[tarheel1231]

The Charlotte Area offers great weather for about 9 months abouut of the year, we have mild winters, and the population is constantly growing. Will we ever see another park in Charlotte besides Carowinds and Great Wolf? Is there anything stopping another park from happening?

[shane235]

^ I think that Carowinds itself is stopping another amusement park from coming. I mean, why would another park want to start off only 20+ minutes away from Carowinds, the "Thrill Capitol of the Southeast"? I think that Wet n' Wild Emerald Pointe is the closest thing to competition Carowinds will have for a while. I could be wrong, but I wouldn't predict another amusement (roller coaster) park to be built within a 2 hour drive from Carowinds anytime soon.

[Jonathan]

If there was ever to be a new amusement park in North Carolina, I think it would be in the Raleigh area. It's one of the top markets in the country for it IMO. Several years ago I did an analysis of the top 50 metro areas in the US to see which ones had a "significant" (more or less meaning at least one roller coaster that was not a kiddie coaster) amusement park within an hour and a half drive. 45 of the 50 had one. The only ones that did not were:

Detroit (but Cedar Point is 2 hours away)
Nashville
Jacksonville (but Orlando is just a little over 2 hours away)
Memphis
Raleigh

Raleigh has three parks (Carowinds, Kings Dominion, Busch Gardens) that are around 3 hours away, but that's a tough day trip, especially for families. Add on the fact that it's one of the fastest growing parts of the country and I think there is an opportunity for someone to open a small park. Unfortunately there just aren't very many new amusement parks opening these days.

[arby]

I have mixed feelings about this and even considered drawing up plans in the past to see if any venture capitalists were interested in a small theme park.

Our weather is better than Dollywood's and they are open 10 months out of the year. There is no reason that a park in the Charlotte market couldn't be open 10 months a year. In order to do that, though, it needs a great mix of family-friendly attractions to draw on a larger demographic of the market place to draw people to it when temperatures started dropping.

With that being said, due to the size and history of Carowinds, I would be have a hard time believing that the market would allow another park the size of Carowinds to be successful. I could see a 'Fun Spot America' type park with a couple of coasters and a nice mix of flat rides succeed. Especially if it was open a majority of the year.

EDIT: I agree with Jonathan that Raleigh could support an amusement park.

[Merthecat]

I do not see another park coming to Charlotte anytime soon.

But I agree, Raleigh would be a great place for an amusement park.

[gabed]

Maybe if Charlotte was more of a tourist city rather than a business one, Carowinds may have had some competition for awhile by now. It does surprise me that Carowinds is really the only major amusement park in both of the Carolinas while most other states have anywhere from 2-5 amusement parks.

[Tawny71]

Didn't Charlotte have 2 amusement parks for quite some time? Anyone remember Heritage USA???

[cwgator]

^I considered that more of a "christian" retreat. Outside of the main street area, hotel, tv studios, recreation of some holy places, amphitheater, camping, the train, some small carnival rides, petting zoo and water park (built towards the end), there really wasn't much else to it. It did attract up to 6 million people a year according to some sources. I remember going when we went to the church there and at Christmas for the lights.

[Edwardo]

Charlotte could definitely support a fun spot type park, but nothing big like carowinds. I think If someone put a smaller park with a small wooden coaster or two and maybe a jr sized steel coaster, flats, and PPR style rides like go karts, etc, up near Concord Mills it would do well.

[arby]

Yeah, calling Heritage USA an amusement park is like calling the Ark Encounter an amusement park. They both had/have a much deeper agenda rather than providing a recreational facility and making a profit.

[Tawny71]

I wasn't around when Heritage USA was here, so I don't really know much about it. I just know that there were lots of people who came to it.
I certainly don't think we could handle two Carowinds-size amusement parks, but I completey agree that we could add a Fun-Spot type park and it would do well.

[chargercrazy]

Have you guys forgotten about Celebration Station? It didn't have any coasters, but it did have mini golf, go karts, bumper boats, and a giant arcade.

[cwgator]

^It's still there...as Adventure Landing.
http://www.adventurelanding.com/parks/charlotte/home/

[arby]

I wasn't around when Heritage USA was here, so I don't really know much about it. I just know that there were lots of people who came to it.

I wasn't either, but knew about it because of my upbringing. I think they only reason it drew so many (from across the country, even) was because of the Bakkers and not so much because it was a theme park. Without that influence, I don't think one could pop up and draw so many from the GP alone. Especially not when there is a large quality park already established in the area.

Celebration Station seems more like a birthday party center. I was there last year with some youth and they were bored in no time. For it to be classified as an 'amusement park,' it really needs to find an identity and a reason to draw crowds like Fun Spot has done.

[Jonathan]

Celebration Station/Adventure Landing is definitely not an amusement park. There are thousands of those things all over the country.

Heritage had an outstanding water park. I went when I was younger and it was Heritage and then a lot growing up when it became Carolina Splash after Heritage fell apart. Here's a great look at what it was like in the mid-2000s before it was all bulldozed over: http://www.tommyandjames.net/heritageusa.html