Unfortunately first and likely last trip to Carowinds. Biggest demerits here for the POOR SERVICE and very poorly run park. The staff for most rides are about 15 years old, often clueless and usually apathetic and unfriendly. There are often empty seats and full rows on the rides. On one roller coaster, they had 4 of the 20 seats I filled. On the bumper cars, two of the cars had no drivers when I went. This happened to some extent on most of the rides all day long. This all led to VERY LONG WAIT TIMES on a day that was frankly not that busy.
The biggest appeal of this place would be for the roller coaster buff as there are many of these. HOWEVER, the build of the seats and headrests were hardly considerate of the riders comfort. My head knocked around painfully in Kiddy Hawk. Night Hawk head neck area was not any better.
The story behind Carowinds is that the creator got inspired by Disney and built this place. Unfortunately as the direct comparison to Disney it falls way short.
All in all this place has potential but has a long way to go.