Carowinds announces Carolina Cobra

Definitely a huge step backwards from White Lightnin' that was removed in '88. So now they have the Carolina Cobra, Carolina Cyclone and Carolina Goldrusher? LOL

They should play James Taylor! :)

But the name is what makes the coaster good right? ...er no? Aw shucks!

Ensign Smith said:
Take two woodies from my neck of the 'woods': Cedar Point's Blue Streak and Geauga Lake's Big Dipper. They're both classic out-and-backs, close to the same height, close to the same number of drops. Yet the experience of riding each one is as different as night and day.

Yeah, one sucks and the other doesn't, and we don't even likely agree on which is which!

We don't even agree on what we don't agree on. I like 'em both. ;)

Maybe they already have a buyer for the old train? There is a train less Boomerang right now in the Netherlands and the company running the park is stupid and moneypinching enough to actually buy the Headspin train and move it there!

You gotta hype what you got. I can brag about my "new" truck, even if it's 15 years old. It's still new to me.

Well I just thought of a park with 2 true inverted coasters. Islands of Adventure Dueling Dragons is 2 separate coasters intertwined.

Earlier when I grouped suspendeds in with inverteds was because I was looking at them like the general public might. It hangs under the track, must be the same type ride except that one goes upside down. The person that asked about parks with multiple inverteds eliminated all the possiblities in his question. Jr inverts, impulses, ect.

Jeff said:I think your distinctions are totally arbitrary. Other than being a little taller, what's the difference between Legend and Raven? Aside from being taller still and out-and-back, how is Voyage different?

The trio at HW are all "terrain coasters" IMO. Although Voyage is way more of an O-n-B takeoff. That's kinda where I was going with "wood is all different". In the old days, you either had an out-n-back, or a twister, and most woodies were some variant of one of those. Arbitrary? You bet! We're humans, classifying things is one of our basic human drives, right after food, shelter, socializing, etc.... :)

What's funny too is that enthusiast have notoriously differentiated between SLC's and B&M inverts for years. Now they're the same?Totally arbitrary.

This one I'll argue a little harder. To a casual rider, they're "the same". You drop your shoes at the platform, you go up a lift, do some loops and whatnot, and end at the brake run, pick up your shoes, and go on. No backwards travel, no launch, loopy, feet-dangling. Sorry, to me that's WAY too much the same. Apparently parks feel the same. I can see clearly why we came back to zero when looking for a park that had two different non-shuttle (backwards-travel, sometimes with a launch) adult inverts. (Suspendeds in NO way count, LOL). You have to diversify the product - and an SLC and a Beemer invert, from the viewpoint of an investor or a regular customer, is more of the same. Although I be willing to bet it wouldn't take long for the SLC to get a really short line....because they DO know what they like - just like the OTSR removal from the LIM-bowls, and the effect on lines for them.Arbitrary? Yeah, pretty much....but with some logic. IMO. ;) :)

To a casual rider, wood coasters are the same too.

I think it is a little pathetic that we point out that Carowinds already has a B&M inverted and your retort is "well look at Holiday World they have several woodies". Um, apples and oranges much?

You just don't come in with a lower end inverted -- and a used one at that and put it into a park that already has a Beemer. That makes absolutely no sense and then attempting to dig yourself out of the hole by making the arguement that well several parks have multiple woodies is just sad. Oh wow, several parks have several rides that spin in circles too.

Please. Come on Jeff, you made a blunder, own up to it and move on. It's not that big of a deal.

You're walking on thin ice, my friend. If you want to debate something fine. If you want to make it personal, get lost.

Why not look at it this way: Is an SLC "better" in a GPer's mind to Top Gun (thats its name.) Im going to go out on a limb and say no, although I havent been to CW, I personally would take any B&M over an SLC. I know thats an enthusiast's perspective but I have to think the GP would agree.

Think about it, in a GP's mind

CCMR<Gemini<Magnum<MF<TTD
Raven<Legend<Voyage

Sure there are some examples where the thoughts are much more mixed (SOB vs Beast, Mean Streak vs Blue Streak) open a coaster that the GP think is not better then a similar ride and expect their ridership to dwindle quickly see Scream @ SFMM vs Riddlers or even Mantis vs Raptor (in which the latter always has a shorter wait then the former and the latter still has mechandise made with its logo while the new ride doesnt.)

