The only amusement park to straddle a border. Carowinds is located on the North Carolina-South Carolina border near Charlotte, NC and is home to such roller coasters as Nighthawk, Afterburn, and
Intimidator. Carowinds was owned by Paramount from 1993 to 2006, when Paramount sold its theme parks to Cedar Fair.
The NC-SC border divides the amusement park almost in half, though it occupies slightly more land in South Carolina. Nighthawk, Carolina Goldrusher, Carolina Cobra, and (most famously) Thunder Road are the only roller coasters to be located in more than one state. The two sides of Thunder Road, a racing wooden coaster, are named North Carolina and South Carolina, though both sides actually have track in both states (
the ride's station is in South Carolina and its turnaround is in North Carolina).
Nighthawk, a Vekoma Flying Dutchman is unique in that was the first ever "flying roller coaster." It opened as Stealth at (then-named)
Paramount's Great America in Santa Clara, California in 2000. In 2004, it was relocated to (then-named) Paramount's Carowinds, rethemed to Star Trek, and renamed
BORG Assimilator. Shortly after Cedar Fair acquired the park, it was again repainted and renamed Nighthawk.
Carolina Cyclone, built in 1980 by
Arrow Dynamics, was the first roller coaster in the world to flip riders upside-down four times.