Cedar Fair Announces Investment in Carowinds

[Hobbes]

Dollywood (which is close enough that I would consider it a competing park) has a good GCI woodie that I honestly don't see Cedar Fair topping. They did play around with Gold Striker, yes, but I got the vibe that it was just "okay." It'd be pretty bold of them to try and outdo Thunderhead.

I'm pretty sure that bold decisions are good for marketing But like I said before, I don't expect a woodie. They will probably go for something more extreme. Plus, the park already has 2 woodies. It's missing both a large-scale multilooper and a launch coaster.

I'd think Carowinds tries to knock out two birds with one stone here, and build a launcher with several inversions. Intamin is probably out, so Mack or maybe Premier would be my best bet.

I would love to see Premier go big with that new ride system they've been using.

Premier has a new ride system? What is it? I have absolutely no idea...

 

[bentcookie]

^ I would imagine he is talking about the mid-course reverse launch used in Full Throttle at SFMM.

 

[Jarrett]

^ I would imagine he is talking about the mid-course reverse launch used in Full Throttle at SFMM.

Let me rephrase; newER ride system. I mean the track and trains used on Sky Rocket and after as opposed to the track/trains on their older rides like Poltergeist, FoF, Speed, and Mr. Freeze. I've not ridden one but they seem to have taken off. They already built YOLO and Superman which were pretty big, and I'd love to see that taken to the next level.

 

[Snoo]

I'm ecstatic about this! Carowinds isn't a huge park and there's not that much there that's interesting minus Intimidator and Afterburn, but this should indicate that that's changing!

Dollywood (which is close enough that I would consider it a competing park) has a good GCI woodie that I honestly don't see Cedar Fair topping. They did play around with Gold Striker, yes, but I got the vibe that it was just "okay." It'd be pretty bold of them to try and outdo Thunderhead.

Now I'm being that nerd looking at Google Maps trying to figure out where everything could fit. It looks like to the left of the park entrance there could be enough space for a B&M wing coaster station. I'm not sure if the design is copyrighted, but I always thought Wild Eagle's trains could be repurposed for a patriotic-themed coaster. Build an antebellum-style station building and use those trains on white track with a red stripe (like Patriot's but flipped) and blue supports and it would look great. Even if Dollywood has exclusive rights to that train design (which they probably do) they could do a different eagle (a silver eagle wing coaster train would be SICK!!!) or even a generic shell with an American flag on it. A patriotic theme would fit this coaster well and would compliment Skytower and seeing as CF has done it before with Patriot I could see them doing it again at Carowinds. As much as I like Carowinds's entrance, it always feels like it's missing something large, like a focal point. Skytower is so far back that it really doesn't fill this gap when you first walk in and while the state line is there and I do enjoy getting into the park and getting my picture taken in two states at once, it's not big enough. What I was thinking is that maybe they could do twin zero-g rolls like GateKeeper, but have them perpendicular to each other instead of parallel, and make a sort of X-shape over the entrance plaza. There's not enough on it to be considered a main street-style entrance and putting a large coaster element over it would definitely welcome you to this park very well. Also, I remember that when Windseeker opened that the press release said something about how it was appropriate to have there because the Wright Brothers accomplished the world's first powered flight in the Carolinas. If they believe that and want to use that thinking again, a wing coaster would be great for the park.

