By the end of 1974 Carowinds Corporation was in trouble. Unable to cover their construction costs and with declining attendance, they were forced to sell the park to a company with a bigger checkbook. Fortunately, it was Taft Broadcasting who stepped up. Taft had opened Kings Island in 1972 and was busy developing the Virginia property for Kings Dominion. Their newly formed partnership with Top Value (Kroger)—Family Leisure Centers—was focused on parks, and so they took Carowinds into the family. Luckily for the park, FLC’s attempt at building a park near Chicago had hit the wall and was shelved, thereby opening up resources and attention for the Charlotte property.
After an initial agreement reached in November of 1974, the final sale was completed in April 1975. Purchase price was $16M plus options on 85 acres of additional land. We can easily forget that complex corporate structures typically involve multiple investors, so it’s not just “the company” that is affected. As an example, one of the major shareholders of Carowinds Corporation was Crescent Land & Timber Corporation, the land-management subsidiary of Duke Power Co. In this case, their loss on the sale was expected to be offset by other factors throughout the company.
With a much larger source of capital to work with, FLC was able to invest in the park, adding such new attractions as the magnificent Thunder Road wooden coaster, Paladium concert venue, and a Hanna-Barbera land. And of course, Yogi and the famous cartoon gang showed up, replacing the not-so-famous characters that had been roaming the park since season one.
FLC, and later Kings Entertainment, would be kind to Carowinds, adding new attractions and improvements while retaining the history and heritage of the park. That would change, for better and worse, in the 90s, but for now E. Pat Hall’s dream was intact and going strong.
