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Credit: CarowindsCarowinds has announced its unexpected closure today.
Carowinds straddles the North Carolina–South Carolina border and has served as a regional draw for thrill-seekers in the Southeast for nearly 53 years. The park blends traditional fairground attractions with modern roller coasters – such as Copperhead Strike, Carolina Cyclone, and The Flying Cobras – to provide fun for the whole family.
Previously owned by Cedar Fair, the park now falls under the Six Flags banner since the two companies merged in 2024 to create the Six Flags Entertainment Corporation. So far, it’s remained safe from the slew of permanent park closures announced by the company.
While Six Flags America closed for good in November and Six Flags California Great America is set to close in 2027, Carowinds remains open. However, it has fallen prey to its mission to cut costs as Six Flags’ stock crashes 70% in 2025, with its workforce slashed in 2025.
Today, Six Flags also made the decision to cut its 2025 operating season short.
Carowinds Drops Bombshell of Early Closure
Carowinds announced on X, formerly known as Twitter, that it would close early at 3 p.m. due to inclement weather. With today marking the final day in its 2025 season (even though, yes, technically it’s 2026), that means it’s closed its gates for the next few months earlier than planned.
— Carowinds (@Carowinds) January 3, 2026
The good news is that the park will reopen on March 14, meaning there’s just over two months until the likes of Camp Snoopy, County Fair, and its other lands are back open to the public.
But that doesn’t soften the blow for those who trekked to the park today.
Guests shared images of the long lines for guest services, where plenty of parkgoers queued to most likely share their complaints about the early closure. Some have also complained that the weather is not notable enough to warrant closing the park hours ahead of schedule, with some suggesting it is due to low attendance.
Longest line of day. Lol pic.twitter.com/WT71NI7z1S
— Caleb Kingery (@ctk4braves) January 3, 2026
“Zero weather in the forecast and [you’re] still selling tickets and telling people they have an hour upon entry at 2pm today,” wrote one user.
Another wrote, “It’s kind of a let down and crappy way to end the season. But it is kind of funny.”
On Instagram, guests left furious comments on the park’s closure notice.
“You guys ended up the year disappointing hundreds of people,” wrote one user. “The weather it’s nice, it’s 53 degrees … it is so sad to see this park not caring about people anymore and to make a last minute call like that it’s simple not fair, very disappointed.”
One wrote, “If you’re going to do that, that needs to be planned in advance and very heavily advertised. Not the day of and telling people as they’re scanning in to the park that [y’all] are closing in an hour (and when we bought the tickets earlier that morning the website said you were open until 10pm).”
Today’s weather forecast in Charlotte, North Carolina, predicts light drizzle. At the time of the park’s closure, it was 50 degrees Fahrenheit. In other words, relatively mild theme park weather.
Have you visited Carowinds lately?