Carowinds is a 407-acre (165 ha) amusement park primarily located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Owned and operated by Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, the park first opened to the public on March 31, 1973. Carowinds straddles the state line between North and South Carolina, adjacent to Interstate 77, with a portion of the park located in Fort Mill, South Carolina. The park has a sign telling guests where the state line lies. It was constructed at a cost of $70 million following a four-year planning period led by Charlotte businessman Earl Patterson Hall. Carowinds also features Carolina Harbor, a 27-acre (11 ha) water park that is included with park admission. Annual events include the Halloween-themed S-Carowinds and the Christmas-themed WinterFest.
Thunder Road was a wooden roller coaster located at Carowinds amusement park on the border between Fort Mill, South Carolina, and Charlotte, North Carolina. Opened in 1976 and built by Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters, the racing roller coaster cost $1.6 million to construct and featured two identical tracks that paralleled each other. The design of the ride was based on Rebel Yell, a wooden racing coaster at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia. Thunder Road was closed on July 26, 2015, to make room for expansion at the park. On August 27, 2015, Carowinds announced that the Boomerang Bay waterpark would be expanded and renamed Carolina Harbor. The expansion resulted in the removal of Thunder Road.
Nighthawk is a steel flying roller coaster located at Carowinds. Constructed by Vekoma, it is located in the Thunder Road section of the park. The roller coaster originally opened as Stealth at California's Great America on April 1, 2000. In 2003, Paramount Parks decided to relocate the roller coaster to Carowinds. It reopened as Borg Assimilator – the first coaster in the world to be themed to Star Trek – on March 20, 2004. After Cedar Fair purchased Carowinds in 2006, Paramount themes were soon removed from the park, and the ride was renamed Nighthawk. It is one of only two Flying Dutchman models still in existence from Vekoma, the other being Batwing at Six Flags America.
Racer 75 is a wooden racing roller coaster at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia. Designed by John C. Allen, the ride opened with the park in 1975 as Rebel Yell. It features a similar track layout to The Racer (1972) at Kings Island and the now-defunct Thunder Road at Carowinds (1976). In 2018, Rebel Yell was renamed Racer 75, dropping its former name’s connection to the Confederacy to represent its racing layout and opening year, as well as a subtle nod to the American Coaster Enthusiasts (ACE) organization that was founded in 1978.
Hurler is a wooden roller coaster located at Carowinds amusement park in Charlotte, North Carolina. A second identical installation of the ride was also built at Kings Dominion, and both locations opened to the public in 1994. The Hurler at Kings Dominion was closed following the 2015 season and was renovated by Rocky Mountain Construction, re-emerging as a hybrid coaster in 2018 named Twisted Timbers.
Carolina Harbor is a water park at Carowinds amusement park in Charlotte, North Carolina. Included with the price of admission to Carowinds, the water park is owned and operated by Six Flags Entertainment Corporation.
Woodstock Express is a wooden roller coaster located at Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina that was formerly named after the Nickelodeon cartoon The Fairly OddParents. Though containing all of the elements of a "full-size" or standard wooden roller coaster, its short drop heights, slower speed, gently curving layout and short track length lead to its mistaken identity as a 'junior roller coaster'.
Roller Soaker was a suspended roller coaster at Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States. Manufactured by Setpoint Inc., the roller coaster was announced on August 8, 2001, and opened to the public on May 11, 2002. The Roller Soaker was located in the Boardwalk section at the park and cost $7.5 million to $8 million to construct. In December 2012, Hersheypark announced that the Roller Soaker would be removed to make way for new water attractions in 2013. The roller coaster's station was reused by Breakers Edge Water Coaster, a water coaster added in 2018.
Fairly Odd Coaster is a spinning roller coaster themed to The Fairly OddParents that opened on March 15, 2004, at Nickelodeon Universe in the Mall of America. Individual cars have two rows facing each other and each car spins independently throughout the course of the ride. The ride is geared toward families. The ride was installed by Ride Entertainment Group, who handles all of Gerstlauer's operations in the Western Hemisphere.
Ricochet is a wild mouse roller coaster located at Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina. It opened for the 2002 season. The roller coaster is located in the Carolina Boardwalk section of the park.
Roller coaster amusement rides have origins back to ice slides constructed in 18th-century Russia. Early technology featured sleds or wheeled carts that were sent down hills of snow reinforced by wooden supports. The technology evolved in the 19th century to feature railroad track using wheeled cars that were securely locked to the track. Newer innovations emerged in the early 20th century with side friction and underfriction technologies to allow for greater speeds and sharper turns. By the mid-to-late 20th century, these elements intensified with the introduction of steel roller coaster designs and the ability to invert riders.
