Carowinds

First time visitor and I was not let down. It was crowded, as expected, since it was a hot, Saturday. The lines were surprisingly not too bad. The only thing I hated was the lack of shade.

My daughter loves Carowinds so I don’t speak for everyone in my family when I write this. I appreciate that they still have the Festival of Music to showcase local bands and choruses. I also enjoy the water park but that’s about it. There are always rides that are down whenever we’re there. The guest service is not good. It feels like everyone who works there is miserable. The parking is crazy (they really need parking attendants).
It takes forever to go through the bag check. They should have more people checking especially on their busy days. The prices for food and souvenirs are extremely high. They really need to think about revamping the park and focus on guest service. They need to bring in someone from Disney to show them how it’s done.

Went the first week of June. Everything seemed well maintained and in order. Starbucks was only $ 2 more per drink than regular rate on average. Tender trays and cheeseteaks are double regular rate once again not that bad.
Two different rides were shut down over just the afternoon. Worse is the attendant when asked was really a 16 year old punk kid overly aggressive with zero customer service and people skills. Nahhh it’s closed looks away.
Was laughed at the crab fries place when I asked what sides they had on the all season dinner pass i bought.
Like you idiot we only have fries and you should know that because your stupid so I’m going to laugh at you.
Trust me, you can’t make stuff like this up.
I didn’t feel bad about being laughed at because I knew both girls were total idiots on their first job. What I could not believe was the customer service taking place by the employees or lack of it.
The economy has improved theme parks need lots of employees and pay ride and restaurant operators very low wages in some cases seven something.
This is what you get for seven something an hour.
The almost exact same thing unfolded at another restaurant right as you come in North gate
I asked all the employees on the floor very simple questions about what they were selling and they were unable to answer but we’re not rude about it.
Another customer stormed off literally when he waited over 10 minutes for his order and they declined to tell him they were out of tenders and had not bothered to drop them and they were just getting them now.
The ride operators had just a lick more sense than the restaurant employees which makes me feel good since I trust them with my life.
Terrible customer service
Only game in town so you’re beat and have to make do
Every employee needs customer service training
Especially with people paying hundreds a day to be there.
It was sad really I’m not old at all but I wanna say back in 1990 this wasn’t a problem.
People really have gone to sh*t

I’m not the biggest fan of amusement parks, but my girlfriend loves them so I find myself here more often than not. We took advantage of the season pass which is a great deal if you plan on going more than once or twice. I can’t compare it to other amusement parks but I will say this. The park is always clean, the staff is always friendly, and there’s a lot to do regardless of what your preferences are. They have tons of stuff for kids to do, a great waterpark, and even some great rides for Thrillseekers.

Went to the Harbors waterpark on Wednesday and it was a disaster.
1. Both wave pools were closed. One was all day and the second was due to not having enough lifeguards.
2. They sold us a drink container that had a dead mosquito plastered to the side. Didn’t see it till we had already taken drinks. Thanks for the Zika, Carowinds. BLEGH.
3. Huge line at the lazy river and they made you get off after one revolution. There were tons of tubes to go around and they were still making people wait.
4. Three splash pools open for little kids, no rides for kids too small to be on the big kid rides like the slingshot or the race tubes. Our 9 year old was really bummed because he didn’t want to play with the babies but he wasn’t big enough for the only two other rides they opened.
5. Asked one of the people standing in front of a closed ride why they can’t open any other rides. Said they were understaffed. I asked where the manager was. Said there wasn’t one in that day. Do you mean to tell me that highschool aged employees were left on their own to manage a waterpark full of children?
6. Kid threw up at the big splash park. Took 8 lifeguards to stand around blocking people and telling them they will reopen in a ½ hr. 8. In a fenced park, they could have simply asked everyone to leave and closed the gates while they sanitized the area and let the lifeguards open other rides for the people to go on.
7. Got a little turned around getting there, so when we left through the waterpark we asked how far is it to get to VIP parking… we were told it wasn’t far. It was literally the longest trek that could have possibly been. While dragging a tired 5 yr old in a wagon full of stuff behind me. By the time we got to the car, I told my mother: N e v e r a g a i n.
So, I am really really disappointed Carowinds. We were planning on spending practically all our summer there but I’m not sure I want to ever go back. :(

Go during the week and the lines are a breeze! No fast pass and my husband and I hit all the major rides in under 3 hours. And we stopped for ice cream in between. Most of the complaints about this place are from people that don’t go to amusement parks often. There’s never a refund due to weather, they can’t control it. That’s common sense. Of course lines are going to be super long on the weekend, its your choice not to get a fast pass.

