Per Carowinds Fans Only on Facebook, the plot has been seeded for grass. No photos provided, but that doesn't sound great.
News Project 2027/Otter: "Record-Breaking Water Ride"
- Thread starter CrosshairsKD
- Start date
If this is on hold or delayed a year, I wonder if they would move on to a cheaper project?
Surely, they could move SFA's Giant Discovery into the park on the cheap as a consolation prize. They could still market the new family attractions for next year but this gives them a wider net, as they really could use it (and also to clean up Nighthawk's footers while they're at it).
Last edited:
Here's the Facebook post in question:
Direct Link to Embedded Media Source
Can anyone who has paid closer attention to this project shed some light on the rough timeline so far? Is there a chance that the rapids ride demolition work has just ceased and the contractor seeded the site as required for erosion mitigation at the conclusion of that work?
Did we have any evidence on the ground of actual new construction having started and then ceasing or could everything we've seen be explained as part of the demolition phase. Especially if there are different contractors or there will be a brief break between the demolition phase and construction phase, the seeding could just be a requirement of closing out the first phase I think?
Not saying this project isn't delayed of course, just trying to get an idea of whether or not this apparent pause is actual cause for concern.
Direct Link to Embedded Media Source
Can anyone who has paid closer attention to this project shed some light on the rough timeline so far? Is there a chance that the rapids ride demolition work has just ceased and the contractor seeded the site as required for erosion mitigation at the conclusion of that work?
Did we have any evidence on the ground of actual new construction having started and then ceasing or could everything we've seen be explained as part of the demolition phase. Especially if there are different contractors or there will be a brief break between the demolition phase and construction phase, the seeding could just be a requirement of closing out the first phase I think?
Not saying this project isn't delayed of course, just trying to get an idea of whether or not this apparent pause is actual cause for concern.
Last edited:
The project is in "Revisions" again. The city kicked the project back to Carowinds due to issues with their filing of the budget-cut project. It takes around 15 business days for departments within the city of Charlotte to reply to re-submittals, so it makes sense that construction has paused.
Up to this point, documents were pretty hard to access without filing an FOIA request. On Tuesday, 8/26/25, they were all uploaded to the public here, with no new submittal. I'm not sure if this indicates the project has been paused, cancelled, or just construction delays due to permitting as updated documentation needs to be submitted.
They have till Memorial Day 2026 to get this project completed, which is still 9 months away. Plenty of time to have this project picked up again - time will tell.
Up to this point, documents were pretty hard to access without filing an FOIA request. On Tuesday, 8/26/25, they were all uploaded to the public here, with no new submittal. I'm not sure if this indicates the project has been paused, cancelled, or just construction delays due to permitting as updated documentation needs to be submitted.
They have till Memorial Day 2026 to get this project completed, which is still 9 months away. Plenty of time to have this project picked up again - time will tell.
Thanks for looking into this! Could just be a pause in the next phase of construction until they get approval on the revised plans. And considering they resubmitted plans that cut back the scope of the project (which aligns with the reduction in budget Six Flags announced), hopefully that means it is still happening next year. I’d be surprised if they cut back and pushed out to 2027. Also, isn’t Carowinds attendance doing well relative to some of the other parks in the chain?
I'm hopeful it's just a pause - though the mass posting of attachments has me a bit concerned. Demolition and service road plans filed in 2024 that were approved still show the attachments hidden, except for the final "approved" document.
Carowinds is doing well compared to legacy Six Flags parks, but I have not heard great things about this season compared to last. This could be due to many reasons, as the past 12 months for this industry have been all over the place.
The quality of the guest experience at the park has declined rapidly with the mass-layoffs. What's happened to operations is nothing short of devastating. Carowinds had a fantastic team of folks running Fury, with some faces being on the crew for nearly 10 years. The park even had them operating Nighthawk the final few weeks so that as many people could get on it as possible before it's unannounced departure.
I have not seen the park be run this poorly since before the mid '10s transformation of the park.
Carowinds is doing well compared to legacy Six Flags parks, but I have not heard great things about this season compared to last. This could be due to many reasons, as the past 12 months for this industry have been all over the place.
The quality of the guest experience at the park has declined rapidly with the mass-layoffs. What's happened to operations is nothing short of devastating. Carowinds had a fantastic team of folks running Fury, with some faces being on the crew for nearly 10 years. The park even had them operating Nighthawk the final few weeks so that as many people could get on it as possible before it's unannounced departure.
I have not seen the park be run this poorly since before the mid '10s transformation of the park.
They can easily work all winter on this, by the way. That was proven before with County Fair. I went digging in the old Carowinds Connection area (the attached 3 pics are also there, the aerial from Dec 26, 2016, and the ride construction showing much left to be done beyond ride pads from Feb 9, 2017) because I remembered how this worked back in 2016-2017 (note the dates on these posts):
Dec 16, 2016 (3 posts)
Part of Rock N Roller is vertical! They are digging a giant hole over by Seaside Splashworks, it looks circular.
--
Yep....
The giant hole in the ground now appears to have a square footer. I believe this will be the start of Electro Spin.
Edit: didn't quote the attachment so I added a more recent one.
--
Anyone know what this concrete pad is for, seems kinda small to be for one of the new rides. Maybe it is.
--
Quoted text in a post from Carowinds blog (now 404):
With so many details and new features to add this offseason, our construction teams are off to the races. Here’s how we expect our projects to flow this offseason.
