Your opinion please? I have never been to any of these but what is better for a 5, 10 & 13 year old. Carowinds or Kings Dominion? Both are around the same distance and both are owned by the same company. Thanks
I've always been a big fan of Kings Dominion. Carowinds not so much. Busch Gardens isn't much further and I think more fun. But of the other two Kings Dominion.
Carowinds has a Water park inside the park, I know it's a separate entrance fee, but they have combo passes. Personally, I prefer Kings Dominion, just because the Coasters are better. It's been a while since I've been with littles there, so I can't exactly comment on the kids space. But if you wanna experience a good all around Family Park, Next summer go to Pittsburgh PA area and visit Kennywood park. www.kennywood.com Or one of their two sister parks in the area (they have 4 all together) Idlewild, or Sandcastle (water park). Reasons I say this; 1. Kennywood has decent admission prices (around 30/each) and offer discounted tickets thru Giant Eagle (Grocery store in the PGH area, and I think the one across the street from Kennywood is still open) 2. They allow you to bring in a picnic lunch and use their pavilions for FREE. Just don't take any alcohol or glass bottles in. You use a side entrance to drop off your goods closer to the Pavilion (NO one, and I mean NOOOO ONE touches your stuff all day long), and enter thru the main gate. I've left full bottles of pop sit out on the table (Pepsi, Mt. Dew, etc, not the cheap stuff) and come back to it several hours later and it never moved. It's just a respect thing up there. They used to have grills so you can do burgers and such, but I'm not sure, you'd have to check on that. 3. Their food there is sooooo GOOD and reasonably priced. Though it will be costly to eat at the park all day with a family of 4 or 5, their food is good. Especially the Potato Patch Fries. They've actually won awards for it before. 4. The Park is not huge, so if you're 13 yr old took a friend, they could roam the park by themselves and not get lost. The Merry-Go-Round and the Bridge are great meeting places, as well as outside of several rides. Maps are available. I was roaming that park (though I grew up going to it every year) when I was 11 by myself with my buddies. As long as we stayed in a group we were ok. 5. The Park is open 11 to 10 (or depending upon crowds) so it's not an all day affair if you don't want it to be, and you can come and go as you please. There are some restaurants just outside the gates within walking distance to the park, should you choose to eat outside the park or not bring a lunch (I vote bring a lunch) 6. The rides: 3 Classic wooden coasters, 2 designed by the Iconic John Miller. 2 Steel coasters (and one indoor one), and rides that take you back to when you were a kid (the Turtle, the Train, Auto Race) This Park has some of the only rides of it's kind left, they may be decades old, but safe. Kiddie Land has plenty to offer to young kids, and they (being 5 now) can ride several rides in the "grown up" part of the park as well. 7. The Ambiance. The park lights up beautiful at night 8. They are routinely in the top parks in the world for attractions (check out Golden Ticket Awards, this year they were named for Best Walk Through Attraction, as well as Christmas display)
I've had season passes to Busch Gardens for my entire family 10+ years. I havent been to Carowinds during that time, but was previously and didnt really care for it. Because of that, I'll leave it to others to comment on the current state of Carowinds. We do break down and for to Kings Dominion every couple of years. Every time I do, I am reminded why I like Busch Gardens so much better. If you just want to ride, wait in line, ride some more, get pushed out of the way by busloads of UN-chaperoned kids out of Richmond and DC, and ride some more, the Kings Dominion will suit you. They really do have a lot of rides, I just dont like the atmosphere. Busch Gardens has fewer rides, but kids still like it. I would say Kings Dominion and Carowinds are Amusement parks and Busch Gardens is a Theme park. It is just a better experience in our opinion.
Its been years since been there and only been to Carowinds once (was enough) .. KINGS DOMINION is the preferred choice still :hurray:
