[DaveVan]

Super7....you must be an old timer like a few of us...or on the edge anyway! I have not been to the park in many years. If I went back it would be to search out pieces of the old park.

Does your handle have anything to do with the car??

[super7]

The handle is meaningless

My first trip there was in 80, the year the Carolina Cyclone opened. Although the park had lost the C & C RR by then, it still had that good feeling to it. A return trip in '88 was a bummer as KECO had started to neglect the park and remove good rides, but it still had most of its original itent. I went again in 2004 and it was just sad to see what Paramount did to this once great park.

I would take the 80's Carowinds with 5 coasters over what is there now anytime. Top Gun, Ricochet, Phantom Flyers and Flying Dutchman's Revenge are really the only good rides they have installed since then. When you compare that to all that was taken out and the general de-theming of the park, it really isn't much of a park these days.

[DaveVan]

I hate to sound like a old man....but if you went during the early years, 73-83, it was a very different park. And the Pat Hall years were even more so.
I loved the early years costumes. It added to the air of you being someplace different. (and a lot of the girls looked great in those 'Queens colony' outfits! ) Most of us that worked there felt like we were doing something special...it WAS a different time..I had people tell me Carowinds was the first place outside of their community that they had gone to.
Carowinds is doing what they need to do for today....but does not change my memories and how it SEEMED better.

[swampfox43]

Anyone remember hearing about the Thunder Road wedding in 1985? Jerry Keck, a local ACE member from Matthews got married in the train at the top of Thunder Road.

It actually made the big front & center page of the Charlotte Observer. The quality of the photo is terrible but that was the condition of the microfilm where I scanned it from.

Take a look:
http://www.carowindsearlyyears.com/wedding.jpg

Added a few more clippings too.
http://www.carowindsearlyyears.com/legislatures.jpg
http://www.carowindsearlyyears.com/smurfisland.jpg
http://www.carowindsearlyyears.com/bilbo.jpg

All the clippings:
http://www.carowindsearlyyears.com/newspapers.html

[Jonathan]

For some reason the description of Smurf Island in that article made me laugh.

[RollerBee]

"Aqua Gardens near Greensboro"? Say huh?

[Jonathan]

That was the name of Emerald Pointe when it opened. In 91 they filed for bankruptcy and I'm pretty sure after that they changed the name, but it could have been before.

[Fran Vaughan]

I'm a lot late on this one, but right after being called Aqua Gardens it changed to Water Country USA.

[RollerBee]

http://www.greensboro.com/riding-a-wave ... 8ee0e.html
History lesson time, I worked at Emerald Pointe in 2007 as a Sweep. I can't believe I didn't know the history of the park back then.

[Carowindsman]

I found a old school video of mine riding skytower in 2005

https://youtu.be/8zfQCHkCcnU

[uscbandfan]

WOW. Look at all of those trees. That'd be a great place to put a wooden launch coaster to weave amongst the trees. oh... wait.... Sorry, it was made barren for Intimidator within 5 years of the video.

[Edwardo]

Yeah. Let’s tear Intimidator down and replant the trees.

[uscbandfan]

No. Lets leave Intimidator where it is and replant the trees. I'm sure they had to remove the trees because they wanted to flatten the land. But put them back. I hope if they build a new woodie, they save as many as they can and go a step further and plant a ton after construction. The current park is looking more and more industrial in the sense that the green space is becoming a thing of the past. I miss the lake. I miss the green space. Lets bring some of that back or the only place we'll see green is on "The Early Years" website.

[Edwardo]

Parks aren’t keen on planting lots of trees in the in fields of coasters. There’s got to be access on each side of the track as well. The location of intimidator wouldn’t allow more trees than what they have to be planted and still have adequate access to the ride with clearance for track.

Look at Apollo’s Chariot. It goes out in the woods but doesn’t have a lot of trees in the infield and the trees on the sides are as far from the track as intimidator. Same with Voyage. They saved a lot of trees there but there’s still a road around the coaster that separates it quite a bit from the tree line.

The difference is that those two coasters go out into the woods where, though the same clearances are there, there’s enough density in the trees behind the line of clearance that it gives the feel of being surrounded by trees. Intimidator doesn’t have that luxury.

[pproteinc]

I always wished they saved the hills from powder keg instead of flattening the land. I think it would’ve made the coaster cheaper to build using less support height.