Carowinds Discussion Thread

[tndank]

Last Sunday (2 days ago) was dead for at least the first few hours. Everything a walk on. 

[Alex26841]

On 9/28/2021 at 2:28 PM, PKI Jizzman said:

Has anyone visited Scarowinds yet this year? I saw they were at capacity on Saturday and turning away passholders/ticket holders, but was curious about Sunday. Sundays they are open same hours at a Saturday which is wild for a CF park.

Going to visit in a few weeks and looking forward to Copperhead for the first time and many Fury rides!

Any suggestions for good eats/drinks outside of the park? Usually Mac's Speed Shop is my go to for awesome BBQ and beer.

I went this past Friday and it was pretty darn busy, but nothing like what I've heard Saturdays have been like. My GF works for Cedar Fair and we were able to get some Fright Lane passes, which were a godsend, because the maze lines were loooooooonnnngg. All looked to be an hour+. Fury's wait was about an hour all night. Sunday seems like the day to go if you can swing it. 

As far as the mazes go they were all fairly decent aside from The Reaping, which was straight up not good. If it's got any sort of wait at all I wouldn't bother. 

[PKI Jizzman]

Thanks for the updates. Alex and I are visiting Saturday/Sunday. It's only $75 for FL on Sunday so Saturday I think we'll just take time with dinner and go to the park later and get some rides/haunts in when the crowd thins out at 11 (hopefully, right?). 

 

https://thesuffolkpunch.com/ Suffolk Punch looks like an awesome spot for dinner and beer, anyone else been? This seems to be the 'Troegs' of the area.

[tndank]

Last two Sundays have been walk on days.  Really advise not buying FL early since you probably won't need It. 

[PKI Jizzman]

Carowinds has not responded to me so while I am waiting for official word...

Fast Lane works all day, both during the day and Scarowinds, right? You don't have to buy 2 separate fast lanes for 1 full day?

Someone is telling me they switch the colors during their break from 5 to 7. It seems absolutely absurd to have to pay $115 for the day and $115 for Scarowinds right?!

[AmyUD06]

When I went in 2019, one FL purchase was required for each portion of the day. Sorry for the bad news.

[hoppedup]

On 10/5/2021 at 11:05 AM, PKI Jizzman said:

Thanks for the updates. Alex and I are visiting Saturday/Sunday. It's only $75 for FL on Sunday so Saturday I think we'll just take time with dinner and go to the park later and get some rides/haunts in when the crowd thins out at 11 (hopefully, right?). 

 

https://thesuffolkpunch.com/ Suffolk Punch looks like an awesome spot for dinner and beer, anyone else been? This seems to be the 'Troegs' of the area.

Haven't eaten there but the beers are great. My friends say the food is great. The brewer is an acquaintance of mine from his days in Greensboro.

And can confirm, Scarowinds would require a separate FL pass.

[PKI Jizzman]

11 minutes ago, Mike240SX said:

When I went in 2019, one FL purchase was required for each portion of the day. Sorry for the bad news.

That's crazy! Damn, I mean there's nothing telling me that it only covers one portion of the day, nor is there a:

Scarowinds FL pick here!

DAYTIME ONLY pick here!

[PKI Jizzman]

Shady, Carowinds! How are you supposed to know your $115 FL is only good a portion of the day? Oh that fine fine print. Ya got me.

[AmyUD06]

@PKI JizzmanIndeed man. If you'll scroll back to my posts criticizing the fact that Scarowinds was a separately ticketed event (along with FL), you'll find a bunch of veteran members here lambasting me for calling out the BS when almost every other CF and SF park doesn't do that, so tread carefully LOL. 

[coneyislandchris]

What do you think the chances are that they actually would change the wristband colors from the morning session to the evening session?

[tndank]

Fine print does mention it's valid for Carowinds OR Scarowinds.  But I agree, it's a money grab and not well explained. I imagine it's screwed many. 

[jarmor]

I mean. . . i get it but the park has separate hours listed on it's site for SCarowinds and the regular park.  They list seperate tickets for general admission and SCarowinds admission.   It also says select nights.  That, to me, would make me want to carefully check to see if it is a separated event from the daytime hours.  But then again, I can count on one hand the many times I have been to one of the parks that has it all day.

[PKI Jizzman]

It's not a big deal, I'm sure I won't need it during the day hours based on queue times, and the entire trip is essentially free with my plat pass. Not used to dealing with this type of thing from CF and really having to find where in the fine print it is displayed... especially when there is no one on  their phone lines or socials to get a direct answer. 

