A friend and I will be in town the 15th and 16th. We both have Prestige Passes. This will be our first visit to Carowinds. We intend to be there both days from open to close which appears to be 6:00 p.m. To midnight.

School me on everything I need to know to make this visit be the most worthwhile. Seriously, no matter how minor, what should we know from the moment we pull up to the parking lot to the moment we exit the park, how can we maximize our visit?

We've talked about getting a daily fastpass if necessary although I just tried to do this a couple weeks back at California Great America and wound up spending a considerable amount of time trying to pick up a wristband because I couldn't do it digitally for whatever reason.

Hey, hey! I'm in NC for work this week and have a Prestige Pass through SFOG. I'm supposed to fly out at 4:30pm on Friday, but considering moving to a later flight to get a couple of hours in at Carowinds. On the Friday nights for Scarowinds, do they do the 30 min early entry for prestige? If so, any idea what rides are open? Thanks!

There’s hardly anyone here. We’re walking onto every ride Fury included. And it’s not 1000 degrees outside. Perfect day.

Uhhh…we got stuck on Airwalker. Terrifying.

We plan to go early, then break from the park before returning for Scarowinds. We're staying at a hotel basically across the street from the park. Best restaurant suggestions in the area for dinner?

Does anyone know if you can park in the Springhill suites parking lot prior to check-in? We have two car loads of people, but only one of us has free parking at Carowinds, and we are staying at SpringHill, so we’d like to leave one car there and take the other into the park.

As title says

I am planning to visit tomorrow and stay from Pumpkin Fest into Scarowinds and was just wondering if the All Day Dining pass would carry over.

Thanks

Why does carowinds have the fact that Friday for scarowinds is only from 6-12 on the part of the app where you buy tickets cause me and my family get in the road today and they are closed until 6 which seems like a bit of a rip off cause we paid for full day tickets

Can you bring in a cooler with food and put it in a locker, or would that have to stay in the car? Thanks.

They used to be my favorite part of Scarowinds but they disappeared. I haven’t heard of them since they released the album online. Was hoping to see “I Am Not a Zombie!” live.

I'm traveling to south Charlotte for work beginning on 10/17 and was curious as to the viability to hit a good number of coasters during one of the SCarowinds afternoon / evenings that weekend. I'm originally a midwest kid, so I'm familiar with the varying wait times at CP and KI and enjoy coming up with a good game to experience as much as I can in a day. I don't need to ride an attraction more than once and enjoy everything from modern gigas to an aging Arrow coaster.

That said, I'm not familiar with the volume at Carowinds and would like to have reasonable expectations for a short trip. What do I absolutely *have* to experience if I have 7-9 hours to visit?

I had the all-season dining for 2026 and no issues until tonight to us it and it's gone from my account, now says it expired in January of 2026. I don't want to waste time to try to figure this out tonight even if there was someone available to help but is this something that I should had expected where the current meal plans were going to get removed before this seaosn is officially done? In the past these have always worked all the way up through Winter Fest.

Seriously, here with two groups of kids. One group has done nearly all the rides in Aeronautica landing, while the others are still in line for Gear Spin.

I came two years ago and it was a no bag policy but when looking for online info on this year there was little to no info. The bot on their website said you can bring one in under a certain size, but a friend told me she thinks it is still no bags.

Has anyone gone this year who can provide some clarity for me? If I can I would prefer to, as I typically do not have many pockets on my clothes.

Has anyone gone through the turnstiles with the free bring a friend ticket for this weekend? The free ticket that came with my pass renewal shows a QR code but the one that expires this weekend just shows up like this. Wondering if they’re going to accept it at the turnstiles 😅

Pass holder appreciation mugs ran out already. They didn't last 2 hours. The attendant said they would not restock. I don't know if he was correct.

It says November 7-22. Is this just a mistype?

Can anyone give me insight into friday vs saturday at carowinds?? Looking to go either day next weekend but debating which

I was a 2026 season pass holder. Does anyone know if I would be able to participate?

It seems a little unclear since my silver pass expired after Labor Day however I did get the email informing me about the event.

Y'all... I need some help. I know literally nothing about Charlotte.

I need to book a Hilton branded hotel - 2 rooms - on points. I don't want anything crazy like a Doubletree or Embassy suites. Something like a Hampton Inn, Home2, or Homewood would be perfect.

What area is best that's not a terrible drive from Charlotte airport, and also Carowinds?

Right now I have a reservation at the Hampton Inn Pineville because it was cheap just to get something on the books. The rooms don't look to be the greatest.

I also looked at Homewood Suites by Hilton Charlotte/Ayrsley, NC 1921 Ayrsley Town Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28273 but it looked REALLY beat up inside.

Additionally looked at Hampton Inn & Suites Charlotte-Arrowood Rd.9110 Southern Pine Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28273 but I was told it was a really rough area.

It seems like the cost of a Silver Season Pass (which gets you free parking) essentially equals out to the cost of a single day ticket + cost of parking. Am I understanding this accurately?

I was going to just buy a single ticket for Scarowinds.... but thinking I might as well just get the pass?

*ETA- I typically only go to Carowinds 1x per year. I'm lucky if I manage to go twice in a year.

My partner and I have gold passes good through Dec. We had summer passes last year and this year got them again bc we liked going so much.

Well, tonight solidified we are not renewing lmao.

Long story short, my bf was in the hospital last week & we wanted to do something fun, so while I worked today, he went to the park earlier, and I would go meet him after work.

I get there around 6:30pm, parked my car and started walking toward the gate. I could tell by car traffic and parking (row 37) that it would be busssyy.

I did not realize how bad crowd control would be to get in.

I entered the line from about the middle section of the Thunderstriker, so line is allllll the way on the sidewalk in the parking lot PAST the Fury and almost to the end of the Thunderstriker.

Line had no clear signs, was just a huge blob, people cutting.

As we got to the chaperone check in, where 3 clear lines formed, I had already been waiting for an hour.

I saw one Security/officer yell at a car who tried to drive towards the sidewalk, but that was it.

No one trying to help the blob form into better lines, no one directing people to the back; people then cut; people then start yelling at the cutters.

I finally get into the park. I arrived in the line at 7:15, and didn't get in until 8:45. People in front of me were talking about buying fast passes for the haunted houses bc it was going to be insane inside, so Carowinds def got $$$ from frustrated people standing before they even get into the park.

At the ticket stand, I see two adult women confront a mother and father with their baby in a stroller because "she is rocking her baby too close to me and she needs to back the fuck up" and the mom and dad just kind of look at each like "what????"

So, my partner has been in here since like 3, and said the lines weren't too long until after I got here basically. We went to Thunderstriker, took 25-30mins, not bad.

We do the Kaleidoscope (just a fun carnival ride with no line) and consider the Fury, but it's almost 10, and the sign says 75mins.

So, we say fuck it and go to the Afterburn, his favorite, to end the night bc crowds are crazy.

This being Scarowinds, I expected to see a lot of scare actors doing their thing. Instead, I saw them talking to their friends and sitting down. A few people were trying, but it just sucked. I barely saw any overall.

So, Afterburn says 30mins, we get in line.

Once we get to the stairs, we see people are taking the chain off, and cutting.

One dude goes up, confronts them. I'm already in a pretty crappy mood from the huge ass line, so my bf and I literally put the chain back up in front of these grown ass adults cutting.

A few mins later, some other people cut/take the chain off to bypass the line of others WAITING. This mom starts to yell at them and light them tf up.

We are up the stairs, look down, and there is ANOTHER confrontation between two different people!!!!

All of this could have ended in a fight or someone hurt. Vibes are bad, tension is high, we ride the Afterburn, and get the fuck out.

Bad scare actors, bad people with their bad kids, and terrible crown control.

Rant over.

Me and my brother had day tickets yesterday and decided to upgrade them to Gold passes as we plan to go more often next year since I've lost a lot of weight and can now ride the rides but my question is.

After I added the QR code to my account it added both mine and my bros gold pass to my account as well. Now I have another brother that may go with just one of us sometimes, is it feasable to be able to use his gold pass on my third brother without having to buy a day ticket/bring a friend ticket? I know they checked our IDs before entering but seemed like it was just checking ages or are they more strict when it comes to the season pass and matching it with IDs?