Carowinds Then and Now.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ส.ค. 2018
- Take a walk with us around the park and take a look at some of the park history and lost attractions. Please subscribe to our channel and hit the notification bell for more exciting adventures. You can also check us out on Twitter and Patreon.
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I'm 55 now, but I still remember my favorite ride was "The Oaken Bucket." It would spin you around in a circle until you became stuck to the wall. Then, the floor would drop from under your feet while you're still stuck to the wall.
I was telling my wife about it!
That’s the spaceship ride you old fart
I haven't been to Carowinds in over 20 years....I very seriously doubt I'll EVER go back again!!! All the rides that I loved are gone!!!
Same here. I get sick on roller coasters so I doubt if there is anything left that I could do.
Bring back memories
You can tear down my childhood home for fury in my local park!! Fury late in the afternoon is my #1 steel, Steel vengeance #1 hybrid, voyage #1 wooden.
Brings back memories! Thanks!
Yes, It does, Thank you for watching.
Yes it does
Haven't been since they tore down Thunder Road. :-( I always got on the Monorail on a hot day for a short cool off also Blackbeard's Revenge had AC! Love the GRusher! Ahh, Smurf Island, where the mushrooms always smelled of piss.
Ha ha yes, good times for sure.
I miss all those old rides thunder road white water falls the log flume too many to list but the new ones are cool
Yes many a good times on the old log flume, especially rocking it on the back section.
Really i never got to ride them I live really close to carowinds and go all the time but when I was younger I couldn't ride some of the old rides they were taken down by time I reached the height range now I can barely remember what they were like im 15 when I rode the thunder road for the first and only time I believe I was 6 or 7
That's awesome thunder road was probably my favorite, it was such a classic RC
I'm 27 and I haven't been to Carowinds since i was 13. I seriously don't recognize it and we used to have season passes every year. I sad.
The season pass deals are really the best way to go.
Remember White Lightening
oh yes!
wow coming back in 2021 and remembering copperhead strike being built
Good job sir sure do miss those days if simple times at the park
Oh I know, I have enjoyed having a pass this past year, but def. does not have that old theme park feel to it anymore. Having things up to date is really cool and nice, but I do miss that old Carowinds style park.
I remember the old boat ride and haven't back to Carowinds since they tore Thunder Road down. That made me so mad.
Me too. After Thunder road was gone I won't be back!!!
Oh I know and now Rip Roaring Rapids. WHAT!
@@DaddyAdventures they are ruining it for all of us old timers! I don't like change. Wish I could be stuck in the 80's 😂
I know right.. LoL
I love black beard I miss it fun times and the wild bull
I remember riding the monorail into..... the woods... I guess they had something bigger planned but never finished.
Man I wish I could of been around for that
The had Hotels and Nice shopping mall planed, not the shed outlets discount store that were eventually built. The goal was turn into into A full attraction multi-day vacation where you stayed on property. PTL (Praise The Lord aka Pass The Loot) Club en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_PTL_Club Was also a huge Religious Evangelical resort/theme park and housing community. Located near by, the cross draw was bonus but the original plan was growth in to the regions Disney Land/World by the original owner, who saw an unserved market and cheap vacation spot to draw people to. Charlotte was that city you flew over between Atlanta and many northern cities, it would be after Eastern Airlines, with Piedmont Airlines, later US Airways that would make it major hub helping the city grew as connect flight transfer point and major service hub. www.charlotteobserver.com/living/religion/article205362719.html
Which was the broadcast mecca of Jim Baker then Jerry Falwell after Jessica Han Scandal. Which has sadly deteriorated. Their Waterr Park at "Heritage Ministries" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritage_USA aka PTL was better than Carowinds today. Back when it was active, the Carowinds water Park was just Wave Pool, that you had to leave the park and drive around back paying separate entrance feel. The wave pool was a big attraction back then. ON that back side was camp grounds that miniature golf course which was never maintained(think cracks under the felt AstroTurf putting greens) and behind the Palladium Amphitheater was an old Boy Scout Camp in the woods. Fun fact the As you know the parl straddles the NC/SC state line, the Amphitheater when built was the on type and outdoor shed venue around(The Blockbuster/Verizon/(whatever now) off Tryon between Highway 29 &49 was decade away from being built.So it drew in major touring acts, that you bought a park ticket (or season pass extra selling point) and tickets were $10 cheaper than if the show was in the Coliseum. Now called Independence Arena ,it was main Coliseum for decades until the New (now destroyed, didn't want it to compete with the new one downtown for events was Bobcats owner goal....) one was built off Tyvola road. For the Hornets the new & 1st NBA team to the city and was 10,000+ more seats than what then called the "Old Coliseum" on Independence which was luckily not torn down...