Must be a pretty damn good event! Glad I didn't redeem it right away in the morning. $230 + tax to have FL all day on Saturday, woooooowie. 

[boldikus]

2 hours ago, Mike240SX said:

@PKI JizzmanIndeed man. If you'll scroll back to my posts criticizing the fact that Scarowinds was a separately ticketed event (along with FL), you'll find a bunch of veteran members here lambasting me for calling out the BS when almost every other CF and SF park doesn't do that, so tread carefully LOL. 

LMFAO.

Lambasted? By "a bunch of veteran members"? Come on dude.  @coasterbill pointed out that it wasn't unusual for the park to do this and that they posted it on their website that this is a thing. Exactly one other member pointed out that Knotts also does this. I would hardly call that lambasting.

If you're gonna talk shit on here you might wanna have the receipts to back it up.

[AmyUD06]

56 minutes ago, boldikus said:

LMFAO.

Lambasted? By "a bunch of veteran members"? Come on dude.  @coasterbill pointed out that it wasn't unusual for the park to do this and that they posted it on their website that this is a thing. Exactly one other member pointed out that Knotts also does this. I would hardly call that lambasting.

If you're gonna talk shit on here you might wanna have the receipts to back it up.

My apologies then. It was two years ago...I didn't actually go back and look it up.

[hoppedup]

Got an email from Carowinds this morning about new passholder T&C.

A Platinum Pass is valid for one park visit per day, and is also valid for free parking at all parks, the registered Passholder must be present in the vehicle. This pass is valid for only one visit per day, and a readmission hand stamp is required for same-day re-entry.  Fees for food, merchandise, games, pay-per-experience attractions, concerts, and special events are not included.

 

Sounds like no more double dipping on Scarowinds days (not that I ever plan to return to the shit show that is Scarowinds). Not a big deal for me, YMMV.

[tndank]

The date on that doc is August 20.  It's clearly been allowed this year.  Perhaps next year they actually implement it?

 

[PKI Jizzman]

Alright that's where I'm going to get 1000% pissed off. I didn't get that update as a Plat Pass holder. I'm going to be livid if I go back into Scarowinds with my FL and they try to say I need to pay up for another visit. On top of everything their socials won't respond and their call center is closed. F off. If I wasn't browsing reddit and theme park forums how am I supposed to know this other than some 16 year old shaking in their boots trying to hand down the message from corporate? 

[AmyUD06]

If I recall correctly from my visit in 2019, both a day at Carowinds and a night at Scarowinds are considered separate "days" for those purposes.  Also, that part of the language did not change in the update.

[PKI Jizzman]

I'm staying at the park's hotel which guarantees park entry when staying with them, so very interested to see how this all pans out. More on this story at 11!

[bert425]

1 hour ago, PKI Jizzman said:

I'm staying at the park's hotel which guarantees park entry when staying with them, so very interested to see how this all pans out. More on this story at 11!

can't wait to hear.

we were booked there in May 2020. . .needless to say, that trip never happened.

but loved the location of the hotel.

[PKI Jizzman]

It's amazing how bad the traffic is. The crowds stay alllll night long. Lines close 30 minutes + early. We were pretty much forced to eat in the park since it would take a lyft/uber driver 35 minutes to get in to us at the hotel, and then get out. 

The one walking distance restaurant, Famous Dave's, closes at 8pm daily!!!  

If you have FL you're going to have a great day, but just don't go on a Saturday. We figured we'd just do one or two rides if the crowd thinned out but that never happened. I bet people were stuck in traffic till 130 or 2am. I bet the reached capacity or got very close to it. 

 

[bert425]

^^ WOW!


i mean, I'm glad they are busy, as everyone could use the business. . but sounds very "horror show" - which I guess is appropriate for SCarowinds

[PKI Jizzman]

Quick rant: Sunday was much more manageable, but still troubling as far as staff/ops. No groupers/separators at the station entry so anyone could just hop in the FL line once you're past the queue entry. Also for some reason there's an excessive amount of kids (definitely not teens) with FL just standing at the station entry not sure what to do until you tell them just go in and find a row. No wonder so many fights happen, what do you think is going to happen when you have people trying to merge without supervision? 

Copperhead Strike is fantastic! So unique! And they actually put a lot of effort into theming! Get to Carowinds to check out that amazing coaster! More photos/trip report later.