Carowinds’ 2019 Teasers: What Do They All Mean?

If you’ve visited Carowinds at all this season, you’ll notice that there are construction walls up in the back of the park, between Crossroads, County Fair and Carolina Harbor. Earlier this week, Carowinds added some signage to these construction walls, hinting at what’s going on behind them for 2019.

Let’s take a look at these signs, which seem full of “Easter Eggs” and other references, to see if we can figure out any details about what Carowinds is Building in 2019.


Poster No. 1: Byrd Farm Expansion

Taking a look at this sign, we have several references to Carowinds, as well as other parks in the Cedar Fair chain.

Granny

This sign notes that Granny’s Boys are at it again. Is this the same Granny, who was the campaign manager for Mayor Higganbotham’s re-election campaign in 2016? It would make sense, given the location near Carowinds’ County Fair

Higganbotham Lending & Trust

After a successful mayoral campaign in 2016, is Ernest Lee Higganbotham back to fund another addition on the state line?

Big Mock’s Demolition & Building

Depending on which corners of the internet you frequent, you may have seen photos of crates in the Carowinds parking lot with “MACK Rides” stamped on them. Something enthusiasts know that the general public might not, is that MACK is a German rides manufacturer, and rather than pronounced Mack as in “Return of the Mack,” it’s actually pronounced “Mock.” Interesting.

Chamberlain Brothers Excavation Co.

 

This is a non-Carowinds specific reference, but one of the central characters in the story line of Cedar Point’s Steel Vengeance is Jackson “Blackjack” Chamberlain. In his wanted poster, one of the things he was wanted for was “Destruction of Property.”

Miami River Lumber Co.

If you followed the #WhatsInTheShed saga for Kings Island’s Mystic Timbers, you’re likely familiar with the Miami River Lumber Company, where the backstory of Mystic Timbers is centered around.

EDIT: Fried Chicken

Reader Memphis M. noted that Fried Chicken could definitely be a reference to another Cedar Fair Park, with Knott’s Berry Farm and Mrs. Knott’s Famous Fried Chicken. Great find!

Questions I have:

  • What is the significance of the Greater Carolinas Agricultural Department?
  • Who are the Byrds?
  • What does corn have to do with anything?

Poster No. 2: We Build Barns

We have another ad for the aforementioned Miami River Lumber Co, who apparently builds barns.

Cedar Trees

The top corner of the advertisement features the tagline “We strive to create, construct, and build, quality products from finest Cedar Trees in the entire country. Cedar Trees? Cedar Fair? Cedar Point? That’s a lot of Cedars.

“Means Of Vengeance”

Our lumber is obtained by Means of Vengeance. Well…if they’re going to obtain it with Vengeance, at least they’re not “steel”-ing it. (Yes, that misspelling is intentional.)

#137

There is the number 137 in this advertisement. I originally thought it was a nod to the number of roller coasters in the Cedar Fair chain (I was wrong — there’s currently 126, this would be 127.) Could 137 be a significant number in the ride’s statistics? Height, maybe?

Notice:

The Miami River Lumber Company is temporarily out of Southern Yellow Pine until their next shipment, next season. For those unaware, southern yellow pine is a common wood type used in Wooden Roller Coaster Construction, including Mystic Timbers, home of the Miami River Lumber Co. If Miami River is out of Southern Yellow Pine, this means that whatever’s being built at Carowinds will like not utilize the material. (But presumably, another park in the Cedar Fair chain will be constructing a wooden roller coaster next year? Am I reading too far between the lines?)

The Barn

The barn, at first glance seems fairly generic. But, putting my tin foil hat on, I realize I’ve seen a very similar barn on the outskirts of Carowinds.

The exterior of this barn looks very similar to the exterior of Dark Harvest, one of SCarowinds’ newest mazes. Throwing fuel to that (probably largely manufactured in my head) fire, the location of Dark Harvest is in close proximity to the construction area. Is there a tie-in between the new construction and the Haunted Maze?

Photos via Carowinds Fans Only Facebook Page

Another reason I think there might be a tie-in is the style of signage also found on the fence, which, to me, resembles the signage in the Dark Harvest queue.

