Carowinds
Carowinds is a 400-acre amusement park, located adjacent to Interstate 77 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Although it has an official North Carolina address, the park is located on the state line of the Carolinas, with a portion of the park located in Fort Mill, South Carolina; the park opened on March 1973, at a cost of $70 million. This was the result of a four-year planning period spearheaded by Charlotte businessman Earl Patterson Hall, inspired to build the park by a 1956 trip to Disneyland and a dream of bringing the two states closer together. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, Carowinds features a 27-acre water park, Carolina Harbor, included with park admission; the park has a Halloween event called a winter event called WinterFest. The Carowinds theme park was envisioned as a component of a large resort which would include hotels, a shopping center, a golf course, an NFL stadium. However, attendance at Carowinds was curtailed by the 1973 oil crisis, plans for the proposed resort were put on hold.
Hall and the other stockholders of the Carowinds Corporation continued to operate the theme park through 1974, though sagging attendance and mounting debt forced the company to sell to Taft Broadcasting in early 1975. Ownership had transferred from Family Leisure Centers – a joint venture between Taft and Top Value Enterprises) – to Kings Entertainment Company, which in turn was acquired by Paramount; the park joined the Paramount Parks family. The park was renamed Paramount's Carowinds in 1993 and became an asset of Viacom following its acquisition of Paramount in 1994; the name "Carowinds" was obtained from the park's original theme of the history and culture of the Carolinas, is a portmanteau of "Carolina" and "winds", in reference to the winds that blow across the two states. Carowinds operates seasonally from late March through December, after the park's Halloween event, "SCarowinds", the park's Christmas event, "WinterFest". On January 27, 2006, the Dayton Daily News reported that CBS Corporation would be selling Paramount's Carowinds and other parks in its Paramount Parks division.
On June 30, 2006, Cedar Fair Entertainment Company acquired Paramount Parks, including Carowinds. Although Cedar Fair continued to use the Paramount's Carowinds name through the remainder of the 2006 season, it began to phase out the Paramount name in press releases, the park website, on signage within the park. In January 2007, a new logo featuring the Cedar Fair icon but lacking the "Paramount" name, was revealed on the park website; the new logo featured the trademark Cedar Fair flags, flying on the letter "I" on the Carowinds name. The other four Paramount-branded parks that Cedar Fair acquired all received similar changes; the "Paramount" name was dropped from all of the parks after the 2006 season. On August 26, 2013, Cedar Fair announced a $50-million investment plan to expand Carowinds over three years starting in 2014; the expansion includes a $30-million roller coaster, a $2.5-million water slide, a $7-million food complex, $4 million to improve the park's ticket booths and front areas.
On August 21, 2014 Carowinds announced the addition of Fury 325 for the 2015 season. Designed by Bolliger & Mabillard, the ride is the fifth-tallest roller coaster in the world, after its debut in the spring of 2015 as another component of the park's announced "top-to-bottom" expansion program. A new front entrance, replacing the original North Gate entrance of the park opened along with Fury 325 for the 2015 season. On August 27, 2015, Carowinds announced that the water park known formally as Boomerang Bay would be expanded and renamed Carolina Harbor in 2016; the Australian theme would be replaced with a Carolina harbor theme. The expansion includes a new six-slide complex, a new wave pool, several new splash areas for kids. On August 18, 2016, Carowinds announced the expansion of the County Fair area, with the addition of 4 new rides: Electro-Spin, Rock N Roller, Do-Si-Do. For the 2017 season, Carowinds announced that Carolina Cobra would be refurbished and renamed "The Flying Cobras", they announced that the Wings restaurant would receive various upgrades.
Carowinds announced the return of WinterFest, a Christmas event in November and December, that operated in 2005. For the 2018 season, the park's children's area known as Planet Snoopy, was expanded and converted to Camp Snoopy with the addition of six new children's rides. On August 30, 2018, Carowinds announced their biggest investment in park history for the 2019 season; the signature attraction, Copperhead Strike, a double-launched roller coaster manufactured by Mack Rides, is located in the all new 7-acre "Blue Ridge Junction" area, became the park's 14th roller coaster. Blue Ridge Junction was constructed in the area occupied by Whitewater Falls, Sand Dune Lagoon and Thunder Road's former station. Included in the investment is the 130-room SpringHill Suites by Marriott, Carowinds' first on-site hotel, Blue Ridge Country Kitchen, a new dining experience. Included in the price of admission to Carowinds is access the 27-acre Carolina Harbor water park. Based on a Coastal Carolina theme, it features 15 attractions.
