Carowinds Discussion Thread

[DBru]

While I'm glad this coaster is coming over a Vortex revamp, I do think Carowind's Vortex has one of the better, more unique stand-up layouts. It's just that the trains suck and rattle like crazy. CGA's layout, however, was always lame.

[CaptainUnknown]

When I was there last week, I walked onto Vortex front row. I think i was the only one on the train. It was bad, but not as bad as Iron Wolf was. Carolina Goldrusher was running rougher than Vortex that night. I'm genuinely curious as to how much of a difference the floorless train would make. It'll be interesting to see what (if anything) the park does with it.

[sdcfan88]

I am surprised no B&M standup's have been converted into the unique style SDC's Wildfire uses. Its a sit down but with elevated seating.

[coasterkyle]

That’s because they get a gimmick out of floorless trains. AKA: They can market more features to try and draw people to the park.

[coasterbill]

I hate to speculate on the success of a park's investment because it's a slippery slope that leads to rumors getting repeated and then being accepted as fact (see: Cedar Fair will never work with Intamin again) but like... I don't know...

 

Mantis did 925,667 riders in it's final season. By it's second season Rougarou was already pulled from Early Entry and it did under a million riders so there was basically no change despite going from 2 trains to 3 and dramatically improving capacity.

 

Rougarou in theory should probably have better capacity than every coaster in the park except for Gatekeeper, Gemeni and possibly Magnum and Millennium Force. I'd imagine it would even be ahead of Raptor in reality since Raptor's bins exist and god damn do they ever create a sh*tshow for anyone trying to sit in rows one and two.

 

So in it's second season despite it's amazing capacity, Rougarou did less riders than Gatekeeper, Millennium Force, Valravn (with a 24 passenger train), Magnum, Raptor, Sky Ride, Gemeni, the Railroad, Dragster despite it's low capacity, inability to run in rain, inability to run in wind and massive amounts of downtime and Maverick which holds 12 riders per train and breaks constantly (though at least it gets Early Entry which Rougarou does not). There were other rides that could have beat it too but stats aren't available. Honestly I feel like Iron Dragon would be right there.

 

That's pathetic and it's absolutely based on popularity because it has the capacity to beat Valravn, Dragster and Maverick handily and it should probably beat Raptor too (especially because Raptor closes for wind more than any coaster in the park except maybe Dragster and Rougarou will literally run in anything). It's not a capacity issue and it's not a downtime issue, it's just not that popular.

 

As for Patriot, I don't exactly have my finger on the pulse of that park but we went on a busy day where we needed Fastlane and walked straight on to row one of that dumpster fire of a ride and we were the only ones on the train. It sounds like everyone else is reporting similar results.

 

I wouldn't hold my breath for a floorless conversion. It could happen, but it's not exactly doing wonders for the popularity of these rides. Cheer up though, Patriot is a trash ride anyway.

[Card]

Came back from my Carowinds/Charlotte visit a few weeks ago. My schedule's been a nightmare lately, so I haven't had much time to get around to picking out any of half-decent photos I took and editing and cropping them. Really, REALLY enjoyed my time down there. I was glad I stayed the better part of a week, which gave me the opportunity to check out more than just the park. There's so much cool stuff to do in the greater Charlotte area. I'm certainly no Invertalon, but I thought I'd share a few highlights with you folks, anyway:

The Clarion Inn across the way is a so-so hotel overall, but decent for the price, plus it's hard to beat THIS view.

The Piedmont Prairie Trail nearby is a great place to go birding (one of my many hobbies), and check out cool birds like this eastern phoebe...

...or this ruby-throated hummingbird...

...or this common yellowthroat.

Okay okay, enough birds. Sun's out, tongues out!

One of my favorites from the trip. One dude in front with his hands open (but eyes tight shut), and another dude elbowing the hell out of the girl next to him. Amazing.

Entrance sign. I wish they'd take a cue from Kings Dominion and use their original park logo (even though it kinda sucks), since using the Cedar Fair font for all of the parks seems a bit, I don't know, tacky?

Afterburn! There, um... aren't a lot of great places to get shots of Afterburn, I think. The south gate was closed, so I couldn't go down there without ostensibly attracting the attention of security. Lastly, shark train = best train.

Panning shot!

God, I love this element.

BLURRRRRRRRRR

Piplup and pikachu party!

Staring contest with the hornet. He always wins. Jerk.

Late day airtime. Trim brakes or not, those last three hills are MONEY.

Always love taking long-exposures of WindSeeker and seeing what sort of colors show up.

Red and blue ain't your thing? No problem, here's some green for ya.

Fury. So, so pretty at night. Wish I took this with a little less clutter (read: people) around, but I still dig it.

Okay, last shot, I promise. I thought Electro Spin was pretty rad; somewhat reminiscent of Chaos. Also a fun ride to take long-exposure shots of.

[kylexy2298]

Awesome photos! Personally love the photo of Fury during the sunset, but the other ones are just as good! Glad you got to stay and check out Charlotte as there really is a lot to see around in that area.

[sdcfan88]

Awesome! Gonna try to make it out there for the first time in a couple weeks. Should be very little crowds since school is starting back up. Lol

[thrillrider]

I hate to speculate on the success of a park's investment because it's a slippery slope that leads to rumors getting repeated and then being accepted as fact (see: Cedar Fair will never work with Intamin again) but like... I don't know...

