Hey everyone I’m going to Carowinds this Wednesday for my first time ever. As a coaster enthusiast I am hoping to ride as many rides as a can from rope drop till closing. Do you think I will have enough time to do everything? How bad do wait times get on a Wednesday in the middle of the summer? Any tips on where in the park to start and which way to go? Any tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated!
I went to Carowinds for the first time yesterday (July 4th). I was so worried leading up to it that not getting fast lane passes was a mistake. I’m glad I didn’t waste money getting them! I don’t know if it was the heat advisory that kept people away, or everyone was just in the water park for majority of the day, but we basically walked on every ride. We waited a max of 20 minutes for anything.
I rode Fury 325 seven times! It was definitely the best ride in the park. I could’ve gotten on it over and over again. I was lucky enough to get front row twice and it was incredible. Copperhead Strike was my 2nd favorite. Thunder Striker and Afterburn were my #3 and #4. Just overall really great coasters.
You couldn’t pay me to ride Hurler, Vortex, or Carolina Cyclone again. On Vortex and Carolina Cyclone, you’re just beating your head on the shoulder restraint half the ride, and on Hurler you’re just overall getting beat up the whole way around.
I also enjoyed Flying Cobras and Windseeker. Ricochet and Carolina Goldrusher were okay.
Overall, I loved the park and had a great time! I will definitely go again in the future. I was grateful they had water tables set up throughout the park to help combat the heat. It was definitely hot, but not as bad as I was expecting. Also, I didn’t stay for fireworks at the end, I was so exhausted and didn’t want to fight horrible traffic on the way out lol.
My family of 4 (kids 8 and 3) are going for the day tomorrow. We are on a budget but both of them REALLY want to go so we are going to make it happen.
Are any of the food and or drink packages worth it? I'm trying to get the most fun out of one day and spend the least amount of money. The last time we went we went back to the car for sandwiches but that took a lot of time and energy out of my then 6 year old. Plus we are leaving our 1 year old with a sitter so we aren't going to be there as long as last time.
This is the absolute WORST traffic disaster I think I have ever experienced. Why are there no officiants directing traffic? One hour and we have moved maybe 20 feet and there are cars going every direction with no rhyme or reason. I would expect so much more from an organized event like this. Tempers and frustrations rising. I’m very disappointed.
⚠️ PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT (PSA)
This announcement is being issued to address severe and ongoing safety concerns within our community regarding AJ, known online as fury man. Multiple reports have brought to light that AJ has been engaging in highly inappropriate, manipulative, and unacceptable behavior specifically targeted at minors. His actions involve using deceptive and emotionally coercive tactics to exploit younger individuals and cross critical boundaries meant to protect underage members of our community.
We maintain a zero-tolerance policy for any form of exploitation or grooming. If you or anyone you know is currently in contact with AJ / fury man, we strongly urge you to block his accounts immediately, document any chat logs or evidence, and report him to platform administrators. Community safety is a collective responsibility; please look out for one another, and if you are a minor who has been made to feel unsafe or uncomfortable, reach out to a trusted adult or moderator immediately
This is some of ajs behavior with a minor. It's very concerning. Please be safe guys
My daughter and I will be visiting Carowinds for the first time next Friday (07/10). We're arriving around 1pm, so we'll only have 8 hours at the park. Who knows when we'll be back, so I want to make the most of it and am considering getting Fast Lane Ultimate passes. I've seen people say to wait until you're in the park to decide, but the functionality is different than my home park (Cedar Point - wrist bands), and I don't want to waste time at the park figuring out the separate Fast Lane website (maybe it's easy and I'm just being dense lol).
A Friday in July seems like it may be busy, however it's supposed to be 94 degrees so maybe that will keep some people home. Even if Fast Lane only shaves a little bit off of the regular wait time, I consider it to be worth it. I'm hoping to ride the big 4 at least 2 times, plus at least one ride on a handful of others (Vortex, Flying Cobras, Snoopy's Racing Railway, Woodstock Express, Charlie Brown's River Raft).
My questions are: Do we each need to access the website for the QR codes from our own devices? Or can I access them both from just my phone? What does the process look like when buying them while at the park and accessing the Fast Lane website? Should I use the Six Flags app to purchase them?
Also, if you had to pick one coaster at dusk to end the night, which one would it be?
TIA!