Opened as Ocean Island in 1982, the water park has been known as Riptide Reef WaterWorks, Boomerang Bay. On August 27, 2015, Carowinds announced a planned 2016 expansion for the area that will add five additional attractions and result in the name changing to Carolina Harbor. Carowinds
Camp Snoopy
Camp Snoopy is a Peanuts themed area for children at several Cedar Fair Entertainment Company amusement parks. Camp Snoopy was first introduced at Knott's Berry Farm in 1983; this was the first amusement park with a section dedicated to children under 12 years old. It was introduced at Cedar Point, making it the third kids area at the park. In 2018, Camp Snoopy opened at Carowinds, it was rolled out to all the Cedar Fair parks besides Michigan's Adventure & Valleyfair. However, all Camp Snoopy locations have been re-themed as Planet Snoopy with the exception of Cedar Point, Knott's Berry Farm, Carowinds. Cedar Point is the only Cedar Fair park to have both Camp Planet Snoopy in the same park. On August 27, 2013, Cedar Point announced that Camp Snoopy at Cedar Point will receive the relocated Frog Hopper which will be renamed Woodstock's Airmail and Jr. Gemini will get a new entrance and be renamed Wilderness Run. On August 16, 2017, Carowinds announced Planet Snoopy would be re-themed and expanded by six new rides to create Camp Snoopy for the 2018 season.
Cedar Point: Balloon Race, Camp Bus, Charlie Brown's Wind-Up, PEANUTS 500, Red Baron, Snoopy Bounce, Wilderness Run, Woodstock Express, Woodstock's Airmail Knott's Berry Farm: Balloon Race, Camp Bus, Charlie Brown's Kite Flyer, Flying Ace, Grand Sierra Railroad and Puff, Linus Launcher, Pig Pen's Mud Buggies, Rapid River Run, Rocky Mountain Trucking Company, Timberline Twister, Woodstock's Airmail Carowinds: Beagle Scouts Acres, Camp Bus, Charlie Brown's Wind-up, Flying Ace Balloon Race, Kite Eating Tree, PEANUTS Pirates, PEANUTS Trailblazers, Pig Pen's Mud Buggies, Snoopy vs. Red Baron, Snoopy's Junction, Wilderness Run, Woodstock Express, Woodstock Whirlybirds Camp Snoopy at Knott's Berry Farm Camp Snoopy at Cedar Point Camp Snoopy Photo Gallery at The Point Online
United States
The United States of America known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U. S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D. C. and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico; the State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean; the U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The diverse geography and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.
Paleo-Indians migrated from Siberia to the North American mainland at least 12,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century; the United States emerged from the thirteen British colonies established along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the colonies following the French and Indian War led to the American Revolution, which began in 1775, the subsequent Declaration of Independence in 1776; the war ended in 1783 with the United States becoming the first country to gain independence from a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, with the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, being ratified in 1791 to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties; the United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 19th century, acquiring new territories, displacing Native American tribes, admitting new states until it spanned the continent by 1848. During the second half of the 19th century, the Civil War led to the abolition of slavery.
By the end of the century, the United States had extended into the Pacific Ocean, its economy, driven in large part by the Industrial Revolution, began to soar. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a global military power; the United States emerged from World War II as a global superpower, the first country to develop nuclear weapons, the only country to use them in warfare, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Sweeping civil rights legislation, notably the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, outlawed discrimination based on race or color. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed in the Space Race, culminating with the 1969 U. S. Moon landing; the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the world's sole superpower. The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation, it is a representative democracy.
The United States is a founding member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States, other international organizations. The United States is a developed country, with the world's largest economy by nominal GDP and second-largest economy by PPP, accounting for a quarter of global GDP; the U. S. economy is post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge-based activities, although the manufacturing sector remains the second-largest in the world. The United States is the world's largest importer and the second largest exporter of goods, by value. Although its population is only 4.3% of the world total, the U. S. holds 31% of the total wealth in the world, the largest share of global wealth concentrated in a single country. Despite wide income and wealth disparities, the United States continues to rank high in measures of socioeconomic performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP, worker productivity.