So the fact that they were planing to build hotel out there was surprising, especially for how un developed Charlotte was as city at the time. The Mono Rail Looped out to the and through the parking lot and woods because it was going to stop inside the hotel to pick up passengers and bring them into the park. The plans were much like Disney's Monorail system. The Monorail going over the parking lot and showing it not full was and all the vacant spaces was negative factor that , that with reducing ridership (since it had 1 station and you couldn't use it to go across the park, just for trying to scout where you kids/family were for which side...) lead to its demise. Sorry Digressing, so much is tied into the entertainment history side of it all.
On the Winter season when they were taking down the monorail track, a ryder rental truck with the extended box "Grandma's Attic" was smashed in about 2-3 feet because they drove on the right side of the upright that still had track in place where as the left side was already down and removed. This was near where the old Log Flume was right by the Eastern/Piedmont/Us Airways/(what is the branding now?) Sky Tower. Sorry that digressed I kinda what that little bit of history shared since must of the people I worked with the entertainment division have since passed from various reasons. The old park History was not documented much. A couple of the people I worked with roller bladed on the monorail track when the park was closed. Which our department was notorious for doing things that made the rest of the park hate us. On the ice shows, they would shave the ice rank to make the ice fresh and smooth, this created ice shaving in the miniature Zamboni, so we had snow ball fights in summer, eventually we started throwing them over at fellow staff on Rip Roaring Rapids and some may have hit park attendees on the water ride on the ride, which brought down the heat and the end of those snow ball fights.
Working in and walking through a theme park wasn't the crowds have left is creepy and equally cool. You could use your roller blades to get to anywhere if the park was closed. Which at the time was being cool/extreme and general fun. Although the bridge right after the Powder Keg Flume, swinging pirate ship and arcade which went over some ponds with fish in them was rough due to the wood. When you came off the bridge the old shooting gallery with light guns were there on the left, which we used to try to set up with our laser pointers. Although a good lighting flash activated everything at once. I could go on but am digressing severely from original question about the monorail going into the woods and the reasons why.
@@ablemagawitch That was Heritage USA, the property is nearby, but had nothing to do with Carowinds. I did ride the monorail, however most of my memory was it going over the parking lot basically, but don't remember a wooded section.
@@TheBaldr The wooded section was almost semi-swamp, lower land that help channel water run off from the parking lot. it was after you went out across the parking lot and were making the return track back to the Carowinds Park over section of the parking lot closer to the main gate side.
I should have made that more clearer(editted it some to help), Carowinds originally had plans to be much like Disney Land/World and/or the PTL/Heritage Compound with being a multi-day resort/Studio/ theme-ish Park. The two used to have competing water parks. Carowinds refused to even connected their two attractions by in park access. To go from one to the other you had to exit and then drive around Thunder Road Roller Coaster to the other's entrance and pay to park again and then enter the Main Carowinds Park or their Wave Pool, it would be a few years before they had any sort of water slides. Orinally I guess they didn't want half dressed people in the park from the pool hurting the family business image, which this was late 1970's early 1980's and was very deep in the bible belt. With NC being slightly more Progressive than SC but religion ruled politics and you didn't want to risk not being ""Christian"" enough if in politics or major business because the churches would boycott you in force. Alcohol was just we don't want drunk patrons, it was still considered a sin to drink, play cards , dance by some of the biggest churches, but that digresses into culture history.
Meanwhile PTL/Heritage Ministries had built a major water park shortly after Carowinds Wave Pool opened. The tall center mountain had multiple rides ( and was what you climbed carrying you slide mat or tube) two regular water slides, One Large Tube ride with faster/steeper drops (than the slower more gentle lazy river ride), the 2 big Large Slides(Jerry Falwell went down in his suit for publicity ) with deeper plunge pools. Which was everything from the top center multi-story top, then they had better waves than Carowinds(I think their pool was slightly larger per wave pool area, although Heritage was connected to other areas , technically making larger if by water volume and not wave area) which also had the Cliff Jumping with an under water viewing area (High short chute slides would be added later) , a "Lilly Pad walkway" that was round cover tubes that you tried to walk/jump on each to get across the pool without falling in. Memory is fuzzy(I was pre-teens when it open likely) but I believe the little kid shallow pool with play structure was already their on opening day.
