Carowinds announces Windseeker

Carowinds just announced they will be getting a wind seeker for 2012. Does anybody else think more parks will get one and will someday we see a wind seeker in every cedar fair park?

What have the lines been like for the existing Windseekers? Only time I was at Cedar Point when it was running was middle/late July and the wait was about 20 minutes. Wait at Kings Island on the coasting for kids Sunday was about 10 minutes. Seems short to me for the first year of a ride. Is the ride popular enough to justify having one at another Cedar Fair park?

Many rides, including Paddlewheel Excursions, CP&LE Railroad and many flat rides have short waits. That doesn't meant their popularity isn't sufficient to warrant their existence.

Many parks have overlapping ride lineups, and for good reason.

I would think that CF will install a WS ride in every park where it makes sense. So far, all indications are that it makes sense to install them in every park. Time will tell.

GoBucks89 said:
Seems short to me for the first year of a ride

It is also a people eater as well, just like MaxAir. It holds what, 64 people?

I understand that there are many rides with short waits. And I never indicated that such rides have no place in a park. However, my focus was on the first year of operation. Seems to me that in the normal life cycle of a ride, first year waits are higher and then settle down somewhat as the newness of the ride wears off and other newer rides are added. Over the last 10 years (and longer in general thinking about my visits to the park), seems to me that lines for non-kiddie new rides have been long in the first year of operation (and sometimes beyond). Maybe I am just not remembering right. I don't have the knowledge base of the parks that many folks here do. And maybe I just caught Windseeker at CP and KI on light days.

And I don't have a problem with Windseeker. Though it seems to me its a ride that doesn't satisfy either the family ride folks (not sure with a 52" height requirement that it would be a "family ride" at least as I have seen folks discuss the concept here) or the thrill ride folks (I think its an enjoyable ride but not thrilling).

I am just surprised they would add another one to another park (from what I have seen). Clearly they are in a better position to know if it makes sense than I am (though I do note that typically carries little weight around here when it comes to adding/not adding "family" attractions, pricing food/drinks, clearing trees, removing old rides, etc. ;) )

Thus the sixflagsifacation of Cedar Fair continues. Next year we will see a poorly designed Vekoma in half of the parks followed closely by the the renaming of every inverted coaster in the chain after a comic book charachter.

It's a flat ride, for crying out loud. There are going to be clones, just like flat rides have always had clones.

How many of the Cedar Fair parks got Chaos?

How many parks (period...) have Scramblers?

And before Cedar Fair came along, I think Paramount was well on the way to having Flying Scooters at every Paramount park EXCEPT Kings Island (dammit!).

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Not enough.

Too many. (not to mention every single traveling fair)

I've noticed merry-go-rounds popping up at parks all over the country.

CF is far from "sixflagsifacation". CF hasn't put any cookie cutter coasters in at their parks. Renegade, Prowler, Xcelerator, Pony Express, Sierra Sidewinder, Diamondback, Leviathan, I-305, Talon, Patriot, Maverick. Coaster names don't mean anything really, the GP nevers gets it right anyway. Hey lets ride Twisted Sisters (wicked twister) or Magnum Force (that big blue one). GP doesn't care if there is other identical windseekers at other parks or that theres another Firehawk, Dominator, Flight Deck, ect. CF is doing the smart thing installing a variety of attractions at each park, Windseeker is cheap (6.5mil) attraction that will get the GP interested in coming back. And in a few years if it doesn't live up to expectations its not a big deal its not like its a 30million dollar coaster.

This is where I make the obligatory post that no one in Cleveland cares about a park in Charlotte, and vice versa.

There's a park in Cleveland for the people in Charlotte to care about? ;)

Being that I just visited Carowinds last week, I think it will fit nicely into the park. There some good views from the top of Intimidator so Im sure there will be for Windseeker too. Most park have space spirals, so I dont see how this is any different. Now if there start doing the cookie cutter coasters with the same name Ill join that bandwagon, but definately not on this.

wish they would take cedar points lol