Carowinds pulled back the curtain Monday on Rip Roarin' Falls, a new log flume slated to open in 2027 that the park says will shatter three world records. The attraction is built around a 100-foot "Mega Drop" and top speeds of about 50 miles per hour, with backward sections designed to create airtime pops. Park materials describe a roughly six-minute journey that sends boats through reversing track switches before a giant final splashdown.
According to Six Flags, Rip Roarin' Falls is billed as the first-ever Mega Drop on a log flume, climbing, reversing and then plunging through that signature 100-foot drop. The park touts features such as two high-speed reversing switches and more than 2,240 feet of high-flow water. The company also highlights a family-friendly height requirement of 35 inches with an adult or 41 inches to ride alone, aiming to keep the headliner accessible to a wide range of guests.
Three world records
Carowinds and regional outlets say the flume is designed to claim three world records: the tallest flume drop at 100 feet, the tallest reverse drop at 42 feet and the tallest reverse camelback at 32 feet. As reported by the Rock Hill Herald, Canadian manufacturer WhiteWater is set to build the attraction, bringing experience from previous projects for Disney and Royal Caribbean. In a promo video, Park President Bridgette Bywater teased Rip Roarin' Falls as "another legendary attraction" for the Carolinas.
Ride layout, speed and accessibility
The flume is expected to top out at about 50 mph and send boats through two backward airtime moments before the last splashdown, according to the park’s technical overview. Six Flags lists a fully offline ADA load station and the reversing switches that generate those backward sections, signaling an attempt to balance big thrills with strong capacity and accessibility. The full experience is described as lasting around six minutes, with engineering aimed at keeping speed up across the extended high-flow water course.
Why it matters for the park
The project lands as Six Flags is concentrating investment on fewer parks after a rough 2025 in which the company reported a $1.6 billion net loss and agreed to sell seven parks for roughly $331 million, reporting by the Charlotte Observer shows. Carowinds, a more-than-400-acre property straddling the North Carolina–South Carolina line, remains in the company’s core portfolio and is poised to benefit from that narrowed focus. That backdrop helps explain why a headline-grabbing, record-chasing flume like Rip Roarin' Falls made it onto the capital spending list.
Local fans did not wait for opening day to get hyped. Some drove to the park just to check out teaser signage, and season-pass holder Winston Matson told the Rock Hill Herald, "I think I'm going to come to the park a lot in the future." Early renderings and stats have already set off chatter on fan forums, where preserving classic flumes and delivering huge splashdowns are perennial hot-button topics.
Rip Roarin' Falls is scheduled to open in 2027, and Carowinds says it plans to share construction updates and a more detailed timeline as work moves forward. If the current numbers hold, the flume is positioned as a rare marquee water ride that could put the Carolinas back on the map for cutting-edge splash attractions.
