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Volume 2, No. 7. April 12, 2002

New Arrivals

It’s a wild mouse and themed area!
Paramount’s Carowinds in Charlotte, North and South Carolina, announces the arrival of Ricochet and the Carolina Boardwalk section, March 23, 2002. Measurements: 49 feet high (15 meters), 1,214 feet long (368 meters), six 180-degree curves and 11 90 degree curves, 31 mph (50 km/h). Delivered by Heinrich Mack GMBH.

Taking a lead from the ride itself, Carowind’s public relations team secured suitable local celebrities to inaugurate its new wild mouse in a press event on the morning of the ride’s public opening. On hand to test out the new ride were Charlotte Smith, a forward with the Charlotte Sting Women’s National Basketball Association team, Steve Smith (no relation), a wide receiver and kick returner for the National Football League’s Carolina Panthers, and Mike Cohn, a member of the U.S. bronze medal-winning bobsled team. What do all these athletes have in common with Richochet?

“What they do requires quick twists and turns and agility,” said Jodie Roberts-Smith, public relations manager at Paramount’s Carowinds. Testing the skills of Ricochet, the athletes returned to the station impressed, she said. “When everybody was looking at the ride, it looks tamer than people anticipate, so they were quite surprised when they rode it.” One other local dignitary was too surprised. Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, who was on hand to cut the ribbon for Carolina Boardwalk, is “hesitant to ride coasters,” Roberts-Smith said. Of his inaugural run on Ricochet, “He said that was probably his one-time ride.”

The mouse is the centerpiece to the newly themed Boardwalk section of the park, using Bomenite as wood-looking boardwalk crammed with nostalgic signage and strung with lights. “We’re bringing a little piece of the beach to the inland,” Roberts-Smith said.

For the complete story of the Carolina Boardwalk area, see the April issue of Amusement Today.