Today was the big day that Carowinds fans had waited for, and in my opinion the park did not disappoint.
Next year the park will debut the $23 Million monster of a B&M hyper coaster, called Intimidator.
The coaster will be the tallest, fastest and longest coaster in the Southeast.
Like Intimidator 305 at Kings Dominion, Intimidator will be themed to late NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt who born and raised less than an hour away from Carowinds. The coaster will stand 232-feet tall, have a 211-foot drop at 74 degrees and reach 75-80 mph. The first four hills are higher than 100 feet. The first two hills after the initial drop are taller than any coaster currently at the park. The coaster will travel more than a mile through numerous hills, a twisting turnaround and a helix.
The trains are in the style of Kings Island’s Diamondback and Canada’s Wonderland’s Behemoth. The seats are set back for two rows per car for a better view.
Along with the ride will be a Victory Lane-themed area and an area paying tribute to The Intimidator himself, Dale Earnhardt Sr.
Check out a short video of some of the highlights of the press conference. Visit Carowinds for all the details about their brand new coaster.
For more on Intimidator, visit Carowinds.com.
Tags: announcement, b&m, Bolliger & Mabillard, carowinds, Intimidator, Roller coaster
Even more of a reason to head up to Charlotte. This thing will rate very closely with Goliath.
YES...Carowinds will fulfill its destiny in Spring 2010!! The Intimidator is coming!! As is my cash for 2010 season passes!!
This is the first time I've actually been excited about anything they've decided to build since Top Gun/Afterburn.
Hopefully by next summer, Carowinds will be a day trip for us. This thing sounds like a home run! Heck, Diamondback is a home run, and this one sounds like it might be better, except for the themeing, and I really don't care about themeing. Nice, nice, nice.
This brings the total number of coasters actually worth riding at Carowinds to two.
Aaaaaaahahaha. Nice Kyle. But still, this ride COULD overtake Goliath....but man, I really don't understand the MCBR, 5 second before the end.
I can make the ending a lot better.
Imagine if you will:
Coming out of the helix, and busting through a paper wall marked TURN 3 then diving down into a water splash.....that is dyed red.
I think they only did a MCBR so they can run it with 3 trains.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o-9mA-zHG4
I think the block brake is there just to improve capacity. The finale is a little dull looking, but with the brake there, a train could leave the lift hill while a train's still on the course. That would help three-train operation slightly better than if there were no brake.
Coming out of the helix, and busting through a paper wall marked TURN 3 then diving down into a water splash.....that is dyed red.
This is turning out to be a good year for coasters at Cedar Fair parks... I can't wait for Cedar Point to announce that they are getting a ride named Intimidator!
Overall the ride looks like it will be good. I have to agree that those breaks seem to be placed a bit too close to the end, but whatever.
We have a winner! Intimidator - Carowinds. It does bring something truly unique to the South. The B&M's biggest influences are not even in the country: Behemoth and Goliath-La Ronde. The lift hill and general out n back layout remind me of Silver Star. The 2nd half is quite Behemoth like. This is the Intimidator I prefer out of the two. Great website homepage art for Intimidator Carowinds, Cedar Fair. The 3 on the gift shop looks cool. Otherwise the station and queue would be standard issue Cedar Fair.
I call that it'll be a real dog fight in the South between Goliath and Intimidator. (That joke is also more recent than trying to disgrace Dale anymore).
Believe me, I am excited for this ride. But I'm more excited to see which B&M Hyper will reign supreme. Ah...I see many an argument coming our way.
I noticed on the graphic for the gift shop with the 3 on it, it says "Photo finish". he he.
And as far as arguments, I think they are kinda pointless to me. Goliath is a great coaster, my #2 steel and who knows how Intimidator will fall out, but I'm just so thankful to have my #1 preferred coaster type/manufacturer coming to my home park! Even if it is my #5 steel, having two top 10 coasters in my home park is still pretty darn good.
Looking at Intimidator Carowinds makes me realize just how much fun I had on Goliath - La Ronde. I never gave it much time as I only deemed it as NITRO Jr. and not quite on par to NITRO after riding it. Now after this announcement and the freecreditreport.com commercial I realized the fun I had. Generally the only complaints I have were the unnecessary little hump going into the final brakes and the Intamin like banked shuffle hump on the return trip home. The rest of the 2nd half of Goliath La Ronde is nuts with that highly banked turn left to the final brakes. That layout is still within what I prefer like with NITRO: straightforward out n back. Goliath has a little bit of wild fun on the way back but it's not Apollo's Chariot outrageous in elements and turning, which I don't like. I don't like the Busch touch there.
Move over Carolina Cobra shirts. Is there going to be a half off sale now for space Wes?
Wow, this looks pretty great. It seems to have all of the best B&M Mega Coaster elements. It would be tough to say which coaster will come out on top, but I guess we'll all have to ride all of them.
About the MCBR, I agree that it is there for capacity. Look at Nitro, There's three little hills after the MCBR and then it's done. Although I agree this one diving turn doesn't make up for it, it sitll looks like this will be a very fun coaster.
Good job and congratulations to Cedar Fair for these four former Paramount Parks. Three B&M Mega Coasters, and a very good call for KD as well, what with Apollo nearby.
So what's next? The only former Paramount Park without a nice fresh new tall coaster is in Cali. Will they go B&M Mega here as well? Or will they try something new, hopefully to share with Dorney, MIA, and Knott's?
In California it is dependent on the city of Santa Clara and the 49ers who want to build a new stadium in CGA's parking lot, which I think is bad news. Even the new wooden coaster for that park is still on the shelf. It's so developed around that park that if SF was in control they would probably name a new hyper Office Space, The Office: The Ride, or Yahoo! since they have Scream! at SFMM and Yahoo! is only around the corner.
Leo you know I could never get ride of my Cobra shirt collection.
I mean, I have SO many of them.
It's kinda funny how little negative comments I'm seeing, when it's a pretty straightforward out and back, with a few twists here and there. When Diamondback was announced, people were all "It looks boring!!!", which is far from the truth, especially up in the first row.
My only complaint, if I have one, is the new train design seems (at least on DB) to take away some intensity in the back row. Don't know why that is, but hopefully that won't be the case on Intimidator. Let's just call it Tim from now on for short. lol
Ah man, don't tell me that! I figured the back row would be more intense cause it was a longer train.
I've come to think Diamondback has the most interesting layout of any mega coaster, I'm surprised if anybody rejected it, but I believe you.
My guess about the intensity in the back row, would be that a longer train causes means more resistance pulling backward on a train as it crests the hill. Try to picture Nitro's train cresting a hill and Diamonback's train on top of the hill, both with the center of the train at the apex. At this moment gravity is pulling down equally on the fronts and backs of both trains, the only thing powering them is momentum.
Assume that they're both traveling the same speed over the top of the hill.
Now imagine a moment later, at the same speed, the trains will have progressed the same distance. So now imagine the back row of Nitro's train is on the apex, but for Diamondback, it's still a car or two behind. At this moment, all of Nitro's train is being pulled down the decline of the hill by gravity, and it is also powered by its momentum. On Diamondback, also, most of the train is being pulled down the decline by gravity, and its momentum is pushing it down as well. However, the remaining cars that are still facing uphill, although also powered by the train's momentum, are being pulled by gravity in the opposite direction down the up side of the hill, thus slowing the train more, and providing less airtime to riders in the back seat.