Straddling the North and South Carolina border, Carowinds is just a hop, skip and a jump away from most areas of Charlotte. We’ve gone many times over the years, enjoying Planet Snoopy, the younger kids section of the park. But for years I kept a big secret from my kids… Carowinds has a water park! Seriously, they had no idea whatsoever that it was there. It’s not hard to avoid if you come in the North Gate and stay in Planet Snoopy. When they were little I just didn’t want to deal with the stress of a water park. But they are a little older now and Carowinds just completely remodeled the water park, rebranding it from Boomerang Bay to Carolina Harbor.
So I broke the news to them over Memorial Day weekend – Carowinds has a waterpark… and we’re going today! The second part of that statement seemed to eliminate any fall out from the realizations that sprang from the first part of the statement. All’s well that ends well.
We left early in the day and met up with friends there. We barely made it past the entrance before the boys were ready for their first adventure. Blackbeard’s Revenge, a six story waterslide complex, stood towering before them and they couldn’t get on the line fast enough. It was a little confusing at first but the line splits in two at the bottom – the left side leads to Cannonball Drop and the right leads to both Captain’s Curse and Pirate’s Plank. They were unintimidated by what looked to be an almost vertical drop on Cannonball Drop and did that one several times in a row. I have to admit that it scared me watching them – my kids do not weigh a lot and it looked to me like they could just bounce over the edge if they didn’t hold on to the tube tight enough. I was happy when they were ready to move on.
Neither of them braved the Pirate’s Plank (although RB had done a nearly identical slide – the AquaDunk – on the Disney Cruise) but they both did the Captain’s Curse and Cannonball Drop multiple times. The one major disappointment of the day was when they switched staff members at the top of the Captain’s Curse slide and the new height enforcer decided JB was not tall enough to go down. I will admit that him making the height requirement was dependent on how tall he stood (and possibly how high his crazy hair stuck up) but when I explained to the staff member that he had already ridden it three times he just shrugged his shoulders and said “he shouldn’t have been allowed to.” Being denied entrance after waiting on line that whole time (and passing the measurement at the start of the line!) was a tough pill to swallow. It made for a very sad, teary walk back down the stairs and past the long line of people on their way up. I certainly understand the need for height requirements but it was frustrating that there was not a more universal measuring standard. He had stood up against the measuring stick 3 times and been told he could ride. To be told on the 4th time that he couldn’t was frustrating and confusing to a kid.
From there we headed to Surf Club Harbor, a giant wave pool. I think this stressed me out even more than the Cannonball Drop, which I wouldn’t have thought possible a few moments earlier. It’s a huge pool area and absolutely packed with people. When those waves started rising higher, so did my stress level. I felt certain that someone could drown and not be noticed despite the lifeguards and hundreds of people around. I made my kids put on life jackets and even then I was nervous because I kept losing sight of them as they got jostled around by the waves and the people. But they of course had a fantastic time, as they were completely oblivious to any perceived dangers. So far this trip had convinced me that I had been wise to hide the water park’s existence from my kids when they were younger.
Thankfully the rest of the trip was low stress. They had a ball in Seaside Splashworks, a play area full of spraying water features, interactive water guns, a giant bucket that slowly fills up with water and tips over on everyone below, and much more. There were lots of fun play features to keep them entertained (and cool!). They also enjoyed the lazy river, Coastal Currents. It was super crowded and you had to wait for someone to come out and surrender their tube before you could go in, but they seemed to think it was worth the wait.
Overall I think the remodel was really well done. The slides were fun, the decorations and theming were well-done, and the play areas were entertaining. I confirmed that water parks are stressful, even when your kids 5 and 7 years old. But that isn’t a reason not to go. It’s just a reason to be prepared and be cautious. I don’t think I’ll wait another 7 years to take them back but I will probably another 3 or 4 years until they have grown some more, both in size and in swimming ability.
