Carowinds Discussion Thread

[Cavan]

New guy here. This post is for the copperhead skeptics. I was once one of you, but laying eyes on this thing has destroyed all doubts. The turns are TIGHT, especially after the cut back. It is small, but it is so twisted together it is truly exciting. The relatively low speeds wont be a problem here. Copperhead will be one of Mack's signature rides. This has the potential to be the Maverick of the south.

[DBru]

This looks SO good!

[VF15]

Question for any Carowinds locals, I’ll be visiting the park tomorrow for Winterfest. How busy does the park typically get on WF Saturdays? Does Afterburn or any other ride have Fast Lane and/or Single Rider lines available?

[PKI Jizzman]

Thanks for the photos! Can't wait for testing to start. Looks like a really fun ride.

[prozach626]

This post is for the Copperhead skeptics. I was once one of you, but laying eyes on this thing destroyed all my doubts.

I say this in a completely non confrontational way, but skeptical of what? It doesn't matter if it doesn't make your top ten, bro. It will still be fun. Shit, even Kentucky Kingdom's new roller coaster will be fun. We take no responsibility for neither the design, nor the construction of these rides.

 

Also, Six Flags St. Louis says STFU! (joking... kinda)

 

Thanks for the pictures, sir. Thanks for contributing so early in your TPR posts. Copperhead looks great. I'm really starting to think that Cedar Fair has a contract with Orange Paint Incorporated (OPI), but they're making it work.

[CoasterAuditor]

It is crazy how many of the recent Cedar Fair coasters have been orange or really dark red. Valravn, Rougarou, Railblazer, Yukon Striker, Copperhead Strike, Twisted Timbers, and Steel Vengeance all dark red or burnt orange. At least Hangtime was blue.

[prozach626]

The blue paint was a test product from OPI, but it was discontinued after not selling well.

[coasterbill]

We’re down in South Carolina visiting Brit’s parents for Christmas and since they live about 10 minutes from Carowinds we finally broke down and checked out our first Cedar Fair Christmas event last night. We’re used to Six Flags so it’s nice to see another chain’s take on a Christmas event and we really enjoyed ourselves.

 

The lights were excellent and objectively a slight step up from what you would find at most Six Flags parks. They also seem to have singers and holiday characters at every turn and they went through the trouble of overlaying just about everything in the park for the holidays. Their merchandise game is also on point also with tons of ornaments and ugly sweaters (some of which were Carowinds themed).

 

On the flip side, while we knew about the limited ride lineup going in it’s very glaring. The real issue is that the park was absolutely slammed as people are (understandably) flocking to the park in droves but with such a limited ride lineup the queue for every ride was the longest I’ve ever seen it (though we haven’t attended Scarowinds). We waited about 45 minutes for the back row of Afterburn and aside from that just avoided rides as every queue seemed to be overflowing. Hopefully their overwhelming success prompts them to open a few more rides in the future. With crowds like that and nowhere for them to go the midways are insane.

 

That said, we had a great time and it’s a great way to spend a few hours. Previously the big Christmas events in the area were at the speedway and Mcadenville and while both are nice, they generally take a long time to get into and neither of them are as immersive or impressive as Winterfest. I wouldn’t suggest traveling for this event (especially not when SFOG and Dollywood exist where you can actually ride things) but if you’re in the area you should absolutely stop by. It’s a lot of fun.

 

The lights are excellent

These look awesome in person. The camera makes the trees appear more visible than they really are. In reality it looks like they’re flying.

Lights for days

[Canobie Coaster]

Great report! I agree 100% that Cedar Fair beats Six Flags on the lights and shows, but Six Flags is better in the ride department.

[coasterbill]

Yeah, Six Flags is more of an all day event where this is just a place to spend a few hours. It’s very nice, but a totally different type of thing.

 

I liked Winterfest but I’d take Holiday in the Park any day, though I feel like in some aspects Six Flags could learn a lot from Cedar Fair (see: merchandise and selling those weird igloo cabana things).