Questions I have:

  • Why barns?
  • Which Cedar Fair park is building a wooden coaster in 2019 for 2020 or beyond?
  • What does 137 mean?

EDIT: 7/2/18: Sharp Eyed Readers have given us two possibilities for the significance of 137.

  • According to reader John S., Omega 137 was Professor Delbert’s human powered flying machine at Frontier town at Cedar Point.
  • And according to reader Jeremiah M., Carowinds’ former White Lightnin’ Shuttle Loop was 137′ tall. This wouldn’t be the first time Carowinds has teased a new coaster with “White Lightning”

This “Lightning” banner appeared on the construction fence for Fury 325 Construction.

Also.

Look closer at the barn’s window.

WHAT IS THAT?

We’ll be at the park this weekend to take a look around and see if there’s anything new we can find. In the mean time, it’s tease season. Is anyone else as excited as we are?


July 6, 2018: Will Lightning Strike Twice?

We have another tease from Carowinds this week, for Whyte Lightning Spark Plugs. This image was posted on twitter with the caption, a Storm’s a Brewin’. Here are a few of the details and easter eggs in this sign that we saw.

Whyte Lightning

From 1977-1988, Carowinds had a Schwarzkopf Shuttle Loop by the name of White Lightning. Why this is significant? Carowinds has teased “White Lightning” as more of a “Red Herring” for their two newest major coaster additions, Intimidator in 2010, and Fury 325 in 2015 as noted above.

137.

The number 137 appears again in this week’s tease, and I think we may be closer based on an idea from C101 Reader Jenny, who noted that  MACK Rides has currently built 133 roller coasters. Looking at RCDB, it’s feasible that the TBA Carowinds project, if indeed it is a MACK coaster, could be coaster #137 for the company. Currently, they have Dynamite at Freizeitpark Plohn in Germany, and an unknown coaster for the Wuxi Wanda City park being built in China. If MACK announces another coaster for 2019, that would add 4 coasters to 133 for a total of 137. (If you have another idea what 137 could mean, let us know. It seems to be a common theme.)

Arrow Dynamic

Probably more of a coincidence than anything, but as many coaster fans likely know, Arrow Dynamic is a classic coaster manufacturer that has been long bankrupt. They are the company behind Carowinds’ Carolina Goldrusher Mine Train, as well as Carolina Cyclone.

More Questions.

We have a few more questions this week.

  • Who is Ron Waldrich and why is his name on the poster? A quick google search didn’t yield much, but admittedly, we didn’t go into much of a deep dive. EDIT: Our friend Taylor Bybee of Coaster Studios pointed out that “Waldrich” is very similar to the location of the MACK factory in Germany, “Waldkirch”. Good catch Taylor!

  • Is there any significance to the use of “Harness” or “Efficiency?”

A Theory:

Moonshine. There are several tie-ins so far that lead us to believe that the new coaster might have a “moonshine” tie in. Moonshine is a high proof liquor that was typically distilled illegally in the south before it became legal in certain areas in 2010. It’s made from corn (Byrd Farm), and one of the nicknames, due to its coloring, is White Lightning. There’s also the proximity to the former Thunder Road site, whose original theme involved moonshine runners trying to escape the police.

This is probably a case of us looking too far into the clues, but it’s something worth looking into!

July 7, 2018: Centurion Motor Oil

Another tease came from Carowinds over the weekend with the addition of a sign for Centurion Motor Oil.

The Return (kinda) of Centurion.

Back in 2013, Cedar Fair filed a trademark for the word “Centurion” as it relates to amusement park rides and merchandise. Enthusiasts have wondered for years where the Centurion name would finally land, after it was used to tease for Fury 325 in 2014.

Lightning Strike Logo

The lightning strike logo (or a similar version, anyway) has also been used by Cedar Fair parks before. Most notably in the logo for Mean Streak at Cedar Point. Pretty interesting tie-in.

