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Carowinds Discussion Thread

P. 417 - Fury back open now with 100% less crack!

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I was there for a couple of hours after work last night and nothing stood out to me except a few spots of spray paint in the plaza. If it were something major, I'd have expected the surveying to be done quite some time ago.

 

I'm hoping this is so that they can redo the parking/entry road.

 

I did note these markings back in May on the right side of the pavilion near the bus parking. Once again, I don't think they are anything major but it made me wonder if they were moving the fence.

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They are definitely getting ready to start something near the front of the park. Reports I'm hearing are that there are lots of utility markings around the front plaza and the front gate. I also hear that they continue on to the entrance of Planet Snoopy. I'm not big into speculation so for all we know, it could be nothing more than a new restroom. I will try to make it back over there soon and map out the area where the markings are to get an idea of the scope of the area they're planning future work.

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It appears there is something big going on at Carowinds. I've heard reports of utility markings and survey stakes being spotted so I stopped by this morning to get an idea of the scope of the project. The yellow and the green dotted lines are marking the potential boundaries of the project since I saw utilites marked throughout those areas (I added the green line after I realized the blue flags I saw in the lower right were water lines). All the orange dots are survey stakes. Additionally I found two trees and one power pole marked with blue and pink tape which I marked in purple and connected them with a purple dotted line. At first I thought maybe they couldn't figure it if was going to be a boy or girl. The numbers on the map correspond to the pictures after the edited Google map.

 

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close up of bottom of tree of #3 above

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Lookie! A footer! Psyche, it just looks like some irrigation work behind drop tower. ;)

 

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On a side note, it looks like the new Scarowinds haunt maze will be Zombie High School. I wish I could have gotten a better picture but it was difficult balancing my good camera with a telephoto lens and the umbrella since it was raining.

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You're welcome. Since this is my home park, I'm keeping a close eye on the project and will continue to provide updates as anything real develops. I'm not into a lot of the speculation, either, so my updates usually just include the facts that I see and not the rumors that I hear. I do like watching progress, especially on bigger projects like this.

 

With that being said, I did talk to some people while I was investigating but I'll keep that to myself since they are strictly rumors. One pertinent bit of information came from an outside engineer who was working in the bus parking lot. He was there because it was raining and he was looking into how the water was draining on the property. He also said that the blueprints he was carrying would be of no interest to me.

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^ I remember seeing similar markings like this on the Frontier Trail at CP last year and thinking that something was going into that area in 2013. They ended up building Gatekeeper at the front of the park instead so my guess is that this may not be for a new attraction...but you never know.

 

Keep us posted if you start seeing footers getting poured!

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^Yes, a resort hotel is still rumored to be in their master plan to come in the next 2-3 years.

 

I'd love to join you in your celebration of #400. Unfortunately I have out of town family visiting then so I probably can't make it. I'll let you know if that changes.

 

BTW, I usually don't go to Carowinds on Saturdays this time of year because of the crowds - you'll probably want to invest in a fast lane pass. When we went last Sunday after lunch, there was almost nobody in the queue and it was about a 10 minute wait because they were only running 2 trains. Yesterday, the queue was full and spilling out into the plaza.

 

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Interesting development, the scope of the project seems to be pretty large. If it is a hotel I wonder if they will include an indoor water park section? I've always wondered why more regional parks weren't I interested in building on site hotels with waterparks, it seems like an indoor option that is open year round would be a real draw in some of these major metropolitan areas (and yes i do realize there are Great Wolf lodges in some of these cities). I would think the parks could add some interesting season pass options for the facility as well.

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Interesting development, the scope of the project seems to be pretty large. If it is a hotel I wonder if they will include an indoor water park section? I've always wondered why more regional parks weren't I interested in building on site hotels with waterparks, it seems like an indoor option that is open year round would be a real draw in some of these major metropolitan areas (and yes i do realize there are Great Wolf lodges in some of these cities). I would think the parks could add some interesting season pass options for the facility as well.

 

 

That would be a nice idea, just because I think "rays splash planet" is the only indoor water park in the area (I maybe wrong), I have never been there though. I know great Wolfe is in concord, which it was OK but not the best.... I think a nice indoor water park like Castaway Bay in Ohio, I really enjoyed it there. I do think though with the scope of the project and all those markers, it does look like a re-work of the entry plaza and all that... maybe a remapping of parking lots etc. to better prepare for the future, whether that involves a coaster over the entrance or not , I dont know, but I do believe that the resort will definitely be coming.... eventually...

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Personally, I'd love to see a resort hotel (Great Wolf Lodge, maybe?) at Carowinds with an indoor water park. The one at KI is pretty impressive so I'd hope this one would be better. To me, it seems like a odd spot for a coaster unless they plan on remodeling the entrance (I.E. Gatekeeper at CP).

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There is a Great Wolf Lodge about 30 minutes north near Charlotte Motor Speedway so it's unlikely another one with the same brand would be so close. That doesn't rule out them putting one in with their own name, though.

 

I'm hoping this is a rework of the front entrance that leads to the onsite lodge in the near future. It is kind of confusing the way it is right now and is a real pain to get out of the park at closing time.

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Now hold up, haven't they done something like this in the past where they set up survey markers and let the public have a field day with it? Still, I would like to see something new there...

 

Exactly. That's what they did last year putting up markers in front of Intimidator saying stuff like "Huss GF", etc.

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Looking at the markers, there's nothing that jumps out at me.

 

I was looking at old pictures of the park the other day and ran across pictures that showed the original car entrance was actually under the bridge that you walk over coming in the North Gate.

 

Now that's way too small now to fit traffic through, but they may be going to do a whole new entrance and redo the parking lots.

 

If it was a coaster, there would be more uniform markings like there were for Intimidator. Plus there would be a ton of work already underway if it were that.

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Now hold up, haven't they done something like this in the past where they set up survey markers and let the public have a field day with it? Still, I would like to see something new there...

 

The time I remember was 2 years ago for the park's enthusiast event, CoasterStock. They put out some stakes the day before and removed them the day after. There is no enthusiast event scheduled right now so it's highly unlikely these are a prank. The last time, there were also no utilities marked, which there are this time.

 

The general consensus seems to be that they are redoing the entrance and parking. What is interesting to watch is the scope of this project and if it leads to a rumored park expansion in the near future.

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