[tarheel1231]

http://ir.cedarfair.com/files/doc_prese ... _PRINT.pdf interesting read. Carowinds is the 5th most successful park. Not surprising since its #5 in attendance. Also:

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[Jonathan]

I split this out into its own thread because I thought the presentation is interesting, particularly the slide you posted. There is a lot we can speculate on there, particularly:

"Coaster re-work" in 2016, 2017, and 2018. It seems almost guaranteed that Great America's Vortex is 2016 and Carowinds will be either 2017 or 2018. But what is the third?

"Accommodations" in 2017 and 2019. One of those has to be Carowinds, right?

"Ride removal" in 2016, 2017, and 2018. We know about Thunder Road and Shockwave, but it looks like that won't be the last of the slash and burn by Cedar Fair.

Also, the business development initiatives: "Real estate development" sounds intriguing (but this is probably the Geauga Lake property) and what is "Sports Force"?

[tarheel1231]

Thanks for moving it, I was worried it would get stuck in the middle of all that Thunder Road clutter. I still don't know if a new hotel is a necessity though. I'd rather them expand Camp Wilderness and maybe put in some cottages like at WoF. I know most of the hotels around Carowinds are pretty dumpy but it seems like people who stay in them are there to do other things besides Carowinds.

[Tosu97]

I just read through most of that report and although a lot of it was focused on Cedar Point, there was quite a bit on Carowinds as well. Mostly about establishing a brand.

As far as the coaster re-work I'd speculate that it would cover the following...
2016: Vortex, CGA
2017: Vortex, Carowinds
2018: GCI's next retracking of a wood coaster somewhere in the chain. It seems like I've read that Ghost Rider will receive attention soon too.

The accommodations will be for Carowinds and I'd say the other is for Cedar Point based on what was said in the report.

[dabrian]

I thought the plan was to leave Vortex alone?

[Matt929]

I'm ready to see a hotel come to Carowinds. If they are talking about Carowinds becoming THE park then a hotel is just waiting to get here.

[Tosu97]

^^If you remember the plan 6 months ago was that "Thunder Road isn't going anywhere"

[coasterbruh]

I think the three is ghost rider, mean streak and vortex west.

I heard excilibur was leaving. . . Maybe grizzly at great America?

[Tosu97]

^I heard that about Excalibur as well.

Wasn't there a rumor floating around awhile back that the Arrow loopers of the chain were on the chopping block? If that's the case than Demon, Cyclone, and the corkscrews better watch out! I would think the KI Vortex and Anaconda should be safe for a little while longer.

[tarheel1231]

I'm ready to see a hotel come to Carowinds. If they are talking about Carowinds becoming THE park then a hotel is just waiting to get here.

Maybe Carowinds will be THE park in a few years, but I still feel that Carowinds has a large enough local customer base to warrant not building a hotel. Now that's not to say Carowinds won't be big enough to support a hotel one day, I just think they should start out small and build up Camp Wilderness before they build a full on resort.

[KDCOASTERFAN]

I think the three is ghost rider, mean streak and vortex west.

I heard excilibur was leaving. . . Maybe grizzly at great America?

I assume that if the vortex west transition to a floorless goes well then carowinds will be seeing the same thing to follow. Now I rode vortex back on my sole visit in 2011 and from the start I wanted off.....it was worse than shockwave at KD(RIP) and to be honest I actually liked shockwave quite a lot.

As we saw with mantis being converted to a floorless the transition isn't all that difficult,just reconfigure the station track to include the split floor loading platform,add the new trains and it's pretty much done and ready to ride....wether it will be worth the cost for such a small scale ride however(unlike mantis) is another story,I'm just hoping that shockwave gets a suitable replacement because 5,going on 6 years without a new coaster is more than enough time for KD.

[Tosu97]

^^Carowinds will never be THE park. I do think it will be a flagship park but not the flagship park. A hotel is on the way but as of right now I would agree that it may not be warranted quite yet.

As far as the vortex conversion goes, I don't think that it will be very successful at CGA. Rougarou was a big improvement but the Vortex stand ups being as small and short as they are just seem like they will always be below average rides at best.

Also another thing worth mentioning is that I read somewhere that Cedar Point is building a sports complex across the lake that will overlook the park. kind of reminds me of Hershey.

[tarheel1231]

I wonder if Cedar Fair found a hotel chain to partner with and they are using Wonderland in 2017 as a "testing ground" before they move on to Carowinds in 2019. Canada's Wonderland is the highest attended seasonal park on the continent (though I don't know how much of that is due to Toronto). Seems like they'd want Carowinds to be built up a little more.

[Chris]

I thought the plan was to leave Vortex alone?

That rumor came from FamousAmos. He's not necessarily the most reliable when it comes to inside knowledge.

[coasterbruh]

To be fair, I think it was john taylor who actually said that at that moment. Famousamos just reiterated it over and over and over. Now that saturday it could have been staying the same then that monday a business decision could have been made. Who's to say. Which is why I personally don't speak adamantly about things until I know 100%.