I think that two of these three years will be coasters, and in addition to the wing coaster, the southeast also needs a good launched coaster. I know Florida has a few, but it's so different and touristy than the region we're talking about (Caro, D-wood, SDC, SFOG, ect.) that I think a decent launcher would bring home a lot of bacon for Carowinds. I see two options they could go with. The first, which is what I got from the "Cedar Point of the south" remark, was a fast, intense Intamin rocket coaster, maybe a strata with Formula Rossa-esque trains, or even a traditional strata like KK or TTD. They haven't built one in a while so it'll be interesting to see what they do if it's a strata. They probably don't have room for it but just a really fast one like Formula Rossa that could take the record of fastest in the States would be nice also. The other option I see is a Premier or Mack multi launcher. I think Intamin COULD supply this, but Cedar Fair might have a bit of a chip on their shoulder about them ever since all the crap that's gone on with Intimidator 305 lately. Whatever it is, I noticed that Southern Star, the park's inverting ship ride, could potentially be moved elsewhere. This could leave a medium-sized gap open for a coaster station. Now what I was thinking is that maybe this launcher would have a weak launch and do a few small elements over that midway before dipping down below the ground into a tunnel between Thunder Road's queue and the parking lot. This tunnel could go below the parking lot on the Afterburn/Thunder Road side of the park, going through a HUGE launch, and messing around in that lot through large, intense elements before dipping down below the ground next to the launch (think Hades) and maybe performing a few airtime hops/barrel rolls in a line before trimming/launching (whatever is needed) to get the ride to a comfortable pace to meander back to the station. This really seems like a Premier thing and I would love to see Premier go big with that new ride system they've been using. Also, I know I said they should move Southern Star (and they might), but are they still USING the Action Theater? The only place I saw it mentioned on the park's website was on the park map. If not I think they could gut it and use it as an indoor station/queue building that would save all that midway hopping. It could just dip under the parking lot out of the station. I'm not sure if they even own that land outside the parking lot, but if they do it would look really nice from the highway. And if not, they might be able to just rip out that parking lot, or at least part of it. I feel like nobody even uses it anymore, though I could be wrong.

On the subject of that parking lot, maybe they expand into the lot behind Thunder Road? I feel like it's used that heavily (though I've never seen Carowinds crowded so correct me if I'm wrong) but if they have a big slab of tarmac that nobody's using I see nothing wrong with expanding back into it.

Just my two cents.

Like I said...let it be anything BUT a freaking Wing Rider for heaven's sake. I find them very overrated, forceless and boring. Look at the line at Gatekeeper throughout the day. I've been to CP 8 times this season and every time I've been there, after the initial 2 hour morning wait; the queue was never over an hour long. This was true in peak summer days as well. Of the times I've been there, a lot of the GP I overheard found it very overrated as well. Now if B&M uses their Wing Rider for a 4D, that's a different story. But until that happens, I will be very disappointed if any more of these coasters are built. So, bring on a launcher, a Strata, a Giga, a Woodie...anything but a WR.

This guy. A terrible park with one redeeming attraction needs more than a crappy WR. They are the B&M Floorless of this time period.. except those rides don't suck.

 

[Gavin]

Wouldn't it be considerably cheaper just to invest in a giant wrecking ball?

 

[bmac]

This guy. A terrible park with one redeeming attraction needs more than a crappy WR. They are the B&M Floorless of this time period.. except those rides don't suck.

They're the B&M Stand-up of this time period, floorless coasters still get love

Wouldn't it be considerably cheaper just to invest in a giant wrecking ball?

The least they can do is save Afterburn, it got spited so hard being put in that park.

 

[Jarrett]

Am I the only one here that actually likes Carowinds? XD It may not be SFMM or Cedar Point but you have to admit, it's a pretty fun park. It may not have that many huge, forceful coasters, but the smaller coasters it has that would serve as background coasters at a Kings Island/Cedar Point/Kings Dominion make a pretty good background lineup if they add a few big flagships. What I'm saying is that their smaller coasters (Vortex, Carolina Cyclone, Goldrusher, ect.) are good for lower end coasters of the park, but Nighthawk simply doesn't belong with Intimidator and Afterburn as a flagship, and while they're both great coasters, there's nothing "amazing" there. They could really go for a Top Thrill Dragster/I-305, or something else considered absolutely insane by the GP. I would really like to see an Intamin strata go in, but I doubt it's happening.

