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CAROWINDS
Charlotte, NC
Six Flags Entertainment
---- THE LATEST BUZZ ----
(9/18/2026) SCarowinds Is Back To Form, Dark, Spooky and So Much Fun
(8/23/2026) All the Details For SCarowinds 2026
(8/13/2026) Carowinds Tops Off New Rip Roarin' Falls Attraction Tower
(8/1/2026) Jason Universe Comes To Carowinds This Fall + 2027 Construction Update
(7/21/2026) FURY 325 is now REOPEN
Park News - (7/21/2026) Consider me shocked and very impressed, but Carowinds has confirmed that they were able to reopen FURY 325 earlier today. Well done, nice to see this repair work done and inspected so quickly!
(7/16/2026) The latest reports on the closure of FURY 325 at Carowinds now confirms that the ride is closed in order to conduct repairs on one of the support foundations. They go on to confirm that the problem was discovered on July 7th and the ride has been shut down ever since. According to some educated guesses from social media… we shouldn’t expect to see Fury back up and running until just after summer, due to fact that typically the giant concrete forms used for this kind of roller coaster foundation can take at least 3 weeks to dry and cure before they can be put to use once again. The last thing Carowinds wants is to pour a new foundation and rush to reopen the coaster, which could cause another early failure in the future.
It is also worth mentioning that if the fence we saw in the picture a couple of days that was surrounding a particular support section is indeed the problem spot, then the foundation that has failed is one that is right in the same area (maybe one support beam over) from the infamous support that cracked in 2023. So while that troublesome support beam was replaced to solve that issues, a weakened foundation in the same area just tells us that the same extreme forces that caused the support to crack three years ago are still there and now causing other issues. It should be interesting to see if Carowinds makes the repaired foundation deeper, thicker or much larger than before to try and tackle this issue from happening again, or if they decide to reinforce other foundations, or even try to reinforce some of the other supports in this area.
 SCarowinds 2026 - (9/18/2026) Last week Screamscape had the pleasure of being invited down to Carowinds to check out a preview of this year’s new SCarowinds halloween haunt event. As a local to the area for the past 20 years, I have to admit that I’ve been a frequent visitor myself (either for Screamscape or on my own time and dime) to SCarowinds. So with that said, I’ve seen the event evolve quite a bit in that timeline, going from a separate ticket event to one that was included with season passes, and now to the current “Six Flags” edition where visiting the Haunts requires the purchase of an extra-cost Haunted Attractions Pass.
After visiting SCarowinds almost every year for the past 20 years, I do have to admit that about 3 or 4 years back, I just stopped going. I had become frustrated with the park’s “haunt” product that had gone from being more creative and adding new thrills each year, to just a stagnant roll-out of the same haunts over and over, along with a general reduction of the quality of scares and on my last visit, included going to through scare zones and mazes that seemed almost entirely empty of actual scareactors. So for me SCarowinds had hit rock bottom at the time and I was going to take a break for a while. With the introduction of a more “Six Flags” style event in 2025 when the extra cost Haunt Attractions Pass was added, along with an even more costly special upcharge haunt experience separate from the rest, I had feared the worst. After all, during the decades long history of SCarowinds, the park had never charged for their haunts, and everything was always included in your admission pass.
So jump ahead to 2026… when I had the opportunity to come back to SCarowinds again, I had to take it, just to see first hand how things had evolved. That said… I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw, even if it was just a special ‘preview’ event night for the staff to get a last chance to rehearse and make final tweaks. What I did see was a greatly improved event from the last time I had visited SCarowinds, with the haunts and scare zones returning to fully staffed levels and with Scareactors that were taking the time to perfect their craft, locking on on just how to interact with different members of the crowd in ways that would be the more appropriate, as well as taking care to fill in their space within the zones and avoiding empty/dead spots.