[Too Fast For Comfort]

Yeah, Six Flags is more of an all day event where this is just a place to spend a few hours. It’s very nice, but a totally different type of thing.

 

I liked Winterfest but I’d take Holiday in the Park any day, though I feel like in some aspects Six Flags could learn a lot from Cedar Fair (see: merchandise and selling those weird igloo cabana things).

 

I think that the problem is that Six Flags just runs on a shoestring budget. While the sticker price for admission may be in line with Cedar Fair, they really sell some cut rate season passes. And as a result, most of the people who go to the parks are there with their season passes or part of special group rates. So many teenagers end up paying less than $10 per visit because or how cheap the passes are and how often their parents use SF as a babysitting service.

 

And it looks like Six Flags may be fine with it. They just put up some rides and coasters, put up a few posters for the "theming", understaff the park, and the financials balance themselves out.

 

Cedar Fair does charge more for admission, but the season passes are also realistic multiples of the single day tickets. So they end up making more per visitor, and can afford to spend more money to give the guest a better in-park experience.

[coasterbill]

What?

[DirkFunk]

Cedar Fair does charge more for admission, but the season passes are also realistic multiples of the single day tickets. So they end up making more per visitor, and can afford to spend more money to give the guest a better in-park experience.

 

A more realistic multiple? What, 1.75 instead of 1.5? Most people don't buy CF Platinum passes.

 

Season pass prices are based on what the market itself demands in pricing and high per capita spending isn't necessarily relevant to the guest experience. In fact, it's a totally overrated and misunderstood metric that people hype. The last management crew that pushed increasing it finished the job of driving SF into bankruptcy.

[pproteinc]

Just to piggy back on why the park was crowded. Winterfest has actually lost quite a few days of operating due to the monsoon Charlotte has been in for at least a month. We've maybe had 3 total days of sunshine since the snow storm and on days that they attempted to open due to low crowds because of weather they closed at 7 or 8pm. So the day you went was the first no rain but overcast day and everybody flocked who had tickets from prior days that Carowinds allowed to let use on another operating day plus of course you SP holders as myself who basically live at Carowinds when the gate opens. Yes I was there that night as well and it was crazy.

[coasterbill]

Yeah, Six Flags is more of an all day event where this is just a place to spend a few hours. It’s very nice, but a totally different type of thing.

 

I liked Winterfest but I’d take Holiday in the Park any day, though I feel like in some aspects Six Flags could learn a lot from Cedar Fair (see: merchandise and selling those weird igloo cabana things).

 

I think that the problem is that Six Flags just runs on a shoestring budget. While the sticker price for admission may be in line with Cedar Fair, they really sell some cut rate season passes. And as a result, most of the people who go to the parks are there with their season passes or part of special group rates. So many teenagers end up paying less than $10 per visit because or how cheap the passes are and how often their parents use SF as a babysitting service.

 

And it looks like Six Flags may be fine with it. They just put up some rides and coasters, put up a few posters for the "theming", understaff the park, and the financials balance themselves out.

 

Cedar Fair does charge more for admission, but the season passes are also realistic multiples of the single day tickets. So they end up making more per visitor, and can afford to spend more money to give the guest a better in-park experience.

 

I'm still confused about this post.

 

To clarify, Holiday in the Park is the Six Flags event and the point of my post is that I like it much, much better than the Cedar Fair events. In my mind it's a much better product.

 

I'm not sure why you would quote that to bash Six Flags. You can bash them if you'd like but I wanted to clarify my post if there was any confusion.

[hoppedup]

Carowinds is my home park but it's still 1.5 hours away, so I doubt I'll ever go to Winterfest unless I happen to be in or passing through Charlotte for another reason. It's all about the coaster lineup to me, and Six Flags seemingly crushes CF on that aspect with their winter events.

