Carolina Cyclone


The Carolina Cyclone is an Arrow Dynamics roller coaster located at Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Carolina Cyclone, built in 1980 by world-renowned coaster builders Arrow Dynamics, the first roller coaster to have four inversions, two loops and two corkscrews. The Carolina Cyclone is still running after 40 years.

Ride experience

Riders exit the station and make a tight left turn before the lift begins pulling them to the top. A small drop, along with a turn, brings the train to the largest drop on the roller coaster. Directly after the drop are two vertical loops followed by a small hill with a banked turn. As the train makes its way over the walkway it flips riders twice in two corkscrews, one directly after the other. These make Carolina Cyclone the first ever coaster with four inversions. After the corkscrews riders are taken to a near-ground helix before hitting the brake run and returning to the station.
The ride was originally painted with red-orange track and black supports, and later bluish-green track w/ black supports, and later with blue track and dark gray supports. For the 2010 season, a new paint job was applied. The supports are light blue along the entire ride. The track in the final brake run, station, and from the station to the top of the first drop, is also painted light blue, but the inversions are painted yellow and the track on the first drop, turn between the corkscrews, and final helix are all painted orange.