Shows… SCarowinds has an offering of different styles of live performances once again, using the outdoor stages as well as the park’s indoor theater to great effect. The park’s indoor theater in particular plays host to a fun musical who-done-it show called Wake The Dead. Thorough the use of guest participation, the audience is tasked with deciding which one of the four greedy heirs is guilty of murdering one Franklin Earl Anderson Rochester (F.E.A.R.?), which can result in the show having one of four different possible endings.
And Haunts… there is where things get interesting. The controversial Haunted Attraction Pass idea isn’t horrible… it is only $10 right now, and if it cuts down on the long waits to get into the haunts, it may not be a bad idea. Right now the park is a “mix” of old Cedar Fair haunts and new generation Six Flags haunts, but I think I see the long term vision for how Six Flags wants this to unfold now.
Last year the park introduced a major IP haunt to the event, The Conjuring: Beyond Fear… but unlike the rest of the park’s 5 other haunts, you need to buy a special ticket to get into The Conjuring. More on that later… but new for 2026 is yet another big name IP haunt… Jason: Blood Reign, themed to one of horror’s most famous slashers. This left 4 remaining old time haunts: Slaughterhouse (which I think was around in one form or another for much of the past 20 years or more), Silver Scream Studios (yet another long-time haunt that has been around in one form or another for over a decade) and two newer haunts: Paranormal Inc and The Toothfairy.
As Jason was the new haunt of the year, our media night included an exclusive lights on tour of the haunt and I’ve posted several video clips below that show off this amazing haunt in all of its glorious details, minus the last few rooms which we were asked not to film. The great thing about Jason: Blood Reign is that this seems to be a clear step-up in quality for a haunt a SCarowinds compared to the older mazes, and it really shows. Combined with the super high quality thrills of The Conjuring from the previous season, and I would say that Six Flags plan for their haunts, chain wide, is to introduce new high quality IP driven haunts one at a time, and then keep them as long as they can while spending the following years replacing each park’s other older haunts one by one. Bottom line, without spoiling more than the video shows, you do need to see Jason: Blood Reign… it’s a lot of fun and takes you through scenes that will remind you of Jason’s murder romps over the first several films.
Now let’s briefly talk about The Conjuring: Beyond Fear, because once you get past the idea that this haunt costs extra to see, and takes a lot longer to get through, it quickly becomes more obvious as to why. Tickets for The Conjuring right now were listed at $15, and you enter this very large haunt in small groups of 10 where you are led, room by room through the haunt over a time period that I didn’t try to time, but it sure seemed like it took about 20 minutes to get through. Your group is stopped in each room as some sort of scene plays out, one after the other, and then rushed by your guest to the next scene where you end up deeper and deeper into The Conjuring universe, which includes appearances by all your favorite Conjuring creeps, as well as all the spin off film characters like Annabelle and The Nun. There are a few puzzles to be solved, items to be touched, and elements to interact with along the way, and just by my own rough guess, I’d say that out of your group of 10, at least 7 or more members of the group will be tasked to take the center stage at one point or another, getting involved with the story to help move things along. Me? Believe it or not, for what seemed like about 10 minutes or more, I was tasked with picking up and carrying the Annabelle doll throughout the house with our group. It’s very cramped quarters, and on at least two occasions while we traveled through the haunt, other members of our group would stop nearby and see what I was carrying with me, and scream, “Why do you still have that?!?!”
Bottom line… The Conjuring: Beyond Fear was one of the most fun haunts that I’ve been into in quite awhile and I’d say is definitely worth the upcharge to see if you get the chance. I can only assume that the three other Conjuring locations from last year are still the same, and should be just as great if you encounter them at Cedar Point, Kings Island or Canada’s Wonderland this season.
Even better… I’m happy to say that SCarowinds is back and in fine form. And while I’m sure he had no idea who I was, I have to applaud the man with the chainsaw in Camp Snoopy who managed to step out of the shadows and actually scare the crap out of me that I simply was not expecting. It has been a long time since someone did that… so bravo good sir!
(8/23/2026) The list of offerings coming to SCarowinds for 2026 include several new experiences and the return of many classics.