My issue is what kind of room they would need to fit in another coaster. They could really cram it in like that wing coaster I suggested earlier (I'll get to it in a bit) but where can they fit a giant looper? Only thing I can think of is block off a section of the Thunder Road parking lot and put in one of those new floorlesses and paint it yellow, blue, and magenta and call it Scream and not do anything with the old parking lines. I've not ridden one of the new floorlesses, but I've heard nothing but good things about Hair Raiser, so maybe this is what they go with. CF has already had B&M make an old-school coaster type this coming year (Banshee) so I see no reason for them not to do it again. Only issue I might have with a floorless would be them using those wing coaster restraints like they're doing for Banshee. Banshee's I'll live with but they feel unnecessary, and I see no reason to do it on a floorless.

Now, I expected a bit of backlash for the wing coaster thing. The thing is that I feel GateKeeper might not have the ridership CF wants because they put it in the same park as Maverick, Dragster, and Millennium. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but it is my second to least favorite flagship there. Perhaps if they made a slightly better wing coaster and put it in a smaller park like Carowinds it would have more popularity and be more successful.

Take a look at this wing coaster, the one going into Heide Park now:

I always felt like Heide was about the size of Carowinds, maybe a little larger. This wing coaster, while small, should pack a major punch. If Carowinds got a smaller wing coaster similar to this one to "guard the gates" if you will, that and maybe a launcher or large looper (or both combined) could turn this ordinary park into an extraordinary park.

Also, this is probably wishful thinking talking, but could Morgan be ready to build their second giga? Carowinds might not have the space for it, but Morgan did just develop that hyper-lite coaster and Steel Dragon got those nice B&M trains. Maybe Morgan redesigns their giga coaster ride system and builds one that laps around the park from the old Action Theater to the rapids, maybe going over Thunder Road in the process. Cedar Fair seems to have a decent history with Morgan with Steel Phantom, Mamba, and Wild Thing, so maybe it's time to reunite with an old friend.

I also think that the park might consider tearing down Thunder Road in the near future. When I rode it last it didn't seem to be that popular (though queue times aren't generally the best way to judge that) and it was rough as anything. I've been hoping a park would RMC a racing coaster to have zero-g rolls over onto the other track (kind of like a 360-degree high five where one track rolls over the other) but if they do that then the only woodie left in the park is Hurler and well...let's just say Hurler's awful. They might TOPPER TRACK it in the future, but I don't think we can expect a reprofiling or i-box job.

I bet one of the years they add something new to the water park. That is one bad thing I will say about the park, their waterpark STINKS. It's still Boomerang Bay if I'm correct and while I did like the Boomerang Bays when Paramount owned it and kept the theming slightly strong, Cedar Fair's really let that fall under. Last time we went there the only thing that looked like it was worth riding was that big green 4-person raft slide and it was down due to a filter issue, and the lazy river, which has two stations, didn't let us get off at the other one for some reason. I totally see Carowinds becoming Soak City and getting a new slide in the future, possibly a multi-lane mat racer like Dragster H2O. That or an aqualoop off of that huge slide tower could probably do well. Only other thing I see doing well there would have to be one of those new water coasters, and so far they've been built on hillsides, not flat-as-a-board Carowinds.

This is a bit of a goon-ish thought, but is there a way their new attraction could have a double station like MF or TTD that straddles the state line? That way you could say you took a coaster from one state to another. I know Thunder Road, Nighthawk, and Goldrusher already cross the state line, but I was wondering if you could load in North Carolina and get off in South Carolina or vice versa. It would make a great marketing opportunity.

Again, just another one of my trademark "Jarrett streams of thought" but I think I might be onto something with the waterpark. As far as the coasters go, I bet they pick two from this list:

*Premier launcher (like Skyrocket/Yolo)
*Small wing coaster guarding the entrance gates
*New generation B&M floorless
*Small Mack launcher (unlikely)
*Intamin Strata (unlikely)
*Morgan giga (VERY unlikely)

I also think the following improvements MIGHT be made:
*Soak City and new slide
*Topper track for Thunder Road
*Removal/repurposing of Action Theater and updated placemaking for County Fair (Afterburn area)
*Updated entrance plaza

 

[kadabrium]

IMO wingriders shouldn't have become loopers in the first place. Those trains would fit way better on any B&M hyper.
Originally thought the same about flyers, but changed my mind after seeing SSR.

 

[Jarrett]

IMO wingriders shouldn't have become loopers in the first place. Those trains would fit way better on any B&M hyper.
Originally thought the same about flyers, but changed my mind after seeing SSR.

By SSR, do you mean Starry Sky Ripper?

I thought wing coasters would make okay hypers but then I rode GateKeeper. It's a sick ride, don't get me wrong, but that camelback was a huge letdown. As much as I hate to say it, I really think B&M dropped the ball on that one. I think the only reason it was so forceless was due to the turn radius the trains could handle or something, because we saw the piece for it and it had a pretty tight angle. I honestly wish they had made it a lower hop like the new one at Heide Park has.

Here's the quick layout I threw together for what Carowinds could do for a wing coaster. It has its issues, I know, but it's a start.

ISSUES:
*I know that giant flat spin looks a tad misshapen.
*That giant pretzel roll element that Heide is building is entered and exited parallel to each other. My design involves moving the entrances and exits to the side, sort of like a hybrid between the pretzel loop and an inclined batwing.
*The station looks to be at an appropriate length but could be elongated and the lift steepened if need be.

So they'd lose a bit of maintenance/backstage space but they have plenty of it already, and I could see anything they lost being moved to accomodate this new hypothetical wing coaster. There seemed to be some unused space in the maintenance area inside of Hurler's layout. That toilet by the pretzel roll might also cause some issues, but I bet Cedar Fair can find some way to cram it in there.

Another thing is that this layout I threw together could probably also accomodate floorless or sitdown trains. Let's not forget that they did develop newer sitdown trains for Wildfire at SDC, if they used those trains for this layout and painted some really cool flaming American flag on the zero-car and gave it my intended paint scheme (white track with a red spine stripe and blue supports) it would probably look just as cool as the silver eagle I talked about earlier.

I also heard that there were survey markers spotted around Carowinds on TPR. Can anybody tell me exactly where they are?

And in terms of space, if the park needs more room they might have to take down a ride. Honestly, given how they both kind of fill the gap for a small looper, I say we could see Carolina Cyclone or Vortex (preferably) leave the park. Seriously, Cedar Fair could relocate Vortex to Valleyfair or Michigan's Adventure, probably. Looking at Google Maps, it takes up so much space and uses so little of it that they could probably fit something as good as a GCI big fun or a small Mack launcher in there. And if they have it interact with Goldrusher (again, doesn't use a lot of its space but there's nothing wrong with it and it rounds out the park) they could probably fit something better in that spot. Maybe even a Skyrocket-sized Premier!

 

[Hobbes]

^interesting comments. The layout seems possible, but I'm not convinced a wing coaster is happening. Carowinds really needs a launched coaster, and I remember that interview with the CF CEO that mentioned something about no new wing coasters in the near future.

Also, why the interest in the red white and blue paint scheme? It doesn't sound like it would look very good, and I don't see the reason for random patriotism.

 

[Jarrett]

^interesting comments. The layout seems possible, but I'm not convinced a wing coaster is happening. Carowinds really needs a launched coaster, and I remember that interview with the CF CEO that mentioned something about no new wing coasters in the near future.

I know Ouimett said that none where PLANNED, but I'm not sure if he's not thinking about it again. It really depends how successful they thought GateKeeper was.

Also, why the interest in the red white and blue paint scheme? It doesn't sound like it would look very good, and I don't see the reason for random patriotism.

