Carowinds Monorail | |
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Overview | |
Locale | Carowinds, Fort Mill, South Carolina, United States |
Transit type | straddle-beam Monorail |
Number of lines | 1 |
Daily ridership | 7,000 |
Operation | |
Began operation | June 2, 1973 |
Ended operation | August 1994 |
Technical | |
System length | 2 mi (3.22 km) |
Average speed | 18 mph (29 km/h) |
The Carowinds Monorail was a monorail at the Carowinds amusement park in Fort Mill, South Carolina. Opening on June 2, 1973, it existed solely for entertainment, not transportation, as it had only one station. The ride was closed in August 1994, and relocated to the Vidafel Mayan Palace resort in Acapulco.
The Carowinds Monorail was built by Universal Mobility Incorporated and opened on June 2, 1973, with both Governor of North Carolina James Holshouser and Governor of South Carolina John C. West present for the inaugural ride. [1] The 2-mile (3.2 km) ride traveled at an average speed of 18 miles per hour (29 km/h) and took 10 minutes and 14 seconds to complete. [1] Originally, the monorail was to have connected the park with a hotel that was never built. [2] The attraction would reach a peak of 500,000 riders in 1982, only to fall in subsequent years resulting in its closure in August 1994. [1] At the time of its closure, the monorail had a daily ridership of 7,000. [3] Its deconstruction would commence in November 1994 and be complete by December. [4] The deconstructed monorail was then shipped to Acapulco, Mexico, by way of barge and reassembled in 1995 at the Vidafel Mayan Palace resort. [4]
Paramount Parks was the operator of Paramount's Kings Island, Paramount's Kings Dominion, Paramount's Great America, Paramount's Carowinds, and Paramount Canada's Wonderland, which annually attracted about 13 million patrons. National Amusements-owned Viacom assumed control of the company as part of its acquisition of Paramount Pictures in 1994.
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Carowinds is a 407-acre (165 ha) amusement park primarily located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, the park 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. 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.
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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 from Vekoma located at Carowinds amusement park. The roller coaster 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.
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 Cedar Fair.
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Fury 325 is a steel roller coaster located at Carowinds amusement park in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. Manufactured 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, as part of a newly themed area, Blue Ridge Junction. 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.