[uscbandfan]

Anyone know how my parents could drop off my pre-teen close to the gate? (At their age, may parents are SURELY not coming in.) My daughter will be meeting a church group at the park and I don't trust the walk she would have to make from that turn around area in front of Cabelas.

It was SO convenient in the past to drop children off right in front of the gate where you could walk across the top of the parking pass gate. The group you were meeting and the parents could be in full view of each other the whole time.

Is there a protocol for them to drive through the gate, come around and drop her off at the Fury bridge or from the bus lot? Same for pickup. She will not be arriving (or being picked up) at the same time as the rest of the group but one of the counselors could walk out the front gate and meet her on that bridge.

Unless I'm missing something, this seems like a HUGE oversight on Carowinds part to not provide a drop-off option.

Can anyone help?

[gabed]

Since I can't get my license until November, I've always had my parents/grand parents drop me off in the bus lot. What you'll need to do is drive straight through the lane to the far right and drop her off in the bus lot. It's not against the rules as many people do it. It's right at the entrance as well!

[uscbandfan]

Since I can't get my license until November, I've always had my parents/grand parents drop me off in the bus lot. What you'll need to do is drive straight through the lane to the far right and drop her off in the bus lot. It's not against the rules as many people do it. It's right at the entrance as well!

That seems reasonable but I didn't think they would allow that since you have to exit back through access to the main parking lot (and I would think some people might try and do that, park anyway and get away with not paying the $15.)

Unless someone else has a better idea, that's what I'll plan for. If I remember correctly, there's a bus stop waiting bench there where I can tell them to meet.

[Jonathan]

That IS the official drop off area. You do not have to pay to park to go back there (as of April 2016 at least).

[FamousAmos]

If I'm not mistaken, you can go around to the employee entrance and take the road that goes all the way around the back of the park, which takes you straight to the bus lot if need be. But to my knowledge, you can still go in through the front where the buses go.

[uscbandfan]

If I'm not mistaken, you can go around to the employee entrance and take the road that goes all the way around the back of the park, which takes you straight to the bus lot if need be. But to my knowledge, you can still go in through the front where the buses go.

Doesn't that pose a potential parking issue for the park? Not that I would do it because I have a gold pass but, by THOSE directions, couldn't you circumvent the toll plaza entirely by going to the bus lot as you described then cross directly over to the parking area and then park as a regular customer? I don't believe they require you to put the parking slip on your dash... even if you do, do they REALLY go around and check? I guess going through the main bus entrance you could even do the same thing.

Seems like they would have a way of doing the drop off so that you couldn't ever get to the main lot without going through the toll plaza. Maybe it's not that big of an issue and if they lose $15 one day, it's not that big a deal for them.

[RollerBee]

Telling people through the tolls for drop off with direct access to the parking is tempting less honest people.
Half of last season, the parking attendants didn't scan our passes anyways nor did they give us the parking receipts. I thought Carowinds used to tow cars for not having the receipts?
I still carry my expired Season Pass in my wallet, I nearly used it earlier this season at the parking tolls out of habit.

[uscbandfan]

Every time we've been this year, they've scanned the pass and you could tell they were verifying the picture on file when they were looking back and forth from me to the screen. I've never seen anyone checking for receipts on the dash. Quite frankly, I don't even remember if we've ever left the receipt on the dash. We may have. My memory isn't what it used to be.