The Coaster Critic's Blog

Coaster Construction Updates - Diamondback, Prowler, & More
Carowind's relocated boomerang coaster, Carolina Cobra is coming along nicely. The park's mini site for the new attraction has tons of photos and even a live web cam, likely perched from the park's observation tower. As Carowinds is my home park I'm looking forward to reporting on whether or not the coaster's new trains will improve the ride. Check out the official Carolina Cobra site for more.

Kings Island's Diamondback is Going Up
One of the most anticipated roller coasters opening in 2009 is the new B&M hyper coaster being built at Kings Island. Diamondback's site also has a web cam, a huge photo gallery, as well as some goodies to download. Hopefully, they're sparing as many trees as they can. Part of the ride's appeal will be its trip into the wilderness behind the park like its legendary neighbor Beast. See the Diamondback site for more. Also, head over NewPlusNotes and enter a contest to ride it on opening day.

Prowler - Worlds of Fun's Woodie is Taking Shape
After a lot of land clearing, Prowler is starting to go vertical. Prowler will kick off with an 85-foot drop into a ravine. The rest of the ride will closely hug the terrain as it reaches speeds in excess of 50 mph. For more, check out Worlds of Fun's Prowler site.


Ground Prep for Magic Mountain's Terminator Coaster
While it doesn't looked to have gone vertical yet, WestCoaster.net has some photos of the construction site for the new Terminator coaster that's coming to Magic Mountain. The GCI woodie will be 100' feet tall (10 stories), over 2,800 feet long, and reach speeds of 55 mph. Californians will enjoy quite an upgrade as its replacing the horrible, worst-rated, Pysclone that was demolished in 2007. The funny thing is that on my recent trip to Magic Mountain, as I rode Deja Vu, I didn't realize I was near the former site of Pysclone much less the site of a new coaster for '09. See WestCoaster.net's photos.

Stay tuned for more construction updates on coasters like Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, Manta, Ring°Racer and more. Which of these 2009 coasters are you most excited about? Leave a comment below.

Carolina Cobra Will Strike Carowinds in 2009
Carowinds officially announced the details of their new-ish Vekoma Boomerang. The roller coaster, formerly Head Spin at Geauga Lake, will be called Carolina Cobra. For a theme park dead center in the middle of the Carolinas it's not a bad name. Vekoma Boomerangs are shuttle coasters that are a dime a dozen, but at least the Carolina Cobra will have its unique trains.

Carolina Cobra's Unique Trains
I was right with my guess that Carowinds is going to re-fit the ride with new Vekoma trains. They aren't the completely open trains featured in this post, but they will keep your head from bouncing off of the over the shoulder restraints. I'm glad that Cedar Fair took this extra step to make this a more comfortable and enjoyable attraction. Many predicted that they'd just rebuild Head Spin, slap a new name on it, and call it a day. Props to you Cedar Fair!

Since Carowinds is my new home park, I'm looking forward to attending Media Day next Spring. I just hope they don't have any live cobras there. I can't stand snakes! Check out this onride video of a similar Vekoma boomerang coaster, Sidewinder at Hersheypark:

Carowinds Removes Super Saturator for 2009 Roller Coaster
My roving reporter Judy has sent in some photos of the ride's construction. As I reported, the relocated Geauga Lake shuttle coaster will be placed where the Flying Super Saturator is now. The park is already taking down the Super Saturator as you can see from these photos. Judy said that its pieces are being piled up outside the park, so there's a good chance that Carowinds is looking to sell this ride to another park.

Headspin's track can be seen in a lot to the left of Thunder Road. There's still no official word from the park, but the latest rumors are that the ride will be re-named Carolina Cobra. It's not a terrible name and it goes with the other coasters, the Carolina Goldrusher (fun mine train) and the Carolina Cyclone (surprisingly smooth Arrow looper).

Boomerang coasters are a dime a dozen don't really bring anything new to a park that already has a number of looping coasters. My only hope is that Carowinds will use these new lapbar trains. That would add a new dimension and they wouldn't suffer from the headbang that most Vekomas do. In my mind, it's the only way to make this a more exciting addition. Well, I can dream at least.

A Fair Trade?
Headspin was a Vekoma Boomerang with cobra roll (two loops) and a vertical loop. Riders traverse the ride's short course forwards and then backwards. Super Saturator is a steel suspended coaster where guests could use water canons mounted near the ride to shoot water at the riders overhead.Do Carowinds fans think this is a fair trade? Leave a comment below.

Mysterious Box Appears at Carowinds, Teasing 2009 Roller Coaster
ScreamScape has pretty much confirmed the rumors that Carowinds (located near Charlotte, NC) will be getting a relocated Vekoma Boomerang next year. The coaster is shuttle coaster that was formerly Head Spin at Geauga Lake. Now a box has mysteriously appeared at the park's entrance. Like, Cedar Fair did with Kings Island's Diamondback, Carowind's is teasing the new ride with another unknown 'beast in a box' teaser. This time its an actual box and not a teaser web page. The box is a crate that been shipped from oversees. It has Asian script and has a sign in English stating: 'WARNING LIVE REPTILES'.

So let the name game began once again. What's the name of this new-ish coaster? Python, Cobra, Anaconda. I'm not up on my Asian reptiles. The only one that comes to mind is Godzilla. Leave your guess below. Image courtesy of ScreamScape.

Relocated Boomerang Coaster Coming to Carowinds in 2009
ScreamScape has pretty much confirmed the rumors that Carowinds will be getting a relocated Vekoma Boomerng next year. The coaster is shuttle coaster that was formerly Head Spin at Geauga Lake. As with several other Geauga coasters, Head Spin will find a new home at another Cedar Fair park. Someone came across a construction company's job site plans online. The plans show the coaster in the place of the Flying Super Saturator. So rumors of that ride being removed were true. Of course, Carowinds could just move it to another section of the park.

Now that I'm in the Charlotte, NC area, Carowinds is my new home park. After looking at the park's lineup, this isn't an inspired choice. They've got a number of steel loopers already. I'd much rather see the park add a launch coaster of any type or a hyper coaster, but I guess Cedar Fair's got to get some use out of their pre-owned rides. Also, I doubt that Carowinds' attendance warrants a large, expensive new attraction. I wonder what kind of press they'll do for this if any as it's not really a coaster that you can hype up. I won't expect to be going to any type of big media day.

Geauga's Orphaned Rides
Over the last year and a half, Cedar Fair has moved Dominator to Kings Dominion, X-Flight to Kings Island to become Firehawk, Steel Venom to Dorney to become Voodoo, and Thunderhawk to Michigan's Adventure. I think there's still a family coaster floating around out there that was rumored for Cedar Point. The ACE classic Big Dipper was sold at an auction for $5,000 recently to a private owner that won't operate it, but wants it as a "nostalgia piece" (?). As far as I know the rest of the coasters were scrapped.

What do you think of this new coaster coming to Carowinds in 2009? Leave a comment below.