If your are a business and a Carowind rep wants to do a trade with you, HANG UP! Don’t get excited like I did. OMG, I can send my employees on a great outing and all Carolwinds wants is equal value to give to their season pass holders. The problem… you will never see your part of the trade and calls/​emails will get ignored… for being such a large company Cedar Fair does not understand B2B

Season Pass holder with Carowinds since 1998! Great fun and always a winner when the kids swear there is nothing to do. lol! #CarowindsWins

We spent the afternoon there and this has been my experience: too expensive for what you get.

Check your Credit and Debit Cards after use in Carowinds!!!
On April 23 of 2016, my friends and I went to Carowinds to have some fun.
Everyone paid for their own ticket, but right when I was going to pay for mine, with my Credit Card, the card readers on every window broke down. Not only did they swipe my card 3 times that time, but I was also waiting almost 30minutes on the window, in the heat. When I’ve asked, the girl about swiping my card so often and that I was hoping she did not charge me now 3times, she said, no, I would be charged for just one ticket.-Incorrect!
Same later on with other purchases.
They like to swipe your card as often they want to, and you pay for all those swipes! I paid for 3 tickets, even though, I received only one and only wanted one, as well, I paid for 6 ice creams, instead of 3!!! My friend paid for 2pictures instead for one.
And now, over a week later, I’m still fighting to receive my money back.
I gave them the chance to return my money, for those times they over-​charged me, but they still haven’t returned all of it, so now my bank is taking care of it!!!
I’ve called Carowinds, I send them emails and they still did not return it all.
Beware!!! Scam!
And now to the actual adventure.
I could not even go on all rides, because for every ride, I had to stay 2hours in lines.
Kids and even adults were so annoyed and started cutting lines.
Employees didn’t seem to have to much fun either, they seemed to be tired and not happy.
Everything was overpriced. I paid for a small bottle of small water $ 5, a coke $ 8. That is where they get you, because they know, you need to drink! Same with food, souvenirs and Entrance tickets.
This should have been a nice small vacation, away from all trouble and here I am, trying to get my hard worked money back of where they charged me too much and overall this adventure park was not what I’ve expected!
ive been in a few adventure/​theme parks and this for sure was the worst of them all!

First time at the park yesterday with my two girls and we had a great time! Definitely going to be back. As far as amusement parks go it was pretty easy to navigate with the map and there’s an app too. Wait times are not exact but I didn’t want to spend the money on a fast pass so eh. Probably will next time. I had to work my girls up to riding the big coasters and sadly we didn’t ride the 2 big ones fury and intimidator due to inclement weather. It started thundering and lightning after 7pm. It would have been so cool to ride those rides at night!
We got the refillable drink thing and only ate twice through the day and shared an entrée. Too busy having fun! Bathrooms were clean and we never had to wait in line. Employees were friendly too. Most importantly the girls asked if we could go back today– they had so much fun!

I would give 0 stars if I could. Worst experience of my families life.
Got stuck on the first ride (Fury) for 30 min.
Rode one ride then got stuck on AfterBurn for almost an hour.
Then tons of school kids were breaking lines and nothing being done.
Kids run the rides so have no authority or intellect to do anything.
Went to Guest Service to stand in line another 40 min just to talk to «Blue» a supposed supervisor who could only apologize for the inconveniences. We had to wait in a room while someone else was coming to help. She came but started helping others as we watched. Having had enough, we we outside to beg to be heard. Denise could only give us Quick Cues and apologies or next day passes. Since we had just paid 325 dollars for season passes, they did little good. She apologized as well and said she had no authority for anything else. We were so disappointed and exhausted we just left the park telling everyone we saw not to waste your money going in because most rides aren’t working.
Hated this experience for my family and will definitely tell, and advertise what a poorly unprofessional operation Carowinds is.
Ridiculous.