Arrived around 1:30/2:00. Parking was a breeze with the prestige pass as usual. Parking lot not crowded at all. No lines at the gates. It was HOT. A handheld fan is a must. It got me through standing in the stations. Got some water between each ride, and sat inside a couple of the restaurants to cool down when it started feeling really uncomfortable.
First ride: Hurler. Running 1 train, had to wait 1 ride cycle to get on. Rode closer to the back this time and it was definitely a little rougher than in the front, but got a little more airtime which is something I am still learning to like. 7/10 for jostling me around but still a great ride that is very enjoyable.
Next: Carolina Cyclone. Running 1 train. Walk on! Sat in the middle, row 7-9 is ideal for the least amount of head banging. 8/10 one of my favorites!
Next: Flying Cobras. Walk on! Rode in the middle this time, I got the back last time and the middle was definitely better. Ride ops were moving pretty fast compared to last time! 9/10, love love the backwards part!!
Next: Afterburn. Running 1 train. Had to wait 1 ride cycle. Ride ops were a little slow, but it seemed like they were switching their positions around. Rode twice, had to walk around the station but the 2nd ride was a walk on. 100/10 best ride in the park easily just the best thing ever
Next: Copperhead. Running 1 train. First time riding this one after chickening out last trip. The line was super long and the app said a 1 hour 20 minute wait. I used my one fast lane from my prestige pass for this one. I rode in row 8. The roll out of the station was CRAZY. I did not expect to come out of my seat as much as I did. Not any body part was touching the seat, I was just hanging from the lap bar by my legs. The launches were very smooth and the hang time was very enjoyable. The lap bar was super comfortable too. 10/10, copperhead now takes the #2 spot on my ranked list, bumping Cyclone down a spot.
Next: Vortex. First time ride! Running 1 train. Had to wait 1 ride cycle. Very slow to load/unload. It was SO uncomfortable. The ride was really short, and really rough. I rode in row 3. It made my hips hurt. I also grayed out for a second during the first loop. Overall it felt like the ride was trying to fold me in half. 3/10, uncomfortable.
Next: Tried to go to Thunder Striker, but it was closed. There was a ride operator standing there and he said it was done for the day.
Last ride of the day: Fury. First time ride! Walk on. Running 2 or 3 trains, we were on and off so fast I couldn't really tell. Rode in row 4 I think. The lap bar was really comfortable. The lift hill was really steep, but it was pretty fast going up. It caught me off guard when we got close to the top and it sped up. I also did not expect to come completely out of my seat on the first drop. Overall the ride was awesome. It was so smooth. I expected the 95 miles per hour to feel a lot more intense but it wasn't that bad! 10/10 would ride again. However, I am glad as someone new to roller coasters, that I waited until I was fully ready to ride it.
Does anyone know around what time before closing they stop allowing you to enter the park? The employee I spoke to said around an hour but he didn't seem too confiden.t
Carowinds needs to really implement a locker system on Fury if they are not going to have bins. I was whipped in the face by a phone charger on the last airtime hill.
Flew in from SFO into Charlotte and got an Uber from there, and my goodness it’s crazy how you can see fury from I-77. I got to the park around noonish and I usually like to figure my way around so I didn’t use any maps. Thankfully I chose I hot day and the crowds were pretty much non existent so hooray.
1st ride (Thunder striker): It’s a solid B&M. It’s trimmed more than a lot of other hypers but it’s pretty solid for how it is and the airtime is nice but I do prefer diamondback and Mako more than it but overall [7/10] ride not bad at all.
