Carowinds, an amusement park straddling the North Carolina and South Carolina state line since 1973, has re-opened for business with some changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. My family visited in mid-June 2021, so this information is current as of that date, but changes are likely as restrictions may change over time. I decided to answer a few questions that I had before we visited...
Does Carowinds honor 2020 season passes in 2021?
For us, the answer was yes. We were able to use our gold passes to enter, park, and visit the park on our 2020 season passes that we bought at the end of 2019. However, we did have to make reservations and in order to do so, we had to "activate" our 2020 season passes. If you want to visit the water park within Carowinds, choose the option with the water park included rather than the land rides only. I recommend getting there more than 20 minutes before Carowinds opens if you plan to get in when the doors open. We were able to show our season pass card to get in to the parking area, but the line was pretty long just to get through the gate to park. Check the web site for times. They do not open until 11 a.m., and they close earlier than in previous seasons.
Do the 2020 season passes really have a $50 credit on them?
For us, the answer was yes and no. The opening hours are shorter than they would have been for a regular season in 2020, so Carowinds did send me an email that each of our season passes had a $50 Pass Perks Loyalty Reward. The email stated that the credit could be used "at any of our park owned locations where you use a credit card", and the email did list a few locations that were exceptions. The email did mention that the credit was not applicable for add-on plans for season passes, games, or alcoholic beverages and that you couldn't redeem it for cash. That was clear. However, when one person in our group attempted to purchase a season pass drink cup with free refills, we were told that the credit could not be used for that. I guess Carowinds considers that to be an add-on plan for a season pass. Since we didn't request a refund for our season passes, it would have been nice to have used that credit on the cup and free refills. However, it was nice to have the credit. And Carowinds does offer free cups of water at areas with fountain drinks we visited within the park.
Are people wearing masks and social distancing and doing other things to prevent the spread of COVID-19 at Carowinds?
Carowinds did have a sign before entry about COVID-19, but groups were not always asked if they had any symptoms as they were walking through that area. Some people were wearing masks; most people were not wearing masks while walking through the park, going into the restrooms, or waiting in line for rides. When walking around the park, people did tend to space groups away from one another. However, when waiting in line for the rides, they had markings on some areas to remind people to keep their distance, but lines were definitely crowded together without any modifications by the time riders made it to the platform to split off into rows. On some rides, like Vortex, they were filling every possible seat, so you might end up next to single riders, but on other rides, like Ricochet, they were separating groups. Hand sanitizer stations were sporadically placed in the park, but hand sanitizer stations were not located at the beginning and/or end of the lines for rides, so I highly recommend bringing your own supplies if you wish to sanitize your hands before and after rides.
Are all of the rides up and running?
That would be a no, although many of the rides were running fine. We headed to the Goldrusher first because it has a history of a long wait, although the young lady loading the Goldrusher was working incredibly fast on June 15 when we visited. They seemed to be having technical issues and after waiting over half an hour with no indication of when the ride would open, we moved on and waited about another half hour later after it opened. The Carolina Cyclone, Windseeker, Slingshot, Drop Tower, and Carolina Skytower were not running the whole day that we were there. I think the Ricochet and Woodstock Express were down for a while. The park closes at 7 p.m. but I believe the app mentioned that many of the larger coasters like Fury, the Intimidator, Nighthawk, etc. were closed around 5 p.m. I'm assuming the lines were long and they were cutting off those lines so folks wouldn't be waiting only to discover that the park was closed. If you have particular rides that you want to enjoy, I recommend hitting those early in the day. The Carowinds app can give some information about wait times and if rides are down, but I'm not sure if all the information on the app is accurate. Note that they have moved some of the rides to new locations. For example, the carousel is now near the Scrambler.
Does Carowinds offer Fast Lane tickets?
According to the web site, the season pass fast lanes are sold out, but they are still selling the one-day fast lane passes. Most of the rides that my crew was interested in riding had a Fast Lane in which people who purchased a special add-on could skip the line and go right to the loading dock. I don't think Fast Lane options are available for most rides for the younger kids. If large numbers of people are entering through the Fast Lane, the operators will let all of those people load first. This can greatly increase wait times for people who "only" bought tickets without the Fast Lane option. One of my kids especially wanted to ride the Nighthawk - she had only ridden it once several years ago and was excited to try it again. She waited in line for about 45 minutes and the regular line had barely moved while numerous people were boarding via the Fast Lane. She said she started a little ways before the sign stating that the wait would be at least an hour and had moved up very little. She finally gave up when she realized the regular line was likely to be a wait of three hours or more based on the way the lines were loading. This is where I think Carowinds really needs to re-think their strategy. Our family spent in the neighborhood of over $500 just to enter the park, and one of the rides was basically inaccessible because my child would have had to wait about a third of our time there in one line due to the Fast Lane line. I personally think Carowinds should consider more fair options like Disney World now offers or at least limit the number of seats that are occupied by Fast Lane riders on each ride. Those who have been loyal customers, purchased season passes for several years, families who have traveled significant distances to go to Carowinds for one day of fun, and those who have paid quite a bit to stay at the campground or hotel on site would really appreciate that courtesy.
