Carowinds WinterFest 2025 | A budget-cut cry for help from Six Flags
Carowinds WinterFest 2025 is an embarrassing reflection of the current state of Six Flags theme parks.
I try to be optimistic, especially when it comes to critiquing entertainment. Real people created something designed for enjoyment; even if it’s not for me, it might be for someone else. That being said, it’s difficult to look on the positive side when the creators in question clearly phoned it in (or were otherwise severely restricted by a budget). When that happens, it is my responsibility as a writer to be honest with you, the reader. Such is the case with WinterFest 2025 at Carowinds. Reader, I regret what I must say, but it must be said.
The annual holiday event at Carowinds in Charlotte, N.C., has been scaled back significantly for 2025 in the wake of parent company Six Flags’ very public corporate woes. Known for its elaborate light displays in previous years, WinterFest has far fewer lights this year. The parade, a staple of the event, is gone. Unceremonious inflatable yard décor seems to declare to all passersby to lower their expectations dramatically for whatever they came here for.
Not only are there fewer lights this year, but there’s less time to enjoy them. Carowinds WinterFest switched to mostly daytime hours this year, a decision that baffles the mind. To Carowinds’ credit, after WinterFest opening weekend, the park extended its closing time by one hour, but that still only leaves guests with a maximum of three hours of nighttime on Saturdays when the park closes at 9 p.m., and just two hours on other days when closing time is 8 p.m.
Other aspects of the event aren’t necessarily scaled back, but odd. For example, the Christmas tree has been moved from the center of the park to a narrow alley, the crowd for its nightly lighting ceremony colliding with guests attempting to purchase food from the alley’s dining booths.
It’s all a bizarre barometer for the Six Flags corporation as a whole nearly a year and a half after Six Flags and Cedar Fair merged: misjudging what guests enjoy about its parks and cutting any possible corners, in doing so delivering a poorly executed product that doesn’t understand its own purpose.
WinterFest is not all bad. The indoor show “Tinker’s Toy Factory” remains a highlight with live vocals. The new Tipsy Reindeer pop-up bar features a fun “radio broadcast” and inventive upside-down Christmas trees hanging from the ceiling.
Many of the park’s roller coasters are open during WinterFest, including Fury 325 and Thunder Striker, provided cold temperatures don’t mandate the rides close for safety. In any case, riding a roller coaster in frigid weather is not pleasant, even if it’s safe to do so.
Final thoughts
When it’s all said and done, you’d have to be a particularly grumpy Scrooge to not have some level of fun at Carowinds WinterFest, but I cannot recommend the event as enthusiastically as I once could. With Carowinds being one of the company’s flagship parks, and located in the city of Six Flags’ global headquarters, I can only imagine what other parks in the portfolio look like this season. (That is, the ones that still have a holiday event; Christmas was canceled altogether at a few Six Flags parks this year.)
During one of the live shows at WinterFest, I noticed an employee maneuvering through the audience, counting each guest with a tally counter. For all I know, maybe this always happens and I’ve never noticed. In light of everything, though, the employee’s counting was ominous. Here we all were, numbers on a spreadsheet, not knowing if our combined data is high enough for the executive who will assess our attendance and decide if this is all worth it.
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More rides are open this year and families don’t want their kids out afdark in the cold so these parts are good and perception isn’t the same for everyone
We went last weekend and had an amazing time. I thought it was odd that it was originally set to end at 7 but I believe it switched to 9. We tend to arrive early to the park have lunch, do all the rides/shows we are interested in, have dinner and do another light loop around the park heading out between 6-7. We appreciate the park staying open later so we are leaving early before the masses. I do remember standing at boo blasters thinking how beautiful it was. It wasn’t dark enough to capture in the Pic but we soaked it in. Hope all attending can appreciate it and enjoy the time they spend there. We did.