Carowinds

[monsoon]

Edited March 7, 2006 by metro.m

[Raleigh-NC]

This is a really nice tour of Carowinds. I've never been there, so I can't comment on the rides, but I surely hope it finds its past glory.

[Allan]

It's always interesting to watch places like this change with the times. I've never heard of, let alone seen a double decker carousel before. We've got several carousels around Michigan, but not any double decker ones. I'm guessing that very few were made.

[thumper]

Nice Thread Metro!

[cityboi]

Amazing tour. 1982 was the last time I went to Carowinds. I was 4 years old so I know things have changed quite a bit. I do remember White Lightning. to bad they got rid of it

[Neo]

Thanks monsoon!!! Man, this brings back a lot of memories. I wasn't alive for some of this stuff, but I remember things like the Witchdoctor! I remember having dreams as a kid about it...for some reason I thought it was black and orange though, it looks like a cyan color in the picture above. Good work!

[QC704]

Great pics monsoon!

Didnt they shut down white lightning because someone got hurt on it? Thats what I've always been told.

Whats funny is my folks used to pay 20-25 bucks to get in and all they would ride was that damn monorail. Everything else was too exciting for them LOL.

[monsoon]

[cityboi]

parks always like to change up to stay competitive.

[reverbandwhiskey]

The White Lightning was my first rollercoaster that I ever rode that featured a loop. I cried while in line.

[monsoon]

Bump.

Since we have so many new Charlotte Peeps, I thought there would be interest again in this older UrbanPlanet (actually SSA) thread.

[uptownliving]

Carowinds is doing well these days with park attendance up 13% last year....putting it in the Top 30 Theme Parks in the USA.

[atlrvr]

This thread almost brought tears to my eyes.......I remeber what a long ride it was to Carowinds from Mint Hill in the back of my mom's 1975 Dodge Dart.....but it was worth it because the place was heaven.....I really miss the monorail (i believe it's in a park in Russia now). I remember the skytower being Eastern.....I loved the White Lightening (i heard that it's because a similar ride in a different park had a fatality that they got rid of it)......I also remember Rip-Roaring-Rapids being the newest ride and waiting well over 2-hours to ride it. I can't ever remember the ride home because I was so worn out.

Now that I take my son, and I wonder if it seems the same to him? Does he have the same excitement and feeling of it being a magical place, or has it become so commercialized that each ride is just an extension of the TV show or movie that it's named for.

[Neo]

Carowinds is doing well these days with park attendance up 13% last year....putting it in the Top 30 Theme Parks in the USA.

Is getting in the top 30 in the US really that difficult to do? There can't be much more than 30 total of this size in the US, I figured we would have already been in the top 30 to be quite honest. Does anyone have a list? I wonder where we stand in rating with all of the other Paramount owned parks?

[rockhilljames]

Actually, there are almost 200 theme parks in the United States alone. Being in the top 50 is pretty sigificant, edging up to the top 25 is a big deal.

I actually used to work at Carowinds and have been going to the park since I was a kid. My first trip was in 1978, the park has indeed changed over the years.

The monorail currently services a Mexican resort community. White Lightning was sold to a Russian company which hoped to install it near St. Petersburg. When that flamed out, it was sold and installed in South Africa, which, to the best of my knowledge is where it still remains.

It was a maintanence nightmare, that's why it was sold. No one ever got seriously injured on it.

[skysdalimit]

The Borg was a dissapointment. Top Gun is my favorite.

[Southend]

thunder road and white lightening, gold rush and rip roaring rapids, frenzoid and scooby doo.

what memories.

Edited February 28, 2005 by Southend

[reverbandwhiskey]

The problem is that Carowinds does not seem to be maintaining their rides well. Almost all of their coasters ride very roughly now, hence the increase of padding inside the cars.

And that Borg coaster sucks. My bike goes faster than that thing.

[skysdalimit]

No the Borg just smells like crap.

[Norm2]

Well if anyone sees me working at Carowinds say hi!

[motonenterprises]

I love Carowinds!

[peaceloveunderstanding]

Yea, Carowinds is great. I am suprised no one like the borg, everyone who I have been on it with loves it.

Top Gun is a great ride though, I love that ride.

[teshadoh]

Kind of rediscovered this thread - had no idea so many of my favorite rides aren't at Carowinds anymore. I have no idea when the first time I went there, sometime in the mid 1970's but most of my memories are from the early 1980's - I am surprised they paved over the state line, that was always a big deal. And getting rid of the Flying Dutchman? That is surprising, that was a fun ride.

[atlrvr]

Paramount holds no place in their heart for your fond memories of being in two states at once......

I think I miss the monorail most though.

[Miesian Corners]

Does anyone remember how all of the county names were inscribed in bronze just after the entrance to the park? WBCY (now "The Link") had a studio out there in the summer and you could watch the DJ's spin records.

My only other memory is not so affectionate. Did they build the damn place over a vent from hell? It has to be the hottest place in Mecklenburg and York counties on any given day in the summer.