General Carowinds discussion
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By tarheel1231
#78752
I didn't do a search before I created this thread, so please delete it if it already exists.

If I could press the start over button on Carowinds, I would have the park following Pat Hall's original vision as far as landscaping and architecture goes. All the areas would remain the same with a few things updated to make the park more modern. There would be no Fury325 in my vision (gasp). In fact, most of the large steel coasters wouldn't be at the park. The main attraction would be a massive CCI woodie that's a combination of Rampage and Voyage that wraps around the amphitheatre. The park would still have Thunder Road. The sternwheeler would still be at the park. The train would also be there, but the park wouldn't have a monorail.

The park would have several high-quality dark rides and there would be actors in each section of the park. There would be a large ferris wheel where action theater is today. The water park would be one of the top five in the world by the GTAs (except it would go under Thunder Road). There would probably be a Mack spinner where Vortex is, and a Mack log flume where Hurler and Drop Zone are. There would be a funtime starflyer where Windseeker is. There would be an arrow suspended where Powder Keg used to be.

My ideas are pretty stupid, but I can dream.....
By solarplexus
#78792
^^^^ I am mostly happy with the way the park is now. With the major exception of the theming. I would love to have very heavily themed rides and areas - as opposed to what we have now. I'd keep Sternweeler instead of Knighthawk. I'd keep the Monorail and have it go to the offsite resort areas - as was in the original proposal. Sorry Vortex. :) I'd also love some of the old flat rides (Wild Bull, Trabant, Whirling Deverish)
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By shane235
#78797
I would replace Nighthawk with a B&M flyer, replace Dino's Alive and a bit of the parking area with a Mack launch coaster, replace Cobra with a Max Air type ride, replace Action Theater with a Blackbeard's Revenge dark ride, I would RMC Hurler, put topper track on Thunder Road, expand the pond to under Goldrush and Vortex and then convert Vortex to a floorless with heavy theming (enclosed lift hill with on train audio), build a log flume where Cyclone is, and theme up Fury, Intimidator, Afterburn, and the park in general (plus add TREES!!!), a train would be nice too.... if only I had enough money.... :lol:
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By cwgator
#78799
solarplexus wrote: I'd keep the Monorail and have it go to the offsite resort areas - as was in the original proposal. Sorry Vortex. :)

The monorail wasn't removed for Vortex. They operated simultaneously for a few seasons ('92, '93 & '94). Vortex took over the Speedway Cars.
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By Merthecat
#78800
Well I think I would have kept White Lightnin', Oaken Bucket, and a bunch of other old rides. I also would have kept the pond where 7th Ward is, but NightHawk would still be there.

That's all I can really think of now...
By kirkgun
#78854
I'd start with park as it is now... and do a few minor revisions

