Winterfest at Carowinds, an amusement park in sight of I-77 on the NC/SC border, offers a nice variety of family-friendly activities on select evenings in November, December, and January. My family has enjoyed the experience and I'll share some of that experience with you.
We visited Winterfest twice in December 2021. The kids were just getting out of school for winter break on the first visit and our second visit was between Christmas and the beginning of the new year. It was much more crowded the second time we visited. When the park is crowded, the rides that take longer to load tend to have particularly long lines. Hours are shortened during Winterfest, so I suggest that you prioritize activities because it is unlikely that you would be able to ride all the rides, see all the shows, and participate in all the activities in one visit.
One of the nice things about visiting Carowinds for Winterfest is cooler weather. Summertime can be scorching hot with humidity that can frizz your hair and frazzle your nerves with a southern sun that can be merciless. Since Winterfest is open for evening hours, most of the time spent in the park will be after dusk. Those who have sun-sensitive skin will find this arrangement quite nice. Temperatures this time of year can be pretty unpredictable, but they were unseasonably warm and comfortable for us on the dates we visited.
As the sun sets, the area takes on a colorful glow all around. The lights offer a cheery atmosphere from the ground all the way up to the top of the Windseeker. I think it would have been amazing to have ridden the Windseeker during Winterfest just to see the lights from up above, but that ride was unavailable. However, the Skytower offered a 360 degree aerial view during Winterfest.
My family has particularly enjoyed the rides at Carowinds over the years. Some of the rides are open during this event, but many are not. If your family is looking for the large coasters like the Fury, Hurler, or Intimidator during Winterfest, you'll be disappointed, but Copperhead Strike and Afterburn were open when we visited. Smaller coasters like Woodstock Express and Carolina Goldrusher were also closed, but some of the smaller rides like Do-Si-Do and Kiddy Hawk were running. Boo Blasters, Peanuts Pirates and the carousel and similar rides were also running during Winterfest.
If rides are your primary purpose for visiting Winterfest, I would highly recommend going to the Carowinds website to see exactly which rides will be open so you won't be disappointed if you were planning to ride certain coasters or rides. Also, be prepared with a mask if you plan to ride something indoors like Boo Blasters. I appreciate the efforts made to try to decrease the likelihood of furthering the spread of a pandemic virus.
The line for Copperhead Strike was particularly long, but it moved much faster than summer lines because they weren't allowing Fast Passes on that ride. Thank you for that, Carowinds! A lot more people had the chance to enjoy rides without having to watch some people go to the front of the line over and over again like what happens in summer months. I would encourage you to limit the number of Fast Passes people can use in a day so that everyone can enjoy the park a bit more.
If you are interested in seeing and hearing entertainers, you will find a wide variety at Winterfest. We saw an energetic drum group perform toward the Fury and a fun jazz group perform in a gazebo near the Boo Blasters.
Another performance featured traditional Christmas music near a nativity and enjoyed a petting area toward the bumper cars. Another group near the entrance for the water park sang holiday tunes reminiscent of the 1950s. These performances tended to be repeated each hour with times posted near each stage.
Our group separated because we wanted to ride different rides, so part of our group waited near the Rock 'N' Roller where they were playing party-type line dance music like the Wobble. I might have embarrassed my kids a little over there since I like to dance!
Winterfest also offers quite a few activities for the family such as ice skating, a horse-drawn carriage ride, cookie decorating, and more. I believe most of those activities involved an extra fee, so my group opted out but we saw several people enjoying those options.
If you like to take photos, you'll like Winterfest. They had quite a few photo stations set up with various folks in costume and also cute whimsical areas like a prop that looked like you were making snow angels or posing with penguins and much more. My kids particularly liked the one pictured above.
When we were walking in Camp Snoopy, we noticed what looked like a Christmas tree farm. It was a quiet area with a surprise hidden over there for people who like to meander and explore.
We saw the parade by accident the first night we visited. We were actually headed back out of the park but were detained as they blocked off the area and large crowds of people gathered. The parade offered a small high-energy caravan of floats and people walking. Some were even on stilts.
Although my family visited Winterfest twice, we had some different experiences each time. Although we typically focus on riding rides at the amusement park, we slowed our pace at Winterfest and enjoyed many of the shows that happened to start when we were in the area. If you like to shop or play carnival style games, many of these were offered, including an ugly Christmas sweater shop.
Overall, I think Carowinds did a really nice job with Winterfest. The atmosphere was welcoming, bright, and colorful with all the lights. Not all rides were open, but lines did move pretty well on the ones that were offered. We saw different shows each time we visited and if we had visited a third time, we could have easily seen completely different entertainment again, so this was a winning activity with my family and one of the favorite things we enjoyed at the end of 2021. If we didn't have such a long drive, we would have visited at least once more.
I hope you find my article about Winterfest to be helpful as you make plans for next year! You may wish to check out my site map or some of my other articles below:
- SCarowinds - Are you Looking for Ghosts, Skeletons, and Frightful Fun?
- Favorite Family Rides at Carowinds - Top 5 Picks
- Carowinds - Practical Tips for Enjoying NC/SC Amusement Park with Kids
Find directions, hours, specific information about rides, food, and more at the Carowinds official web site.
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