swampfox43

It's probably just me, but besides being very excited about the possible Trump project, I would really love to see a tower with some rounded edges & some good curving sweeps. All of the recent towers are just too squared off, and although some of them look nice, many are just plain boring for my Dubai kind of taste. I think we need more curves and less squares to really set apart Charlotte's next big tower! Just my opinion.

Same here. I will go back. But my initial visit wasn't too impressive. We practically never got a refill on our drinks (finally came when we were ready for the check), and my white rice (with Basil Chicken) was cold as were the black beans. But, the servers were very nice and that says a lot these days. I'll give it another try in the near future.

Me and a friend tried Cataluya Cafe today for lunch. I ordered the sliced Basil Chicken over rice with Black Beans on the side. The rice was cold (is it suppose to be that way?) and the chicken luke warm but tasty. The black beans were cool, not warm but tasted great. My friend ordered the Pastrami Reuben and a side of Spinach. He was very pleased and couldn't brag enough about the Spinach flavored in garlic. We almost never got refills on our drinks but he finally arrived after we were ready for our ticket. Maybe they were short staffed. There were only 3 people (cook included) that I could see and a steady flow of customers. I'll probably go back for a sandwich next time.

I had 2 options for last Saturday. One was go to the White Water Center, the other was the Renaissance Festival. Well, we decided to do the latter. I really can't wait to do the White Water Park though. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Has anyone tried Sofram Contemporary Turkish Cuisine? I drive by it occasionally and have been very curious. Maybe I'll take a chance and report back to this thread.

I ate lunch one Saturday at a new place called Nolan Kitchen back in August. It is on the corner of Selwyn Ave. & Colony Rd in that little shopping center with all the art gallery's. I had a burger, one of the best around and they use sea salt and some other spice on their fries. Yummy! I honestly can't tell you much about the other foods but I was seated by the kitchen door and saw lot's of great looking food coming out.... I really like the atmosphere too. The interior design is very relaxing and they have a great patio for outdoor dining. Anyone else tried Nolan Kitchen?

Chris, sounds like your a real Carowinds fan. You should definately check out Carowinds Connection Community. You'll be surrounded by Carowinds and coaster fans from the Charlotte area.

Also, for anyone interested, here is a link to the actual press release from Cedar Fair: http://www.cedarfair.com/ir/press_releases...ory&story_id=69 Slideshow from the investors conference call: http://www.cedarfair.com/_upload/cedar%20f...ation%20web.pdf

Here's a chart that I devised showing the parks and years that Cedar Fair acquired them. Being the coaster NUT that I am, I have been waiting patiently for years for that hyper coaster (over 200') to be built at Carowinds. Although the Paramount Parks have no hyper coasters in any of their parks, many Cedar Fair parks have them and of course Cedar Point, the flagship, has a "giga" coaster (over 300') and a "strata" coaster (over 400').... It's too soon for me to get my hopes up but this acquisition will hopefully mean big things for the future of Carowinds. Valleyfair, Shakopee, MN - 1978 acquisition by CF coasters added since acquisition Rails (Schwarzkopf Wildcat) -1979 Corkscrew (Arrow steel) - 1980 Excalibur (Arrow steel) - 1989 Wild Thing (Morgan hyper steel) - 1996 Mad Mouse (Arrow) - 1999 Steel Venom (Intamin shuttle launch) - 2003 Dorney Park, Allentown, PA - 1992 acquisition by CF coasters added since acquisition Steel Force (Morgan steel) - 1997 Wild Mouse (Mack) - 2000 Woodstock Express (kiddie steel) - 2000 Talon (B&M inverted) - 2001 Hydra the Revenge (B&M floorless) -2005 Worlds of Fun, Kansas City, MO - 1995 acquisition by CF coasters added since acquisition Mamba (Morgan hyper steel) - 1998 Boomerang (Vekoma reverse looper) - 2000 Spinning Dragons (Gerstlauer spinning steel) - 2004 Patriot (B&M inverted) - 2006 Knott's Berry Farm, Buena Vista, CA - 1997 acquisition by CF coasters added since acquisition Ghost Rider - (CCI wood) - 1998 Xcelerator - (Intamin launch) - 2002 Silver Bullet - (B&M inverted) - 2004 Michigans Adventure, Muskegon, MI - 2001 acquisition by CF coasters added since acquisition none Geauga Lake, Twinsburg, OH - 2004 acquisition by CF coasters added since acquisition none

LOL! The funny thing is that you aren't the first one to mention that.....There are several quotes from our interview that I am surprised he printed.......as well as some I am glad he didn't print, haha. This was my first ever newspaper interview so I took it all in stride. I almost cracked up though when I saw he actually printed my picture. When he asked me to email him one I almost said "Do you have to?".....Oh what the heck. I hate that I couldn't attend the Thunder Road 30th Anniversary Party though. Just couldn't swing it workwise. I think it's nice that the park actually celebrated a roller coaster. I mean, where else would they do this? Only in America! One thing I didn't see mentioned in the article was the reunion of the couple that got married on Thunder Road back in the 80's. Anyone remember that? It made the news. The train stopped at the top of the lift and after the preacher read the vows, they let it go over the top. Almost surreal. Anyway, that couple supposedly accepted the invitation to the event.

Featuring......<drum roll please> Yours truly! (swampfox43=the Ken in article)

Thanks for sharing my photos with the group. It would've been nice if you at least gave the link from where you took them. For those that want to see more, go to: http://members.aol.com/k9660r/earlywinds.html Enjoy!