2nd “ride” (sky tower): Very beautiful view of the park and it’s very nice how you can see Charlotte in the distance very beautiful city and the park has a nice skyline too: [10/10]
3rd ride (Vortex): Boy i didn’t learn when i ride riddlers revenge but i should have. Had no idea this was a standup coaster and did no research on this park and only knew about Fury325 lol. This is genuinely worse than Riddlers revenge and the corkscrew is so unbelievably rough and a headbanger but the loop wasn’t bad just slightly forceful, thankfully its shorter than riddlers revenge otherwise I’d be beyond concussed lol. [2/10] (being generous)
4th “Ride”: (Windseeker) As like every windseeker it’s a great ride to catch some air and is nice to see the park and the view of downtown. Although this one which I never knew doesn’t extend out as much as the others and go as fast. Don’t know why but I kinda prefer carowinds over kings islands and cedar points since it’s slower and you can actually see everything longer. [10/10]
5th ride (Afterburn): Boy is this invert a fun one. It’s 20x better than all the Batman clones and it absolutely speeds through those inversions like a classic older invert. There’s basically no “dead spots” anywhere in this ride. Although I do prefer raptor, alpengeist , montu, and banshee over this. Still an amazing ride. [9/10]
6th ride:(Copperhead strike) This ride is def now in my top 25. It’s such a fun crazy ride. The ejector airtime on it is out of this world. I love all the whippy moments too getting flung left and right. Just like maverick it’s proving not all rides have to be tall to be fun. The launches are nice and the hang time is absolutely incredible. [10/10]
7th ride: (Carolina gold rusher) This isn’t a bad mine train ride. I way prefer over gold rusher at MM and cedar creek mine ride at cedar point. It’s a great ride and love the tunnels. Please don’t remove this ride it’s a good one. [8/10]
8th ride: (Carolina cyclone) Heard about this ride a lot and wanted to see if it’s all that and it definitely is. Classic arrow coaster. Now it’s rougher than The demon at CGA and is as fun as Viper at MM. Glad I got to ride this thing. It’s forceful through those loops and corkscrews are janky but that’s what makes the ride fun so not bad at all. [7/10]
9th ride: (Hurler) This is not a bad woody but it def is showing the age. At least in the front wasn’t as bad as the back. The pre drop is pretty nice and the layout is kind of meh but it’s still not terrible. It has decent pacing throughout its layout but very little airtime. [6/10]
10th ride: Yep you probably know it. (Fury325). Now I’ve only rode 2 other Gigas (Milli and Orion) and this destroys them. The drop on that thing goes on forever. I was lucky to snag about 4 rides with the goat of Fury man. The ride is just all out a perfect ride. The way it manages to keep the pace throughout the entire layout is beyond me. The airtime on it feels better than on thunder striker. Although when I went yesterday I’m not sure or what not but I think there may be some kind of nest/hive on the top of the lift because there were so many flies/Bugs. But it’s an all out amazing beautiful ride and I couldn’t get enough of it. [12/10!!!]
Overall: The park is nice, love the nature around it and it’s great. The one thing I did not like was how every ride was not running to its max cap. I don’t know if this is how it goes on days that are dead or if this is a daily thing but it isn’t good for cap space. The one thing I also didn’t like was the merchandise. Now obviously we know six flags and there AI stuff is getting out of hand but also I came to grab a similar shirt I got from MM which is the “I rode them all” and turns out they only had 1 size out completely. I found another nice shirt but they only sold them in XL and bigger (up to 3XL) they said there was no other avail size in the back either which sucked so I just went and got me a size smaller shirt and ended up stretching it enough to the point it fits me decently. I enjoy the atmosphere Carowinds has to offer and would definitely come back again some other time in the future. So far of all the parks I’ve ever been too this goes into my Top 10. The ops aren’t bad at all either and shockingly they were actually taking row request cause I’ve heard they usually don’t allow that to occur regardless of how empty the park is. But for this visit I give this park a nice [8/10] It could be better the next time I come around but I loved it.
Have a great day everyone and Happy 1st of the month😆!
Trains that were running per ride (I got on)
Afterburn: 1 train
Thunder striker: 2 trains
Fury325: 2 trains
Copperhead strike: 1 train
Carolina cyclone : 1 train
Carolina gold rusher : 2 trains
Vortex: 1 train
Hurler: 1 train
I'll be visiting Carowinds next week for the first time. My must-rides are Fury 325, Copperhead Strike, Afterburn and Thunder Striker. Are there any others that I should make a priority? Any that you would outright avoid? I can take a little fun banging around but I'm trying to not get beat up too bad.
I rode every roller coaster at Carowinds today (6/29), and I was surprised to find that my personal rankings were pretty different from what the consensus seems to be online.
Note: I'm leaving out Snoopy, Woodstock Express, Carolina Goldrush, and Kiddy Hawk because they're family coasters. Don't sleep on Snoopy though. I wasn't expecting it to be as fun as it is.
8. Vortex. No surprise here. The seat did a number to my junk, and it was a short, jerky ride. I won't ride this one again.
7. Hurler. I didn't get a concussion, but it was almost as bad as the reviews made it out to be. The last turn feels like its on cobblestone. Bring your mouth guard and chinstrap for this one.
6. Flying Cobras. I think I should ride this one again, but something about it made me awfully dizzy compared to the other inverted coasters.