The entrance is basically a concrete plaza, a bump, and another cobblestone plaza that has the Carowinds logo in brass in front of the skytower. Here's a picture I took when I went in 2011:

Now that looks pretty close, but look at the shot taken behind me in the same location:

So the skytower is pretty far back when you walk in and the area feels pretty bare. The idea was that the wing coaster/sitdown would perform those zero-g rolls over the bump (that white area in my drawing where the zero-g rolls cross over) and the color scheme could compliment Carolina Skytower. This would create two main focal points of the area, similar to Cedar Point's carousel and GateKeeper but you can see both at the same time, it's just that Skytower is a bit further back.

 

[jolash]

I may be mistaken but I thought most people hate Patriot's (WoF) colors.

 

[bentcookie]

Still confused on some people's love for Wing Riders. If Carowinds built one, it would be nothing but a money pit for them. If they plan on wanting to expand their market area they need to actually build something worth riding. In other words, a unique launching coaster, or a Giga. Something that will actually stand out and not put the GP to sleep.
Oh, and I wouldn't like a patriotic theme either. There's nothing to work with except color. Not like Cedar Fair does great with theme anyways. But with their new "place making" style, it would be much easier to stick with an objectified theme such as a creature/monster (Raptor/Banshee) or an event (TTD/I305).

 

[Jarrett]

I may be mistaken but I thought most people hate Patriot's (WoF) colors.

I never really thought about that, but I was thinking white track with a red stripe as opposed to red track with a white stripe. I think the issue with Patriot is that it's too colorful, with the one neutral color being the least dominant. I'm sure it would look much better with white track with a red stripe since it won't be too colorful.

Still confused on some people's love for Wing Riders. If Carowinds built one, it would be nothing but a money pit for them. If they plan on wanting to expand their market area they need to actually build something worth riding. In other words, a unique launching coaster, or a Giga. Something that will actually stand out and not put the GP to sleep.
Oh, and I wouldn't like a patriotic theme either. There's nothing to work with except color. Not like Cedar Fair does great with theme anyways. But with their new "place making" style, it would be much easier to stick with an objectified theme such as a creature/monster (Raptor/Banshee) or an event (TTD/I305).

That's why I think there'll be two coasters. One wing coaster and one launcher, MAYBE a giga if they can fit it in. Carowinds is pretty crammed space-wise, and if they can fit a wing coaster in around the entrance they should take that opportunity because it gives them an excuse to refurbish the entrance plaza. GateKeeper worked will for this and if it's not a wing coaster, the same concept and layout would work for a Wildfire-esque sitdown or a floorless (though floorless trains are ugly imo, not sure if they want one right up front), but what I'm saying is that a B&M with two zero-g rolls would look nice over the entrance, and would look even nicer with the patriotic theme.

About what they could/couldn't do with theming, I do agree that there isn't much they could do aside from the antebellum-style station. However, another theme they could do for this is do something similar to GateKeeper where it's not themed that much but looks nice. The challenge with a wing coaster will be making the theme not clash with Afterburn's fighter jet theme. Another color combination would be gold track held up by white beams, though make the gold an actual gold color as opposed to a goldenrod like Skyrush.

If not the wing coaster, I bet the two coasters they select are the B&M floorless/sitdown and a Premier launcher, and I bet something happens with that parking lot behind Thunder Road.

 

[bentcookie]

I may be mistaken but I thought most people hate Patriot's (WoF) colors.

I never really thought about that, but I was thinking white track with a red stripe as opposed to red track with a white stripe. I think the issue with Patriot is that it's too colorful, with the one neutral color being the least dominant. I'm sure it would look much better with white track with a red stripe since it won't be too colorful.

Still confused on some people's love for Wing Riders. If Carowinds built one, it would be nothing but a money pit for them. If they plan on wanting to expand their market area they need to actually build something worth riding. In other words, a unique launching coaster, or a Giga. Something that will actually stand out and not put the GP to sleep.
Oh, and I wouldn't like a patriotic theme either. There's nothing to work with except color. Not like Cedar Fair does great with theme anyways. But with their new "place making" style, it would be much easier to stick with an objectified theme such as a creature/monster (Raptor/Banshee) or an event (TTD/I305).

