Can you tell me about Carowinds?

[Papa Deuce]

Looks like a balst. And we will be there on May 6th. It is early in the season. Is it usually crowded than?

Can you compare it in physical size to any WDW park? My kids will be JUST short of five. They NEVER use a stroller anymore, but I wonder if they will need one for Carowinds.

 

[saucymb]

It's not too large, definitely a "can-do" in one day. Also, the kids area is condensed for the most part into one side of the park, so they *should* be all right without a stroller. Crowds: we found that Sunday mornings were ideal to tour the park (we had season passes last year), we only went once on Sat. but it was crowded. Maybe earlier in the year it won't be so bad though.

 

[ashjohnson80]

I hate Carowinds. I went last summer, and it was unbelievably crowded, had to wait forever to ride the rides. It was dirty and smelly too. And I wore a pair of crocs and got a blister and had to buy flip flops. It's not too big though. I might try it again because I can drive to it in an hour, but I wouldn't go way out of my way for it.

 

[tar heel]

You shouldn't need a stroller at Carowinds. It's a little bit hilly, but it's not huge. I don't think it's as big as any Disney park unless it's MGM. Most of the kids' rides are in one area, but there are a few family things -- Rip Roaring Rapids, maybe Goldrusher, Sponge Bob show, Scooby Doo haunted mansion -- that you'll want to do that are in other areas. There's a pretty good waterpark included in admission, too -- I think they may be adding to it for this season.

There are usually a lot of Carowinds discount tickets floating around. Usually coke cans get you a discount and there are coupons at Wendy's and Food Lion -- corporate partners may be different this year, though.

I find that Carowinds usually looks really good at the beginning of the season but less so in the fall.

The wood coaster in the children's area was all three of my boys' first coaster. It's name keeps changing, but it has a soft place in my heart.

 

[NCDisneyMom]

Honestly, we are not big fans of Carowinds. We hadn't gone in a few years, but my dh's company had a "company day" this past summer, so we decided to go (tickets were really cheap, and we knew it would be very uncrowded). We didn't bring out kids, so I can't comment on the kids areas. But, all of the coasters we went on were really rough. The wooden ones gave me headaches, and another one had so many 'G's that I just wasn't "right" for awhile after it. The only good coaster, IMO, was their newest. I think it's called "Borg: The Assimilator", or something like that. It was a VERY smooth ride. But after the coasters, there wasn't much left to do. Even my dh, who isn't a huge fan of Disney, was saying "This sure isn't Disney World!".
I do hope that you have a better experience, though, and have a great time!

 

[SC Minnie]

We have had season tickets for Carowinds for the past couple of years. We live about 2 miles from the park and will go for a couple of hours at the time.

If you are going to compare it to WDW then you will be disappointed. The park is more than 20 years old. They have spruced up the kids area in the past couple of years with the Nickelodeon theming. There are a fair number of coasters and I get headaches on them too but chalked that up to old age since I get a headache from RocknRoller Coaster too.

You should be able to do the park in a day with no problem especially if your kids aren't big enough for the coasters. We usually go on Sunday mornings and it is not very crowded. I am not sure if the water park will be open in early May.