CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The state’s largest theme park will return to its traditional season schedule in 2024.

Carowinds, located on the North and South Carolina border, announced it would not continue its year-round schedule, which it implemented for the first time in 2023, as the park celebrated its 50th anniversary.

What You Need To Know

  •  Carowinds will return to a seasonal calendar in 2024. Opening is set for March 9

  •  Cedar Fair decided not to return to a year-round calendar at Carowinds and two other parks across the U.S.

  •  Carowinds celebrated its 50th anniversary this year

In 2024, the park will open for the season in early March, which is a return to traditional scheduling practices. In a brief statement, the park said its parent company, Cedar Fair, made the decision.

“Carowinds is returning to our traditional seasonal operating calendar, opening on March 9, 2024. This change was driven by many factors and enables us to maintain our commitment to delivering outstanding experiences for our guests,” the statement read.

Two of Cedar Fair’s other U.S. parks, Kings Dominion and Great America will also return to seasonal schedules in 2024, a spokesperson added.

This year, the park opened for weekends in January and February in the lead-up to the 50th anniversary on March 31.

However, businesses near Carowinds said the weekends did little to increase crowds in their establishments, so the announcement was not a surprise.

“I don’t think their decision to be closed in the offseason will affect us too much,” said Chris Melton, director of operations for a nearby restaurant group.

Melton, who oversees Flipside Restaurant Group operations, said the weekends in early 2023 lined up with already busy days for the restaurant closest to the park.

“I believe that the hours they were open were only like weekend hours, so we already have a pretty significant amount of business on the weekends for brunch and lunch. So I wouldn’t say there was anything noticeably increased, as far as business goes, no,” Melton said.

Another nearby business said customers often said it was too cold in those months to ride the park’s many coasters.

Granted, Carowinds does drive in new business, but it remained mostly in the summer and fall, according to Melton. 

“Typically, some of the comments I’ve seen in our reviews that mention, specifically, Carowinds when they visit us are typically in the summer months or October,” Melton said.

He said the rest of the year is when they mostly see their regulars, but most visitors can be traced back to one source.

“A lot of times when we find new customers, they are visiting from out of town, visiting Carowinds. And they found us online, just as a nearby option that has good reviews,” Melton added.

In 2024, a Carowinds spokesperson said Scarowinds and WinterFest would return. The spokesperson also said season pass holders would continue to enjoy the same benefits.

The rest of the 2023 operations schedule is on the Carowinds website and continues with WinterFest later this year.