[Capler]

A resort hotel would cost more than the money mentioned, especially when you still have to invest in the park itself. They mentioned record breaking and 4th in the chain. That would be Wonderland, CP, KI/KD....What does those parks all have in common, -a Giga. You can rule out KI, because with next year's addition, they are done with them for a while. So in order to put Winds in that company, a Giga seems to be the next logical step. Carowinds could be the home of the first B&M Giga in the U.S., which folk would flock to. Not everyone can make it to Canada. Fair has always used 'tallest' as it's signature attraction to distinguish itself from the competition. Currently Carowinds is not in that category. Yes, a Giga would be similar to Intimidator, but it all about marketing and hype that pulls folk in.
Like KI, Dominion's collection is not complete, therefore I fully expect their new coaster will be a Banshee like invert, if not that a Wing.

The build up to this could explain why Carowinds only got a lame Dinosaur up charge attraction last year and likely won't get much next year. The press release did hint that the front of the park will be reconfigured, so that will likely be the first phase of the 2015 project : shift some parking, new eateries, maybe a flat....?

[RollerBee]

Island is without a Giga and Dominion is without a hyper.

[redrunner97]

If part of their focus seems to be on genereal park improvements, I would love to see Thunder Road repainted white like it originally was, and it would be cool to see the water park extended into a section of the parking lot area behind Thunder Road, with a pathway underneath it to access the other part of Boomerang Bay, like Kings Dominion.

And with the waterpark expansion coming, I hope the don't change Boomerang Bay to Soak City. Boomerang Bay is themed perfectly, imo. And it shouldn't "conform" to many of the othe parks, as it was the first water park to ever be included inside an existing amuesment park.

I'm really excited for what may lie in Carowind's future.

[RollerBee]

Actaully I think Geauga Lake had a waterpark before we did. Geauga Lake added a waterpark in 1983, RipTide Reef was added in 1989. The movie connection between Boomerang Bay was Crocodile Dundee was even shorter than Waynes World.

[RiDeWaRrIoR]

Well you can definately count thunder road being painted white happening, that was covered a few years back at one of the events at the park.... I agree that the resort must be out for now because the budget jus wouldnt allow for it, unless its not an upscale resort and just a smaller style thing. The resort could always be after 3 years though, you never know. I disagree about a giga coaster. Just because some other parks have them, doesnt mean we have to get one. It would be awesome to have the first USA B&M giga, but $50m in 3 years is not going to buy that and all the improvements they have said. I think with the removal last year of the cars, they may add a few "family/kid" rides, probaly a flat ride or two, or maybe a family coaster that is smaller. i do not see anything that big in the future. World record breaker could mean anything, maybe we will get the biggest waterpark or something, who knows. I just dont see a record breaking coaster, at least not within the 3 years at the budget mentioned. I think Intimidator will be Carowinds signature coaster for many years to come. What I would love to see is a new ride type that no one has done before.... that would be great. Who know's the world record breaker could be the longest dark ride...

[Capler]

Island is without a Giga and Dominion is without a hyper.

Dominion likely won't get a hyper either. There is no need for it once you go taller. Unless of course they eventually pull the plug on 305. That project is what you call buyers remorse. KI, is in a odd situation with CP being so near by. They need something the Point does not have, but I'm not sure management is willing to do it since CP is their Golden Child. Banshee is unique, sort of, without taking anything away from CP. On paper, Banshee should run circles around all other inverts out there, I just hopes the public buys it. Some Ohio folk could say, 'Oh I ridden the one at CP,' and might pass on it.

[Merthecat]

Well you can definately count thunder road being painted white happening, that was covered a few years back at one of the events at the park.... I agree that the resort must be out for now because the budget jus wouldnt allow for it, unless its not an upscale resort and just a smaller style thing. The resort could always be after 3 years though, you never know. I disagree about a giga coaster. Just because some other parks have them, doesnt mean we have to get one. It would be awesome to have the first USA B&M giga, but $50m in 3 years is not going to buy that and all the improvements they have said. I think with the removal last year of the cars, they may add a few "family/kid" rides, probaly a flat ride or two, or maybe a family coaster that is smaller. i do not see anything that big in the future. World record breaker could mean anything, maybe we will get the biggest waterpark or something, who knows. I just dont see a record breaking coaster, at least not within the 3 years at the budget mentioned. I think Intimidator will be Carowinds signature coaster for many years to come. What I would love to see is a new ride type that no one has done before.... that would be great. Who know's the world record breaker could be the longest dark ride...