The United States is the foremost military power in the world, making up a third of global military spending, is a leading political and scientific force internationally. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America in honor of the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci; the first documentary evidence of the phrase "United States of America" is from a letter dated January 2, 1776, written by Stephen Moylan, Esq. to George Washington's aide-de-camp and Muster-Master General of the Continental Army, Lt. Col. Joseph Reed. Moylan expressed his wish to go "with full and ample powers from the United States of America to Spain" to seek assistance in the revolutionary war effort; the first known publication of the phrase "United States of America" was in an anonymous essay in The Virginia Gazette newspaper in Williamsburg, Virginia, on April 6, 1776. The second draft of the Articles of Confederation, prepared by John Dickinson and completed by June 17, 1776, at the latest, declared "The name of this Confederation shall be the'United States of America'".
The final version of the Articles sent to the states for ratification in late 1777 contains the sentence "The Stile of this Confederacy shall be'The United States of America'". In June 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote the phrase "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" in all capitalized letters in the headline of his "original Rough draught" of the Declaration of Independence; this draft of the document did not surface unti
Splash Works
Splash Works is a 20-acre water park located within the park boundaries of Canada's Wonderland in Vaughan, Canada. Entry is free with park admission. Splash Works is home to "Whitewater Bay", the largest outdoor wave pool in Canada, is today home to 16 waterslides. Splash Works operates during the summer months of May through September; the water park opened in 1992 with 4 hectares and it cost the company $6 million CAD. It opened with four combo water slides: Body Blast, Whirl Winds and Drop Zone, it included a lazy river and a kids area, Scooby Splash Islands, with some kiddie slides and a wading pool. The year 1996 was the single largest expansion of the water park since its opening in 1992, it saw Splash Works expand to 8.1 hectares through an expansion south of the Mighty Canadian Minebuster, so much so, some of the track had to be reconfigured so a bridge could be built over it. It created a south side to the water park; the 1996 expansion saw the creation of White Water Bay, still the largest outdoor wavepool in Canada, along with the Black Hole waterslides and Pump House, an interactive spray ground.
The year 1999 was the third expansion of Splash Works. It saw the creation of Super Soaker and the Plunge. While two separate rides, they share a common loading platform tower; the 1999 expansion saw another bridge to the south side of Splash Works. In addition, these two new slides and new bridge cross over Minebuster; the Plunge is a multi-person raft straight down a slide, the Super Soaker is twisting water slide. They both use the same tube; the year 2002 expansion of Splash Works saw the addition of Barracuda Blaster. Barracuda Blaster is bowl ride, Riptide Race is an eight lane water carpet slide race. Barracuda Blaster took a part of the Lazy River for exiting out of the bowl and Riptide Racer created a new waterfall for the Lazy River. Two new kiddie slides were added to Splash Island as well as a water playground; the latest expansion of Splash Works is planned for 2015. Canada's Wonderland announced two new additions in Typhoon and Splash Station. Typhoon known as Topsy Turvey, was relocated from Ontario Place where it never opened.
It features funnels and hairpin turns. The two attractions are built in the former area near Muskoka Plunge. In 2016, Canada's Wonderland announced the addition of Muskoka Plunge, a quadruple drop pod slide that would replace the aging Body Blast. Around January 2017, it was uncovered that Muskoka Plunge would be coming from SplashTacular, an American company that supplied larger versions to Six Flags New England and Six Flags America in 2014, like them, Muskoka Plunge would feature several different ways to launch riders; these included one at a time, or roulette. On National Rollercoaster Day 2017, alongside the announcements for Lumberjack and Flying Canoes, the rebranding of Splash Island to Lakeside Lagoon was announced. Splash Works has removed three attractions since opening. Splash Island is for the youngest of children, it opened in 1992 with four slides but was expanded in 2002. Splash Island includes: Splash Island Pool Splash Island Waterways Splash Island Kiddie Slides Splash Island Spray GroundIn 2018, Splash Island is to receive an expansion under the new name Lakeside Lagoon.
The area will feature new interactive water features. List of Cedar Fair water parks
Kings Dominion
Kings Dominion is an amusement park located in Doswell, Virginia, 20 miles north of Richmond and 75 miles south of Washington, D. C.. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, the 400-acre park opened to the public on May 3, 1975, features over 60 rides and attractions including 12 roller coasters and a 20-acre water park, its name is derived from the name of its sister park, Kings Island, the nickname for the state of Virginia, "Old Dominion." Following the success of Kings Island in Mason, northeast of Cincinnati, Family Leisure Centers decided to expand into a new region of the country by opening a second park. A 400-acre site was chosen in Doswell, north of Richmond in the heart of the Mid-Atlantic, construction began on October 1, 1972; the new park was designed with Kings Island in mind as the blueprint using similar themes and activities. Kings Dominion opened on May 3, 1975, offering fifteen attractions including the Rebel Yell, the Lion Country Safari Monorail, a junior wooden roller coaster known as Scooby Doo.