 

Mantis did 925,667 riders in it's final season. By it's second season Rougarou was already pulled from Early Entry and it did under a million riders so there was basically no change despite going from 2 trains to 3 and dramatically improving capacity.

 

Rougarou in theory should probably have better capacity than every coaster in the park except for Gatekeeper, Gemeni and possibly Magnum and Millennium Force. I'd imagine it would even be ahead of Raptor in reality since Raptor's bins exist and god damn do they ever create a sh*tshow for anyone trying to sit in rows one and two.

 

So in it's second season despite it's amazing capacity, Rougarou did less riders than Gatekeeper, Millennium Force, Valravn (with a 24 passenger train), Magnum, Raptor, Sky Ride, Gemeni, the Railroad, Dragster despite it's low capacity, inability to run in rain, inability to run in wind and massive amounts of downtime and Maverick which holds 12 riders per train and breaks constantly (though at least it gets Early Entry which Rougarou does not). There were other rides that could have beat it too but stats aren't available. Honestly I feel like Iron Dragon would be right there.

 

That's pathetic and it's absolutely based on popularity because it has the capacity to beat Valravn, Dragster and Maverick handily and it should probably beat Raptor too (especially because Raptor closes for wind more than any coaster in the park except maybe Dragster and Rougarou will literally run in anything). It's not a capacity issue and it's not a downtime issue, it's just not that popular.

 

As for Patriot, I don't exactly have my finger on the pulse of that park but we went on a busy day where we needed Fastlane and walked straight on to row one of that dumpster fire of a ride and we were the only ones on the train. It sounds like everyone else is reporting similar results.

 

I wouldn't hold my breath for a floorless conversion. It could happen, but it's not exactly doing wonders for the popularity of these rides. Cheer up though, Patriot is a trash ride anyway.

 

I think that the problems that cause low ridership on rougarou boils down to 2 big issues.

 

1. Believe it or not, a lot of people think it's still a standup coaster. We were talking about cp at work, and everyone thought that it was still a standup coaster with a new theme.

 

2. The parks coaster collection. If you placed rougarou in most other parks, it would be one of the more popular coasters. But when you put it in a park with dragster, millennium force, maverick, steel vengeance, raptor, valravin, and a handful of other decent coaster....well, you do the math.

[christianscoasters]

Yeah, it’s just not that popular. It’s capacity was advertised as 1800/hr, but in reality, it can’t get more than 1344 riders per hour, or 42 dispatches. It was a change in programming when it was converted from Mantis. It can move a line fairly well, but it’s not the people eater everyone was expecting.

[DILinator]

2. The parks coaster collection. If you placed rougarou in most other parks, it would be one of the more popular coasters. But when you put it in a park with dragster, millennium force, maverick, steel vengeance, raptor, valravin, and a handful of other decent coaster....well, you do the math.

 

This is very true! If CP had moved Rougarou to almost any other park in the chain (with the exception of KD, for obvious reasons), it would immediately become one of the most popular coasters there! To say the CP spoils its patrons when it comes to roller coaster thrills, is an understatement.

[TBpony414]

Card - those pictures are fantastic! Some of the angles you got of the park are really neat, like the Caro sign with Fury in the background. I especially love the one at the top of the treble clef since it really captures how insane that particular moment is. I know nothing about birds but your photos of them are excellent as well so thanks for including them.

[DJeXeL]

More clues posted to Carowinds’ Twitter this morning.

[jarmor]

Roll out of station, 42 mph launch in 2.5 seconds, hit a brake run second launch goes from 35-50mph in 2 seconds flat. Top speed, 53 mph, length 3,255 ft. 2 min 24 second ride time,16 riders per train. Ride centered around making moonshine in an inconspicuous place which is what the station could be themed after. Moonshine being made, Copperhead Strike.

 

No snakes nor moonshine were harmed in the making of this post . . .

[PKI Jizzman]

"Stir completely around" = more evidence for a spinning coaster?

[SharkTums]

^I think the 16 passenger train gives it away more than anything right?

[DoinItForTheFame]

More clues posted to Carowinds’ Twitter this morning.

 

Yeah, I'm thinking an inverting multi-launching spinning coaster IE: Time Traveler.

[thrillseeker4552]

Icon also has 16-passenger trains. I think it's pretty much 50/50 being spinning or not, and I would be completely happy either way to be honest.

[PKI Jizzman]

^I think the 16 passenger train gives it away more than anything right?

 

I didn't even think about that. I took a quick look at all of the other spinning coasters and with the exception of Turbulence, you're right they're 16 passenger trains.

 

 

Icon also has 16-passenger trains. I think it's pretty much 50/50 being spinning or not, and I would be completely happy either way to be honest.

 

[jarmor]

I don't think its a spinner because the "stiring" sounds like the layout and the labeling on time traveler was x-treme and the labeling on this one is just dual launch.

 

Great use of a double-entendre lol.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Maybe the marketing is different because Carowinds and SDC use different marketing teams. Just a thought.

[chickenbowl]

The stirring thing could also be referencing the two vertical loops that follow each launching section?

[jarmor]

Maybe the marketing is different because Carowinds and SDC use different marketing teams. Just a thought.

Not marketing, the labeling that Mack put on their shipments. Has nothing to do with how the coaster is marketed . . .

[DoinItForTheFame]

The stirring thing could also be referencing the two vertical loops that follow each launching section?

 

How do you get vertical loops out of stirring??

 

(Just curious, not trying to be an a$$.)

[ytterbiumanalyst]

I always stir things vertically when I cook.