Carowinds
vs
Dorney Park

On a typical day Carowinds queues less: about 8 minutes a ride against 20 at Dorney Park, a difference of roughly 12 minutes on every queue you join.

See both right now Compare other parks

01 · On a typical day

What you would normally queue.

Averages across recent weeks, so one broken ride or one wet Tuesday cannot decide it. This is the comparison to plan a trip on; the live figures below are the one to act on today.

Carowinds and Dorney Park compared on their typical recorded queue times
Typically	CarowindsUnited States	Dorney ParkUnited States
Average wait per ride	8 min (best of the two)	20 min
Rides with recorded waits	36 (best of the two)	13
Longest typical queue	Fury 32521 min	Wild Mouse42 min
Shortest typical queue	Woodstock Whirlybirds3 min	Dominator Red9 min
Average ride uptime Share of opening hours a ride is running	Not recorded	90%

Averaged across every ride at each park with recorded waits. A ride that never opened is left out, so a park is not flattered by counting a shut ride as a queue of zero.

02 · Right now

Both parks, this minute.

Live queue times at both parks. These fill in as soon as the page loads, and keep updating while you are here.

Carowinds and Dorney Park compared on live queue times
Right now	CarowindsUnited States	Dorney ParkUnited States
Average wait right now	-	-
Rides open	-	-
Opening hours today	-	-
Longest queue	-	-
Shortest queue	-	-

These keep refreshing while this page is open. A closed park posts no waits, so its rows read as dashes rather than zeroes.

Verdict, on a typical day On a typical day Carowinds queues less: about 8 minutes a ride against 20 at Dorney Park, a difference of roughly 12 minutes on every queue you join.

03 · Choosing

Which one is your day out.

Every line here is earned by one of the figures above - nothing is a generic sentence with a park name dropped into it.

Pick Carowinds if…

You want shorter queues: Carowinds averages 8 minutes a ride against 20 at Dorney Park
You want more to do: 36 rides here have recorded wait data against 13 at Dorney Park
Fury 325 is on your list - it is Carowinds's longest typical queue at about 21 minutes, so it is the one to do first
You want Carowinds's own character - the rides, theming and atmosphere described below

Pick Dorney Park if…

You will accept a longer queue - 20 minutes a ride here against 8 at Carowinds - for what Dorney Park has that Carowinds does not
Wild Mouse is on your list - it is Dorney Park's longest typical queue at about 42 minutes, so it is the one to do first
You want Dorney Park's own character - the rides, theming and atmosphere described below

04 · The parks

What each one is.

Carowinds

Carowinds sits directly on the North Carolina / South Carolina state line in Charlotte and is best known for Fury 325 - one of the world's tallest and fastest full-circuit roller coasters at 325 feet. The rest of the line-up is strong too: Copperhead Strike, Intimidator, Afterburn inverted coaster, and the newer Top Gun: The Jet Coaster. A separate Carolina Harbor water park operates in the summer.

Carowinds' peak crowds come during US summer school holidays, Scarowinds (Halloween), and Charlotte-area weekend visits. Weekdays in May, September and October are much quieter. Check live queue times for Fury 325 and Copperhead Strike first thing on arrival, and use our crowd calendar to pick a lower-crowd midweek date for shorter waits across the coaster line-up.

Carowinds live queue times

Dorney Park

Dorney Park sits in Allentown, Pennsylvania, about 90 minutes north of Philadelphia. It's a mid-sized theme park with a strong coaster line-up for its size: Steel Force (a 200-foot hyper coaster), Talon (an inverted coaster), Hydra the Revenge (a floorless coaster), and Possessed. A Wildwater Kingdom water park is included with park admission during the summer season.

Dorney Park's season runs May to October, with peak crowds on summer weekends and during the Halloween Haunt. Weekdays in May, September and October are dramatically quieter. Check live queue times for Steel Force and Hydra on arrival, and use our crowd calendar to pick a midweek visit - most of the coasters stay under 15 minutes of wait time on quieter days.

Dorney Park live queue times

05 · Questions

Carowinds or Dorney Park?

Which is better, Carowinds or Dorney Park?

If you are judging on queues, Carowinds: it averages about 8 minutes a ride on a typical day against 20 at Dorney Park, roughly 12 minutes back on every queue you join. Carowinds has 36 rides with recorded waits against 13 at Dorney Park.

Which has shorter queues, Carowinds or Dorney Park?

Carowinds, by about 12 minutes a ride. On a typical day Carowinds averages 8 minutes against 20 at Dorney Park. Queues still move hour by hour, and a midweek day outside school holidays beats the gap at either park. See Carowinds best time to visit and Dorney Park best time to visit to pick a quiet day.

Can I visit Carowinds and Dorney Park in the same trip?

Yes - both parks are in United States, so a two-park trip is realistic over a long weekend. Split the days so you start at whichever opens earliest and drive to the other in the evening.

How many rides does each park have?

See the tables above for ride counts - or jump to Carowinds and Dorney Park for the full ride lists.

Is Carowinds bigger than Dorney Park?

By rides we track waits for, Carowinds is the bigger day out: 36 rides against 13. Acreage matters less than how many you can actually get on, which comes down to queues and opening hours - and on those Carowinds is the quicker park.

Then pick
the quiet day.

Both parks have a crowd calendar with six weeks of forecast and the best day left to go.

Carowinds calendar Dorney Park calendar Compare other parks