[Jwrickner]

I can not believe all the crybabies on facebook that are still complaining about parking. "My kids have to walk." Big deal, when I was a child, I had to cut wood and throw hay all day. W hen I was lucky to go to carowinds, I didn't complain one bit regardless of the walking.

[Jay]

Going to try not to focus too much on construction, and instead keep this report to the event itself.

Today was the day. The day many of us had been waiting for, for 11 long months. The day that would change Carowinds as we know it forever. Despite having it all leaked to me weeks prior, I was personally so excited I was ready to jump out of my skin.

Also, it was a pleasure meeting everyone. Some for the first time, and some the first time in a long time. YOU guys and girls all make this site possible. Without you guys and girls, there is no "us." I honestly don't know if I've ever been prouder than when Mike Fehnel called out Carowinds Connection and there were uproarious cheers from the back of Harmony Hall. Like Jonathan said earlier today, I don't know if I ever would have dreamed of such an event taking place in 2003 when this whole thing started. (Let alone at an announcement for one of the largest coasters on earth)

We started off with breakfast (no one PM'ed me for more information ) and then made our way to the park. As usual, we were greeted by the marquee.


LINK.

Even though I have been following Wormy's Weekly Updates like everyone else (thanks as always Doug ) I hadn't been to the park in nearly 2 months. So needless to say I was floored when you just see the scope of everything that is changing. It really can't be described in pictures. The toll booth is coming along nicely, and John Taylor told us it could be ready in as little as 3 weeks. (!)


LINK.

Coming around the corner, we were greeted to a single piece of track in the back of the former Season Pass lot. Luckily the two gentlemen I was with don't post much here, or they could attest to how much I shrieked and cackled at the sight of it.


LINK.

Before making our way into the park we of course had check in and get our lanyards. Mine didn't say Carowinds Connection on it, so here is someone's that did.


LINK

As they have done for the past few months, Carowinds has done a masterful job with the teaser banners and today was no exception...


LINK.


LINK.


LINK.


LINK.


LINK.

Of course this culminated with a Centurion shirt in a gift shop window..


LINK.

As was confirmed by the webcam yesterday, there was a piece of track in front of Harmony Hall.


LINK.

Some of us were excited to see it..


LINK.

Some of us were REALLY excited to see it...


LINK.

My one regret of the day is not getting a nice group photo with everyone, but here is the closest I got with everyone hovering around the track.


LINK.

Harmony Hall, which is an already impressive building in itself, was decked out for the event.


LINK.


LINK.


LINK.

Here was the live band. Keep your opinions to yourselves.


LINK

Finally after some technical difficulties, the event started a little after 11. First up was Mike Fehnel, the brand new Vice President and General Manger for Carowinds. He welcomed everyone and gave us a little overview of what we would be seeing in the coming minutes.


LINK.

It didn't take long before Mike was rudely interrupted by a bunch of Scarowinds monsters. This of course segued into the 2 new haunted houses for Scarowinds 2014.


LINK.

Next up was Richard Zimmerman, Chief Operating Officer for Cedar Fair. He talked a bit about what this expansion would mean for the future of Carowinds.


LINK.

Last up was Director of Marketing, John Taylor.


LINK

He told us all about the new revamped Parking Gate, and North Gate, as well as the new dining and entertainment options that we would be seeing in 2015.


LINK.


LINK

Finally it was time. The time we were all waiting for!

FURY 3-2-5!


LINK

From everyone I talked to, the turnaround looked to be their favorite part of the ride. I can't say I disagree.


LINK

Hmm.. this looks familiar..


LINK.

No reason to post any more ride images since you can get better versions at www.carowinds.com/swarm

It was kind of a blur after the animations were shown, but I think the reaction was overwhelmingly positive. They brought out tons of food afterwards. My stomach wasn't feeling well, so I opted out of eating, but everyone said the food was good, and there were a ton of things to choose from.

I walked around a bit, and found this giant ice sculpture with desserts on it.


LINK.

Outside they had USB Keys with high resolution images and video for the media, as well these BALLIN' glasses. They bear a striking resemblance to my avatar..