That's why I think there'll be two coasters. One wing coaster and one launcher, MAYBE a giga if they can fit it in. Carowinds is pretty crammed space-wise, and if they can fit a wing coaster in around the entrance they should take that opportunity because it gives them an excuse to refurbish the entrance plaza. GateKeeper worked will for this and if it's not a wing coaster, the same concept and layout would work for a Wildfire-esque sitdown or a floorless (though floorless trains are ugly imo, not sure if they want one right up front), but what I'm saying is that a B&M with two zero-g rolls would look nice over the entrance, and would look even nicer with the patriotic theme.

About what they could/couldn't do with theming, I do agree that there isn't much they could do aside from the antebellum-style station. However, another theme they could do for this is do something similar to GateKeeper where it's not themed that much but looks nice. The challenge with a wing coaster will be making the theme not clash with Afterburn's fighter jet theme. Another color combination would be gold track held up by white beams, though make the gold an actual gold color as opposed to a goldenrod like Skyrush.

If not the wing coaster, I bet the two coasters they select are the B&M floorless/sitdown and a Premier launcher, and I bet something happens with that parking lot behind Thunder Road.

If they have 50 million to spend, I highly doubt there will be two coasters. Remember, they talked about water park expansions and infrastructure work as well. If there was to be two coasters, either one would be really good, and the other terrible; or both would be terrible. If they built a Wing Rider, it would most likely be near the cost of Gatekeeper...probably around 25-28 million if they wanted it to be their holy grail. That leaves roughly another 25 million and they still need to spend that on the water park and infrastructure, so take out another 10-15 million and that leaves you with 10-15 million left for another coaster. That would be enough for an RMC woodie or a GCI, but the park doesn't need that. They need a launcher, and quite frankly 10-15 million isn't enough to make it a good one IMO.

 

[jolash]

New Lemon Shock stand in the parking lot, and the world's tallest carousel. New at Carowinds, 2015.

 

[Jarrett]

I may be mistaken but I thought most people hate Patriot's (WoF) colors.

I never really thought about that, but I was thinking white track with a red stripe as opposed to red track with a white stripe. I think the issue with Patriot is that it's too colorful, with the one neutral color being the least dominant. I'm sure it would look much better with white track with a red stripe since it won't be too colorful.

Still confused on some people's love for Wing Riders. If Carowinds built one, it would be nothing but a money pit for them. If they plan on wanting to expand their market area they need to actually build something worth riding. In other words, a unique launching coaster, or a Giga. Something that will actually stand out and not put the GP to sleep.
Oh, and I wouldn't like a patriotic theme either. There's nothing to work with except color. Not like Cedar Fair does great with theme anyways. But with their new "place making" style, it would be much easier to stick with an objectified theme such as a creature/monster (Raptor/Banshee) or an event (TTD/I305).

That's why I think there'll be two coasters. One wing coaster and one launcher, MAYBE a giga if they can fit it in. Carowinds is pretty crammed space-wise, and if they can fit a wing coaster in around the entrance they should take that opportunity because it gives them an excuse to refurbish the entrance plaza. GateKeeper worked will for this and if it's not a wing coaster, the same concept and layout would work for a Wildfire-esque sitdown or a floorless (though floorless trains are ugly imo, not sure if they want one right up front), but what I'm saying is that a B&M with two zero-g rolls would look nice over the entrance, and would look even nicer with the patriotic theme.

About what they could/couldn't do with theming, I do agree that there isn't much they could do aside from the antebellum-style station. However, another theme they could do for this is do something similar to GateKeeper where it's not themed that much but looks nice. The challenge with a wing coaster will be making the theme not clash with Afterburn's fighter jet theme. Another color combination would be gold track held up by white beams, though make the gold an actual gold color as opposed to a goldenrod like Skyrush.

