roadtrip. Kings Dominion or Carowinds?

It's been 14 years since my last visit to Carowinds, and 16 years for Kings Dominion. Long overdue for a trip to either park. I'm going to try Carowinds for sure this year.

We are going to hit several Cedar Fair parks this year. So far, have trips planned for Canada's Wonderland, Michigan's Adventure, Valleyfair, Kings Island and of course, Cedar Point. Next year we are planning on hitting Carowinds and Kings Dominion. Goal is to have visited all Cedar Fair parks by end of 2018.

DSShives said:

We are going to hit several Cedar Fair parks this year. So far, have trips planned for Canada's Wonderland, Michigan's Adventure, Valleyfair, Kings Island and of course, Cedar Point. Next year we are planning on hitting Carowinds and Kings Dominion. Goal is to have visited all Cedar Fair parks by end of 2018.

Good luck! I hit Valleyfair, Cedar Point, Kings Island, Carowinds, Kings Dominion, and Worlds of Fun last season. I passed up an opportunity to go to Knotts for Magic Mountain.

I preferred Kings Dominion to Carowinds by the slightest of margins. I305 nudged Maverick out of that number one spot on my coaster list, Volcano was a huge surprise to everyone in my group, and I loved the look of the park. The day I went, the park was completely void of visitors, which meant a ton of rides on any coaster I wanted to ride, so that was a plus. This visit happened before I went to Kings Island though, otherwise it wouldn't have been quite so unique.

Kevinj said:

You could also just split the difference and go in between to the best park in that area, Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

:)

Unless of course it's a Platinum Pass deal. Personally, Carowinds is on our radar for 2017.

I said that earlier, wholeheartedly agree

While usually enjoy the Busch parks, I just returned from Tampa two weeks ago.
The Tampa park is sadly getting hit with very poor staffing and maintenance due to the financial pressures from blackfish movie on sea worlds parks.
(I like seaworld and Busch parks, not a documentary fan. )
Please, due research before going to the parks. For a good part of the day most coasters were closed, at one time only the wild mouse coaster was the only one open. Staffing for rides was 2 ride hosts on the platform only, loading was terminally slow.
And a good portion of rides have been down for days at a time.

On the plus side- the animals still look very well attended too- and the food services was still well above average.
If you are going to just hit the rides, you may be very dissatisfied- if you want to enjoy the park as a whole you may enjoy it as attendance was very low.

I wish the chain the best.

I know Busch is a year round park as a former Tampa resident but could these issues be because you went during their "off-season." By that I mean year round parks usually reduce operations for ride rehab and maintenance. Usually taking rides down to 1 train op, and reduced staffing. I experienced that same problem at Knott's a few years back when I visited in early March. Forcing me to buy a fastlane as I only has one day to visit.

I went to BGW this past summer, and the park was very well staffed and all rides were running at optimal capacity.

That's why I suggested doing research before a visit.

Read trip advisor reviews or similar from actual recent reviews of visits.

It was a very disappointing visit with family, we haven't been there since 2011, which was in January as well and had a much better experience.

Again, I wish them the best.

(Also, it was their own employees blaming budget cuts. So use that for what it's worth. We actually drove past Orlando to go to Tampa, if we would've read the reviews beforehand we would've went to universal.)

Okay, I haven't been to BGT since 2009 when I moved back to the Cleveland area. That was obviously before the Blackfish garbage. But even then their focus at that particular park never seemed to be on efficient ride operations.

redsfan said:

I appreciate everyone's responses. I don't think I'll be visiting a park outside of Cedar Fairs chain though. As I like to think I own a few of the flowers at each park, I'll be looking to check those out.

Like, never?

Dude...

;)

Yeah, probably never. It's kind of like coke and pepsi. If you collect a check from pepsi you don't dare have a coke. Or vise versa. That's the premise of our trip is to visit a Cedar Fair park. It helps that we have platinum passes and won't have to pay to get in. I could go to the Six Flags in Chicago or Holiday World. But that doesn't impact my investment. And I don't get to look at my flowers. Or flower. The money I would spend at another chains park would be better spent on a cabin in the mountains or a house on the ocean.

Don't get me wrong. I love amusement parks and the rides as much as you or anyone else does. I just can't justify spending money on the competitions product.

redsfan said:

If you collect a check from Pepsi you don't dare have a Coke.

Unless you like the taste of one and invest in the other as it's the better investment.

I just can't justify spending money on the competitions product.

I'm willing to bet McDonald's stockholders turn up at Olive Garden now and then. It seems an odd restriction to place on one's leisure time (especially when it denies you the many joys of Holiday World), but to each their own.

As a Floridian, I will agree that operations at BGT have been downright sad the last few years. I kind of find it hard to believe that every single coaster in the park was down simultaneously, but my last few visits have seen consistent one train operation on major rides and an overall gloomy feeling in the park in a way I just can't put my finger on.

Renegade said:
I passed up an opportunity to go to Knotts for Magic Mountain.

You made the right choice. SFMM is one of my top 4 parks right now, knott's isn't even on the radar.

As for the KD or Carowinds, I'd say both are great. The food is great at Carowinds and the money spent freshening up the park was very well spent. KD I'd say was a better ride experience though. Both are great parks and easily done back to back.
Dorney is a great smaller park. If you do go to Dorney be sure to spend a day at Hersheypark too.

The last few years I've made my vacation a week of amusement parks and plan to do it again this year.

Also, at BGW, you have the best food choices of any park IMO. Plus many things you can add to it. If you can add the Roller Coaster tour I'd highly recommend it. Nice tour (somewhat boring at times talking about things like what Anti-Rollbacks do, lol) ERT, and some nice behind the scenes and a version of their fast lane.

I really can't stress enough how wonderful BGW is. Putting bias and nostalgia aside for Cedar Point as my home park, I really REALLY do love BGW.

XS NightClub said:

While usually enjoy the Busch parks, I just returned from Tampa two weeks ago.
The Tampa park is sadly getting hit with very poor staffing and maintenance due to the financial pressures from blackfish movie on sea worlds parks.

This is utterly false. The company is reasonably profitable. You went in the off-season of a park that's opened year-round. That's when they close stuff for maintenance.

What has everyone's experience been with the lines at carowinds? Seems like they don't get nearly as busy as some other parks. I avoid CP on weekends like its a sickness.

I only got to experience Carowinds last year (my first trip) on their season pass preview night and their opening day. Temperatures were low enough to delay some rides from opening. Fury had the longest line on Saturday at about an hour and 45 minutes and that was with it spilling out into a temporary queue. Everything else was about a 15-25 minute wait approximately.

Let time I went to carowinds was close to 2 years ago, and the longest wait was nighthawk at 1 hour 20 minutes. Intimidator had about a 10 minute wait, though, and that was the second longest wait.