Carowinds

Shout out to Carowinds for making our lives a little easier, and for the most enjoyable experience! Special needs families: Carowinds offers an amazing boarding pass program allowing your child the ability to be “in line” without actually having to wait in the line. It was a game changer for us. Plus, the staff were all so kind. We bought a season pass (obviously feeling ambitious!).

We normally stay away from any kind of theme park…. it’s just not worth the stress. But when we read about the “boarding pass” program at Carowinds, we thought we’d give it a try! You can read all about the program here. It is designed to help alleviate the stress that comes with having to wait in line, trouble with loud noises/sounds, or general struggles with a crowd. Within 5 minutes of visiting Guest Services, we had our pass and were on our way to our first ride time. You do need to take your child into Guest Services with you to get the pass and fill out a short questionnaire with the staff member. This questionnaire just helps them to make the necessary arrangements for your child and their needs.

We are always wanting Channing to learn what is “expected” so we did practice waiting in line for rides with shorter waits. Channing normally struggles with waiting and getting off a ride he enjoys. One of the rides we decided to practice “waiting” on was a short line and we thought we’d be on the next ride. Well, we walked onto the ride and all the seats were full. UH OH! So we had to walk back out and wait for the next ride. Shew! I was sweatin’ bullets… BUT we counted, Chad brought Channing some skittles, we jumped together, and we did our best to make it through those 5 minutes of torture. We didn’t try to “practice” any more after that.

Channing loved all of the rides. It was so fun seeing his excitement when the ride would start. His face would light up with pure JOY (uh, see photos!). He even road several rollercoasters! London wanted to ride everything too (and enjoyed running in the opposite direction of her family!). If you’re local to the Carolinas, I highly recommend giving Carowinds a shot! There were even “quiet zones” throughout the park where you could go and take a break if needed. All of the information can be found here, or by visiting Guest Services upon arrival. Pro tip: you can buy your tickets in advance online, OR walk through security and buy your tickets inside of Guest Services while you get your special needs boarding pass!

Thank you, Carowinds for giving us a fun outing for our babies. I wish more places were this inclusive. We will be back!

POST UPDATE: Carowinds posted about our story on their blog with more details about their special needs programs! You can read that post here.