Thunder Road

I was outside Carowinds tonight to see the firworks and noticed that Thunder Road is back up from its refurbisment. For those that don't know, much of the structure was rebuilt from the ground up.

They were running both sides forward and did not seem to be too interested in racing them as it only happened a couple of times. They also seem to have had only one train per side.

Screamscape is reporting that carowinds is getting Geauga lakes' Headspin Vekoma boomerang next year to replace the Super Saturator. If this is true I hope they will consider my idea for a name and theme. First repaint it white

Name -White Lightnin' 2

with the slogan- " Lightnin' does strike twice!"

2009 will be the 20th anniversary of the water park that the original White Lightnin' was removed for. I was working at Carowinds as part of the Goldrusher crew in 1988 and was supposed to be on an after closing final ride on White Lightnin' but I chose to clock out early and didn't get to ride.

Unfortunately, it is true.....
Carowinds (home park) is getting another used Vekoma headbanger. I've got the blue prints showing the rides placement where Super Saturator currently is. Not sure if SS will be relocated or scrapped at this point.

I'd rather see them paint Thunder Road white like it use to be many, many, many years ago. Now if we can just get them to race the darn thing.

And head banger, I mean head spin, can go to the scrap yard as far as I'm concerned. Just my 2¢.

Those many many many years ago that T road was white was also 20 years ago like the White Lightnin' removal. I guess they were getting rid of everything white that offseason. I'm surprised the Skytower made it thru. Just kidding.

I worked there at the time and the official reason for stripping the paint was that they were making it so T Road would blend in with its natural surroundings. At the time its natural surroundings were a parking lot and a junk yard( the boneyard was between T Road and the wave pool at the time) To me they succeeded. It looked like junk.

It's funny, Ive imagined Carowinds(my home park too) getting a boomerang to replace White Lightnin' since the first time I saw one.

White Lightnin' 2 "Lightnin' does strike twice"

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swampfoxer said:

And head banger, I mean head spin, can go to the scrap yard as far as I'm concerned. Just my 2¢.

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Unfortunately that's where the ride we (Carowinds) should've gotten from Geauga Lake is going. That ride is Villian. I still don't understand why Cedar Fair chose not to keep that ride.

I might even buy a season pass if we had gotten Villian.

It's just that Boomerang's are so dated now. They were fun 15 years ago and the one we are getting is 12 years old already.

The park needs a NEW coaster! So sad that the last 2 coasters Carowinds has got were used Vekomas. Never thought I'd see the day.... :(

Well, I'm glad to hear that Thunder Road is back up and running. I read somewhere that it's supposed to be a lot smoother and more comfortable after its refurbishment (Screamscape? I think). I'm willing to give it another go even after the beating I received from it last fall.

I'm disappointed (at least a bit) to hear that the new coaster will be a headbanger. :( I was hoping for a nice smooth hyper, maybe along the lines of Behemoth/Goliath. At least it'll be a new (to us) coaster, anyway. I'll probably give it at least one go!

CatPurrson

I'm glad to see that many of the rides at Geuga Lake (I can NEVER spell that properly) are getting new homes, although it saddens me to think that there was this park with what sounds like a great deal of nice rides and pretty scenery and I never got to attend it. Sure, the Vekoma boomerangs aren't that great, but there's something about them that I don't mind. I just rode Sidewinder for the first time in three years while at Hersheypark the other day, and it was fun. Plus, Hershey put soft pads at the headbanging level on the restraints, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Still, I'm glad my home park (Dorney) got the impulse spiked coaster from Intamin. Hehehehehe....

^Geauga

I love the White Lightnin' name, but putting it on a boomerang would be a tragedy! LOL. The Schwarzkopf White Lightnin' was a great coaster and it's a crying shame they ever got rid of it. But then again, most of Carowinds these days is a crying shame! Good one about Thunder Road looking like junk. Most of the park does compared to what it used to look like back in the day.

Villian wouldn't have been much different than the 2 wood coasters that are there, all 3 are out-and-backish. *** Edited 7/8/2008 3:09:00 PM UTC by super7****

Hey John- I like your marketing slogan. (first post)

Carowinds was my home park when I was a kid..we used to drive out and park beside the highway while they were building Thunder Road. Although I moved from NC 30 years ago, I will always remember the slogan that they used when they unveiled their second big coaster, 'White Lightenin'.

It was: "Thunder and Lightenin' Twice as frightenin".

I LOVED that.

I am a coaster fan that works in advertising now. I am sure that those days helped sculpt my passion for what I do today.

Thanks for the memories.

:)

It's funny about Boomerangs. To us they might seem passe' but I notice where ever they have one they are always wildly popular, and it's certainly one of the most prolific production model coasters. Plus they take up very little space. And the park can advertise things like 6 inversions forward and backward! Well, who wouldn't want that?

Whenever I ride one I'm reminded over again what fun they can be. The best one, IMO, is the one at Hershey. Must be the trains. The one at Knott's was fun, too.

I think Carowinds will do well with theirs, and there's nothing similar anywhere near, is there?

When I went to KBF in February, the crew at that park's Boomerang were waiting for a minimum ten person load before they would let a train out. I've never seen that before. Have there been issues with that particular Boomerang valleying? Otherwise it doesn't make any sense.

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RCMAC said:It's funny about Boomerangs. To us they might seem passe' but I notice where ever they have one they are always wildly popular, and it's certainly one of the most prolific production model coasters. Plus they take up very little space. And the park can advertise things like 6 inversions forward and backward! Well, who wouldn't want that?

Whenever I ride one I'm reminded over again what fun they can be. The best one, IMO, is the one at Hershey. Must be the trains. The one at Knott's was fun, too.

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Is Vekoma hiring or something? ;)

Seriously, they bite...Jill skipped both SFFT's and SFOT's on our Tejas trip earlier this year, saying something along the lines of "WHY would I want to ride that?!??" She'll never make it as a credit ho. ;)

Thunder Road, when running well, can be a real star attraction....then again, so can Hurler. When the PKI/PKD/PCAr woodies were running at their best, they all *delivered*. Never got those kind of rides from the PCW woodies...hmmmm.

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RCMAC said:
It's funny about Boomerangs. To us they might seem passe' but I notice where ever they have one they are always wildly popular, and it's certainly one of the most prolific production model coasters. Plus they take up very little space. And the park can advertise things like 6 inversions forward and backward! Well, who wouldn't want that?

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I feel the same way about Boomerangs. I really enjoy the majority of them, with my favorites at Mariner's Landing, Elitch Gardens and Geauga Lake. I can definitely see the appeal of Boomerangs, especially up until a years ago. Like you said, they're compact, easy to market (imagine a park upgrading its Zyklon to something with six inversions!) and probably relatively inexpensive, especially if you happen to find something used. Something a lot of enthusiasts ignore is the fact that these rides helped put a lot of parks on the map.