Woodstock’s Air Rail is an

inverted roller coaster An inverted roller coaster is a type of steel roller coaster in which the train runs under the track with the seats directly attached to the wheel carriage. Riders are seated in open cars, letting their feet swing freely. The inverted coaster wa ...

located at

Kings Island Kings Island is a amusement park northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio, United States. Owned and operated by Six Flags, the park was built by Taft Broadcasting and opened in 1972. It was part of a larger effort to move and expand Coney Islan ...

Mason, Ohio Mason is a city in southwestern Warren County, Ohio, United States, approximately north of downtown Cincinnati. As of the United States Census 2020, 2020 census, Mason's population was 34,792. It is home to Kings Island amusement park and one of ...

, and at

Carowinds Carowinds is a amusement park primarily located in Charlotte, North Carolina. The park is owned and operated by Six Flags. Carowinds straddles the state line between North and South Carolina, adjacent to Interstate 77, with a portion of the park ...

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

. Manufactured by

Vekoma Vekoma Rides Manufacturing is an amusement ride manufacturer. Vekoma is a syllabic abbreviation of Veld Koning Machinefabriek (Veld Koning Machine Factory) which was established in 1926 by Hendrik op het Veld. History The company originally manu ...

, the

Suspended Family Coaster A Suspended Family Coaster is a steel inverted roller coaster built by Vekoma designed for families with no inversions. Just like all inverted roller coasters the train runs under the track with the seats directly attached to the wheel carriage ...

model debuted at

in 2001 and was followed by another identical installation at

in 2003. Both rides originally opened as Rugrats Runaway Reptar, themed to the

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

animated television series ''

Rugrats ''Rugrats'' is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain for Nickelodeon. The series focuses on a group of toddlers, most prominently Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, and Lil, and their day-to-d ...

'' and its two-part episode " Runaway Reptar". Following Cedar Fair's acquisition of both parks in 2006, the roller coasters were eventually renamed Flying Ace Aerial Chase for the 2010 season, themed after the 1960s comic strip series '' Snoopy vs. the Red Baron'' by ''

Peanuts ''Peanuts'' (briefly subtitled ''featuring Good ol' Charlie Brown'') is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run ext ...

'' creator

Charles Schulz Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz ( ; November 26, 1922 – February 12, 2000) was an American cartoonist, the creator of the comic strip ''Peanuts'' which features his two best-known characters, Charlie Brown and Snoopy. He is widely regarded as ...

. The Carowinds installation was renamed again to Kiddy Hawk for the 2018 season. The Kings Island installation was renamed again to Woodstock’s Air Rail for the 2024 season.

History

Kings Island

Woodstock’s Air Rail opened to the public on April 7, 2001 as Rugrats Runaway Reptar. This was

's fourth kids' coaster earning the park the title: "Kid's Coaster Capital of the World!". That same year, the Kings Mills Log Flume was refurbished and rethemed to Nickelodeon and was named The Wild Thornberry's River Adventure. Those two new rides formed a new area called Nickelodeon Central. This area was separate from the regular

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ; formerly known as H-B Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. and H-B Production Co.), simply and commonly known as Hanna-Barbera, was an American animation studio and production company, which was acti ...

children's area, but it was still a kids' area. It was not until 2006 that the rest of the

land was transformed into one kids' area, called Nickelodeon Universe. This change did not affect the two already existing rides in Nickelodeon Central, since they already had the Nickelodeon theme. In 2010, Nickelodeon Universe became

Planet Snoopy Planet Snoopy is a ''Peanuts'' themed area for children at several Six Flags amusement parks. All of them originally opened when the parks where owned by Cedar Fair, prior to Cedar Fair's merger with Six Flags in 2024. Locations Current Planet ...

, and changed the ride's name to Flying Ace Aerial Chase to fit the Snoopy theme. The support beams of the ride were repainted from green to orange. In 2024 to fit in with the theme of

Camp Snoopy Camp Snoopy is a ''Peanuts''-themed area for children at several Six Flags amusement parks. All of them originally opened while the parks were under the ownership of Cedar Fair prior to its merger with Six Flags in 2024. History Camp Snoopy wa ...

the ride was renamed Woodstock’s Air Rail and the track was repainted green and the supports repainted brown.

Carowinds

When Rugrats Runaway Reptar became so immensely popular at Paramount's Kings Island, the then-owners,

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. **Paramount Picture ...

, decided to build a copy of the ride at Carowinds. Rugrats Runaway Reptar opened in 2003 at Paramount's Carowinds as a direct clone as the one found at Kings Island, the only difference being the color of the shoulder restraints. From 2010 through 2017, the ride was named Flying Ace Aerial Chase. For the 2018 transition from Planet Snoopy to

, the name was changed to Kiddy Hawk, and was re-painted light blue and tan. It was also moved out of the kids' area and into Thunder Road.

Ride layout

As the train comes out of the station, it makes a 90 degree turn to the right and starts up the tire drive lift hill. As the train exits the lift hill, it is sent on a double helix to the left. From there, the train makes its way under the lift hill and over to the top of the station, making the riders feel as if they could touch it with their feet. Then it turns right and travels alongside of the lift hill and then turns right 180 degrees. At this point the train is very close to the ground. Then, it turns 180 degrees to the left into the activating brakes.

References

External links

Official ''Flying Ace Aerial Chase'' page at Carowinds

Official ''Flying Ace Aerial Chase'' page at Kings Island
{{Kings Island Roller coasters in Ohio Roller coasters in South Carolina Roller coasters operated by Six Flags Peanuts in amusement parks Roller coasters introduced in 2001 Roller coasters introduced in 2003