When Afterburn was built, Carowinds was owned by Paramount Parks.

The park will be operated by Paramount Parks which was the operator of theme parks and attractions, that annually attracted about 13 million patrons.

So in April 2002, Paramount Parks decided to dismantle King Cobra and put it up for sale.

Paramount formed a new division known as Paramount Parks.

That same year, Paramount Parks began incorporating themes from its movies into the park.

The 7th Portal 3D theme park ride later broke attendance records at Paramount Parks.

While the park was owned by Paramount Parks, the retail space became the Paramount Studio Store.

It was the first roller coaster to be introduced at the park since Cedar Fair purchased it from Paramount Parks in 2006.

This directly coincided with the sale of Paramount Parks to Cedar Fair.

However on July 22, 1997, Paramount Parks announced plans to revitalize the mountain by making it the future site of the new roller coaster.