Well, Behemoth was CWs signature coaster when it opened in 2008, only to be dwarfed by Leviathan in 2012. It could happen, and I definitely see a BIG roller coaster coming to us in the next three years.

[Capler]

I think Intimidator will be Carowinds signature coaster for many years to come. What I would love to see is a new ride type that no one has done before.... that would be great. Who know's the world record breaker could be the longest dark ride...

When Fair put in the hypers/Giga at the former Paramount Parks, I and everybody else thought they would be the signature 'tall' attractions for years to come. Then out of the blue came the giga at Wonderland. Perhaps we should have taken the hint from Dominion's giga, and assumed there would be more. If you will recall, Carowind's hyper was the last the company had planned, at which point they moved to the giga. Remember one of the old conference calls where it was stated that the company had no intention of building Carowinds & Dominion's coasters during the same year, but they had little choice because one had been delayed and there was contractual reasons and the looming recession?

If there is another B&M giga in the pipe, it would have to go to Carowinds or Knotts. As of a couple days ago, all hits are pointing to Carowinds. Also they did say the investment would be more than $50 million. How much did the Wonderland giga cost, I'm thinking it was a couple million more than the hypers? To me that leave a lot of money for park upgrades and a small attraction for 2014.

[coasterbruh]

Well you can definately count thunder road being painted white happening, that was covered a few years back at one of the events at the park...

You mean count it out? The park has stressed time and time again no more painted wooden coasters. They gave some excuse that the paint does something to the wood...must be just the wood at carowinds...

[Jonathan]

Pretty sure that comment was during the same Q&A as the infamous "trees block the view of the rides" remark.

[RollerBee]

Paint preserves wood as it does steel.

Woodstock Express is still purple and not peeling so they must be maintaining the paint job. Furthermore, parts of Thunder Road are kept painted. I imagine since most of Thunder Road is far from the midways, they figure painting the whole doesnt little to make it look pretty. Also, wood is constantly being replaced on wooden coasters so I imagine that is why parks generally dont paint them anymore.

[Merthecat]

Of course they're keeping up the paint on Woodstock Express, look how small it is compared to Thunder Road!

[Jarsh]

Leviathan was $28M. I can't see Carowinds blowing over half of their 3 three year budget on a giga. They will spend this $50m wisely to prepare for bigger crowds that bigger toys will bring in down the road.

[Edwardo]

Jarsh hit the nail on the head. I think if you guys really want to see what Carowinds is going to do with the $50mil, look no further than what they've done recently at the other parks. Has Oimett added a giga everywhere? No. They added one to Wonderland because it's the top performer. They need to keep a couple million people coming back.

But look at what else they've done. They're doing something in the mountian right now at Wonderland, be it a dark ride or a haunt. They're committed to bringing a dark ride to Cedar Point. They're renovating the dark rides at Knotts.

They're adding family oriented rides. Disko Coaster, Flyers, readding a scrambler to Knotts.

They're sprucing up areas of parks that need it like Knott's Boardwalk and Gemini Midway. CP's main entrance.

They're adding new water park complexes.

And they're adding atmosphere. Look at what they did to the fountain at Wonderland. Look at the new nite time show they added to CP.

Of all of that, what we do know from the announcement and subsequent articles is that they're looking at parking and the parks entrance road. They're going to redo the park's entrance. They're going to expand the water park. They're going to add new rides. But remember, they could add a record-breaking slide complex, not a record-breaking coaster.

I also took the Record-breaking comment to be more of what they were looking at doing down the road. Heck, they may add a record-breaking coaster, but that doesn't equal Giga (Just ask SFMM).

And the Hotel I'm sure is down the road past this initial 3 years. Like Jarsh said too, you'll see some infrastructure improvements along with stuff.

My guess? More nite time atmosphere, a few new rides, a coaster, and a waterpark expansion is coming. After that, they'll be in a position to focus on strategic additions every year instead of trying to catch up. Dollywood has shown it's a major player in the region already, and now they're starting a major 10 year plan. SFoG is keeping strong, and I feel every addition over the past 4 or 5 years has been very strategic.

For Carowinds, it seems like its time. Finally.

Oh, and PS, all this talk about expecting a giga because other parks in the chain got one? Don't forget that all of that was done under Dick Kinzel. He's not there any more. You can't look at anything from before the last year or two and determine what the new leader will do. Look at what he's done since he's been in charge.

[Jarsh]

SFoG is keeping strong

And after tomorrow, everyone will see that they are really putting it out there that they aren't standing on the sidelines and watching. Biggest investment in the park's history.