 

Lights are pretty but provide no g-force or airtime. I understand closing off an entire area of a park like some SF parks do. But it's cruel to open Ricochet and have Fury 325 sitting idle right around the corner. And yes, I get it, holiday events are for a whole different crowd. Adding Fury OR Intimidator OR Copperhead Strike next year would probably get me in the door. Which would generate zero revenue for the park since I have platinum CF passes and dining plan. I'm sure if they thought opening more big coasters would generate more revenue they'd be doing it.

[coasterbill]

And yes, I get it, holiday events are for a whole different crowd.

 

This is sort of true but here are the maximum posted wait times for Afterburn the final 6 days of the event (a high capacity B&M running two trains)...

 

12/26: 1 hour

12/27: 1 hour

12/28: 1 hour

12/29: 1 hour

12/30: 50 minutes

12/31: 30 minutes

 

Boo Blasters also hit an hour most days and the Scrambler posted at 45 minutes on Saturday and Sunday. There was a ONE HOUR wait for the swings on the 26th and Troika peaked at 90 MINUTES almost daily this past week. There's clearly a heavy demand for rides and coasters during Winterfest and there aren't many options.

[carolinaman]

I was there on 12/31 and Afterburn was all but a walk on most of the night. After Midnight we rode 6 times and never got out of our seats. The longest we waited was one train. Other rides in the park had lines but nothing really bad.

[coasterbill]

Like I said, those are the MAXIMUM wait times each day and that was the slowest day of the week. Despite that, the wait time still hit 30 minutes which rarely happens ever on Afterburn aside from Haunt and busy Saturdays. I would fully expect it to be a walk-on between midnight and 1am. I would expect it to be a walk-on between midnight and 1am on a Scarowinds Saturday too. Basically everything is going to be by that time of night.

 

It also rained that day which I'm sure kept people away even though it eventually cleared up.

 

The ride had wait times of about an hour 4 of the last 5 operating days and you wanted to let me know that after midnight on the slowest day of the week it was a walk-on? I mean... okay. And?

[carolinaman]

No point, just saying how it was when I was there. Not really trying to dispute you or anthing.

[coasterbill]

Okay.

 

But yeah, I would like to think that they'll see this and realize by these consistently insane wait times that there's a clear demand for more rides. The counterpoint would be that there's no need to open them since they're so busy anyway but I feel like at some point they guest experience might (hopefully) become a concern. There are only so many people that could wait an hour and a half for a Troika and not leave slightly turned off. More rides would also mean that they could extend their hours and (in theory) generate some more in-park spending.

 

I'm not even just talking about coasters. Why not open your other indoor interactive family ride with heat (which ticks all the boxes for a popular December attraction as evidenced by the daily hour long Boo Blasters line) or your other swing ride to cut down on the hour long wait for the other one?

Edited January 4, 2019 by coasterbill

[CoasterAuditor]

I have a strong feeling over time they will see the demand for more rides to be open across the chain and will act accordingly.

[carolinaman]

I know next year Copperhead Strike and the gliders will be open, but I would like to see the Bumper Cars, PvZ and YoYo opened as well/

[thrillseeker4552]

I am glad Copperhead Strike will operate during Winterfest next year. I think I read somewhere that Cedar Fair specifically requested that it be able to operate in colder temperatures, which I'm sure wasn't a problem for Mack since Helix and Blue Fire likely operate in temperatures much colder than the Carolinas experience anyway.

[coasterbill]

I think I read somewhere that Cedar Fair specifically requested that it be able to operate in colder temperatures, which I'm sure wasn't a problem for Mack since Helix and Blue Fire likely operate in temperatures much colder than the Carolinas experience anyway.

 

Carowinds starts everything at or below 40 degrees anyway and they usually seem to keep the rides running even if it dips below that temperature later. Every coaster in the park has the ability to operate the majority of the time for Winterfest given the seasonal averages even if they do decide to follow their existing guidelines. They don't run the coasters because they don't want to run them. I've heard this rumor too but this supposed request seems mostly unnecessary.

 

That said, I'm glad they're running Copperhead Strike. Hopefully they don't pull a BGW and swap something out (like Afterburn).