WOW is this park great! I’ve been to plenty of amusement parks (31 to be exact) and this must be one of the better ones! The rides are fun, lines aren’t too bad, and food is GREAT here! Now… on to the review!
Thrills — First off, Fury325 (one of the 3 ‘Big’ rides in the park) is absolutely incredible. It has a peak height of 325 feet, a top speed of 95mph and it’s the longest steel coaster in the country! The way it interacts with the fantastic new front gate is incredible. You, or your kids will enjoy looking at the coaster diving under you! I don’t think it gets much better then this; it’s EXTREMELY smooth, fast, and forceful! The rest of the rides at the park are also great, Intimidator and Afterburn are definitely not for the faint of heart. There are other non-​coaster rides in the park that are really great, and by 2017 they’ll have 5 new ones! The rest of the coasters in the park are either VERY mediocre or just not fun which is part of the reason I’m leaving 4 stars.
Food — Honestly, the only place you need to eat is at Harmony Hall. It’s around 15 $ for each entrée, but don’t fear the outstanding prices; the food here is AMAZING (compared to other amusement parks). It’s not 5 star dining, but it’s quite good compared to other amusement parks such as Six Flags etc. I very much recommend the brisket.
Families — Some may think this park is based only on thrills, and I can see why they say this. One of Carowinds’ weaker aspects is the Family category. They have tons of rides for kids to enjoy, but not very many an adult and his/​her child can ride together. Although what they do have is decent, but don’t expect TOO much unless your child is above ⁴⁸⁄₅₄ inches.
Waterpark — Carowinds has just announced Carolina Harbor, a HUGE expansion that doubles the size of the current waterpark. New multi-​slide complex, new wave pool, new kiddie area is just a few of things that are new. The waterpark includes a lazy river, a large family slide, a kiddie slide complex, two large thrill seeker slide complexes (One has 3 drop slides, hurray!), 2 large wave pools, two splash forts, and a few other slides. It really is amazing how huge it is, especially this year.
Overall — If you live in the area, get a season pass and GO! You won’t regret it, even if you only go a few times.
If you’re touring, or just passing through and have the time/​money, GO! I think this is a really enjoyable park!

We’ve been coming to Carowinds for years and now our family of five gets season passes every summer. Since Cedar Fair took over it has even gotten better with the focus on bigger and faster coasters such as the AMAZING Fury 325. Cedar Fair is known for roller coasters such as Cedar Point in Ohio. Of course the food is expensive but you can save some money over the long haul by purchasing a free refill thermos for $ 25 which can be used all season. Two trips to the park and a season pass is more than paid for. Thrill rides and areas for small children and the water park make Carowinds a perfect family amusement park right here in the Queen City.

Called the hot line to get a list of open and closed rides. They said all the major attractions were open. Drove 3 hours to get to the park. Only one ride was open. Still charging $ 60 plus $ 15 for parking.
Deceitful business practices. Will never comeback and will always talk this place down to anyone thinking of going.

I have been planning a trip for my family based on the calendar provided by the Carowinds site. Today, Sunday October 18^th, had been marked as the «Lowest Price» day. However when I went to buy tickets that are advertised at the lowest price of $ 53.99, the price in the cart jumped to $ 68.99 (same price hike for other admission types as well).
Well, I called the park and eventually got transferred to a manager at a «call center». The manager said that the price today was $ 63.99 and sort of just kept repeating that. I explained they are advertising a lower price on a day marked «Lowest Price» but she didn’t budge. She then said that price being advertised is only for earlier in the year, but I countered that it’s currently on the site being advertised — if they had no plans of offering that price anymore, it should not continue to be advertised.
She then placed blame on «the person who runs the website», and actually encouraged me to make a complaint against the web person. That’s pretty dumb, the web person doesn’t decide what’s being advertised, they just follow orders from whoever runs ticketing.
That person was fairly rude but this may of been because they didn’t have authority to actually do anything.
The advertised pricing is confusing to customers, and probably purposely so. It’s a bait and switch with acknowledged intent to no longer offered a currently displayed price. The «As low as.» wording may have covered them if they didn’t also have the «Lowest Price» designation clearly displayed on their calendar.
This is a frustrating and possibly illegal practice (admission confusion is a common problem at other parks too) and something hope Carowinds will change to better serve their customers.

