Attraction Afterburn

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Attraction Type
Roller Coaster
Attraction Status
Existing
CarolinaCoasters

CarolinaCoasters

Mar 3, 2024
77
179
90
I’m starting to get a little concerned about the future of Afterburn. Recently, Carowinds hasn’t seemed to take the best care of the ride, especially with the mixed restraints showing up across the trains. That might be nothing, but it still feels worth pointing out.

What really caught my attention is how much extra focus Carowinds has been giving Afterburn on their socials—especially the “last chance to ride Afterburn” posts. It could absolutely be nothing, but the timing and the messaging just stood out to me, so I figured it was worth mentioning.

Also, keep in mind that Afterburn is getting older. Nemesis was fully re-tracked at 28 years old, and Afterburn is approaching 27

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I’m not immediately worried for it but I think it’s worth discussing, because there definitely are factors working against it. One thing I’ve always wondered about was if they’re happy with the rides popularity, because it always feels pretty dead to me whenever I’m there. The ride is basically tucked away in the corner of the park, and not near anything else, so anyone who wants to ride it has to go out of their way for it. There’s no reason for a guest to be over there besides riding Afterburn. I unfortunately kinda doubt the ridership is good enough for them to consider a retrack, if it is at that stage.

All this said, it is probably on the less cycled side of American inverts, so I’d be surprised it’s in bad enough condition to consider its removal right now too. Afterburn has definitely been cycled less than the earlier Batman clones, Montu, and Raptor just to name a few, and it doesn’t seem like any of those are in need of serious work right now. Iirc someone from BGW said that they’re not considering doing any work to Alpengeist right now, and that’s another one that’s almost definitely been cycled more. Carowinds also has a significantly older, and much more out of date B&M that likely needs to be addressed first.

Lastly I think there’s solutions to Afterburns issues that don’t involve removing it. I’ve thought for a long time that whatever replaces Dinosaurs Alive should have its entrance be put near Afterburns to drive foot traffic to that part of the park, but even just further implementing Afterburn into Aeronautica could help. When it comes to the train issues I think that’s just the kinda thing that would be addressed in an off-season refurb, but if not they’ll have access to Flight Decks trains sooner rather than later.

I’m kinda just spitballing on all of these thoughts so there might be some more information that I’m missing, but I don’t think it’s immediately worth worrying about.
 
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if carowinds rebuilds afterburn, I hope its has new theming to fit in with the new area
 
They don’t need to retheme Afterburn, they just need to extend Aeronautica to Afterburns entrance. I think putting a large scale flat ride at the top of the Dinosaurs Alive plot next to Afterburn would be a really good way to do that, an Aeronautica themed screamin swing up there would make a lot of sense.
 
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wasteman said:
They don’t need to retheme Afterburn, they just need to extend Aeronautica to Afterburns entrance. I think putting a large scale flat ride at the top of the Dinosaurs Alive plot next to Afterburn would be a really good way to do that, an Aeronautica themed screamin swing up there would make a lot of sense.
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YES!!! I love Afterburn and this area of the park. It is definitely one of the better themed areas of Carowinds. While reading your post, this idea came to me... why isn't there a version of the screamin' swing that positions riders in a laying down position? It would give an experience a kin to a sky coaster and l think that would be sick. Now I'm thinking I need to patent that idea before S&S does. 😂
 
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CoasterBroCam said:
Sadly, Afterburn kinda pales in comparison to flight deck (CGA)
Click to expand...

*does a double take*

I, uh, didn't know this is an opinion anyone held. Glad Flight Deck has someone who loves it though!

PS: For people who haven't ridden both, Captain Coaster has Afterburn at #123 and Flight Deck (CGA) at #217. I definitely massively prefer Afterburn—it's right up there in the top echelon of inverts for me.
 
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Afterburn's flow of elements and pacing is fantastic. The whole sequence between the drop and the station flyover hill has incredible versions of each element, it just does not let up.

Flight Deck is an incredible invert with a couple amazing elements. But the layout is more awkward, and overall doesn't pack the punch that Afterburn does.

Can they pack up some of that queue theming on Flight Deck when CGA closes and ship it to Carowinds? Afterburn's queue and station is dreadful.
 
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I'm not surprised to hear that someone enjoys Flight Deck more than Afterburn, even though Afterburn is currently my favorite invert by a mile (only major NA inverts I'm missing are Montu and Alpengeist).
 
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It’s easily my 3rd favorite B&M invert behind Raptor and Banshee. Looking forward to finally making it to BGW in 2026 though, I have high hopes for Alpengeist.
 
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I haven't been on Flight Deck (and probably never will at this point), but I absolutely loved Afterburn. It might might be my third or fourth favorite invert after Alpengeist, Montu and Great Bear. Not only does it have a great layout, but it has a great setting as well. I hope Carowinds never gets rid of the trees surrounding the ride.
 
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I’d place Afterburn as my 2nd favorite invert right after Montu. Then I get into an argument with myself about Banshee and Alpengeist for #3 leaning Alpengeist.
 
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Montu is still such a masterpiece. I would be struggling to rank the others I've been on after it. Leaving off Dueling Dragons because they don't exist anymore (one of them would firmly be no.2 if they did, I think it was the fire side), Montu is permanently my no. 1, with Afterburn and Alpengeist battling it out for second place.
 
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