Comments on: Carowinds Review

By: NC mom

NC mom — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 21:27:47 +0000

Just went to Carowinds yesterday with the family, haven’t been there in 15 years or so. The price to get in was great, 4 tickets online for $99, can’t really beat that anywhere. The food was outrageous, as it is at most parks. We beat the system by packing a cooler full of ice and drinks and arriving early enough to get a killer parking spot right at the front gate. I thought it was crazy to have to pay $10 to park but you really have no choice unless you stay at one of the hotels across the street and walk in. I was very disappointed that three of the main attraction roller coasters were being worked on and the Whitewater Falls was completely shut down. Some of the employees there were very nice and the people that take your photo as you enter the park were having a fabulous sale, packages were half price. We got over 15 photos, keychains, and viewers for only $20.

By: Mom

Mom — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 00:38:40 +0000

Headed to Carowinds tomorrow for their Easter day….$40 gets admission and buffet lunch. Buying seasons pass for me for $80 and $60 for a Wow for daughter. So $140 gets us unlimited admission, free parking (saves $10 each time) and 10% off purchases. Plus we are buying the refillable cup. I always carry extra cups in my purse because I’m always drinking something it seems.

Responding because I’m also headed for Disney this August. Free admission for military, $100 nightly for on site military resort….but the food will be outrageous. Carowinds is much cheaper than Disney when it comes to prices. So I don’t complain a bit!

By: Retailblaster

Retailblaster — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:59:10 +0000

Hey all. I am actually a wholesaler, so I’m the cheapest of the cheap when it comes to spending retail dollars on something. One thing to remember when going to these places: Take the advice of spendthrifts. It is not going to be “cheap”. Convenience costs money, be it a convenience store, amusement park, or even the local zoo. If you buy your own water, you can get it for about $.20 a bottle at your local grocer in packs of 24, Pre-make your lunch for pennies on the dollar and heck, with the money you save, go buy yourself a new deluxe cooler. Plan on parking costs (Most any large entertainment place charges for parking, just figure it into the budget ahead of time). Why the mark-up on items? The parks have hundreds of millions of dollars in overhead. Heck, without the food sales, water sales, parking charges, there would be NO PARK to attend! Just look to save some bucks by being smart and thrifty if the high prices bother you and enjoy yourself. Seriously, if it costs you $300 – $400 and you count it as your vacation for the summer, just do it and figure that the enjoyment of the kids and the quality time spent with them was worth it. If it’s not worth it, go do something else. Granted, it would be nice if places posted their prices on everything somewhere, but if they did that…..everyone would pack a cooler! LOL. Have a great day all….

By: Cortney

Cortney — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:16:55 +0000

First off you went on the WEEKEND its PACKED on weekend’s, thats the first mistake you made. If you go M-Thurs, the crowds are not as bad. The longest we waited the day we went (Wednesday) was 90 minutes on Nighthawk, but it had one train going…but its a long wait either way, the rest I rode multiple times in about 20 minutes. I agree with the other posts about packing a lunch and exiting the park and then re-entering it. You can buy a refillable jug and only pay $2 for a pop, I believe water is free. They filled our’s up with ice and we just let it melt. I had mine filled with water this summer and didn’t have to pay a penny, I paid $6.50 for the all-day jug.

Sorry you thought it was a rip-off but we chose wisely, we ate one big meal for lunch and ate something on our way out. We were worried about eatting, sorry I never am at an amusement park.

Oh if you think Carowinds is bad, Kings Island in Ohio was worse with the prices, and its owned by the same company.

By: Lauren

Lauren — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 13:39:39 +0000

Well I always have a habbit of seeing both sides, and of course this is the case again. I feel that Carowinds is great place to take you family to enjoy the day. You have to obviously know before hand that it is something to budget (for most people anyway).. But for myself, budgeting the tickets itself is enough. I think that parking should be included and not just for a season pass, or at least cut the price in half. And the food is waaay overpriced. The truth is they would probably make more money off of us if they dropped their food and bev. prices even 15%. I mean I know they’ll charge more just because they can, but if they dropped even just a little bit, enough to be reasonable to us, and still favorable to them, they would surely profit simply because most would rather pay than walk a mile to to car to either eat or leave the park. But a lot of people do, just that. Especially these days with the economy. And its not that I’m lazy, quite the opposite in fact, but when I go, I have small children with me, and its quite a task just lugging them around from ride to ride usually in the hot sun, calming tantrums, or helping boo boos, going potty…wiping sweat… Im sure there are loads of mothers and fathers that feel me on this. And carowinds knows this is the typical family that comes, and knows that 9 times out of 10 the worn out parents are going to pull out that extra cash for simple convenience. And that does suck…but at the same time its business. And we as a whole have noooo idea how much it might actually cost to run that place. For all we know despite the upcharges, they could be struggling somewhat. I mean, they’re closed some months, so the extra money for parking and food could be what keeps them in business to make up for those times??? I mean I dont know, just trying to see their side…But OBVIOUSLY I would loooove to see prices drop!

