East Coast Wes Goes Retro Too

Since everyone is feeling so retro these days, I thought I'd pull out some old pics I posted several years ago for the newer folks to enjoy.

I'll start with my home park Carowinds.

Carowinds and I literally grew up together. I was 1 when Carowinds debuted, as you'll soon see.

Hope you enjoy these, and you TPR dbase guys are welcome to use any of the shots as well.

We'll start with the ship that the Borg sunk! Good memories of this ride, and how it looked at the front of the park.

Here is my brother with the original carousel at the park, a double decker!

Check out the fro! My dad and brother are riding the then Powder Keg Flume. A big red B&M is sitting here today. Oh wait, I need to be more specific, a big red, hyper, B&M is sitting here today.

Proof positive I was at the park opening year. That's me in the stroller.

Retro Goldrusher.

You can see the cable car cables in this one. Outer Hanks was one of the stations.

I still can't seem to place where this ride was in the park. The park actually used to have two car rides, and now has zero.

Scrambler, before it lost its original name and colors.

Ditto for Scream Weaver. Used to be Meteorite and located where the Yo Yo is now I think.

My brother with Michael Jackson's train! Ah! Honestly though I'm not sure if this is the one Michael bought, but he did purchase one of the two trains that ran at the park.

Woodstock Express, 2 names ago and several coats of paint too.

I believe it was still the "Eastern Airlines Skytower" then.

I miss this ride. White Lightning was located not too far from our current shuttle coaster, Carolina Cobra.

Creepy.

Kooky.

Mom with bro and I. I think this was over in Pirate Island, which is now the water park and the Carolina Cobra area.

Speedway. The other car ride. Located where Vortex is now I believe.

Not sure if this was in the now Nick, er, Planet Snoopy theater or not.

So much has changed in this area over the years.

Don't know if this was in Indian Thicket or what section of the park.

And finally an old ad I found with the original Carolina Cyclone colors. Red! What a concept! I better not show this to Cedar Fair. Also notice the old Carowinds logo on the balloons. This was the end of the park before Wayne invaded.

www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=236320#p236320

The database guy thanks you, even if you did post many of the same picture 4 years ago.

We all get senile with old age

Oh ok, I tried to find that thread but couldn't seem to remember what it was.

I have never seen those pics or the original thread, and I thank you for reposting! I love seeing parks from back in the day.

I will one day make it to this park...That hyper is calling my name!

Oh, what great memories, even though I didn't visit the park until 1991. Back then, the park only had four coasters: Thunder Road, Scooby Doo, Carolina Goldrusher, and (their newest ride that year) The Carolina Cyclone.

I remember that steamboat that took you around Smurf Island. Back then, you could either cross the steamboat when it is docked or take a rafting ride to get to and from Smurf Island.

And there used to be a monorail that took you all around and even outside the park.

And finally, there was an illusion attraction called "Blackbeard's Revenge" that had the room turn around and upside down, making you think that you were too.

I have visited Carowinds many more times since then, now with more coasters than you can shake a stick at and under the Cedar Fair banner.

"Say goodnight and come to bed: I miss you"

^Seven of the current coasters (and Super Saturator) were added by Paramount.

^^ I miss Blackbeards's Revenge. Not the greatest thing or whatever, but some great A/C! A coral Vekoma is sitting there today.

Finally found the other thread.

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=27389&hilit=opryland+photo+tr

And if the mods want to shut this thread down, feel free. I couldn't figure out how to find the old threads but now I've posted them here. It's your call.

White lightning looks like it would have been a TON of fun. Was it a shuttle or boomerang with the weight drop launch?

White lightning looks like it would have been a TON of fun. Was it a shuttle or boomerang with the weight drop launch?

Was a weight drop shuttle looper similar to KD's King Kobra.

Having visited this park last summer I've been looking for historical info on it lately & came across a retro site via the carowinds connection page.

I love retro trip reports! Thanks for posting this.

I'm a bit surprised that I missed this one when it was originally posted. It's always interesting to see how parks change over the years. I remember reading about Carowinds in a book I got for Christmas many years ago (Funland USA). I'd forgotten that the park used to have a riverboat.