Carowinds
Carowinds is a 407-acre (165 ha) amusement park located adjacent to Interstate 77 in Charlotte, North Carolina and Fort Mill, South Carolina. Although it has an official North Carolina address, the park is located along the North Carolina-South Carolina state line, with much of the park (including the main entrance) located in Fort Mill. The park opened on March 31, 1973, at a cost of $70 million. It is the result of a four-year planning period spearheaded by Charlotte businessman Earl Patterson Hall. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, Carowinds also features a 27-acre (110,000 m2) water park, Carolina Harbor, which is included with park admission. The park has a Halloween event called SCarowinds and a winter event called WinterFest.
Carowinds was announced on October 10, 1969, and originally planned on including a large resort which would include a theme park, hotels, a shopping center, a golf course, and an NFL stadium. The name Carowinds was conceived from the park's original theme of the history and culture of the Carolinas, and is a portmanteau of Carolina and winds, in reference to the winds that blow across the two states. Ground was broken on May 1, 1970, with a planned opening date in April 1972. After numerous construction delays due to weather, the park eventually opened on March 31, 1973 under the ownership of the Carowinds Corporation, a consortium of local investors headed by Hall. The first season brought in over 1.2 million visitors, but attendance at Carowinds was curtailed by the 1973 oil crisis, and plans for the proposed resort were put on hold. Sagging attendance and mounting debt forced Carowinds Corporation to merge with Taft Broadcasting in early 1975.
Taft originally ran the part through Family Leisure Centers, a joint venture between Taft and Top Value Enterprises. It was later transferred to a wholly-owned Taft subsidiary, Kings Entertainment Company.
Taft Broadcasting brought new life to the park with its Hanna-Barbera characters and several rides aimed to appeal to younger guests. Carowinds added its second roller coaster, and first wooden coaster, with the addition of Scooby-Doo in 1975.
In 1976, Carowinds opened Thunder Road, a Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters racing wooden coaster designed by Curtis D. Summers. It was the largest and most expensive ride built in Carowinds' short three years of existence, at a cost of $1.6 million. White Lightnin', a Schwarzkopf launched shuttle roller coaster, opened in 1976. Throughout the remainder of the late 1970s and 1980s, multiple flat rides were added to the park. The Carolina Cyclone was added in 1980, and is the first roller coaster in the world to feature four inversions.
Taft sold KECO to a group of former Taft senior executives and party general managers headed by Nelson Schwab in 1984. In 1992, Kings Entertainment Company was acquired by Paramount Communications.
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Kranken Signs Vehicle Wraps,
Charlotte NC 28217