Can you still store items in bins at the rides?
Yes and no. Many of the rides do still have the bins where riders can leave items immediately before riding and can pick them up when exiting the ride. However, I saw lockers to rent at some of the larger coasters such as Copperhead Strike and The Fury. I don't think they have bins at some of the larger rides - locker rentals with a two hour limit can get steep, so I recommend traveling light and wearing a fanny pack with everything you need. You can ride with a pack strapped to you as long as it does not interfere with the restraints.
Are the Carowinds employees rude and slow?
We found every Carowinds employee to be courteous and working as quickly as they could to move the lines through each area. They were working hard and they were paying careful attention to height and ride safety requirements. Two employees offered to help me carry complimentary water outside to my crew - they went above and beyond and were very nice. Some rides simply take longer to load. For example, the Vortex, a standing roller coaster, requires locking in seats at different levels according to rider height. A lot of the rides for smaller children also take a while to load if the children need help locking the restraints.
I will say that having family members with serious dietary special needs has been a real frustration. The web site had a link for contacting them that originally didn't work and later when it did work, I never received any response. The phone number would not let my call go through, and nobody responded to my post on Facebook regarding the issue. In the past we brought a doctor's note, but when we visited, we decided to walk to the car to eat rather than risk issues that might delay us at the gate. (Update: I did eventually receive an email response on June 24, 2021.)
Are Carowinds visitors obnoxious?
Well, this one is a loaded question. The majority of the people visiting Carowinds were very nice, respectful, and trying their best to safely enjoy the short time the park is now open. Two young ladies talked with us while waiting to ride Copperhead Strike and even posed in a chair in the queue. In case any of you are familiar with that line, no, the line was not backed up to the chair, it was only about 20 or 30 minutes long on the day we visited. However, let's just say that having extra money to purchase a Fast Lane pass doesn't buy anyone respect or common courtesy. Having cigarettes doesn't mean that you should light up anywhere within the park, especially near a group of people who have multiple chronic respiratory conditions. Some folks might have done better to have rented a hotel room rather than make out in a line filled with people who really didn't want to witness that. Overall, the visitors who were respectful and pleasant outnumbered those who were not.
Does Carowinds still have character meet/greet and live shows?
We did not see any of the characters at Carowinds when we visited, but we did hear a music group rocking over by the Ricochet - very cool. We also saw a dance show at the end of the day. No parade when we visited. They are offering fireworks on some dates this summer. The music they were playing in various areas of the park was a bit loud. I would blame that on my age, but my teenage kids also thought it was too loud (not the live music but the recorded music that was blaring). (Update: we did see characters performing at Camp Snoopy twice when we visited on a later date.)
Does Carowinds still have artists, games, and shops?
Yes, and I saw some pretty nice artwork. I saw several people with great face paintings. Some art pieces may take longer than others, so you'll want to check early in the day if you have a special order. There were some games but fewer than in years past. Some of the shops were open while others were closed. I think Carowinds, like so many other employers, is short-staffed, so I'd much rather see rides open than games and shops. I hope the artists do well at Carowinds this year and recommend that you give those folks an opportunity to design some unique artwork for you while visiting.
Are the restrooms at Carowinds still like saunas?
At long last, Carowinds has upgraded their restrooms with air conditioning. At least the ones we entered. We visited when the temperatures were in the 90s. It was an improvement not to have to walk into bathrooms that would leave you feeling like a hard boiled egg by the time you exited.
Would you go again?
We already have reservations for another date, but I realize that many cannot even find dates available. Maybe we'll see you at Carowinds although I hope I don't see you cutting in front of us in the Fast Lane!
For additional information on tickets, directions, rides, and more, visit the Carowinds official web site.
Thanks for reading my Travel NC With Kids blog and you might want to also check out my Love 2 Travel With Kids blog that reaches beyond North Carolina and has more information about our experiences with rides at Carowinds. You might also like to read:
