Carowinds Monorail

The Carowinds Monorail was a monorail at the Carowinds amusement park in Charlotte, North Carolina. Opening on June 2, 1973, it existed solely for entertainment, not transportation, as it had only one station. The ride would close in August 1994, and be relocated to the Vidafel Mayan Palace resort in Acapulco.

Carowinds Monorail
Overview
LocaleCarowinds, Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
Transit typestraddle-beam Monorail
Number of lines1
Daily ridership7,000
Operation
Began operationJune 2, 1973
Ended operationAugust 1994
Technical
System length2 mi (3.22 km)
Average speed18 mph (29 km/h)

History

The Carowinds Monorail was built by Universal Mobility Incorporated and opened on June 2, 1973, with both Governor of North Carolina James Holshouser and Governor of South Carolina John C. West present for the inaugural ride.[1] The 2-mile (3.2 km) ride traveled at an average speed of 18 miles per hour (29 km/h) and took 10 minutes and 14 seconds to complete.[1] Originally, the monorail was to have connected the park with a hotel that was never built.[2] The attraction would reach a peak of 500,000 riders in 1982, only to fall in subsequent years resulting in its closure in August 1994.[1] At the time of its closure, the monorail had a daily ridership of 7,000.[3] Its deconstruction would commence in November 1994 and be complete by December.[4] The deconstructed monorail was then shipped to Acapulco, Mexico, by way of barge and reassembled in 1995 at the Vidafel Mayan Palace resort.[4]

References
  1. Pendergrast, Lolo (August 23, 1994). "Carowinds retires monorail attraction". The Charlotte Observer. p. 1C.
  2. "Carowinds Celebrates 36 Years of Providing Family Entertainment". Carowinds. Archived from the original on January 4, 2009. Retrieved January 26, 2010.
  3. "Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual" (PDF). Kittelson & Associates, Inc. January 1999. Retrieved January 26, 2010.
  4. Pendergrast, Lolo (November 3, 1994). "At age 21, monorail goes south". The Charlotte Observer. p. 1Y.
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