WinterFest — Attraction in Charlotte

Absolutely miserable experience for the parents. Do not spend your money here. My family arrived at Carowinds at 6pm and did not enter the park for TWO HOURS. It took TWO HOURS to get through the parking line and stand in the entrance line just to enter the park. I’ve never experienced anything so inefficient at an amusement park in my life.

We had season passes and were told at purchasing the season passes that we could use buddy passes for this event. When we went to use them, customer service said you had to jump through multiple hoops to validate them and that we didn’t “qualify” for the buddy passes.

We ended up having to pay, even though Season Pass advertisements incentivized there would be buddy passes. The cost to get in the park at $50 is robbery.

Once we got inside lines were at minimum an hour for every single ride. Even the kiddy rides. Other rides were two hours long or more.

For an event that lasts only a couple of hours, there is no value in this. We arrived at 6pm and rode two rides, both being kiddy park rides, the older kids got to ride nothing.

To compare: we went to Winterfest one of the first years the event was open and it was only $30. Carowinds had the ticket box lines open, so the lines went smoothly. We were inside the park in about 15 minutes. They also had more of the park open and more events, so lines were reasonable. The whole family commented on how great of a time we had and had much value we thought we got. We were excited to go back this year because of our previous experience, But, Carowinds ( no surprise) apparently decided to get greedy and screw the customer, raise prices and plummet the quality, because this year they closed the ticket office lines so everyone is crammed into one line to get into the park ( it took 50 minutes to stand in entrance line) and close a larger portion of the park so everyone is crammed closer together and has to experience longer lines. All of this is obviously to have to pay less employees ( even though they hire teenagers and pay them minimum wage) and make more profit at the cost of the customer value.

So once again, Corporate America prices their product as high as they can possibly get away with and gives the lowest value quality.

Hoping this review saves people their hard earned money and spend it somewhere else more deserved.

Carowinds:...

Winterfest should of have more going. Me and my family went on November 17 2024. The lights was pretty and the park was decorative but that was about it. We did a bunch of walking and picture taking but again that was it. We caught a few events they had, but it didn't provide us with enough entertainment. There should of been direction guides to where certain events were because if you are not that familiar with the park, you're not going to be sure on where to go. Yes they do have a map on the locations, but it is confusing. If you got small kids or if you're going for a date night then this might be for you. I still would say find something better. Everytime I walked near camp snoopy, I never see snoopy or any of the other characters. If you are looking for more activities and real festive entertainment, this ain't it. Save your money. It was not worth the $164, I paid for me and family to be there. You can always see a light show in your local neighborhood or somewhere else. Another thing; the man who they had at the main entrance or front gate, was loud and rude and just kept yelling "SINGLE FILE LINE!!!!! I understand they were doing this to be more organized but hire some friendlier staff. This was a money grab. The content creators made this appear so fun, but it is not what I thought it would be. Not worth it at all. The spring/summer is the...

We went to The WinterFest at Carowinds Amusement Park, and it was so fun. The detail that they put into the Lights, decorations, and the workers were amazing! The entire park was decorated like a winter wonderland and was something you definitely want to see if you have never, especially if you are a sucker for Christmas and the lights! Every shop was changed into Christmas themed stores and seemed straight out of a movie! They had elves, gingerbread houses, and people dressed in all types of Christmas costumes! The lights were in almost every tree and throughout the entire park with different color lights in different parts of the park. The food and drinks are pretty pricey, and it was pretty busy being the first weekend the winterfest but is worth the time and money. They did have rides open, but only some of the rides and coasters were, not all of them. But the fury was open, and if you catch it when it first opens. You can get on it in about a half hour, once more busy, it will take about an hr in line, though. Overall, it was a fun experience, and I definitely recommend checking it out and bringing...