[FamousAmos]

Again, check the pdf files of the new entrance, there will be new ramps and turnstiles leading into the paladium. I don't recall the page number, but it's there.

[RollerBee]

I doubt the Paladuim is going anywhere for atleast three to five years.
1) Why design around it, seems to me that if there were plans to remove it then they missed the perfect time to do it.
2) There hasnt been a trend of removing amphitheaters from the other parks.
3) It makes money!
4) What would they replace it with?

[Capler]

In a comment to a previous post, I personally don't think the Paladium is out of place. What I've never liked is that it was isolated from the park like a separate entity and is completely underutilized. They could scale it down a bit, if needed, but I'd like to see it become part of Carowinds and open during the summer to host park shows and not just for things like Christian music day. If you have ever been in the Paladium, it could be utilized for all kinds of shows. It's a perfect show venue right at the front gate.

It was designed to function as a stand alone venue, separate from the park. You could buy tickets to a concert and not pay to enter the park. It is likely used more than other such places around the country. Cedar Fair could take a Sea World-ish approach and put a big elaborate daily production in there. Such a thing would make the park a lot more 'world class'.

[RollerBee]

I wonder if the Paladuim could be converted to a dark ride like Wonder Mountain's Guardian?

[Jonathan]

The fact that this coaster and the rethink of the entire front area of the park was designed around the Palladium should be enough to suggest that there aren't any plans to remove it.

[Edwardo]

Carowinds may have plans to utilize the Palladium even more. I can't see them getting any major touring artists there what with the Uptown Amphitheater and PNC Pavilion in the area (not to mention all of Charlotte's other concert hosting venues), but they could definitely use it more like they do for the Christian concerts. They could always use it for (marching) band competitions and things like that. It would be rather expensive to demolish, and they may have plans to do that at some point, but like Jonathan said, it doesn't look like it's going anywhere, and who really knows what the new management at the park and at the top have in store.

If there's one thing I've seen is that Matt Oimet certainly knows what works. He's not trying to turn CF parks into Disney competition (which would be stupid), but he is evolving all of the parks into what they need to be to fit the area.

My big hope is that they add a nite time show like CP, up their entertainment (which seems to be coming) and use the Palladium more. Anything to bring more people in and, with that, more rides.

[hdmech]

I'm a marching band dork (also a dci dork) and im not sure if you could get a competition on that paladium. Our wind ensemble in middle school barely fit on that stage, so a marching band hornline probably wouldnt be feasible (maybe for some schools. I just dont see it.

i'd love it though

[kirkgun]

Does anybody know the seating capacity of the Palladium?

Honestly, I've been to Carowinds twice now. Once I went in the gate by Afterburn, and the second time I went in the temporary entrance on Halloween this year (it was dark already). I had no idea it was even there, until I started watching the webcams as Fury is getting built. So, I looked and read about some of Carowinds history, and saw that they used to get some decent shows there, but that was way back in the 80's.

I see somebody saw Wierd Al in 2007, above. But even that would have been 7 years ago.

Does it even get used anymore?

I live pretty close to PNC Pavillion, and it stays pretty busy all through the warmer months. And of course there are a few other venues (Band of America stadium) that could hold very large outdoor concerts. But mostly I think music acts would prefer to stay to the indoor venues, and there are plenty of those too. I think it'd be cool if there were some concerts there on some weekend nights.

But, I wonder if its days are numbered. I really would think that the next "major" attraction that gets built at Carowinds (like 5 years down the road, and isn't part of the water park) takes the place of the Palladium. It's just there taking up prime real-estate, it's not drawing people to Carowinds, and therefore not generating any cash (or extrememly little cash), so it's gotta be something they are thinking about.

[redrunner97]

Does anybody know the seating capacity of the Palladium?

Honestly, I've been to Carowinds twice now. Once I went in the gate by Afterburn, and the second time I went in the temporary entrance on Halloween this year (it was dark already). I had no idea it was even there, until I started watching the webcams as Fury is getting built. So, I looked and read about some of Carowinds history, and saw that they used to get some decent shows there, but that was way back in the 80's.

I see somebody saw Wierd Al in 2007, above. But even that would have been 7 years ago.

Does it even get used anymore?

I live pretty close to PNC Pavillion, and it stays pretty busy all through the warmer months. And of course there are a few other venues (Band of America stadium) that could hold very large outdoor concerts. But mostly I think music acts would prefer to stay to the indoor venues, and there are plenty of those too. I think it'd be cool if there were some concerts there on some weekend nights.