If not the wing coaster, I bet the two coasters they select are the B&M floorless/sitdown and a Premier launcher, and I bet something happens with that parking lot behind Thunder Road.

If they have 50 million to spend, I highly doubt there will be two coasters. Remember, they talked about water park expansions and infrastructure work as well. If there was to be two coasters, either one would be really good, and the other terrible; or both would be terrible. If they built a Wing Rider, it would most likely be near the cost of Gatekeeper...probably around 25-28 million if they wanted it to be their holy grail. That leaves roughly another 25 million and they still need to spend that on the water park and infrastructure, so take out another 10-15 million and that leaves you with 10-15 million left for another coaster. That would be enough for an RMC woodie or a GCI, but the park doesn't need that. They need a launcher, and quite frankly 10-15 million isn't enough to make it a good one IMO.

Full Throttle was just 8 million and S:UF was 6 million, so 15 million could create a slightly longer Premier LSM coaster. I heard okay reviews for Full Throttle, so pumping a little more into another could create a nice ride. Not groundbreaking, but something the south definitely needs. And I don't think Carowinds would want that wing coaster to be the park's crown jewel. They would want it to be a flagship, true, but not the best ride in the park. Do like Cedar Point does and split it between Timmy, Afterburn, and the wing coaster, possibly add the launch coaster to that later.

 

[bentcookie]

Full Throttle was just 8 million and S:UF was 6 million, so 15 million could create a slightly longer Premier LSM coaster. I heard okay reviews for Full Throttle, so pumping a little more into another could create a nice ride. Not groundbreaking, but something the south definitely needs. And I don't think Carowinds would want that wing coaster to be the park's crown jewel. They would want it to be a flagship, true, but not the best ride in the park. Do like Cedar Point does and split it between Timmy, Afterburn, and the wing coaster, possibly add the launch coaster to that later.

I believe whatever coaster they end up building, they will want it to be their #1. Cedar Fair even stated that Carowinds is ready for record-breaking attractions. If whatever they build is a record-breaker, I'm pretty sure it would be their crown jewel only because the rest of their lineup is on the weaker side. Kings Island (for example) with Banshee is a different story because Beast and Diamonback are great rides.

 

[Jarrett]

Full Throttle was just 8 million and S:UF was 6 million, so 15 million could create a slightly longer Premier LSM coaster. I heard okay reviews for Full Throttle, so pumping a little more into another could create a nice ride. Not groundbreaking, but something the south definitely needs. And I don't think Carowinds would want that wing coaster to be the park's crown jewel. They would want it to be a flagship, true, but not the best ride in the park. Do like Cedar Point does and split it between Timmy, Afterburn, and the wing coaster, possibly add the launch coaster to that later.

I believe whatever coaster they end up building, they will want it to be their #1. Cedar Fair even stated that Carowinds is ready for record-breaking attractions. If whatever they build is a record-breaker, I'm pretty sure it would be their crown jewel only because the rest of their lineup is on the weaker side. Kings Island (for example) with Banshee is a different story because Beast and Diamonback are great rides.

I meant that the wing coaster wouldn't be the ultimate flagship of the park, like Cedar Point has five and puts none over the others.

But if record breaking is what they want, I doubt it'll be a wing coaster. Only winged record they might make an attempt on would be the inversion record, which is 5 or 6 if I'm correct. Using my design with a Swarm drop would make it 6, but if they want record breakers, I think they have better things to do with their time. Maybe get S&S to make a Ring Racer-esque launcher?

 

[bentcookie]

That's my point. They plan on building "record-breaking attractions", and if that means a coaster, you can count out a Wing Rider. With Carowinds having a pretty bland lineup, I would expect whatever is planned to be unique. A Ring Racer-esque launcher would be cool, but will never happen. I feel like Cedar Fair uses B&M and GCI.....and that's it. Well at least after their fallout with Intamin. So it will most likely be a B&M. If it was a Giga, I'm not sure what record they would go for, however.