A separate from the pool Larger adult sized tube with smaller kid sized tubes Lazy river which has smaller drops and was shallower off to the left side and bottom if viewed from atop the of the Large Main Attraction High speed plunge slides.
In short Heritage had the Waterpartk that rivaled many of the ones at the beech and drew people to it regularly, that didn't care for the PTL (Praise The Lord or Pass The Loot)/Heritage Ministries message. Which had stricter dress codes being a religious based park for female bathing suits that were restrictive before the thong instead of bikinis became issue. So Carowinds was the more relaxed wave pool where kids wanted to hang out and be cool at.
I wondered why they didn't just make a gate between the two ""separate parks"" at Carowinds when I was little, because you clearly see into each other and White Lightning was only blocking about half the length into the water part for "unmovable rides/ buildings" back then. Although the train tracks were still there in places, which having the train run from the front of the park to the back of the waterpark would be cool nowadays in the present years. Sadly the bigger is better thrill rides and people lack of interest in riding steam trains lead to them being taking out. Plus their was redefining the image over the years and park with multiple train rides just didn't scream hip and cool to Teenagers and young adults they wanted. The grandparents and little kids weren't their target market and were after thoughts of we need to give them some crap while their parents get to ride te fun rides they are to small for. I had the rides memorized for which ones had shorter sticks that worn down because I was slow on the height growth rate due to small build genetics.
Sadly Heritage has one small train that was more mock up little engine with coaches than a real train. Which if you can't guess was something I was into when little, which model railroading was still a kids affordable hobby and in every toy store, and you of course has model shops and higher end stuff but that worlds away from kids and trains. The monorail was one of the rides the park should have kept, even if they put in a switch for a track section to shorten it if the parking lot was less than "acceptable full of cars" for riders to see. Ridership due to length and only one station ( not an across or the future planed hotel complex stop) hurt those numbers. You used to also use it to ride through the park and try to see where you family was if you has split up because you had to walk the parking, hoping they weren't doing the same in the same clockwise direction looking for you. Imagine kids being able to run around park without being electronically tract by their parents like criminals on house arrest.....
Yeah, not sure, I also remember getting stuck over the parking lot as well... LoL
My favorite childhood memories were at Carowinds! So glad they are still around so I can make new memories with my kids!
Yes for sure, That is what I plan to do.
The were playing the 1973 theme song and I believe the guy in red is Jerry Helms, an original 1973 employee. Cool Video
Thanks for the comment, That is really cool. We are getting a season pass this year, so should be coming out with a lot of new Carowinds material.
Awesome video!!! Man reminiscing about the younger days! Great coverage, one of the things I had totally forgotten you brought up was Blackbeard's revenge. But once you started talking about it I remembered! Tons of things have changed. Good times. ~Dawn
Thank you guy so much for watching, hope you guys are staying well.
Me and my friend got on Blackbeard's Revenge around 1988. We dared each other to stand up in the middle of the ride when the room is supposedly upside down. We looked like idiots. Anyone who went on this ride can relate.
Great video! You brought back a lot of memories from my childhood! The Fury 325 is definitely an awesome ride for all of the new goers!!!!
For sure, I miss the old park as well.
lolol i love this!!! this is meeee as a parent just dragging my kid around new attractions telling em about “the good ‘ol days” 😂😂😂😂😂
Haha I know right that is how the inspiration started behind this video is I took my son there after not being there in a long time and I hardly recognized the thing to start telling him a lot of what used to be there and a lot of this and he asked me a lot of questions so I pulled up a bunch of stuff on the computer and showed him some of the old pictures and then went around and started matching up the pictures with where things used to be as I remember them at least
A lot of times if you walk around you can find Jerry helms walking around as well he is generally wearing khakis a radio and a red shirt but he will tell you all about Carowinds and the history behind it as he was one of the original employees and I believe he is a VP now not sure
I am 11 now and have been going to Carowinds since I was 1 and I see all of the changes I absolutely LOVED white water falls and went on with my dad EVERY SINGLE time I went. And now I love copperhead strike
Me too, check out some of our others as well. thanks for watching, Please subscribe if you have not already.
I loved the open bucket....spin fast and floor dropped down and you'd stick to the wall
Great video, I really enjoyed this!