Carolina Cyclone is an Arrow Dynamics roller coaster located at Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina. The coaster is located in the Carolina Boardwalk area of the park. Built in 1980 by world-renowned coaster manufacturer Arrow Dynamics, it was the first roller coaster to have four inversions, two loops and two corkscrews.
Vortex is a stand-up roller coaster located at Carowinds amusement park in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. Manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M), the ride opened to the public on March 14, 1992. Vortex was built a year before Paramount Parks purchased Carowinds and is situated on the former site of the Carolina Speedway miniature car attraction. It was B&M's third coaster and features a loop and a corkscrew element in its relatively short track layout. Vortex represented a new era of stand-up coasters at the time, which were more advanced than the previous generation introduced in the 1980s.
Flying Super Saturator was a water ride and suspended roller coaster at Carowinds amusement park, located in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was the first roller coaster of its kind, allowing riders to dump 4-gallon payloads of water on those Carowinds patrons who venture underneath the coaster's track. The ride also features numerous means for the riders to get wet as well, including water curtains, geysers and numerous ground-mounted water cannons that can be aimed by park guests at passing riders on the coaster.
Afterburn is an inverted roller coaster located at Carowinds amusement park in Charlotte, North Carolina. After more than two years of planning and construction, the roller coaster opened on March 20, 1999. The ride previously operated as Top Gun: The Jet Coaster, before it was renamed following Cedar Fair's purchase of Paramount Parks in 2006.
The Flying Cobras is a steel boomerang roller coaster manufactured by Vekoma. It is located at Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina, in the County Fair section of the park. The Flying Cobras was the first roller coaster addition to Carowinds following the park's purchase by Cedar Fair in 2006. It originally debuted in 1996 at Geauga Lake in Ohio as The Mind Eraser, and was later known as Head Spin from 2004 to 2007 after Geauga Lake was purchased by Cedar Fair. After Geauga Lake closed in 2007, the coaster was relocated to Carowinds in 2009 and renamed Carolina Cobra. Following the 2016 season, the roller coaster was refurbished and renamed again in 2017.
Thunder Striker, formerly known as Intimidator, is a steel roller coaster located at Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. Built by Bolliger & Mabillard and located in the Thunder Road section of the park, the ride opened to public on March 27, 2010. It features a 232-foot (71 m) lift hill, a top speed of 75 mph (121 km/h), and a track length of 5,316 feet (1,620 m).
Woodstock’s Air Rail is an inverted roller coaster located at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio, and at Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina. Manufactured by Vekoma, the Suspended Family Coaster model debuted at Kings Island in 2001 and was followed by another identical installation at Carowinds in 2003. Both rides originally opened as Rugrats Runaway Reptar, themed to the Nickelodeon animated television series Rugrats and its two-part episode "Runaway Reptar". Following Cedar Fair's acquisition of both parks in 2006, the roller coasters were eventually renamed Flying Ace Aerial Chase for the 2010 season, themed after the 1960s comic strip series Snoopy vs. the Red Baron by Peanuts creator Charles Schulz. The Carowinds installation was renamed again to Kiddy Hawk for the 2018 season. The Kings Island installation was renamed again to Woodstock’s Air Rail for the 2024 season.
Fury 325 is a steel roller coaster located at Carowinds amusement park in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. Designed by Bolliger & Mabillard, Fury 325 opened to the public on March 28, 2015. It features a 6,602-foot-long (2,012 m) track that reaches a maximum height of 325 feet (99 m), making it the fifth-tallest roller coaster in the world and the tallest overall among roller coasters that use a traditional chain lift hill. Riders experience speeds of up to 95 mph (153 km/h), winding through high-speed curves and passing over and under the park's main entrance. Beginning in 2016, Fury 325 has consistently ranked as the world's best steel coaster in the annual Golden Ticket Awards published by Amusement Today.
Copperhead Strike is a double launched roller coaster at Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina. Manufactured by Mack Rides, the ride debuted to the public on March 23, 2019. It opened as the headlining attraction of a new themed area, Blue Ridge Junction, which is located on the South Carolina side of the park. The ride is the first multi-launched roller coaster to open at the park, and the second launched coaster after White Lightnin'. Carowinds held a private event for media and special guests on March 21, 2019.
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