But, I wonder if its days are numbered. I really would think that the next "major" attraction that gets built at Carowinds (like 5 years down the road, and isn't part of the water park) takes the place of the Palladium. It's just there taking up prime real-estate, it's not drawing people to Carowinds, and therefore not generating any cash (or extrememly little cash), so it's gotta be something they are thinking about.

It does get used. IIRC, in the last few years Scotty McCreery, TobyMac, and Skillet have performed. Not sure if anyone else really has lately. It would be nice if they could book more concerts and stuff... Though, preferably not Jason Derulo like Kings Island recently did. lol.

[Capler]

Does anybody know the seating capacity of the Palladium?

Honestly, I've been to Carowinds twice now. Once I went in the gate by Afterburn, and the second time I went in the temporary entrance on Halloween this year (it was dark already). I had no idea it was even there, until I started watching the webcams as Fury is getting built. So, I looked and read about some of Carowinds history, and saw that they used to get some decent shows there, but that was way back in the 80's.

I see somebody saw Wierd Al in 2007, above. But even that would have been 7 years ago.

Does it even get used anymore?

I live pretty close to PNC Pavillion, and it stays pretty busy all through the warmer months. And of course there are a few other venues (Band of America stadium) that could hold very large outdoor concerts. But mostly I think music acts would prefer to stay to the indoor venues, and there are plenty of those too. I think it'd be cool if there were some concerts there on some weekend nights.

But, I wonder if its days are numbered. I really would think that the next "major" attraction that gets built at Carowinds (like 5 years down the road, and isn't part of the water park) takes the place of the Palladium. It's just there taking up prime real-estate, it's not drawing people to Carowinds, and therefore not generating any cash (or extrememly little cash), so it's gotta be something they are thinking about.

It is not the fact acts don't want to come to the Palladium; the park is just not willing to spend the money to book them. Artist are paid a certain rate to play venues, and it is up to the promoter/park to make their money back. Cedar Fair could book acts and cycle them through all their parks if they cared to do so. With that said, there is nothing wrong with the venue, it rests squarely in the hands of Cedar Fair. It seems as though the company is not interested in investing in new productions for the Action Theaters either. Speaking of action theaters, that fad may have passed, and need to be converted into something with more features.

[kirkgun]

That's cool that is used. I really didn't know, that's why I asked.

Honestly, I've never even heard of Scotty McCreery, TobyMac, and Skillet. But maybe I'm just that un-hip.

But anyway, I looked at the acts that were booked for PNC last season, and they were mostly all acts that I had heard of anyway. Classic-rock, country, hip-hop... I think I had at least heard of them all. I think there were even some stand-up comics.

So would it be fair to say that Cedar Fair/Carowinds does not get major/popular acts there? Does anybody know the capacity of the Pavilion? Fewer seats = less possible money. Certainly more popular acts will expect to get paid, and they generally are going to choose the venue that they will make the most money from. And if there just aren't enough seats, then there's not much that can be done with it.

I was just thinking along the lines that back in the day, there wasn't a PNC (Verizon) pavillion. There wasn't a BoA stadium. And now the Palladium has been surpassed by newer and more desirable venues where artists would rather play in Charlotte.

[Wormy]

Probably should have started its own separate thread since many are so passionate about it, and even though it's all been said before, it is kind of relevant for now, at least until another support or something shows up on the webcam.

search.php?st=0&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&keywords=palladium

FWIW at risk of dating myself, I did catch at the Palladium: Night Ranger, 38 Special, The Outfield (both times), Starship, Depeche Mode, and 10,000 Maniacs (with a surprise visit from Michael Stipe driving up from Athens). Nothing since they started doing Christapalooza though.

Whatever works.

[Jonathan]

To elaborate on my earlier post, there are several reasons that make me skeptical that the Palladium is going anywhere:

1) They are currently spending over $30 million to design a new entrance plaza and signature roller coaster around it (and the plaza integrated with it). If the Palladium were ever to be removed, now would be the obvious time to do it as part of this huge project.
2) The park is not lacking in space for new attractions.
3) Back to #2, it would probably be pretty expensive to demolish something like the Palladium. Why do it if you don't need to?
4) Even if there are only a handful of major events there in a summer, that's still probably a significant enough boost to attendance and revenue to justify keeping it around.

[chknwing]

The Plantation house was only built 2 years prior to the Palladium and was removed because it was becoming costly to maintain. I cant see how it would be any different for the palladium. Carowinds is probably undecided on what to do with it and just built around it. Theres no question its under utilized. Does carowinds make enough from the concerts to pay for the maintenance?

[Jonathan]

The Palladium was expanded and renovated in both 1989 and 1991. The Plantation House was a completely different type of structure and was damaged from flooding. Not even remotely comparable.