I live in Charlotte. I bought a season pass this year because in previous years i would go 2 – 3 times and spend more than what a pass cost.
I think my purchase was a great investment. I always have one weekday off so I can come when the park is dead… enjoy the water park during the heat… and ride rides at night after the water park closes. It’s a hell of a lot cheaper than a pool membership in town. At times I have the entire
myself.
Parking is $ 15 bucks a pop… so buying the season pass covers that every time… HUGE PLUS.
BE PREPARED. FOOD IS EXPENSIVE. I always bring a backpack with snacks and bottled water. They never say anything at the gate.
It’s great for people watching. Lots of trashy people walking around in clothes too small for them. You will see the occasional hottie too.
Oct is Scarowinds. …
All in all, i will continue to come. They are expanding the water park next year. The water park is already big

In the world of amusement parks you’ve got kiddie parks, theme parks (Disney-​Universal) and then your traditional park which is what Carowinds falls under. But what makes Carowinds special are its two thrill rollercoasters, Fury 325 and the Intimidator. So of course I had to make the drive down to Charlotte and check em out.
Carowinds is thankfully reasonably priced at $ 42/​ticket for the early season. $ 15 for parking and then in we go. There was a fast pass option which we declined and we immediately jumped on the two main coasters. Wait time was approximately 90 — 120 mins which was tough but both these rides were GOOD! We also tried two other coasters which were decent but it was all downhill after the first two.
Carowinds has decent food options with most meals (burger-​fries, chicken-​fries) going for $ 14.29 and then beers at $ 8. Pricey but about par for the course. Due to the early season the water park was closed so we couldn’t have any fun there. Overall I think Carowinds is decent but a bit small and limited for rides. Their top two coasters are worth 4 — 5 stars but taken as a whole, there’s still some more renovation needed here to bump it up to the top…

I cannot say I have ever had so much fun at an amusement park. Now, the company was amazing as well. Let me tell you, the selection of roller coasters and rides in incredible. Fury 325 opened last week, so we had to experience this. It is the worlds highest and fastest (95 MPH) giga coasters in the world. It was so worth the 1 ½ hour wait. If you have been to Carowinds, take Afterburn and the Intimidator (Dale Earnhardt Ride) and fuse them together and you get Fury. It was fast, smooth, heart-​pounding and insane.
The swing that goes high above the park at sunset is so relaxing.
Add a few Peanuts rides and a Merry-​Go-​Round with cotton candy, pretzels and people watching to your heart’s content and you have a great time.
Don’t let Ricochet fool you. It may look like a kids ride, but it is fun, fun, fun.
Batman shirts beat Superman shirts. If you decide you want a game to play at the park.
Go early at park open. You will spend an entire day there.
P. S. Daily tickets are 59.99 (49.99 if you buy them online at the Carowinds website). If you have a AAA membership, go to a local office in Charlotte. They are $ 38.00.
Parking for the day is $ 15.00.

Oh Carowinds! I’ve seen you’ve grown up so much since my last review. You’re no longer a little kid anymore but now on the map of thrill seeker parks with the recent additions of Fury325 and Slingshot.
You only opened to the public today for 2015 but I’ve already been here twice this year. I was one of the lucky winners of Fury’s First rider auction to benefit the Cam Newton Foundation and I am also a season pass holder so I went to preview night.
The new entrance is beatiful. I love how Fury325 interacts with you and goes over and under you as you walk toward the gate. The new ticket booths, gate and plaza are all efficient. Behind the Carowinds sign, you also give us a brief history of the park.
Then there’s Fury325 — your new signature coaster. In the two days, I’ve already ridden it 12 times. Such an amazing coaster and each seat gives you a different experience. I recommend trying the back first, sit on either side and then try the front. Truly Exhilarating!!! You just stole the title of my favorite coaster from your big brother park, Cedar Point. The lighting package is amazing and the shop name «The Hive at 325» is such a creative name.
Slingshot I probably will not ride but I see it as a great addition to the park.
And I love Harmony Hall and the improvements you made on the food. Although your finger food at the bar…(yes, Carowinds now has a bar for us adults!) was not that great, I got to sample some of your regular options on Media Day and it was great. I am also looking forward to your upcoming Food Festival. And one more thing. Thank you for adding more vegetarian options to your menus and listing them on your park brochure!
Great job Carowinds. I hear rumors of what’s coming in 2016 but I have all of 2015 to get through and enjoy Fury since I truly do suffer from #FuryFever.