Park section County Fair Opening date 1996 (1996) Max speed 76 km/h Opened 28 March 2009 | Status Operating Height 35 m Height restriction 1.37 m | |
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Opening date March 28, 2009 (2009-03-28) Similar Nighthawk, Afterburn, Carolina Cyclone, Carolina Goldrusher, Thunder Road | ||
Introducing the flying cobras
The Flying Cobras is a steel Vekoma boomerang roller coaster located at Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was the first roller coaster addition to Carowinds since the park's purchase by Cedar Fair from Paramount Parks. It was previously located at Geauga Lake from 1996-2007, and will be refurbished and renamed to Flying Cobras in 2017 to theme four new flat rides that were added.
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History
The Flying Cobras , originally named The Mind Eraser, opened at Geauga Lake in 1996. It was renamed to Head Spin when Cedar Fair purchased Six Flags Worlds of Adventure from Six Flags in 2004. On September 21, 2007, Cedar Fair announced that Geauga Lake & Wildwater Kingdom would no longer operate as an amusement park, and instead become solely a waterpark, Wildwater Kingdom. The ride was moved to Carowinds, where it was renamed to Carolina Cobra. The ride occupies the spot of the Flying Super Saturator roller coaster, which was dismantled and put up for sale after the 2008 season. This was the first roller coaster for Carowinds since the addition of Nighthawk in 2004. On August 18, 2016, Carowinds announced the expansion of County Fair for the 2017 season, which includes refurbishing the Carolina Cobra. It has been renamed the The Flying Cobras to pay tribute to the classic air shows that were once seen at the Carolina County Fair.
Ride experience
The Flying Cobras is one of over 50 boomerang coasters installed by Vekoma around the world, but it is the first roller coaster to feature all new re-designed MK-1212 trains directly from Vekoma After dispatch, the train is pulled backwards up the 125-foot (38 m) lift hill. After that, riders are dropped 120 feet (37 m) down, fly back through the station and into a Cobra Roll element. The riders then are taken through a 360-degree vertical Loop and are sent up a second 125-foot (38 m) hill. The riders pause, and are sent down to do the full circuit again backwards.
Incidents
On October 18, 2009, The Flying Cobras' second lift hill failed to catch, resulting in a rollback that couldn't make it back through the second set of inversions The passengers were able to exit the ride onto a nearby platform. All of passengers were taken to first aid. Seven of the riders were released back into the park; the eighth was taken to a local hospital and examined. No serious injuries were reported.