Carolina Harbor — Attraction in Pineville

We went to the park on 6/15 and had a great time. There really aren’t enough slides for kids smaller than 48” so if your small child gets bored in the kiddie areas (only the big one was open this day) but isn’t tall enough for big slides it can be an issue. Only one wave pool was open and the lazy river was closed so that was a real bummer. Even with several attractions closed there was plenty to do. There are TONS of lifeguards and if your child isn’t tall enough for a certain area, like the wave pool, you will have put them in a life jacket. We rented a premium cabana and that was really nice, although the location of these is all the way at the back of the park. These have a ceiling fan and a tv in the covered area, plenty of seating options for everybody, a fridge, large locker with lock. They do give you water in the mini fridge (8 bottles), 2 complimentary Carowinds towels to take home, and have someone come around about every hour to see if you want to order food. However, the food choices for ordering is limited, I think just 3 choices, so we opted to walk and get our own. And the water park was only open until 4pm on the day we went but were able to spend time at Carowinds for the rest of the day. Having limits to the number of people allowed in is nice because attractions aren’t super crowded but you still have to wait for some things, just not as long. But having to make a reservation takes the fun away of just deciding to go...

I brought my family to Carowinds’ Carolina Harbor Waterpark expecting a carefree day of summer fun, but what we got was a stomach-turning lesson in just how far a park can let its sanitation standards slide. From the moment we stepped into the wave pool, an eye-watering stench of urine punched us in the face—and it followed us everywhere. The lazy river? Reeked. Kids’ splash zone? Same disgusting smell. Even the high-traffic walk-ups to the slides radiated that unmistakable ammonia funk that NO amount of chlorine could hide.

We paid premium, peak-season prices for the privilege of marinating in what felt like a human fishbowl. If the odor was this overpowering, I shudder to think what the actual urine-to-water ratio must have been—or whether basic chemical checks are happening at all. My children complained, cut their swim time short, and we ultimately left hours early because we couldn’t stand the nauseating fumes. Carowinds advertises family memories; instead we got a lingering sense of revulsion…and regret over every dollar spent.

Waterparks have a legal and moral obligation to meet health-department standards, test their pools, and react FAST when something is off. This was not a one-area fluke—this was park-wide neglect. Until management drains, deep-cleans, and strictly enforces restroom breaks and water-quality testing, we’ll spend our money elsewhere and urge other families to do the same. An absolute...

Micromanaging maniac lifeguards made the entire experience HORRIBLE. -Letting a tiny handful of people in at a time in the whole lazy river. cutting off that huge wave pool to 4 feet!!! The lifeguard's blowing their whistles every second of the whole five minutes. They ruined it for everyone. There was a big crowd on 4th of July weekend. All they had to do was move the rope over to the five foot section at least. Maybe people wouldn't freaking be "touching the rope" if you didn't put it so close to the shallow end!! Why is it such an enormous problem if someone touches the rope anyway??? Other water parks don't have these crazy rules. -The waves were ridiculously small. Standing in the "deep end" and you could barely feel them. -All of the lines were minimum half hour to 45 minutes. The slides, many of which were closed, the lazy river, the wave pool, all had crazy long lines. -there was a shortage of inner tubes. -They close at 6pm in the summer. Again, customers are terribly short-changed. -you have to walk through the whole amusement park to get to the Waterpark, which is a really long ways to carry swimming gear, bags, etc.

I have been to a lot of water parks, and this is by far the worst, with the most badly behaved, controlling, rude, uncaring lifeguard's I've ever seen. People spend a lot of money to go here with their families. Stop ruining...