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I remember the Carolina Cyclone White Lighting White Waterfalls and the Thunder Road
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I had forgotten about that slide thing you were talking about I can’t remember the name of it but I always had to ride it when I went to the park because it was ridiculously fun
Man, they really got rid of everything that made the park what it was. I would have loved to see a revamp of thunder road and an initiative to make the park feel like the classic experience from the good times!
I could not agree more thunder road was a classic and it was known across the country as a traditional wooden roller coaster would have been great or they could have saved it and like you said revamped it I was just talking with someone about how the park used to be such a classic place to go and now it seems more of a huge theme park
@@DaddyAdventures The ironic thing was the new expansions with the country fair rides, trying to bring a classic feeling. What better way to bring back classics than the BIGGEST classic the park is known for? I think they could have gotten a lot of attention and publicity from converting thunder road into a hybrid coaster, which would be expensive but it would make it smoother, it would bring down upkeep costs, and would bring people in!
I agree
At least copperhead strike is pretty dang awesome, and that area of the park is pretty well themed.
@@DaddyAdventures From the sounds of things, Thunder Road was ALREADY completed and in action so what the hell happened? Was it not paid for? Why was it taken down when it was undoubtedly the most favorite ride of the complex? This doesn't make sense. Over time, wouldn't it have paid for itself? Clear this up if you will.
Haven't been in many many years. In 1977 the Schlitz can plant in Winston Salem had a safety poster contest for the employees kids. I won a set of 4 tickets with my safety poster 🙄. I don't remember much about my other few trips to carowinds but I remember that first one. We rode the monorail, the logs, the oaken bucket, the steamboat, the jalopies, and watched a show at the theater. I'm sure we did more but those things stand out. This trip was a big deal because it wasn't a typical trip my parents would take and they weren't the type for carnival rides. Good memories. So long ago. Thank you for posting.
The Oaken Bucket was great!!!!!
@@Montweezy it was!
i remember when we used to ride the same ride over and over. or go from days of thunder to vortex to gold rush and then cool down on the observation deck of whitewater falls.
Jon My Friend, So happy to see you checking out our videos. Oh I know, Those were good times, Not to mention the Arcade. Good Times for sure.
Ride the same ride over and over to even the staff were sick of you and would make you weight until more people came if there was lull. Though I could set a record on the Oaken Bucket, of course at the age I thought it was the "Open" Bucket....
I really wish they kept their steam train I mean WHY out of all rides did they remove it!! and I didn't know it was at the entrance I didn't realize I was looking right at it now they just have the snoopy junction train and camp snoopy (which I rode and did a video on)
@Mr. brown Was that just The main train or the 2nd rear of the park train. There were two separate trains. The old Train Engine(not sure which one) shed is used by the Parks Fire service back in the 1990's . I used to try walk and find traces of the tracks they just paved asphalt over, which as you know summer heat and thin asphalt allowed the rails to rail up through in many places.
Oh I agree the steam train was amazing, It is neat to see some of the old pics. and see how much has changed.
That slide you talk about was the first thing I did when I finally got to go to Carowinds.. I was 11 and almost peed myself because I wasn't ready for that experience lol
I know for real, I look back it and I had to be fairly young myself when I use to ride. Anyway thanks for watching please subscribe if you have not already.
After blackbeards revenge it was once home to the super saturater a rare water coaster model that very few were ever produced and Carowinds was one of the parks that housed one of them but it closed shortly before the arrival of Carolina cobra in 2009.
You are absolutely right about that. I completely forgot about that ride. It was a-lot of fun, but generally had a long wait time.
Yes, but long wait times and slow to load, thanks for watching, Please subscribe if you have not already.
Curious....did Carowinds have a monorail at some point in the past?
Yes they did, It was awesome. It went around the park and then looped out across the parking lot, however in the last couple years of it running, it would break down. I was an open cab and did not have A/C so Charlotte fire had to be called several times to help with rescue operations.
The last year Carolwinds had Thunder Road open my wife and I went just to ride it one more time.
Yes I was showing my son the expanse it took up, he would have loved it. I love classic wooden roller coasters, the sound and the feel.
I’ve never visited this park, but I enjoyed this vlog! ☀️
Thank you for watching.
Thank you so much for watching. We have been super busy lately hope to be back at videos super soon.
If you ever get a chance it has the highest fastest giga coaster in the world. It's called the Fury 325!!!! It is unbelievable!!!!!
