A Look Inside Rip Roarin’ Falls Construction Site at Carowinds

Earlier today, Carowinds announced the addition of Rip Roarin’ Falls, a record-breaking flume attraction coming to the park in 2027. A direct result of guest feedback, Rip Roarin’ Falls brings a new water attraction to the “dry side” of Carowinds, and the first “major” water ride to operate at the park since the closure of Rip Roarin’ Rapids in 2019. (Charlie Brown’s River Raft blast is great, don’t get us wrong, but this is a little more “extreme!”)

During today’s announcement, the park invited media, passholders and guests to be the first to hear the news inside Harmony Hall, which included a grand reveal of the 8-passenger logs that will descend down Rip Roarin’ Falls’ 100′ drop at speeds reaching a top speed of 50 mph.

There will be up to 15 boats operating at any one time on Rip Roarin’ Falls, which features three world records – Tallest Flume Drop (100ft), Tallest Reverse Drop (42ft), and Tallest Reverse Camelback (32ft). 

Each of the four rows will seat two guests, who have their own individual lap bars.

Guests only need to be a minimum of 35″ tall to ride with an accompanying adult, or 42″ tall to ride alone.

Following the announcement, part of the experience for assembled media, influencers and VIPs included a trip to the active construction site, which sits on the same plot of land that was formerly occupied by Rip Roarin’ Rapids, Carowinds’ Intamin river rapids ride that operated from 1982-2019.

The tour was led by James Sidler, Construction and Facilities Manager for Carowinds. (Yellow vest). Rip Roarin’ Falls will be set in the fictional Holz Brothers Logging Co., which may or may not be haunted. We will find out soon enough!

Deep foundations for the attraction have been mostly completed, and this photo depicts the space that will include Rip Roarin’ Falls camelback drop (which happens in reverse), a track switch, and the lift hill to the 100′ final drop (which will be approximately located in the vicinity of the yellow construction vehicles at the left-center of this photo.)

Carowinds will be utilizing the existing pump house (center) structure that was operational during Rip Roarin’ Rapids’ years in the park – but the filtration and pumps will be replaced and brought up to more state-of-the-art modern standards! This view will be the “center” of the V-shaped attraction.

The “run out” trough of Rip Roarin’ Falls 100′ drop is also under construction (rebar section in the background). In total, the ride will take longer than six minutes to experience, and includes a turnable and two high-speed track switches!

Rip Roarin’ Falls will also feature a unique dual-loading station (designed for ADA-compliance) that allows boats to slide in and out of the rotation in order to load guests more efficiently.

This old pipe will not be part of the ride – but instead was found on the construction site while clearing land. It was the “biggest surprise of the construction process,” according to Sidler.

Earth is being moved daily as Rip Roarin’ Rapids heads toward its 2027 opening date! In total, 2,240′ of track will be fit into this space

And because we’re a roller coaster website at our core, here’s a gratuitous shot of Fury 325!

Stay tuned to Coaster101 for plenty of updates on the construction progress of Rip Roarin’ Falls, and as always, be sure to visit Carowinds’ website and follow the park on social media for more information directly from the park! Facebook | Twitter | Instagram