Present at the opening was a log flume, steam train, a collection of flat rides and a cable-car sky ride that transported visitors between Old Virginia and The Happy Land of Hanna-Barbera. In addition, Kings Dominion's 1/3-scale replica of the Eiffel Tower and the International Street Fountain greet visitors near the main entrance to the park. Original themed areas included The Happy Land of Hanna-Barbera, International Street, Lion Country Safari, Old Virginia, Coney Island. Daily admission price in 1975 was $7.50, a dollar for parking. Kings Dominion added their fourth roller coaster, a Schwarzkopf shuttle loop known as the King Kobra, in 1977; the King Kobra featured a 50-ton counter weight drop launch and was the park's first launched roller coaster. It was in the park for nine seasons before being relocated to Jolly Roger Amusement Park in Ocean City, Alton Towers in England, to Hopi Hari in Brazil where it exists today as Katapul. In 1977, Kings Dominion was one of several amusement parks serving as location for the film Rollercoaster.
A campground was completed in time for the 1978 season and the park's well-known Lost World mountain debuted in 1979. The Lost World featured three rides: a flume ride called Voyage to Atlantis, a children's attraction mine ride known as Land of the Dooz, a rotor called Time Shaft. Only a year in 1980, the flume ride was rethemed Haunted River. Kings Dominion expanded Old Virginia with the addition of the park's third wooden roller coaster, the Grizzly, in 1982 and a river rapids ride called White Water Canyon in 1983. Taft Broadcasting Company sold its theme park division in late 1983 for $167.5 million to Kings Entertainment Company, a new company formed by senior executives and general managers of Taft's Amusement Park Group. Three parks were involved in the sale – Kings Island, Kings Dominion, Carowinds – along with a 20-percent stake in Canada's Wonderland. American Financial Group purchased KECO in 1987 but allowed KECO to continue to manage operations at the amusement parks. One of the first additions under the new management group was Berserker – a looping starship ride added to International Street in 1984.
That year, Smurf Mountain replaced the mine ride Land of the Dooz, transforming the Lost World into The Smurfs theme. Kings Dominion unveiled a TOGO stand-up roller coaster in 1986 called Shockwave, the first of three roller coasters to be added under KECO. Shockwave adds a helix. King Kobra was removed at the end of the season. A water slide complex known as Racing Rivers opened in 1987, Avalanche, which remains the only Mack bobsled roller coaster in the United States, debuted the following year in 1988; the trains of Avalanche are themed after bobsleds from various countries including the United States, Germany and Switzerland creating the experience of a bobsled race in the Winter Olympics. Kings Dominion continued to expand over the next few seasons starting with Hanna-Barbera Land in 1990 with the addition of more children's flat rides. A new, looping roller coaster from Arrow Dynamics called Anaconda was introduced the following year in 1991 featuring the world's first underwater tunnel which travels under part of Lake Charles.
Anaconda was originally billed as having six loops, but unlike Arrow's six-inversion coaster Drachen Fire that opened at Busch Gardens Williamsburg the following year, the Anaconda has only four inversions: a vertical loop, a sidewinder, two consecutive corkscrews. A new 20-acre water park addition called Hurricane Reef opened in 1992. To build the water park, Kings Dominion filled in two-thirds of Lake Charles near the Candy Apple Grove region of the park, it featured the Monsoon Chutes, the Torrential Twist, the Pipeline, Tidal Wave, Splash Island, a lazy river. Kings Dominion continued its growth when it became part of Paramount Parks in 1993 and switched its name to Paramount's Kings Dominion. New attractions and areas of the park themed to Paramount's television shows and films appeared at Paramount's Kings Dominion every season that they were under Paramount's ownership. In 1993, they added a motion simulator attraction featu
Kings Island
Kings Island is a 364-acre amusement park located 24 miles northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, the park first opened in 1972 by the Taft Broadcasting Company, it was part of a larger effort to move and expand Coney Island, a popular resort destination along the banks of the Ohio River, prone to frequent flooding. After more than $300 million in capital investments, the park features over 100 attractions including fourteen roller coasters and a 33-acre water park. Throughout its history, Kings Island has appeared in popular sitcoms and received widespread recognition for its record-breaking attractions and events. One of the park's most well-known attractions, The Racer, is credited with reviving worldwide interest in roller coasters during the 1970s. Others, such as The Beast and Banshee, have set several world records, some of which are still standing; the park has suffered through times of negative publicity surrounding the early demise of roller coasters The Bat and Son of Beast.
