Hawaiian Coasters 325

It has to be earlier than that as Skyflyer is still standing in the view.

Isn't Winterfest sorta sponsored by Coke? I think KI could do a Spring family event sponsored by Peeps just minus the Easter stuff. Imagine a putt putt tournament in Tower Gardens and lawn games set up in the grass areas near the Carousel, Backlot Stunt Coaster, and/or Diamondback's brake run. Imagine silent disco under the Eiffel Tower and a dance party at the bandstand. Imagine a block party in Action Zone. All with awesome spring decorations by the park's outstanding landscaping and decor team! It would be a good in between event to draw people into the park during the weekends between opening weekend and Memorial Day weekend.

Trust me I get it lol. Mystic Timbers still feels like a few years back to me when in reality it'll be 10 in 2 years.

Carowinds is holding a special Spring Break celebration that features a block party on the Fury plaza celebrating its 10th anniversary as well as an activity area near Thunder Striker. It also features a putt putt tournament, silent disco, an Easter Egg hunt, and more. Imo, an event like this would be perfect for KI early in the season. Obviously, the Easter stuff probably wouldn't happen as KI is rarely open on Easter, but a family friendly spring time event like this would be perfect for the weekends in April and May between opening weekend and Memorial Day weekend. Here's a pic of the event itinerary by Carowinds Fans Only on Facebook.

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Double post, but looks like Hifi Honey will be performing in Soak City on its opening day in May. Wondering if they're installing a permanent stage back there or a temporary one. I'd like to see live music in Soak City on a more consistent basis mainly on busy weekends like memorial day, 4th of July, etc.

I have similar thoughts, but mine is to keep the stage, but split the seating in half. Use the back half towards the midway for park expansion/new ride/s, and have the front half/stage area be for shows/mini concerts (local up and coming artists/bands in residence even). They could even just take out all the bleachers entirely and put in grass turf and make it more festival seating/standing room.

Tbh while I would love a coaster to eventually go in The Vortex plot. My hunch says they don't plan on filling that plot while the drones are popular as the empty space in the center of the park is a perfect area to launch them without disturbing much. Obviously you don't want them flying over guest pathways. The more I think about it, the more I think the 2026 family thrill attraction is going in the Skyflyer area. Think about it, Carowinds still has theirs open and KD has theirs SBNO. If the park didn't have immediate plans for the site, why remove it now? Same with Cedar Point, I feel like 2026 (despite not being on the press release) is the replacement of Snake River Falls and the skycoaster.

To be fair, River City and Hifi Honey are meant to be early season entertainment and a placeholder for the summer shows. I will stand by my word and die on the hill, that the park needs to branch out and look for more local bands and not juzt settle with the same 2 bands every year. You can still have them play once or twice, but branch out and look for more like Cedar Point's Bands in Residence Program. There's lots of bands in the local area that would love an opportunity like this. If they can bring the school bands in, I'm sure they can bring more local bands that play at festivals, clubs, etc outside the park.

Anyone else find the mess of old/new concrete in and around Planet/Camp Snoopy an eyesore? While I think replacing old concrete is a good thing, I wish the park spend a little more money last year and replaced all the concrete in Camp Snoopy with the brownish stamped concrete that they put around Soapbox Racers.

Probably would go to the skyflyer area to see what if any activity is going on to warrant a Decoding 2026 thread lol.

Totally agree! I think the best way is to do something like AlpenFury where the turnaround is near the entrance plaza, but it doesn't go over the entrance plaza like Leviathan does. I say put the station where Skyflyer was and then have the booster launch go into the Congo falls area and that's where the main launch would be and the layout would be along the left side of the parking lot area with the turnaround right up against the sidewalk (left of Invertigo).

Looks like the media got a tour of the construction site and a sneak preview of what's in store for Soak City this year. https://www.wlwt.com/article/inside-look-soak-city-expansion-kings-island-new-water-ride/64356266

I don't know for sure, but as of right now there are no concerts planned at Carowinds for 2025. In this article from right before the concert series last year, it mentions that depending on how successful the event was, they were planning on bringing it back in 2025. https://www.charlotteobserver.com/charlottefive/c5-things-to-do/article289514660.html It's also very likely that corporate just doesn't want to host concerts going forward as they are very costly to put on and the fact that parks like Carowinds and KI are surrounded by concert venues. It probably makes better financial sense to focus on new rides, food festivals, and live shows and leave the large concerts to the PNC Pavilion or Riverbend.

Unfortunately I think 2023 was the final one. I feel it was probably only brought back as a last resort for Timberwolf after the 2022 concert series flop. I guess Koontz fought hard to bring it back as it was pretty popular for local church groups, but I'm guessing he lost that battle to corporate in 2024. It also seems like the Carowinds concert series flopped as they aren't planning another round of concerts at that park either. I'm guessing Timberwolf has hosted its last concert and the plan is to use it for Music in the Parks and then eventually demolish it when they find a better use for the land. Also, the Spirit Song website is gone and if you type in spiritsongfest.com you get this error:

The first slide piece was installed on RiverRacers! From KI's Facebook and Instagram story

Nope. I've been single for the last 22 years of my life which is my whole life lol.

No bc I have zero inside information lol.

AlpenFury I believe got a late start as Moosehorn Falls took forever to complete and I believe the same company who did the foundations for that did AlpenFury's foundations.

I've seen people propose on top of the Eiffel Tower as the view is very nice especially during dusk. I also think during the fireworks anywhere, but especially on I Street is great too!

I totally agree. If they can't get a waterslide and a kids area renovation done and ready to open by Memorial Day weekend when they literally have the River Racers structure complete and slide pieces in the parking lot right now, then it's probably time for the head of construction to step down or if it's the construction company's fault, don't work with that specific company again. If I were the park/corporate I would set specific guidelines to have new attractions ready by opening day and if they don't meet those guidelines, I would wouldn't use that company again unless they can prove they can meet the guidelines presented when the contract was signed. Unless maybe, it's out of their control which we don't always know the circumstances. This goes with other parks in the chain too, especially Carowinds as them not having their Camp Snoopy area expansion done right now is completely inexcusable especially since the attractions these new rides replaced didn't even operate last year and the plans were filed last spring if not earlier. They had plenty of time to start construction earlier last summer and they didn't start vertical construction on Racing Railway until winter.

^^Memorial Day weekend is "technically" the start of summer as that's usually when pools and water parks open. However, KI labeled Camp Snoopy as opening in late Spring which ended up being Memorial Day weekend and for the Adventure Port rides being open sometime in the summer and Cargo Loco and Adventure Express opened Memorial day weekend so you never really know.

According to the KI website, the new stuff should be ready for the opening of Soak City Memorial Day weekend (obviously always subject to change) https://www.visitkingsisland.com/events/soak-city-opening-weekend

Carowinds has seemingly cut Summerbration from their 2025 events lineup without an announcement https://www.carowinds.com/events

My main question is will they be leveling that grass area that it's going in and pouring concrete and/or adding turf for this or will they just be setting it in the grass? I also wonder if this is where the live music stage will be. Also if it is well received I wonder if they'll keep it for Carnivale too.