Carowinds Monorail

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]