Thunder & Lightning

Check out this photo from CarowindsEarlyYears.com. If you’re familiar with how Carowinds was laid out, the construction is in the area near both where Thunder Road and White Lightning resided, and this is the Thunder/Lightning tie-in. This is what makes sense to me, anyway.

Did we miss anything else with the Centurion tease? Let us know!

July 12. 2018: Four Seven! New Signs and #GrannysEpicSecret

Some more signage has popped up on the fence today, and we also have the first “official” (it uses a hashtag, so we’re counting it) social media tease that reveals some of the first “concrete” ride statistics.

First, the new signs:

   

  • It’s weird to me that jams are being advertised with “strengths.” I think “jam” is a code word, and Granny might be running a possibly illegal moonshine operation.
  • Scrap Metal could easily refer to a steel coaster.
  • Copper tubing is a key item in moonshine production, lending more credibility to our theory that the new coaster will have a moonshine-related theme.
  • This is also the first mention of Copper (to our recollection) in the teases. Back in April, Cedar Fair filed a trademark for “Copperhead Strike,” which many people online feel might be the name for the 2019 Project. But in the case of Centurion, just because a trademark is filed, doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be a name of a new attraction immediately.
  • Big Mock’s Excavatin’ makes another appearance. Pole Barns and Sheds are their specialty. What’s in the shed? What’s in the barn?

  • Big Mock also advertises Wagons, Bobleds (bobsleds?), and Flumes, perhaps another reference to other Mack Rides attractions like Avalanche at Kings Dominion? Or “flumes” referring to the former Whitewater Falls, which was located in the area currently under construction?

  • The signs are also looking for Car Parts. Like Mystic Timbers at Kings Island and Twisted Timbers at Kings Dominion, will the new attraction at Carowinds have a heavily themed train, presumably to a classic Ford?

#GrannysEpicSecret

https://twitter.com/Carowinds/status/1017385610011643904

Ride statistics are starting to come together as part of the social media #GrannysEpicSecret teasers. Every Thursday, it sounds like new details will be revealed.

Granny’s Secret Recipe so far features a cooking time of 2 minutes, 24 seconds, and serves 16 people. I feel like we’re looking at a ride time, and number of passengers per train with this information. But there’s some more information in the body of the tweet that may go otherwise unnoticed!

  • Granny’s “On A Roll.” – Could the new attraction feature some sort of heartline or zero-G roll?
  • “About to Launch” – Lots of speculation that the new attraction could feature launches.
  • 100% Proof – Many commercial moonshines are brewed at 100 proof, lending more to the Moonshine tie-ins.
  • “It packs a bite.” – Another possible tie-in to Copperhead Strike.

EDIT: Carowinds tried to sneak three more signs by us on Instagram today!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BlIiOD5AU7S/?taken-by=carowindspark

Some thoughts about photos 5, 6 and 7:

  • Byrd’s Best Brand Corn — Appearances corn be deceiving? Is the corn theme a red herring?
  • Will reptile repellent mean there’s no Copperheads at Carowinds? It’s not sold in stores, so where do you buy it?

How’d we do this week? What’d we miss, if anything? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!

7/19/18: More Ingredients in #GrannysEpicSecret

https://twitter.com/Carowinds/status/1019922333010677766

As promised, Carowinds gave us some ingredients in the recipe for #GrannysEpicSecret, promptly at 8:30am this morning.

The ingredients:

  • 3255 Hand-Picked Berries

Berries?! Berries and what else? It’s my guess that berries = 3,255 feet of track. However, if you look closely, between the 3 and the 2, there is a dot. I’m not sure if it’s a comma for 3,255 (which would mean track length) or a decimal for 3.255. If it’s the latter, I’m thinking this number is positive G-Forces, especially if it is indeed a launch coaster. It could also be the number of seconds required for a launch to reach a top speed. (0 to X mph in 3.255 seconds). EDIT: It’s a comma. Thanks, Lana B.!