I remember doing the mat slide once.
The mat slide was awesome, I would not my kids go on however if it was still there LoL
I’ve never been on thunder road before though my mom has! As a child she said she went every summer but I’m going to carowins for my first time tomorrow!
It was a great ride, I hope you had fun.
@@DaddyAdventures it was really fun! I passed on vortex though it was intense. After burn was my favorite out of all of the coasters I got on!
At 12:00 i WILL TURN 8. and carowinds is my home amusement park
WoW, didn't realize what they took out to install the new rides. I like the new rollercoasters. However, What they removed were rides that were either more accessible or could have been made more accessible to wheelchairs and older adults. I guess it's not a park for everyone anymore.
Fun fact the night hawk was actually know as the popular stealth in California but then moved to carowinds and still holding strong
I never knew that, I know it used be named after so star trek thing when the park was owned by Paramont.
No one talking about the removed mini golf course by the water park lol
Oh yes I remember that 🤣
I just uploaded a video of the dangerous slide ride you were talking about, the quality isn't that good because I filmed it off my TV from my old video tape. Just look up my name or Carowinds 1992 or Carowinds 1996 to find it.
oh awesome I will have to check it out.
Nothing but a roller coaster park nowadays. Not much I can ride there anymore.
It really is tons of huge rides. The waterpark is really nice though.
A great walk down memory lane. I don’t know why but for some reason I remember the jalopies being at the loading station of the monorail. Do you happen to know where the skyway loading stations were? One was at Chickie & Petes I believe but where was the other end? ~ Cathy
It has to be somewhere in that area. I asked so many people when we were there, and many did not even know Carowinds had a Monorail. LoL The Jalopies use to use the same Que as White Water Falls, I did find one picture of the old Que. Crazy how much has changed just since Paramount Sold the park.
Daddy Adventures It was eating at me so I had to go look it up. There were sports cars there not jalopies. ~ Cathy
Carowinds had both the Jalopies and Modern Cars. The Jalopies were in the back at White Water Falls area. The Modern Cars were in the area of the Vortex and used the Vortex station ( the bottom part ). The Monorail used the upper part of the Vortex loading station. Check out www.carowindsearlyyears.com/speedway.html . For the loading station of the Skyway, the one you are in question about is now the Snoopy Boutique.... www.carowindsearlyyears.com/snoopy-boutiq.jpg .
@@JustOutnAbout they had both
Under the monorail was sports cars, the Beverly Hill Billies style Jalopies were in the back by the second train ride which white water falls was located at later and now is gone. But I have some copies of old post cards and park Brochure circa late 1970's online, The Sport cars looking back toward the monorail station laoding which was up top and the sport cars loading que was underneath pbase.com/thresholdprod/image/106320605
That wasn’t a mushroom from smurf island it was from a pool they took out this year for copperhead strike. Awesome video though man.
I see that now, LoL, here's to hoping!
i miss white water falls! but copperhead strike is still really fun :)
It is, but like you i really miss some of the older stuff. thanks for watching, Please subscribe if you have not already.
How about the Carolina Cyclone
Yes my first as well ☺️
Fun fact: they actually sold the train to a famous celebrity. And that celebrity was Micheal Jackson
Whatever happened to white lightnin?
They tore it down a long time ago, I really don't remember to much about to be honest with you
@@DaddyAdventures ok thanks.
Here's a link to a brouchure pbase.com/thresholdprod/image/106320586 Multiple shots/scans? of the front and back trying to capture it all . Sorry the copies suck they were pictures of them I had taken and uploaded back in 2008 A Park Napkin dated from my mom for my scrap book 10-26-74pbase.com/thresholdprod/image/106320596 This post card of the Powder Keg Flume is Circa mid 1970's pbase.com/thresholdprod/image/106320599 and the next image pbase.com/thresholdprod/image/106320601 is of the back of the post card with information about. Sadly I only have 3 in that old gallery but each has the back side and text describing them. Remember when you buy overpriced postcards that were photo advertisements for other places and send them to people on the company's behalf. Even paying the postage..... Now if we only knew who those people were for names, that are forever immortalized at that moment.
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I don’t even recognize it anymore :(
I know right, thanks for watching, Please subscribe if you have not already.
you forgotten the one where intader used to be
I do not remember that one, or are you talking about the log flume and gauntlet.
@@DaddyAdventures yes