many rides near walk-on. Just get there when the park opens and head straight to Nighthawk to get it out of the way. It's very low capacity and is likely only running one train currently. Ricochet (wild mouse) is pretty low capacity as well. Everything else you should be able to get re-rides on to your heart's content.

 

Thanks for the advice! It's actually rescheduled to the Sunday in two weeks, but glad to hear to Sunday is a good day to visit.

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