  • 530 Teaspoons of Sugar

Random fact: 530 Teaspoons is 2.6 liters. That’s A LOT of sugar. 530 is a number that’s stumping me temporarily. If the track length is indeed 3,255′, 530 is too high of a number for total pieces of track (averages out to about 6′ per piece of track. It’s also too high of a number for any kind of angle, height, or speed. Could it be number of supports? Length in feet of a straight-away launch? Number of construction workers who will be building the project? Could 530 actually be 53.0, and it’s the top speed in miles per hour? If you’ve got an idea, let us know below!

EDIT: Reader Chris H. thinks 530 could be degrees in a helix. That’d be interesting!

  • 2 Spoonfuls of Granny’s Secret Ingredient

Where 530 is a number that’s tough to figure out, 2 could mean anything. Launches. Inversions. Trains. Drops. Moonshine Stills in the queue. ANYTHING! But, based on last week’s tease with Granny getting ready to “launch” a new flavor, I’m going to guess launches here.

July 26, 2018: The First Instruction…and Maybe Inversion?

Granny’s back at again, with a Thursday addition to the recipe for her “Epic Secret.”

https://twitter.com/Carowinds/status/1022459054428499968

Step 1. Start by Rolling Ingredients into Copper Pot.

  • Could the new attraction, which we’re all but assuming is a roller coaster at this point, start with a “Roll,” similar to the JoJo Roll on Hydra: The Revenge at Dorney Park?

Having ridden Hydra: The Revenge at Dorney Park, the JoJo Roll is a unique way to start a coaster cycle, and it would be great if Carowinds had something similar on this new attraction.

Also worth noting, it was specified in the recipe as a Copper Pot. As in, Chester Copperpot?

Now I’m not saying that the new coaster will be themed to The Goonies, but it’d be pretty amazing if it was, right?….right? Anyone? Just me?

What do you think about the first step in Granny’s Recipe? Let us know below!

August 2: Recipe Step 2, and a mysterious phone number.

We’re late today, but sometimes, real life gets in the way. Anyway, here’s Carowinds’ latest step in the recipe for #GrannysEpicSecret.

https://twitter.com/Carowinds/status/1024995772159410181

“Place pot over high heat, quickly bringing the mixture to full boil in 2.5 seconds. Allowing the temperature in the pot to reach 42 Degrees C.”

We’ve got two numbers here with this latest step in the recipe, 25 and 42.

  • Bringing the mixture to a full boil in 2.5 seconds could mean that the assumed launch reaches its top speed in 2.5 seconds.
  • It’s interesting to me that Carowinds is using Celsius to measure degrees, especially when Granny is making her jam in the American south, where people most certainly measure temperature in degrees Fahrenheit. 42 C is 107.6 F. Could 107.6 be the height of something? Maybe the angle of a drop? Could I be looking too far into it, and 42 is top speed? We’ll see!

Carowinds posted another tease today, with a phone number to call.

https://twitter.com/Carowinds/status/1025054342578139138

If you call the number, you get the answering machine of Calico Architectural Inc, who are out of the office currently, working on a shed for Granny Byrd. Calico specializes in sheds, and shed accessories. The new shed for Granny won’t be open until spring, there will be a “trade show” at Byrd Farm on August 30. (Normally, I’d transcribe the whole message, but that’s the gist of it.)

  • I think we have the date for the announcement here — August 30. Later in the year than Carowinds’ past few announcements, but still well in the window.
  • This poster is also giving nods to Knott’s Berry Farm (Calico) and Kings Dominion (Twisted Timbers). There’s some serious synergy between Cedar Fair parks and their 2019 teases this year!
  • Something to note, is that Calico Architectural has the same phone number as the Higganbotham Hotline, from 2016’s #VoteFourMore campaign, which saw 4 classic flat rides added to Carowinds.

https://twitter.com/Carowinds/status/1024690743015825409

The August 30 date makes sense, given this other poster that Carowinds posted this week. The text has been used in previous tweets.

If August 30 is the correct date, it means we have four more weeks of teases. What do you think Granny is cooking up?


August 9, 2018: Another Step in the Recipe and The Countdown Is On.

Earlier this week, a countdown clock was added to Carowinds’ website.

https://twitter.com/Carowinds/status/1026506686201311235

If you don’t want to do the math, the clock expires at 10:00am on August 30.