The list of haunted mazes this year include the one new one previously announced, JASON: Blood Reign, along with the returning “The Conjuring: Beyond Fear” from last year, Paranormal Inc, Slaughterhouse, Silver Scream Studios: Director’s Cut and The Toothfairy for a total of six. As we saw last year, you will now need to purchase a separate extra-cost Haunted Attractions Pass to access these haunted mazes, AND… even with that pass The Conjuring: Beyond Fear is considered a premium “SCREAMium” level attraction that will also require a RESERVATION AND a separate ticket as well. According to the website right now, the Haunted Attractions Pass will run you an extra $10 for access to the five mazes and the separate ticket into The Conjuring is an extra $25, though they do say that The Conjuring experience is “nearly 20 minutes of next-level terror”.
Other new items this year include three new scare zones (Carnevil, Lost Souls and Restricted), The Resurgence (opening show), Blade Drummers (show), Sinister Slide Squad (show) and Incantations with the Enchantress (show). There are two returning scare zones: The Hollow and Grave Garden.
(8/1/2026) Six Flags has announced that the Jason Universe will arrive at select parks this Halloween season with the creation of a “Jason Blood Reign” haunted house experience. The post on social media tagged Kings Island, Six Flags Great Adventure and Carowinds, so we can only assume the new Jason attraction will be at just those parks.
(6/20/2026) A new post on social media shows that the former DEFEX haunt at Carowinds has been gutted and cleared out, so it looks like a new haunt experience will be coming to SCarowinds this fall.
2027 - Rip Roarin’ Falls - (8/13/2026) Carowinds has confirmed that their construction crew has topped off the 100-foot central tower to the new Rip Roarin’ Falls attraction that will open in 2027. Check out the picture below taken as the top was put on.
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(8/1/2026) A nice collection of construction photos for the park’s new Rip Roarin Falls attraction coming in 2027 can be seen below from Facebook.
(6/24/2026) Carowinds has confirmed that vertical construction on the park’s new Rip Roarin’ Falls attraction for 2027 has now gone vertical with the placement of the first large support beams that will hold up the over 100 foot tall final plunge. According to Carowinds, the work of putting the giant pieces of the puzzle together goes to Mosley Erecting, the same team that was responsible for putting together Fury 325 and Windseeker. Don’t look for much construction to take place during the daylight hours this summer however, as the proximity of the project to Fury 325 has limited much of the new assembly work to taking place at night when Fury is closed.
Over the next month look for the crew to begin putting together the Station House by mid-July and two high-speed switches by late July.
(6/9/2026) Carowinds has announced Rip Roarin’ Falls is coming to the park for the 2027 season, as this definitely is the promised new water ride that Six Flags had teased before. This is a new flume ride system from WhiteWater that will feature a number of world records!
According to the teaser video, the whole experience will take 6.5 minutes and feature two big drops! The first will be a World’s Tallest “reverse camelback drop” that will send you falling backwards down the world’s tallest reverse drop on a flume ride, before you go forward again and climb to the top of the tower to experience the World’s Tallest drop on a flume ride, a 100ft drop at 50mph. Rip Roarin’ Falls will have a 35-inch height requirement to board one of the 8-passenger log flume boats. They say that the ride’s loading station will be “specially designed to increase rider capacity and reduce wait times” which often means that the park may use a conveyor belt within the station to keep the boats moving at all times.
While Rip Roarin’ Falls will take the place of the park’s former Rip Roarin’ Rapids attraction, the entrance to the new ride will be in the Thrill Zone section of the park, near Fury 325.
(6/3/2026) Previously we mentioned that the media announcement for Carowinds 2027 attraction would be taking place on June 8th, but now according to a video message from the Park President, even the general public is being invited to this announcement as well. Check it out below.
