Copperhead Strike Almost Ready to Launch at Carowinds
Earlier this week, I joined a construction tour of Carowinds new roller coaster Copperhead Strike. The track is complete, but the station, launch barn, and area around the ride are still far from complete. Steve Jackson, Director of Maintenance and Construction led the tour and did a great job answering questions. Seeing the ride’s orange track, even from a distance I could tell that this is...[Read More]
New Roller Coaster Copperhead Strike Launching at Carowinds in 2019
This week Carowinds announced Copperhead Strike, a new steel roller coaster, that’ll open in 2019. The new ride will be the anchor attraction in a new area called Blue Ridge Junction. As rumors suggested, Copperhead Strike will be a multi-launch roller coaster, rocketing riders through a twisted path of loops and turns. In all, the ride will turn riders upside-down five times, include two la...[Read More]
What We Know About Carowinds’ 2019 Roller Coaster
Good news for fans of Carowinds. All signs point to a new roller coaster for 2019 and the park has started to tease the new attraction with a series of tweets. A sign of things to come? 🚜👩🌾🌽 #Carowinds pic.twitter.com/UecGe4b9kA — Carowinds (@Carowinds) June 29, 2018 We’ve sourced only the best timber for the mystic expansion of Byrd Farm. 🌲 #C...[Read More]
Our Most Unusual Roller Coaster Experiences
With hundreds of roller coaster rides under our collective belts, we thought it’d be fun to share our most unusual roller coaster experiences. We figured since we’ve visited as many parks and strapped in to ride roller coasters as many times as we had, there’d be some odd experiences we could share. Just in time for April Fool’s Day, here are a few of those experiences. Get...[Read More]
Our Favorite Ride Experiences of 2017
Before we look forward to the upcoming theme park season, we thought it’d be fun to take one more look back at our favorite ride experiences of 2017. The Smiler at Alton Towers Surprisingly, my favorite ride experience of 2017 was not on one of the awesome RMC (Rocky Mountain Construction) coasters – Wicked Cyclone and Lightning Rod – that I rode for the first time. It was on a coaster...[Read More]
Review: Vortex at Carowinds
Vortex represents an era of roller coaster history. The Bolliger & Mabillard-designed ride opened in 1992 back when the novelty of riding a roller coaster while standing was still relatively new. Today, the number of surviving stand-up roller coasters is shrinking as many of them have been removed, converted to sit-down rides, and as parks have preferred to build other types of rides. Today, V...[Read More]
Review: Carolina Goldrusher at Carowinds
Located in the Carolina Boardwalk area, Carolina Goldrusher is a steel mine train roller coaster that debuted during the park’s opening year in 1973. As you’d find on any mine train coaster, it features locomotive-themed trains that ride steel rails on a wooden support structure. It’s a family-friendly coaster that has no loops, relatively low speeds, and modest heights. Gold Min...[Read More]
Review: Hurler at Carowinds & Kings Dominion
In 1994, the Paramount-owned Kings Dominion and Carowinds opened two wooden roller coasters dubbed, Hurler. The ride’s original theme was connected to the 1992 movie and Saturday Night Live skit, Wayne’s World. Back when it opened the sparse warehouse-like station had a few exterior touches to make it look more like a Hollywood studio building. The most overt tie-in was the video of Wa...[Read More]
Review: Carolina Cyclone at Carowinds
Carolina Cyclone opened in 1980. I’m not sure if it opened with a lot of fanfare, but it deserved it. It was a real record-setter as the World’s first roller coaster to feature four inversions, surpassing Cedar Point’s Corkscrew which had three. It’s located in the Carolina Boardwalk section of Carowinds not far from Ricochet and Hurler. Expect Turbulence Ahead Carolina Cyc...[Read More]
Announcing CoasterCritics’ Picks: Our Top 10 Roller Coasters List
Given the growing team and community here at CoasterCritic, I thought it’d be fun to launch a critic-driven Top 10 that would become the site’s official list of the top roller coasters. In order to incorporate new rides, the list will be refreshed annually. Our first annual Top 10 Roller Coasters List combines the lists from the writers for CoasterCritic (Joel, John, Bobbie, and Jon), ...[Read More]
Carowinds to Add New Kids Rides With Camp Snoopy
In 2018, Carowinds will be transforming Planet Snoopy to Camp Snoopy. Aside from a new theme, the childrens’ area will be getting six new kids rides and new amenities. Here’s a video providing an overview of the new rides and updated area: After Fury 325, Carowinds is Shifting Their Focus to Families After making a huge splash with a mammoth roller coaster in 2015 thanks to Fury 325 (r...[Read More]
What If… You Could Add a Ride to Your Home Park
For this edition of What If… Imagine getting to call the shots, rather than just playing armchair theme park GM like we usually do. You’ve just won a contest where you get to choose the type of ride that your home park builds next. Here’s what I would do: Carowinds Could Use a Launch Coaster Back in 2009, when there was buzz about Carowinds’ new roller coaster, fans speculated about a regional tie...[Read More]