October
• Concrete demolition begins for Rock ‘n’ Roller (next to Dockside Fries)
• Southern Sidewinder is removed to make room for Electro-Spin
November - December
• Concrete pads are created for new rides
January
• Rides will start being installed, starting with Rock ‘n’ Roller
• Area development projects including enhancements on Wings, Dockside Fries and restrooms
February
• Queue lines and finishes on the rides will go in place
• Theming work and area development continues
March
• Installation of all ride will be complete
• Ride testing and commissioning
• Opening Weekend
--
Jan 10, 2017 (1 post)
Two of them are not simple installations (kinda discussed this previously), two are. Then there's infrastructure. I really don't think they are far behind at all. One ride is being assembled. Three of these rides are put up by traveling carnivals in a day. Once the concrete work is done, things are gonna go faster. Pretty sure they've got it under control.
Dec 16, 2016 (3 posts)
Part of Rock N Roller is vertical! They are digging a giant hole over by Seaside Splashworks, it looks circular.
--
Yep....
The giant hole in the ground now appears to have a square footer. I believe this will be the start of Electro Spin.
Edit: didn't quote the attachment so I added a more recent one.
--
Anyone know what this concrete pad is for, seems kinda small to be for one of the new rides. Maybe it is.
--
Quoted text in a post from Carowinds blog (now 404):
With so many details and new features to add this offseason, our construction teams are off to the races. Here’s how we expect our projects to flow this offseason.
October
• Concrete demolition begins for Rock ‘n’ Roller (next to Dockside Fries)
• Southern Sidewinder is removed to make room for Electro-Spin
November - December
• Concrete pads are created for new rides
January
• Rides will start being installed, starting with Rock ‘n’ Roller
• Area development projects including enhancements on Wings, Dockside Fries and restrooms
February
• Queue lines and finishes on the rides will go in place
• Theming work and area development continues
March
• Installation of all ride will be complete
• Ride testing and commissioning
• Opening Weekend
--
Jan 10, 2017 (1 post)
Two of them are not simple installations (kinda discussed this previously), two are. Then there's infrastructure. I really don't think they are far behind at all. One ride is being assembled. Three of these rides are put up by traveling carnivals in a day. Once the concrete work is done, things are gonna go faster. Pretty sure they've got it under control.
Attachments
That’s so sad. The post-Kinzel era Cedar Fair did an amazing job over the past decade building up seasoned leadership who were experts at running quality theme parks, and the new Six Flags wiped that all away in one fell swoop. Ironically, many of the former Cedar Fair executives who led that upskilling were also at the helm of Six Flags’ layoffs this year.
Harvard Business Review should keep this in mind if they want to do a case study on corporate brain-drain and its effects. This feels like a textbook example of what happens.
It's just remarkable how they fell into this trap again after spending so much time, money, and resources developing talent internally. It's clear previous leadership isn't happy watching the successful parks dump years of hard work for short-sighted benefits.
I'm sure the cost savings associated with the write-offs may show immediate savings, which is great if you're a suit trying to show you "cut costs" before your departure from the company. Who cares about longevity if you're not on board for the long haul?
This definitely makes me feel better about the project!
Speaking of Carowinds Connection, I noticed that the photo archive for the construction projects are dead links. Are these photos preserved somewhere? I contributed to the CC construction photos back in the day. Those photo archives are a pretty important source of Carowinds history.
I'm sure the cost savings associated with the write-offs may show immediate savings, which is great if you're a suit trying to show you "cut costs" before your departure from the company. Who cares about longevity if you're not on board for the long haul?
This definitely makes me feel better about the project!
Speaking of Carowinds Connection, I noticed that the photo archive for the construction projects are dead links. Are these photos preserved somewhere? I contributed to the CC construction photos back in the day. Those photo archives are a pretty important source of Carowinds history.
Last edited:
I'll look into it as soon as possible, it has been crazy at work.
I think this year is going to come down to one of three things: either we get the SFGA treatment and see several rides removed this year, or they take the Firebird trains, Roar trains, and Harley Quinn and use that to distract people from the hell going on behind the scenes. Or, they do absolutely nothing, and all hell breaks loose with coaster enthusiasts and Zimmerman.
(I 100% think we’re getting Harley Quinn within the next two years.)
(I 100% think we’re getting Harley Quinn within the next two years.)
I think sending Harley Quinn to Carowinds makes sense too. The park could really use a large flat ride like that. I wonder if that's why they made the revisions to the flume plans and removed the Carousel Park entrance... maybe it will go where The Scrambler used to be.
Kinda hoping with the plans changing, they end up putting the old railroad where Scrambler used to be. I feel like it would fit in better with carousel park. Harley Quinn I feel would fit better in the plot where Drop Tower used to be. Firebird trains are whatever
I could definitely see Harley Quinn ending up in the RipCord plot of land. I think it would just depend on their plans for the Nighthawk replacement.
So, folks, sorry to say, but at this point, I feel I can pretty confidently say there is no way in hell this is happening. I mean, let's just be realistic at this point.
Direct Link to Embedded Media Source
Direct Link to Embedded Media Source
well, theres goes the hopes & dreams of a rapids replacement happening
I'm looking forward to this ride, whether it opens in 2026 or 2027. What was there before was a completely overgrown plot of land that sat there for years with parts of a defunct ride on it. It's prepped and ready to go, preliminary drainage installed, tree fences in place, temporary construction fence surrounding it, and most importantly, filed plans – that's real progress.
Looks like the hold up for this project may be related to the Fire Review. It's the one marked for revisions, which takes 15 business days for each review.
New planning documents were submitted last Thursday, and the attachments are inaccessible again. This is promising!
Hopefully we see some movement on this in the coming week or two. Time will tell!
New planning documents were submitted last Thursday, and the attachments are inaccessible again. This is promising!
Hopefully we see some movement on this in the coming week or two. Time will tell!
Last edited: