North Carolina's 5 Best Amusement Parks With Thrilling Attractions, According To Visitors

If you're looking to visit a thrilling theme park, you might assume that you have to travel to a state like California or Florida to find the best options. However, if you're in or around North Carolina, the Tar Heel State actually has more than a few amusement parks that work well for the whole family. Most of them are water parks, but you can also find thrilling roller coasters and other attractions. In fact, North Carolina is home to one of the 8 amusement parks in the South that are worth visiting.

For this list, we're looking for true amusement parks, meaning they have a variety of rides or, in the case of water parks, slides. North Carolina has a few indoor amusement centers and outdoor adventure parks, but we're focusing on places more like Disneyland or Six Flags, meaning a single ticket gets you access to all of the main attractions. Also, while there is a Great Wolf Lodge in Charlotte, we didn't include it on this list because each Great Wolf Lodge in the US offers the same experience, no matter where you are. However, something like Carowinds, although affiliated with Six Flags, is unique to North Carolina, hence its position at the top spot. 

Finally, while thrilling attractions are the primary factor, we also wanted to showcase parks in different parts of the state, as well as those with high online ratings. So, pile everyone into the station wagon, get your swim trunks or shorts ready, and let's get on some rides!

We're kicking things off with the best all-around amusement park in North Carolina, Carowinds. This place has roller coasters, water slides, and live shows, and it's part of the Six Flags network of theme parks. Carowinds is also something of a geographical oddity since it straddles the border between North and South Carolina, meaning you'll be visiting both states multiple times during your visit. This park is the most-reviewed option in the entire state, with over 31,000 reviews and an average 4.4-star rating.

According to visitors, what makes Carowinds such a great amusement park is its abundance of thrill rides. Some people comment that it's impossible to try them all in a single day, while others suggest visiting on a weekday to ride your favorites multiple times. According to the website, there are over 60 rides throughout the park, with a mix of options to satisfy all thrill levels, even the youngest adrenaline junkies. Carowinds also has a helpful rating system, with each ride scored from one (calmest) to five (most thrilling). Rides like Afterburn, Copperhead Strike, and Fury 325 are all ranked as fives, so you're sure to get your blood pumping. In fact, right now, there are no level 1 rides and only one at level 2.

During the summer, you can take advantage of Carolina Harbor, the full-scale waterpark inside Carowinds. You can get wet and wild from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and best of all, you don't have to buy separate tickets to get access. So, you can ride roller coasters and water slides in a single day if you plan accordingly. 

If you're visiting North Carolina with young children, a place like Carowinds might not be the best deal because so many of the rides and attractions are geared toward tweens, teens, and adults. Fortunately, if you head along the Blue Ridge Parkway in the northwestern corner of the state, you'll run into the fairytale mountain town with award-winning cuisine known as Blowing Rock. On the outskirts of town is the best family-friendly amusement park in the area, Tweetsie Railroad, which has an average 4.7-star rating with over 5,400 reviews, making it one of the highest-rated parks in the state.

So what makes Tweetsie such a well-reviewed spot? According to visitors, the scenery is gorgeous, the rides are fun for all ages, and the train rides offer a vintage way to experience the Blue Ridge Mountains. In fact, the park is named after one of the two historic locomotives you can ride around the mountain; the other is named Yukon Queen. That said, while the train rides are great for everyone, they're not enclosed, so they can get cold during the fall and winter, when the park gets decked out in Halloween and Christmas decor. So, if you plan to visit during these seasons, make sure to dress appropriately.

Tweetsie Railroad is a Wild West theme park, so the attractions and live shows are all centered around cowboys and westerns. All of the shows are very kid-friendly, but they're entertaining for all ages. In addition to the trains, Tweetsie also features classic amusement park rides like a Ferris wheel, Tilt-a-Whirl, and a carousel, as well as a petting zoo, an arcade, a gem mining setup, and a western-themed playground. Unlike Carowinds, these rides skew toward a younger crowd, so plan accordingly.

If you plan to visit North Carolina between Memorial Day and Labor Day, you'll have an abundance of options for water parks. One of the most thrilling is H2OBX, located in Powells Point on the Outer Banks. This park is just a quick drive from the historic city of Kitty Hawk, so you can easily add both destinations to your itinerary. H2OBX is also the highest-rated water park in the state, with a 4.6-star rating and over 2,300 reviews at the time of this writing.

According to visitors, a big reason this park is so well-reviewed is that it has so many attractions, all of which are clean and well-maintained. H2OBX has a variety of options for all ages, from kid-friendly slides to thrilling tube rides. The park also has the largest wave pool on the East Coast and a surfing simulator called the Endless Wave Flowrider. Or, if you're looking for more of a leisurely experience, you can enjoy the pools or float along the lazy river.

Because the North Carolina sun can get intense during the summer, many visitors recommend wearing flip-flops or water shoes throughout the park. The concrete can get scorching by midday, and some guests even recommend renting a cabana. Even though they're somewhat pricey, they comment that the shade helps minimize the heat and offers a cool place to relax between slides. Visitors also remark that the food options at H2OBX are quite tasty.

If you've ever been to North Carolina's coastline before, you know that the Outer Banks along the northern edge are much different than the area close to the border of South Carolina. Here is where you'll find the state's cleanest city, aka the beachy portside gem of Wilmington. The city is home to our next stop, Jungle Rapids Family Fun Park. As the name implies, Jungle Rapids offers a variety of family-friendly activities and attractions, but the crown jewel is the water park, which is like a smaller version of H2OBX. There are thrilling slides, a lazy river, and a wave pool, and you can easily spend all day getting wet without checking out the rest of the park.

Many guests comment that the park is a lot of fun, but it can be overpriced since you pay for each activity individually. Also, compared to other, larger waterparks, the entry fee can seem a bit steep, but everything at Jungle Rapids is still enjoyable and clean. Based on reviews, the most popular attractions are the mini golf, arcade, and go-karts, but the park also has laser tag, a jungle-themed playground, a climbing wall, and miniature bowling. There is also only one restaurant on-site, which serves pizza, sandwiches, burgers, and hot dogs.

Based on our methodology, Jungle Rapids almost didn't make the cut because it offers multiple pricing options depending on what you want to do. However, since the water park offers multiple attractions for a single ticket price, it still matches our criteria. If you just want to do the arcade and other activities (e.g., go-karts or mini-golf), you pay for each play, or you can buy a multi-activity ticket. 

Our final stop on the North Carolina amusement park tour is in the vibrant city with plenty of charming communities and a thriving arts scene, Greensboro. Wet n' Wild Emerald Pointe Waterpark has over 40 attractions for visitors of all ages, from the thrilling dual-drop slide Bombs Away to more kid-friendly pools and slides. There's also a massive wave pool, a lazy river, and a pirate and a volcano-themed pool.

According to visitors, the positive attributes of the park are the abundance of attractions, the cleanliness of the area, and the friendliness of the staff. Overall, most guests comment that it's a fantastic value and that if you wait until later in the day or come on a weekday, you can ride everything more easily since there are shorter wait times for the more popular attractions. It's also worth noting that the park responds to each review, so even if you have a negative experience, you can likely get assistance with resolving any issues.

One unique element about Wet n' Wild is that it hosts events throughout the season. For example, you can come for Foam Zone Fridays or during the Great Pirate Takeover. The park even hosts a luau and a Santa Splashcation on July 25th. Although the park is closed after Labor Day, it hosts a separate Halloween event, as mentioned by many reviews from 2024. So, when planning your trip to Wet n' Wild, you can try to visit during one of these events and get more bang for your buck.

When curating this list, we began by searching for amusement parks in North Carolina. Then, we filtered out any spots that wouldn't necessarily fit the description of an "amusement park," specifically having rides and attractions that come with a park ticket. For example, there are a few amusement centers with arcades and activities, but we wouldn't add them to this kind of a list. Also, as we mentioned, while there is a Great Wolf Lodge outside of Charlotte, we didn't add it to the list because each lodge offers an identical experience. We wanted to feature parks with rides and attractions you can only find in North Carolina.

Then, because we're looking for the five best parks, we paid attention to online rankings and reviews. As we mentioned earlier, many of the Tar Heel State's amusement parks are waterparks, so it's best to visit during the summer when you can take advantage. Finally, we tried to include parks throughout the state so you can add them to your vacation itinerary, no matter where you're traveling.