(5/30/2026) While the big announcement from Carowinds is coming in a week, the park did post a weird teaser video about “Paranormal Phenoms” about “one of the most haunted places in the Carolinas”... the Holz Brothers Logging Company which left behind a creepy abandon’s saw mill in the woods. So…. it sounds like we now know exactly the source of the #WhatsInTheWoods hashtag mystery, and does on to give details about this abandoned creepy saw mill, including a “steam driven multi-level buzzsaw”.
So… this definitely sounds like we can expect a good classic theme park Log Ride to be announced… but the end of the video also drops an 8/6/2026 date in the video, while strangely the planned media event in the park will be taking place June 8th… or 6/8/2026.
So a strange mirror image mistake in the date? And Yes, I know the European standard for dates is to put then in day/month/year format, but Carowinds, in the middle of the US South, is definitely not a place you would do that, so perhaps June 8th is more of a teaser, with the full reveal to come in August maybe?
Either way, this announcement has given me some hope that Carowinds (and backed by Six Flags now) will put some extra money into the theming budget here and actually build a nice themed log ride experience with terrain, logging buildings, tunnels, maybe even enclose some of it with a fake mountain structure to make this 21st century log ride look a bit more like the classic Knott’s Berry Farm style log ride, which also has a great saw mill theme. Let’s hope… because unthemed log rides running through troughs held up in the air by open steel beams (kinda like the old flume that Carowinds removed long ago) is just a bit too uninspired of a project to build in this day and age.
Final thought… I’m thinking June 8th for the media is to further promote this initial teaser topic of the haunted saw mill theme, and maybe this will be followed throughout the summer with a series of mini updates and more teasers that will all lead to a big final announcement on August 6th. And who knows… maybe they’ll be smart and tie some of this fun Paranormal Phenoms stuff into this year’s SCarowinds haunt to continue to build up the lore for the upcoming attraction’s theme.
(5/23/2026) The big reveal for what Carowinds has planned for the 2027 season is nearly here, as the teaser campaign to find out #WHATSINTHEWOODS will cap off with a planned media announcement on June 8th, 2026. So will it be the water flume ride that corporate previously announced as something coming in 2026, or has the scope of the project grown larger or changed entirely? We will know soon enough…
(3/26/2026) While Carowinds seems to just be starting their build-up tease to whatever they have planned for 2027, be it the same previous water ride teased by corporate for 2026 that may have just been delayed, or perhaps something else entirely new, we do have a great picture showing off the site that was cleared that was the former home to the park’s river rapid ride. So what may come here for 2027?
(3/21/2026) A large crate has been set up in Carowinds it seems as a teaser for the park’s upcoming 2027 attraction. Other than the “Ship to: Carowinds” stamp, the only other obvious text on the crate is “FRAGILE”, so unless it’s a giant leg-shaped lamp that was sent as a major award… then this has to be a teaser for a future attraction.
The site of the former rapids ride has been cleared out for some time now, and previous posts from Six Flags corporate did mention they wanted to install some kind of record breaking water ride, which the park desperately needs, as it has zero water rides right now, but plans at Six Flags do have a tendency to change from time to time, so we’ll have to wait and see what this really is.
???? - New Attraction Guest Survey Concepts - (10/18/2025) Six Flags has begun sending out surveys to select guests to get feedback about possible future addition concepts that may be in the works. Keep in mind that not every concept they pitch for any given park may actually be intended for that particular park, as sometimes the chains will pitch ride concepts to other markets as well to gain some broader feedback on certain concepts. With that said… let’s dig into what is currently being pitched for the various parks.
The guest survey for Carowinds is interesting, as it includes concepts such as a Zamperla Giga Discovery ride (a giant 172ft tall spinning pendulum rides) as well as what sounds like an S&S Screaming Swing. The rest of the survey is very coaster heavy, which shows that good things are likely coming to the Carolinas, with a proposal for a Dive Coaster, a Wing Coaster, a Family Thrill Launch Coaster and a proposal for a new “Launch Coaster” that seems to be more like AlpenFury at Canada’s Wonderland. So a long kick-butt high-inversion count launched coaster for Carowinds would be a winner in my book.
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