Carowinds: General Discussion

[Rob]

This seems to have been missed so far on here but it looks like Carowinds, home to Intimidator (B&M Mega), Afterburn (B&M Invert) and Vortex (B&M Stand-Up), may be building the second B&M Giga coaster. This wouldn't be the first time that a Cedar Fair park has installed a second B&M airtime machine into one of their parks with both Behemoth and Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland.

Plans to build a 300ft coaster seem to have been confirmed. Here are some bits and bobs I have found on Screamscape:

Another very important detail about the next Carowinds coaster just leaked out of a closed session transcript with the city council. Officials stated that the next coaster would stand 70 feet taller than the park’s 232 ft Intimidator coaster. Looks like Carowinds is ready to break the 300 foot barrier for their latest high speed thrill machine.
This means that the Wing Coaster idea is out… and really points us into a narrow range of possibilities as well as manufacturers. We know Carowinds does love B&M coasters… the park has a nice collection of three of them so far (Vortex, Afterburn and Intimidator) and if they are going to venture into the 300+ foot range, the only possibility of this being a B&M would be if they follow the lead of Canada’s Wonderland and build something like Leviathan, a 306 ft speed monster coaster that would be fun to see run out to the freeway and back.
In the other corner we have Intamin as the only other company Cedar Fair has hired to make a 300+ tall coaster before, who knocked it out of the park with Millennium Force at Cedar Point, but big rides from them like Top Thrill Dragster (Cedar Point) and Intimidator 305 (Kings Dominion) have suffered either from technical problems, maintenance issues, or undergo radical redesign issues… and we haven’t seen Cedar Fair buy a coaster from them since Intimidator 305 was built during the same year as Carowinds’ own Intimidator.
While a taller version of Intimidator from either B&M or Intamin may be fun, I still worry that it could be a bit redundant. If Intamin is tapped once again however, I do wonder if they may try to bring something to the park that Carowinds does not have… a launched coaster. Until we know more, we’re just spinning our wheels… but with a 300 ft coaster project looming as the likely 2015 expansion, construction will likely begin early in the 2014 season.

(1/7/14) According to a report posted at CoastersAndMore.de in German, the new B&M coaster on the way to Carowinds should stand over 90 meters (over 295 feet) in height and be at least 1,500 meters (4,921 feet) in length, as it crosses over from North to South Carolina and and back again during the run. And if I had to guess, I think there is a good chance it may fly over the park’s entrance plaza.

According to Screamscape sources, full scale construction (clearing & footer prep) for the new 2015 B&M Giga Coaster project coming to Carowinds is expected to begin before the end of May. Though in may ways, work has already started with the moving of the Skycoaster and the slow demolition of the old Go-kart area is already seemed to be under way as well during opening weekend.

This should be an interesting one to follow!

 

[Rob]

Screamscape are reporting that Cedar Fair have recently filed for a new trademark for the name "FURY 325". It could be for use in any of their parks but it does seem to be along the same lines of Intimidator 305 so it could well be for the Carowinds 2015 giga coaster, in which case it hints that it could be 325ft tall. Last year Cedar Fair also filed a trademark for the name "Centurian" which I personally prefer as a name. I can't recall when Cedar Fair tend to announce their new attractions but hopefully it might be sometime in the next two or three months.

 

[Alastair]

Well, someone drove past the Clermont factory the other day and filmed this:



A lot of speculation that it is heading to Carowinds. Can't really tell what kind of coaster it would be for but definitely not an invert, dive machine or wing coaster.

 

[Scott]

Centurian would be a lovely name for a ride - it just sounds good.

'FURY 325' on the other hand sounds pants...

 

[Rob]

It's not worthy of its own topic yet but it is thought that Knotts Berry Farm will be getting a giga coaster in 2016. Seems like this rumour has beena around a while but it could be that 'Centurian' is for Carowinds and 'FURY 325' for Knotts Berry Farm.

 

[Russ]

Correct me if I'm wrong but if this does turn out to be 325ft tall, won't this be the tallest non launch coaster in the world?

 

[Rob]

That is correct. The tallest lift hill coaster is currently Steel Dragon 2000 which stands at the very precise 318.3 ft. Early rumours have suggested that this won't quite be 325ft though. I reckon it will be the Knotts Berry giga that is 325ft. Regardless it's all very exciting, Cedar Fair are on a role with their nice big B&Ms right now.

 

[Rob]

Things are starting to heat up! Carowinds have posted this on their Facebook page:

We've been busy the last few weeks completing a demo of epic proportions. What could be going on?‪#‎Carowinds2015‬

 

[Rob]

I apologise for the triple post but blow and behold the plans have been leaked!

New Coaster / Fury 325 - Not Announced - (7/7/14) Screamscape spies were able to obtain a couple of images showing off the layout of the footers and basic track layout for the 2015 Carowinds coaster. Just using my guest guesswork, I tried to assemble them and overlay them over an image of the park to get a rough idea of just where this coaster will be going. I’m sure the scale is off by a certain margin, and there was no way to know the exact placement of it all, but I think this gives us our best estimate as to what we can expect to see from the park in 2015.
The raw breakdown is this… if we assume that this coaster will be a smidge over 300 feet tall, then I think we are looking at something that will be just a little bigger and longer than Leviathan, the sister coaster at Canada’s Wonderland. Even the basic layout has many similarities, though it looks like they tried to put a few more twists into the Carowinds layout, along with a helix spiral before the brake run.

Hard to tell exactly what it is going to be like, we'll have to wait for the vertical profiles for that. Confirms a lot of what was pretty much already known though. Exciting!

 

[AstroDan]

It is exciting. Funny that yet another Cedar Fair park are getting a second coaster of this genre, by the same manufacturer.

 

[Sammy]

In all honesty, I genuinely do think they would have gone with Intamin for Leviathan and this. However I get the impression that after the alterations that had to be made to both Maverick and I305, along with the delays that occoured with 'Shoot The Rapids', they probably just don't trust them anymore!

 

[Rob]

Yeah, don't expect Cedar Fair to get any more Intamin's any time soon. Intamin have a habit of falling out with parks, says something about them. Potentially awesome coasters but an equal potential for lots to go wrong.

 

[Scott]

Those plans do look exciting! Obviously it's hard to get a detailed image of it without the vertical plans but it certainly looks like it could be a very good coaster

 

[Rob]

Carowinds have posted this photo to their Facebook page:

Looks like we will be getting an announcement on August 21st!

 

[Russ]

The black track at the factory could be for this project as it seems fitting to the poster.

 

[Rob]

Someone has made a re-creation based on the leaked blueprints assuming that the coaster is 325ft tall:



Will be interesting to see how accurate it is, it's probably not far off. Looks good!

 

[Rob]

Although we know pretty much what it is, here's the next teaser banner from Cardowinds. You can see construction progressing well in the background also:

 

[DiogoJ42]

Well if it's anything like that NL POV, this looks amazing. An almost Intamin layout, with B&M knowhow!

 

[Stevie]

I don't think the world can have too many B&M Hype/Giga coasters, especially one's that look that good.

 

[BigAl]

The pacing looks excellent, and I love the rapid twists and turns, it's just a shame there are only two airtime hills on the entire layout. Still, this has the potential to be one of the best coasters among B&M's mega, hyper and giga coasters!