5. Fury 325. I know I'm gonna get buried for this, but let me explain. Riding this coaster feels like an accomplishment, and it IS exciting- I'm glad I did it. But it's so fast, it feels like I'm being strangled by the wind the entire time. None of the other coasters are as intense, but they're a lot of fun, and I would happily ride them over and over again. I wouldn't do that on Fury 325, so it loses a lot of points for me.
4. Thunder Striker. I think I'm just biased against big drop coasters. Fun, and I rode it twice, but it narrowly misses top 3 for me.
3. Carolina Cyclone. I was expecting to not like this one because of the reviews. I was sure I'd leave with bruises and a black eye, but I was pleasantly surprised. I don't get the hate! This coaster was smooth, and i enjoyed the entire ride. I will say though, my wife said she banged her head against the restraints. She definitely wouldn't have it ranked this high. I think the key is to lay your head back against the headrest.
2. Copperhead Strike. More variety than Carolina Cyclone, but just as smooth (for me). Fits the snake motif very well. Has a unique feel to it with the focus on hang time. Definitely a ride I'd get off and right back in line for.
1. Afterburn. Probably not a surprise because I think most people have this #2 behind Fury 325. My top 3 are all close, but this ride feels perfect. I'm a little biased because I got to ride this one a couple times right before close and got the front row, but it's a blast!
Anyone else have a ranking they want to share?
Hi Carowinds friends. I’m hoping you can give me some guidance on which coasters would be okay for my type of motion sickness. I thought I could give examples of coasters I am okay riding and you could recommend me some and which to stay away from here at carowinds. I can’t do anything that spins…not even a carousel. That’s pathetic, I know lol. I do take Dramamine and that helps. But I’d love your opinion based on other rides you might have been on!
These don’t make me sick:
From Busch gardens Williamsburg:
Griffon
Verbolten
Darkoaster
Invadr
Apollos chariot
Makes me sick:
Pantheon
Tempesto
Lochness monster
Alpengeist
I’m fine on all disney world coasters, ie family coasters and any wooden coaster
Universal studios Florida:
Don’t make me sick:
Hollywood rip ride rocket
Revenge of the mummy
Makes me sick:
Hulk
I would love for you to let me know what you think id be okay and what I should avoid.
Didn’t open at 10, which isn’t too surprising, but they weren’t even cycling up through ~10:15. Left and came back around 10:30 to see a single train running.
Even with the single train, the line looked to be only 15-20 minutes long. Around 10:45 they decided to bring on the 2nd train, which meant some downtime for the transfer and testing, but everyone was happy to see it.
Until a cycle into two train ops when one seat refused to lock. So after some more test cycles, they took the train back off the track. Finally got on around 11:30.
Things happen but this is the 2nd time in as many visits that Copperhead was down to one train. It’s particularly concerning because one of the trains spent the first couple months of the season disassembled. Not being able to put out two trains, in peak season, after months of working on one, is a bad sign. The decision to wait until 10:45 to transfer the other train was also baffling and seems avoidable.
Add on that After Burn is down to 1 train (a bit more understandable with its age and # of trains), things are rough right now. I normally defend this park’s top heavy lineup but that’s hard to do right now.
I went to Carowinds yesterday and these are the coasters you should skip at Carowinds in my opinion.
Carolina Cyclone - Bangs your head from side to side on the restraints
Ricochet - Throws you sideways out of your seat when you are turning
Vortex - The loops make your legs hurt and bangs your head against the restraints
Kiddie Hawk - Bangs your head against the back of the seat
Does carowinds suffer from a lack of janitorial staff? I would imagine that most kids that work there don’t want to scrub toilets all summer, but man, when I went yesterday, the park was FILTHY. Trash in the queue lines, overflowing trash cans with bees next to fury, and in the camp snoopy restrooms, it smelled like piss and there was no soap in the dispensers. It’s sad that the park has gone to this level, but with six flags I’m not suprised.
Me and my family are driving through Charlotte to head to Busch Gardens Williamsburg. We Plan on rope dropping Carowinds on Sunday June 28th. What ride order do yall recommend to try and get as many rides as possible before crowds starts the crazy lines?
Went to Carowinds today. Will most likely be the only time I go this year due to schedule. The operator at Fury refused to allow me to wait for the front row. I rode Fury twice and did not get front row either time. Personally, I prefer the front row and am happy to wait additional cycles for it. Last summer (2025) when I would go on Wednesdays, there was always a line for the front row and the operators had no issue with it. Everyone calmly waited their turn, and it did not interfere with other guests. Why did Carowinds stop allowing this? Does anyone here have insight?