What Im getting at is this, you dont want to risk opening a new ride that would be a disapointment to GP people and an SLC would be a disapointment to GP at a park that already has a B&M invert.

Jeff said:To a casual rider, wood coasters are the same too.

Unfortunately, IMO ;), this is truer than it should be. In too many places wood coasters are described as "old and rough". Clearly, that need not be the case. But before we had this massive boom in all kinds of steel contraptions, wood was most of what you got (maybe a Wildcat or Galaxi thrown in to "round out the collection"). Maybe that explains why Paramount went hog-wild for wood...the parks were just too busy "back when" for a racing woodie or similar O-n-B and a kiddie woodie to handle. Now with all the steel, not enough attention gets paid to really MAINTAINING the wooden coasters, and their trains, and so more and more people are on the "wood's just too rough" bandwagon. B&M probably didn't things there perception-wise, LOL. [p]But how about an example or two: with Blue Streak running the way it was last year (no visit this year for me), CP with a good wooden twister (let's just say KRumbler or OzCat for the sake of argument) would have a MUCH more "complete" line-up. It's one of the things I love about SFoT, when it comes to wooden coasters "we have BOTH kinds, country AND western". ;)

B&M probably didn't things there perception-wise, LOL

What was that sentence supposed to say?

For a while, SFGAm. had V2 and DV. They are very very similar rides (IMHO) and they had B:TR right next door too.

Are there any coaster at Carowinds that go backwards?

^There is now...and there once was. The old one was better...LOL! Seriously, I remember questioning the decision at SFGAm, because even though only one "launched", and the other went upside-down, two invert shuttles seemed a little too much of the same. ^^Jason, that was supposed to say something closer to "B&M didn't HELP things there perception-wise", as in people THOUGHT wood was too rough when the alternative to wood changed over from Arrow headbanging to B&M magic-carpets. The touchpad on the laptop is hypersensitive to my huge roaming thumbs.... ;)

iWoF said:
You just don't come in with a lower end inverted

But it's perfectly acceptable to send a similarly unpopular design that's over 20 years old?

That makes absolutely no sense and then attempting to dig yourself out of the hole by making the arguement that well several parks have multiple woodies is just sad.

I don't see how this argument is invalid. In my opinion, an SLC provides a different enough ride from a B&M invert that having both at one park isn't as completely outlandish as you seem to think. Certain woodies are different enough, too, but then you have some that are similar enough that I can see why one would wonder why they'd exist in the same park.

Oh wow, several parks have several rides that spin in circles too.

I know you're being sarcastic here, but it's actually a valid concern. Why are there so many spinny rides at any given park? I usually skip these rides because I'm not a fan, but even if I was I think I'd still wonder just how many different ways is it possible to spin people in an f'ing circle in one damn park. Well, seeing how many parks have multiple flats that do essentially the same thing, and those rides continue to be popular, it must work. Certainly, an SLC and B&M invert can reside in the same park given this logic. I guess I don't understand why the few of us who follow this logic are seemingly out of our minds to some of the folks who don't.

MiA is my homepark. I went there several times this summer and it was Significantly busier then it used to be. Thunderhawk was never a walkon, no matter what day or time we went. That ride is a perfect fit for the park - it fills a niche that the park was lacking. Headspin would have been too similar to Corkscrew and much less exciting. So I think it's safe to say it is not too big for that park.

Headspin would have been too similar to Corkscrew and much less exciting? Well what about Carolina Cycolone? It's an Arrow looper that goes upside down 4 times!

Are you baiting us? ;)

So what? Cedar Point has two wood coasters and essentially three mine trains of various sizes. What's your point? Mine was simply that an SLC seems like too much ride for a park like MiA.

You're serious? Didn't you ridicule me for once stating that Gemini and Magnum were nothing more than oversized mine trains? And how is an SLC "too much" coaster for Michigan's Adventure when that small theme park is home to one of the largest wood coasters in the country?