Kings Island is divided into several themed sections and operates seasonally from early spring through the fall reopening for Winterfest during the holiday season. In 2017, Kings Island was the second-most visited seasonal amusement park in the United States behind Cedar Point, with an estimated 3.47 million visitors. It was third overall for seasonal attendance in North America, led by Canada's Wonderland. In addition, Kings Island has won Golden Ticket Awards from Amusement Today for having the "Best Kids' Area" in the world for seventeen consecutive years as well as “Best New Ride” in 2017 for Mystic Timbers. Kings Island was conceived as early as 1964 when Coney Island, a popular amusement park 10 miles east of downtown Cincinnati on the banks of the Ohio River, suffered from a major flood that submerged the area in over 14 feet of water. Although occasional flooding was common at the successful park, the flood in 1964 was the fourth highest on record and caused considerable damage. Faced with already-limited space for expansion and parking, the event triggered discussions within the organization about relocating the park.
Leading the way was Gary Wachs, son of Coney Island president Ralph Wachs, who with friends and family owned a majority of stock. He decided. After years of research and traveling abroad, he presented ideas for a new theme park to the company's board of directors; some board members opposed relocating, including significant stockholder Charles Sawyer. It wasn't taken until 1968, when actor Fess Parker announced plans to build a theme park in Northern Kentucky – well within Coney Island's primary market that extended as far south as Louisville; the announcement highlighted the need for change and gave Wachs' proposal credibility within the organization. Gary met with the president of Taft Broadcasting Company, a business interested in promoting its acquired Hanna-Barbera division, to discuss a possible merger. In July 1969, Taft Broadcasting Company purchased Coney Island for $6.5 million and soon after purchased 1,600 acres in Warren County, for $3.2 million. Kings Island still owned 773 acres of that purchase as of 2005.
The site is located between I-71 and the Little Miami River in what was a part of Deerfield Township. Following the purchase, Fess Parker's efforts to secure financing fell apart along with his plans to build a competing theme park. Construction began on June 15, 1970; that year, a public contest was held to name the new park. "Kings Island" emerged the most popular for its recognition of the Kings Mills area as well as its predecessor Coney Island. Most of the former park's rides were relocated, much of what remained was demolished. Coney Island's popular Sunlite Pool attraction continued to operate and the park would be restored years later. Less than two years after breaking ground, Kings Island opened its gates to the public on April 29, 1972, it was the first of several preview events. The grand opening was held the following month on May 27, 1972. One of the first major attractions featured at the park was The Racer, a wooden roller coaster consisting of two trains that race side-by-side on identical tracks.
Designed by legendary designer John C. Allen, convinced to come out of retirement, The Racer was the first of its kind in 35 years and played an integral part of the roller coaster renaissance of the 1970s. Decades it would be awarded the Roller Coaster Landmark plaque from American Coaster Enthusiasts for its achievement. Other roller coasters present on opening day in 1972 were the Bavarian Beetle, a small steel coaster brought over from Coney Island, a new junior wooden coaster in the Happy Land of Hanna-Barbera named Scooby-Doo; the most expensive ride to open with the park, was Enchanted Voyage, a dark ride attraction that featured over 100 animatronic Hanna-Barbera characters and cost $2 million to construct. Kings Island was nationally promoted in two well-known sitcoms on ABC; each filmed an episode on location at the park: The Partridge Family in 1972 and The Brady Bunch in 1973. The Brady Bunch was produced by a large Taft Broadcasting shareholder; the park held several world-record-breaking events.
In 1974, 69-year-old Karl Wallenda set a world record for the longest tightrope skywalk at a distance of 1,800 feet, performed 60 feet off the ground. The following year, Evel Knievel jumped fourteen Greyhound buses on his Harley Davidson at Kings Island, clearing a distance of 133 feet – a record that wasn't broken until 1999; the longest successful jump of his career was
$1.16 billion