“Sometimes gossip can be downright intoxicatin’. Find out what all the fuss is about when we reveal our big sssecret.

Notes here:

  • The use of intoxicatin’ ties into the moonshine theme.
  • Sssecret most likely isn’t a typo, and likely ties in with the the snake shaped graphic on the right hand side of the tease.

Granny’s Epic Secret, Recipe Step 3

https://twitter.com/Carowinds/status/1027532484492382208

  • We get the use of “intoxicatin'” again in the tweet.

“Completely stir the mixture around the pot and remove from heat.”

  • I’m trying to decode this based on the last two steps in the recipe. If you’re going to start by rolling the ingredients into the Copper Pot (Step 1), let’s consider the “Copper Pot” as the element (presumably a roll) out of the station.  As you reach full boil (let’s call boil “speed,” and “full boil” as “top speed”), from the heat (launch?), you’re now told to remove from heat (end the launch?), and stir the mixture (passengers) around the pot (again, the first element.) I could be off base here, but I’m wondering if there’s an inversion over the first element that would fully “stir” around it, that occurs at some point after the launch.

Here’s a crude illustration of what I’m trying to explain in Roller Coaster Tycoon. It could be off base by a lot, but that’s how I’m taking the teases right now.


August 16, 2018: Happy National Roller Coaster Day!

We have another step in #GrannysEpicSecret Today.

https://twitter.com/Carowinds/status/1030069192039571458

“When the temperature inside the pot drops to 35 degrees Celsius, return to heat, and bring to 50 degrees in 2 seconds. Stir completely around the pot a second time.”

  • Odds are, this is hinting at a double launch, and if the first launch is at 42 C, this means the second launch will technically be faster than the first launch.
  • There seems to be some differing opinions across the internet on what the 42 C conversion is, but I’m guessing now its just miles per hour.
    • 42 C = 107.6 F/mph, 50 C = 122 F/mph. (Too Fast)
    • 42 kph = 26 mph, 50 kph = 31 mph (Seems a little slow, especially if there are inversions.)
    • 42 mph and 50mph? Seems more believable.
  • For a point of reference, here are the launch speeds of some other multi-launch coasters.
    • Helix (Mack): 62mph
    • Icon (Mack): 50 mph, 53mph
    • Time Traveler (Mack): 0 to 47 mph in 3 seconds; 30 to 45 mph in 3.5 seconds.
    • Manta (Mack): 43mph
    • Slinky Dog Dash: 33mph
  • I think “stir completely around the pot” means an inversion. Right now, I’m thinking there’s three. The roll out of the station, and two in the course of the ride.

What’s Granny Doing?

https://twitter.com/Carowinds/status/1029531167299649537

https://twitter.com/Carowinds/status/1026538459786297345

Granny seems to be busy. I wonder if there’s something happening with the games just outside of the construction fence.

One last thing. I know it’s likely purely coincidence, but when we visited Kings Dominion last weekend, they were out of the North Carolina Moonshine Berry Shortcake during Brew & BBQ. Sounds like Granny might be worried her secret is getting out!

What do you think? Have we cracked the code? Let us know below!


August 23, 2018: Know When to Hold ‘Em, and Know When to Fold ‘Em.

https://twitter.com/Carowinds/status/1032606011088166912

“Remove from heat, fold mixture five times until most of the liquid is absorbed (being careful to keep contents inside pot.)”

  • The way I’m going to interpret this is that there are 5 inversions after the launches, and it’s important to keep the passengers in the train.

Final Prediction:

  • 3,255 feet of track
  • A combined 530 feet of launch track
  • 2 Launches, 0-42mph and 35 to 50 mph
  • 6 total Inversions, including a roll out of the station, and an inversion over that roll
  • Show element with a shed theme. Maybe housing a launch.

Unfortunately, we will not be at Thursday’s announcement, but will be providing as in-depth coverage as possible, so stay tuned to Coaster101.com and our social media channels. In addition to our ride announcement post, we’ll come back here and analyze the teases.


For more information, be sure you’re following Carowinds’ social media channels: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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