Carowinds 2020

[BGW Family]

The process was SUPER easy. Pick how many people, pick your days, put in pass number, reservation attached to pass, show pass at gate on app. Easy and a few seconds. Worlds apart from what I've heard at BGW. They will be using those thermal camera to take your temperature at the gate. You also fill out a health assessment on the app before arriving. The only thing they didn't make clear was entering your order number in the app for the reservation to show up, for us at at least.

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[BGW Family]

Carowinds doing it right, again. Nice to know where your plan stands AND that it can be used now.

See BGW, it isn't that hard.

 

[BGW Family]

Taste of the Holidays.

Spit into sections due to the number of photos.

Park updates1.

The right path entrance was a barrier maze, one-way, with our normal left path entrance being exit only. Temperature checks were a fast FLIR thermal imaging type thing. Fury and that area was closed around and up to Cyclone. The Crossroads area (Thunder Road area) was also closed. No indoor ride or performance space was allowed to be used. Some maps of areas and attractions. Covid restriction were well handled, except for rides. Every other row, VERY slow wipe downs, and empty train cycled to dry, made for a very low Copperhead line take nearly two hours. This needs to be done better in some better way. The ice rinks closed and made seating. A new spaced fire-pit area was setup. Intimidator's new paint was FABULOUS and stood out in the skyline. More on that in a bit. We didn't bother taste sampling. Some interesting Southern combinations like Southern Pig Pickin' Cake. Other changes being the drink stand by Camp Snoopy is now a custom milkshake stand. Not just water was available, but the festive Holy Water was on tap. The water wheel has been refurbished and the fence has been embellished with ironwork from the old Plantation entrance. I also notice this Afterburn Time Capsule that I seem to have missed perilously.

 

[BGW Family]

Park update 2. The new and standing unused, Boogie Board Racer. Looks like it will be fun. Crammed in between the water park walkway and Copperhead Strike.

 

[BGW Family]

Taste of the Holidays decorations.

Reduced as expected. But not bad. They had the reindeer, normally mounted to Fury track at the now exit-only loop, on the ground in an area where you had to help elves find Santa's sleigh. Fantastic to see up close, but too easy for the touchy-touchy public to handle and damage. The Scarowinds pirate buildings were setup as a kids treat rail by the carousel. Other items from closed sections where brought into the open areas.

 

[BGW Family]

Taste of the Holidays merch.

Somehow, I missed a photo of the event-specific Snoopy shirt. I was nice. But, the pins deserve their own post and mention. The Winterfest and Rides sign are my nest to favorite. My favorite is the awesome Thunder Road ornament.

 

[Ghost of Pretzel Kaiser]

Why couldn’t KD up their pin game?

 

[BGW Family]

Sorry. Took an open some gifts break. Last one. Ride and shows.

Half the swing seats were physically removed instead of blocked off. With only Copperhead and Afterburn open, wait times were abysmal. After the 2 hour wait for Copperhead, we went to Afterburn and the line wrapped around to the photo sales booth. No thanks. So running out of things to do came quickly. There were random performing characters. Some elves in a traveling cart had some clever things to say and do. We found Santa in his new sleigh. Forget finding the old one, Santa. You got this. Shows were drastically paired down, as expected. Nothing was quite spectacular. The Sleigh Bells, on the carousel as a stage, were excellent vocalist. The too heavily laid on southern accents weren't necessary. The Gingerbread Drummers (a product of a new company of former BGW performers) wasn't well thought out. Banging on drums to prerecorded midi music. Stick to Monster Stomp, guys. The Tinsel Tones, by the Rock n' Roller, were the next best entertaining. All the other shows were...lacking. Perhaps prep and rehearsing time was short? Harmony Hall was dark since no inside performances could happen. With half the tables removed to distance, it caused clumps of closely placed people waiting to get seats.



That's it for my level of reporting and observation. Only one "time slot" and you can arrive and stay as long as you like. More people as the sun went down. Distancing wasn't that hard. Cleaning seamed good. Ride ops were in no hurry to clean the rides. They cleaned blocked off seats which seemed like a waste of time. The worst employee interaction, as usual, was at the metal detectors. These are probably still Showco employees (or whatever that show security union is) rather than park guys. Season dining and drinks worked fine. Merch was sparse. Nice to do for the first time this year. Not worth the wait to ride anything. Absolutely a one visit event. If only Intimidator was open. It looks fantastic. If you are local and craving a simple fix, I'd recommend it once.