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Carowinds and Kings Dominion expanding to year-round operations

ECG

ECG

East Coast(er) General
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Carowinds will expand to year-round operations beginning New Year's Day, 2023. The scheduling change introduces additional weekends to the calendar in January, February, and early March, with regular park operation continuing throughout the rest of the year. Yeah, it's not daily operations like the parks in Florida, but the weather in the Carolinas isn't quite as warm as it is further south nor is the Charlotte area a winter destination like Orlando, Tampa, etc.
If they pull this off and it proves to be financially feasible, could other southeastern parks like Dollywood, Six Flags Over Georgia or even Wild Adventures be next?

EDIT - Kings Dominion announced for year-round operation as well.
 
Will all the rides be operating or is the ride offering limited during the winter? Either way, this is pretty huge for a non-California/Florida park.
 
cookie said:
Will all the rides be operating or is the ride offering limited during the winter? Either way, this is pretty huge for a non-California/Florida park.
Click to expand...
The press release states: "Guests will experience rides, subject to routine maintenance, seasonal refurbishments, and weather closures. Select Carowinds dining, merchandise locations and games will be open for guests to enjoy during the winter operating days." So it will be a bit hit or miss, especially for those traveling from overseas that have to plan well ahead of time.
 
Checking weather averages (https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/usa/charlotte/climate), this isn't too far-fetched an idea weather-wise. Halloween operations in more-northern parks are often lower in temp than average Jan-March Charlotte temps.

Likewise curious on what anticipated attendance will be during winter months; optimistic it will work out!
 
That's quite a brave move considering most other theme parks at the moment seem to be scaling back operations from year-round due to demand and staffing issues.

But nice to see places trying to buck the trend, and if the weather allows, it's worth giving it a shot!
 
It's such a risk making your 'standard' operations year-round, when you're not in a tourism heavy spot such as Florida (that also has the climate!).

Hardly surprised they've said "Lol. definitely not".

Operating parks is so unbelievably expensive that most of them don't cover their overheads during the winter period unless they're hosting large-scale events to draw the footfall out.
 
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