August 16th is National Roller Coaster Day. And here in the Carolinas, yes both Carolinas, we are lucky enough to have some incredible roller coasters. As a kid who loved thrill rides, I used to dream of going to Cedar Point one day to ride some of the world’s best coasters. Little did I know that Cedar Point’s parent company, Cedar Fair, would purchase Carowinds years later and start to bring those world-class roller coasters to my own backyard. Pretty fun right? Since Cedar Fair took over the park we’ve seen lots of changes. These include a water park expansion, fair-type rides, and of course new record-breaking coasters.
And they really have put Carowinds on the map. The last time I was there, there was actually a huge group of roller coaster enthusiasts from around the world that came here specifically to go to Carowinds. It has become a destination theme park. Which is pretty cool and great for the economy in both of the Carolinas. But back to the coasters at Carowinds. Counting kiddie coasters there are 13 roller coasters in the park. Some have been there since I was a kid, and others are relatively new. The newest coaster Carowinds has is Copperhead Strike a launch coaster which numerous inversions that opened in March of 2019.
A few of my rankings you may not agree with, and that’s ok this is just my personal opinion as someone who has grown up in Charlotte and gone to Carowinds a fair number of times. I don’t frequent that often anymore, maybe once a year if friends want to go, but I’ll always love getting on my favorite rides. So keep reading to see all 13 of Carowinds’ roller coasters ranked. Want to see a full ranking on every ride open in 2022 at Carowinds? You can read that here.