By: Tonya

Tonya — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:06:58 +0000

I completely agree with Grant. Carowinds takes advantage of the fact that they have a captive audience inside of the park. If you get there early enough to park in a descent spot then you have to walk to the other side of the park to the gate to leave and go to a restaurant and come back to park 5 miles away then maybe it is easier to stay inside and eat. If you think the food markup is bad then you should visit the new wave pool and price the cabana rentals. I recently rented a cabana on July 5th and had to pay $107 for the same cabana that only cost me $45 just a couple of weeks earlier. Then the wave pool got shut down for more than 30 minutes with no explanation. You would think if I paid $107 for the rental the least they could do is come around and tell me why the pool is closed and for how long. Maybe offer some type of customer service!!! I think that if they are going to charge this much for food, merchandise, and cabana then I could at the very least expect some form of customer service and appreciation for my money spent.

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:42:28 +0000

I am about to head to Carowinds next week for the first time since I stopped working there–12 years ago. I worked at Carowinds for 8 years and I gotta agree with Grant on this…the markup is ridiculous. The only caveat is that EVERY theme park is like that. I took my two kids to Disney last year and it was just as bad, if not worse, on the pricing. I’ve been to other theme parks as well (Kings Island, Six Flags, Six Flags Over Texas and Kings Dominion) as well. It’s all the same–so, I don’t fault Carowinds with that. Personally, I am doing the “bring our own lunches in a cooler” thing to teach my kids about money management and I’m also bringing in a water bottle apiece that can be refilled at the water fountain. I’ll let my kids splurge on an ice cream if they want it and I’m sure I’ll get them a souvenier or two along the way; but, I’ll be reasonable. Carowinds makes their money on the markup for food, merchandise and games…not ticket admissions.

Season ticket holders find lots of ways to make inexpensive trips out to Carowinds (and other theme parks)…I will too

By: Danny

Danny — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 17:45:16 +0000

Hey Grant i’m with you on high prices ,i was just at Cedar Point and i’m heading to Carowinds in July ,i bought a 32oz pop for 4.29 and got refills for 2.12 the rest of the day ,the Funnel Cake was 4.50 which is about what i pay at most parks ,i bought a platinum pass for 150.00 which is good togo in all of Funfair parks and waterparks with FREE PARKING in Michigan ,Kings Island and Cedar point in Ohio Carowinds NC, Knotts Berry CA ECT ,Parkin Canada Well check it out on Line Alot of parks if your traveling and FREE parking at all of them,i’m still think water for 3.00 is to HIGH ,and 1.00 for water at a gas station is crazy to LOL

By: Grant Ingersoll

Grant Ingersoll — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:29:52 +0000

I might add, that all the people saying to bring outside food, etc. clearly agree with me that Carowinds is too expensive on that front. If it wasn’t, they would buy their food there, since who wants to do all that prep work ahead of time.

I will almost guarantee you, though, that if more people did it (> 50%), Carowinds would say “No Reentry Allowed” b/c their profits would be so negatively impacted.

By: Grant Ingersoll

Grant Ingersoll — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:26:17 +0000

Sorry, “Carowinds” suck-up, but I call bullshit. Yes, they are nice tips, but how good are they when you’ve never been there before and you just drove 3+ hours to go there for the day looking for a Theme Park experience. As I already said multiple times, I don’t intend on going back.

The fact is, I’ve been to other theme parks (Six Flags, etc.) and I don’t recall them charging this much.

As for “Who acrually spends that much money on food at a THEME PARK! ” The answer is a lot of people do, otherwise why did I wait in line so long every time I wanted to get something to eat?

I don’t understand why you are so happy to let them off the hook and blame me for the fact that they gouge people, unless of course you work for them. Wouldn’t you like to be able to go to Carowinds and buy a funnel cake at a reasonable price?

I merely am giving my review that I think it is too expensive. Forget the fact of what I “could” do. There is something philosophically wrong with charging $6+ for a funnel cake, I don’t care who they are. Not too mention that part of the THEME PARK experience is eating things like funnel cakes. How am I supposed to pack that in my cooler? Do you have a funnel cake machine in your car? Yes, I know, I don’t have to eat funnel cakes, you are 100% right. A ripoff is still a ripoff, and in my opinion, Carowinds is a ripoff.

Charge me a reasonable price, and I will be more than happy to pay for it, but don’t gouge me just b/c you can.

By the way, I know how to add up my money. I can even subtract, multiply and divide thank you very much.