1. Remove water park entirely
2. Replace Nighthawk and Vortex with a modern steel coaster, say something like a wing coaster that the park does not currently have. Make it a launch too. Kill two birds with one stone. Track length about the same as Nighthawk and Vortex combined.
3. Rebuild Thunder Road for the Carowinds nostalgia crowd. Build it to last this time.
4. Build a new massive wooden coaster, of the fairly traditional looking type, but with modern engineering. Basically build the woodie that finally puts El Toro into the #2 ranking of woodie coasters. THis will go into the water park area. :twisted:
5. Take out Hurler, and build a new extremely low-lying terrain woodie. Something like Boulder Dash out among the trees, over and behind the service road (will obviously need some some artificial terrain built for this to happen) . I'm not sure that is Carowind's property or not. I don't care. I'm redoing it my way. And if I need to buy that property and build some artificial hills to do it, so be it. This new expansion area will called the Carolina Smokies area.
6. And finish the expansion of 3 new woodies with a brand new RMC. They can have complete creative control on that one. They know what they are doing. This will also go into the Carolina Smokes area.
7. Add all the coolest flat rides. All of them.
8. One more high-capacity splashy water ride to keep the lines on the other water rides from getting out of hand on hot days.
9. Fill in the rest with plenty of cool shady tree-lined walkways and benches with plenty of flower gardens scattered throughout.
10. Move all the tacky eyesores (games, gift shops, carts, etc) towards a single "arcade" area near Planet Snoopy (Dinosaurs alive area, which will be removed).
11. Remove the campground for the replacement of Dinosaurs alive. Which will in fact have real live Dinosaurs just like Jurassic World. Artificial landscaping will be done here too, completely recreating the Napali coastline of Kauai.
By RollerBee
#78857
Why redo the park when I could just go from the current.
1) Save Thunder Road and remove Dinosaurs. Oh and put Thunder Road's tunnels back. Expanded Planet Snoopy for 2016 to coincide with the movie release at Christmas.
2) Speaking of Christmas.....Peanuts' Good Grief Christmas(2015). Focusing on families and children, basically the same as Winterfest but only coasters only would be Ricochet and Cabbie.
3) For 2017, remove South Gate and add new waterpark gate on parking lot side of Thunder Road. Plant more trees around Thunder Road, add one maybe two slide complexes in new section of waterpark and revamp Kid's play areas.
4) For 2018 expand County Fair with Zamperla rides bundle, remove YoYo and Convert AFX into "County Fair Arena" featuring fair style entertainment. Connect new County Fair section between old South Gate, old YoYo area and new South Gate.
5) 2019, Have RMC redo Hurler into Hurler Repuke! Featuring more airtime and multiple inversions. Also add "vomit tunnels" and fake vomit to lift.
By Capler
#78872
I would have to take a time machine backwards to fix this train wreck. First I would secure all surrounding land, from the interstate out to Carowinds Blvd., back past the camp grounds. The parking lots would be out on the fringes and a Monorail would take guest through the woods into the developed park, which would be located in the center. A big man made lake would have been built in the center, with a main entry gate and an International Street leading up to it. I like the KD/KI Eiffel Tower sitting at the top of main street right on the lake. The Palladium would be on the opposite side of the lake with the stage facing the Eiffel tower. The main park trail would surround the lake and the various park sections would spiral outward into the woods to create different worlds. These sections would not connect from within, so guest would have to come back to the main trail to get to the next world. All major coasters would travel outward, so they would not get in the way of future development, and also be in a wooded setting.

The camp grounds, and water park would be off the site. If the park was done this way originally, attractions would not have to be continuously removed simply because they are in the way. All of the growth would have moved outward towards the parking lots and interstate. Some parks had the far-sight to secure all the surround land while it was cheap. Disney and Bush comes to mind. Carowinds could have done this because back in 1970 they were out there by themselves.
Last edited by Capler on June 1st, 2015, 7:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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By coasterbruh
#78874
kirkgun wrote:I'd start with park as it is now... and do a few minor revisions

1. Remove water park entirely
2. Replace Nighthawk and Vortex with a modern steel coaster, say something like a wing coaster that the park does not currently have. Make it a launch too. Kill two birds with one stone. Track length about the same as Nighthawk and Vortex combined.
3. Rebuild Thunder Road for the Carowinds nostalgia crowd. Build it to last this time.
4. Build a new massive wooden coaster, of the fairly traditional looking type, but with modern engineering. Basically build the woodie that finally puts El Toro into the #2 ranking of woodie coasters. THis will go into the water park area. :twisted:
5. Take out Hurler, and build a new extremely low-lying terrain woodie. Something like Boulder Dash out among the trees, over and behind the service road (will obviously need some some artificial terrain built for this to happen) . I'm not sure that is Carowind's property or not. I don't care. I'm redoing it my way. And if I need to buy that property and build some artificial hills to do it, so be it. This new expansion area will called the Carolina Smokies area.
6. And finish the expansion of 3 new woodies with a brand new RMC. They can have complete creative control on that one. They know what they are doing. This will also go into the Carolina Smokes area.
7. Add all the coolest flat rides. All of them.
8. One more high-capacity splashy water ride to keep the lines on the other water rides from getting out of hand on hot days.
9. Fill in the rest with plenty of cool shady tree-lined walkways and benches with plenty of flower gardens scattered throughout.
10. Move all the tacky eyesores (games, gift shops, carts, etc) towards a single "arcade" area near Planet Snoopy (Dinosaurs alive area, which will be removed).
11. Remove the campground for the replacement of Dinosaurs alive. Which will in fact have real live Dinosaurs just like Jurassic World. Artificial landscaping will be done here too, completely recreating the Napali coastline of Kauai.


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By coasterbruh
#78886
Honestly...that's the only thing I see feasible enough to actually happen on the list...