date of visit: October 11, 2009

First visit to Carowinds for the kids and me - my husband had not been since high school (20 years)... went on a cloudy Sunday afternoon and it was not crowded -- we were so happy, especially with a 2-year old son and 8-year old daughter. We loved the Nick area, especially the coasters which were thrilling for my daughter. Little guy had fun on a couple rides but was mostly happy to watch all the activity from his stroller. It was so easy to get around to everything with no waiting. Husband had to do the giant Hurler coaster (by himself). We could park our stroller outside any ride if we were all riding together (ex. Skytower) and nobody bothered a thing.

Dora train ride was dismal - so slow and nothing at all to see on the ride. Most everything else was much better than we expected. Rip Roarin' Rapids - so much FUN. (Boomerang Bay was closed for the season.) Got 2 small free pumpkins and candy at a special Howl-O-Ween area for kids. BE SMART and listen to all these reviews - DO NOT EAT IN THE PARK. Panda Express platter $9.55, Chick-fil-a sandwich $4.25 + waffle fries $3! (CFA is closed on Sun. I think) Stop at one of the fast-food places on I-85 or bring sandwiches and fruit to eat in the car. We just bought icecream as a treat in the park.

Some areas were a little grungy and some were faded (awnings, trash cans) but this isn't a fancy, flashy, snazzy park -- just a great place to run around and have fun. Beautiful flowering plants were everywhere! Don't bring a purse - wear a fanny pack. Bring extra batteries for the camera. We were ok to bring in a sippy cup of water for our toddler. We stayed 5 hours and definitely got our money's worth and have tons of good memories.

Excellent place for kids of all ages. Prices are ok. Everyone that we encountered was pleasant and helpful.

We spent two days and had a really fun time. (Coming from Raleigh. Stayed a hotel in Matthews.) We thought the Nickoldean area would be more for "little" kids but there were plenty of VERY fun rides. (In particular, the Runaway Rapter, Danny Phantom Flyers and the other 2 roller coasters - don't remember the names). Having heard such uniformly bad stuff about the food, we brought a cooler and stopped at a breakfast and lunch place (Panera's, to be specific) in the morning and then had a little picnic in our car come lunch time. (But be careful cleaning your hands. Our first day one touch of anti-bacterial gel and my husband's hand stamp to get back into the park was almost completely gone. Second day we got our forearms stamped. ) Turns out the parking pass is good all day, so you could probably leave to one of the nearby fast food places. We went in late September on a Saturday (admittedly, a little misty) and Sunday (much nicer day) and the lines weren't bad at all. (Frequently, there were so few people that they let us stay on the rides. Didn't even have to jump off and run back thru the turnstile) When they say they close at 5:30, they mean it. I got kicked out a closing restroom that I tried to visit as we were leaving. The tickets for 2 days weren't much more expensive than the tickets for one day and so it felt like a much better "deal". Overall, the staff was nice and many were exceptional and it was a fun long weekend from Raleigh.

This is a very fun park. The park is not too big so it will not wear you out with a lot of walking. The waterpark side was surprising large with two wave pools and plenty slides. We thought it would be crowded since it was a holiday weekend. It was not. Some people stated the park has gone down. This was our first visit and we did not see any thing the appeared to be dated. One review stated it was dirty. Again we did not see that. The park was very clean and staff was cleaning all the time. We enjoyed ourselves and would definitely visit it again.