LINK.

Intimidator was open at this point and I took a couple rides. I could have stayed on it a lot longer, but it's not every day you can spend time and talk with the various higher ups at the park, as well as all you awesome Carowinds Connection members.

On our way out the Centurion shirt had 'magically' changed into one for Fury 325.


LINK.

When you walked into Harmony Hall they stopped and took a picture of everyone in front of a green screen. When we exited the park we finally got to see what they were green screening us in front of..


LINK.

(This one is worth a click for the higher res, my shirt is almost completely keyed out)

All in all thanks to Carowinds for inviting all of us, and putting on one heck of a shin-dig. Again, it was a pleasure meeting everyone! Hopefully we can organize another big meetup on opening day! Here's a look some of my goodies from today.


LINK.

The coming months will be a very exciting time for Carowinds, and us as Carowinds fans. This site is of course the best place to follow everything, so stay tuned! I know I'm not the only one who can't wait for 2015!

For a link for all my photos from today's Announcement Event, as well as some construction pictures Click Here.

[arby]

Great report, Jay!

[offtopic]In response to earlier posts about the GTA, they are clearly unbalanced, but AT is working hard to improve the quality of the votes. They now require voters to have ridden 200+ different coasters and to have visited 50+ different parks. They are welcoming of new voters who honestly report those above stats to them so they can continue to improve their voting process.

I didn't know that announcing yourself as a voter was encouraged practice but I'm willing to bet that there are many other voters out there who stay under the radar. I just expected that anybody who was qualified to be a GTA voter also was a Mitch Hawker voter and recognized the quality of the algorithm used there.

I'm not trying to take anything away from either as they both fill a specific need. I just wanted to point out a few things that came to mind since the topic came up in this thread.[/offtopic]

[Jarsh]

Hmm.. this looks familiar..

LOL! Nice...

[MarkD]

A few from Intimidator's queue line. Going to be a different sight in 2015.

[mark40511]

I love the way the home page is showing the new coaster. I can't stop looking at it because it just looks beautiful. I think the color scheme is awesome. It looks so much better than I 305. I've always hated the looks of that coaster.

[iBiscuit]

Even though I had an idea of what to expect yesterday, I was still like a little kid a t Christmas! I am a cop and I may or may not have geeked out and streamed the announcement on my computer at headquarters on my lunch break. I'm sitting there with a big cheesy grin on my face and the whole time coworkers kept walking by and asking "what are you watching?". They would stop to watch and before long there was a crowd of about ten standing around my desk. Most of us are adrenaline junkies and needless to say, the videos created quite a buzz with my coworkers. This will probably serve as the greatest single addition to Carowinds for many many years and all I can say is a big heart-felt "THANK YOU" to Mike Fehnel, Richard Zimmerman, John Taylor, and the rest of the Cedar Fair and Carowinds staffs that made this happen. It is still hard to believe that the world's tallest coaster will be an hour away from my house!

[Picklesthedrummer]

It's good to be back, especially to find such an incredible announcement. I do believe Fury 325 could be the best coaster in the world for several reasons. One of the main reasons is comparing it to Levithan at Canada's Wonderland which I thankfully had the opportunity to ride. Like Johnathan, I had a similar opinion, the speed and turns were incredible, however of course the ride was just too short for a giga coaster. Fury 325 fixes that problem and exceeds expectations. So many elements to this coaster that honestly I don't see anything in the layout that could make it better. I am every excited to get on this bad boy as all of you are. Hope to see you all there!

[Chris]

This might be pretty useless for most but I found it very interesting. First let me say, not one bit of me ever doubted Cedar Fair. With that said, I now, more than ever, realize how much Cedar Fair knows what the heck they are doing.
As some may know, I work at a radio station where one of my responsibilities is keeping up with the station's facebook page. We have over 105,000 people 'like' our page.
I posted a picture with this caption: "Carowinds Amusement Park just announced their new 2015 attraction: The tallest and fastest chain-lift roller coaster IN THE WORLD! 325 feet high, 95 MPH down a near vertical 81 degree drop! You riding?"

• In three hours, our post reached over 50,000 people.
• Over 500 people have shared the post (not counting comments that include friend's tagged).
• Over 800 people have liked the post.
• Over 200 people have commented on the post.
• Not one person mentioned it being similar to Intimidator (smart people).
• One person said it was a Millennium Force clone (OK, maybe not too smart).
• Most of the posts include tags of friends with something along the lines of, "OMG, Season passes next year?!!!!!1111one"
• A lot of people mentioned getting season passes for the first time in years, if not ever!
• Others said they will visit for the first time since the 90s.
• A few said, "Awww hell naw!"
• They will easily make their money back on this investment.

Less than 20 hours after making the post...

• In less than twenty hours, our post reached over 350,000 people.
• Over 2,000 people have shared the post (not counting comments that include friend's tagged).
• Over 1,800 people have liked the post.
• Over 500 people have commented on the post.
• Again, not one person mentioned it being similar to Intimidator (smart people).
• A majority of the posts include tags of friends with something along the lines of, "OMG, Season passes next year????!!!!!1111one"

[Capler]

I can not believe all the crybabies on facebook that are still complaining about parking. "My kids have to walk." Big deal, when I was a child, I had to cut wood and throw hay all day. W hen I was lucky to go to carowinds, I didn't complain one bit regardless of the walking.

You forgot to mention you did all this after walking 2 miles from school.

[Capler]

This might be pretty useless for most but I found it very interesting. First let me say, not one bit of me ever doubted Cedar Fair. With that said, I now, more than ever, realize how much Cedar Fair knows what the heck they are doing.
As some may know, I work at a radio station where one of my responsibilities is keeping up with the station's facebook page. We have over 105,000 people 'like' our page.
I posted a picture with this caption: "Carowinds Amusement Park just announced their new 2015 attraction: The tallest and fastest chain-lift roller coaster IN THE WORLD! 325 feet high, 95 MPH down a near vertical 81 degree drop! You riding?"

• In three hours, our post reached over 50,000 people.
• Over 500 people have shared the post (not counting comments that include friend's tagged).
• Over 800 people have liked the post.
• Over 200 people have commented on the post.
• Not one person mentioned it being similar to Intimidator (smart people).
• One person said it was a Millennium Force clone (OK, maybe not too smart).
• Most of the posts include tags of friends with something along the lines of, "OMG, Season passes next year?!!!!!1111one"
• A lot of people mentioned getting season passes for the first time in years, if not ever!
• Others said they will visit for the first time since the 90s.
• A few said, "Awww hell naw!"
• They will easily make their money back on this investment.

Less than 20 hours after making the post...

• In three hours, our post reached over 350,000 people.
• Over 2,000 people have shared the post (not counting comments that include friend's tagged).
• Over 1,800 people have liked the post.
• Over 500 people have commented on the post.
• Again, not one person mentioned it being similar to Intimidator (smart people).
• A majority of the posts include tags of friends with something along the lines of, "OMG, Season passes next year????!!!!!1111one"

Wow!

[FamousAmos]

Well, I was like a child at Christmas at the announcement yesterday. I had to try to not get too overly excited for sake of the video I was recording. When everyone screamed during the POV animation, I tried to keep my mouth shut for sake of audio purposes. I would have sat back there with you guys, but I stayed up front to video this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgs46xew7A8
Carowinds knows I video recorded the event and even gave me a media kit for doing so. I am so happy to have met you guys and I wish I would have stayed behind long enough to talk afterward. You guys seem to have had a great time speaking with park officials and learned some useful info. Kudos to Carowinds for the next few years. And thank you everyone on CC. You guys and girls make my day worthwhile, and I can't wait for next season.

[Merthecat]

It is still hard to believe that the world's tallest coaster will be an hour away from my house!

Not quite...it'll be the 5th tallest in the world.

[Chris]

World's tallest chain-lift coaster.

[FamousAmos]

Don't forget worlds fastest chain lift coaster.