Carowinds
Carowinds Logo (2014)
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| Slogan | "Where the Carolinas come together" "Thrill Capital of the Southeast" |
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| Location | Charlotte, North Carolina, Fort Mill, South Carolina, United States |
| Coordinates | 35°06′16.13″N 80°56′22.12″W / 35.1044806°N 80.9394778°WCoordinates: 35°06′16.13″N 80°56′22.12″W / 35.1044806°N 80.9394778°W |
| Owner | Cedar Fair Entertainment Company |
| General Manager | Pat Jones |
| Opened | March 31, 1973 |
| Previous names | Paramount's Carowinds (1993 - 2006), Carowinds (1973 - 1992) |
| Operating season | Late March — December |
| Visitors per annum | 2,000,000 in 2015 |
| Area | 398 acres (1.61 km2) |
| Rides | |
| Total | 64 |
| Roller coasters | 13 |
| Water rides | 7 |
| Website | www |
Carowinds is a 398-acre (161 ha) amusement park, located adjacent to Interstate 77 on the border between North and South Carolina, in Charlotte and Fort Mill, respectively. The park opened on March 31, 1973, at a cost of $70 million. This was the result of a four-year planning period spearheaded by Charlotte businessman Earl Patterson Hall, who was inspired to build the park by a 1956 trip to Disneyland and a dream of bringing the two states closer together. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, Carowinds also features a 20-acre (81,000 m2) water park, Carolina Harbor, which is included with park admission. The park has a Halloween event called SCarowinds.
The Carowinds theme park was originally envisioned as a component of a large resort which would include hotels, a shopping center, a golf course, and an NFL stadium. However, attendance at Carowinds was curtailed by the 1973 oil crisis, and plans for the proposed resort were put on hold. Hall and the other stockholders of the Carowinds Corporation continued to operate the theme park through 1974, though sagging attendance and mounting debt forced the company to sell to Taft Broadcasting in early 1975. The park was purchased by Paramount Communications in 1993 and joined the Paramount Parks family. Ownership had transferred from Family Leisure Centers – a joint venture between Taft and Top Value Enterprises) – to Kings Entertainment Company, which in turn was acquired by Paramount. The park was renamed Paramount's Carowinds in 1993 and later became an asset of Viacom following its acquisition of Paramount in 1994.
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