Volume 3, No. 6. March 28, 2003
New Arrivals
It’s
a roller coaster!
Paramount’s Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina, announces the arrival
of The Rugrats Runaway Reptar, March 22, 2003. Measurements: 49 feet
high (15 meter), 1,122 feet long (342 meters), 26 mph (42 km/h), one 20-passenger
train, 90-second ride. Delivered by Vekoma Rides Manufacturing.
Give them another couple of years and Charlotte might just have a whole new
theme park. In the past nine years Paramount’s Carowinds has added or revamped
five themed areas, including the past three consecutive years: the North Gate
plaza in 2001, Carolina Boardwalk in 2002 and now Nickelodeon Central for 2003.
Replacing the Old World Marketplace, the new kiddie area greets guests with
the vibrant, primary colors typical of anything Nickelodeon. Even the pavement
has been painted Nick style. Two existing rides have been re-themed for the
purpose. Powderkeg Flume, an Arrow flume ride, is now The Wild Thornberrys
River Adventure, featuring a new queue area, a newly themed station house,
props along the flume’s wooded course and a couple of water spray features.
The Gauntlet, a Chance flat ride, is now Rocket Power Air Time,
themed after Nickelodeon’s Rocket Power with a bright yellow paint
scheme. Aside from being brighter, the ride has emerged from its hideaway behind
a retail outlet—thanks to the removal of that shop. “I’d seen
it in operation in the past and it didn’t have a prominent role because
it wasn’t as visible,” Scott Anderson, public relations assistant
manager for the park, said of The Gauntlet. “Now it’s easy
to find and easy to see, and I think ridership will definitely increase.”
The landscape’s one bona fide new feature is Carowinds’ 12th coaster,
an inverted junior version from Vekoma, easily that company’s biggest hit
of the past three years. On Carowinds’ opening Saturday Reptar drew
a crowd immediately upon the first guests entering the park, and it maintained
a 30-minute queue all the way to closing time. Aside from beefing up the ride
options of the new Nick Central area, Reptar fills a special niche for
Carowinds; now kids have their own Top Gun, the park’s superb B&M
inverted coaster. “We’ve been positioning it that way,” Anderson
said. “We’ve been saying it’s a smaller version of Top Gun.
I’m hoping that message is getting across.”
Because of cancellation of its media/VIP preview day (see related story
in this LOOP), Carowinds needed a positive promotional message for opening day.
It got help in part from Mother Nature who gifted the park with 70 degree temperatures
(21 degrees Celsius) and a light breeze.
Nickelodeon, though, proved the most alluring lure, and evidence of that was
the element Anderson said appeared most popular throughout opening weekend:
the meet-and-greet station staffed by a continuous succession of 10 Nick characters
throughout the day. “That was probably, crowd-wise, the biggest draw,”
Anderson said. “The kids just love to interact with the characters, and
now they know where those characters are going to be right off the top.”
THE LOOP is written and produced by Eric Minton, Minton Enterprises, LLC. To see more examples of Eric Minton's work and Minton Enterprises services, visit www.ericminton.com.
©2003, Minton Enterprises
LLC
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