Carowinds
vs
Six Flags Magic Mountain

On a typical day Carowinds queues less: about 8 minutes a ride against 13 at Six Flags Magic Mountain, a difference of roughly 5 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 Six Flags Magic Mountain compared on their typical recorded queue times
Typically	CarowindsUnited States	Six Flags Magic MountainUnited States
Average wait per ride	8 min (best of the two)	13 min
Rides with recorded waits	36	37 (best of the two)
Longest typical queue	Fury 32521 min	Roaring Rapids41 min
Shortest typical queue	Woodstock Whirlybirds3 min	Taz’s Tazmanian Train Tours5 min
Average ride uptime Share of opening hours a ride is running	Not recorded	94%

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 Six Flags Magic Mountain compared on live queue times
Right now	CarowindsUnited States	Six Flags Magic MountainUnited 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 13 at Six Flags Magic Mountain, a difference of roughly 5 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 13 at Six Flags Magic Mountain
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 Six Flags Magic Mountain if…

You will accept a longer queue - 13 minutes a ride here against 8 at Carowinds - for what Six Flags Magic Mountain has that Carowinds does not
You want more to do: 37 rides here have recorded wait data against 36 at Carowinds
Roaring Rapids is on your list - it is Six Flags Magic Mountain's longest typical queue at about 41 minutes, so it is the one to do first
You want Six Flags Magic Mountain'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

Six Flags Magic Mountain

Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, holds the world record for most roller coasters at a single park - currently 20 distinct coasters. Highlights include X2 (a 4-D prototype), Twisted Colossus, Tatsu (a flying coaster), Full Throttle, Superman: Escape from Krypton, Goliath, and Wonder Woman Flight of Courage. The park's hilly footprint gives many rides dramatic terrain-following drops.

Magic Mountain's LA-area weekend visits, US school holidays, Fright Fest and Holiday in the Park events drive peak crowds. Weekdays outside school breaks can be dramatically quieter. Check live queue times for X2 and Twisted Colossus on arrival - they build up fastest - and use our crowd calendar to pick a lower-crowd midweek date if you want to ride all 20 coasters in a single day.

Six Flags Magic Mountain live queue times

05 · Questions

Carowinds or Six Flags Magic Mountain?

Which is better, Carowinds or Six Flags Magic Mountain?

If you are judging on queues, Carowinds: it averages about 8 minutes a ride on a typical day against 13 at Six Flags Magic Mountain, roughly 5 minutes back on every queue you join. Carowinds has 36 rides with recorded waits against 37 at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

Which has shorter queues, Carowinds or Six Flags Magic Mountain?

Carowinds, by about 5 minutes a ride. On a typical day Carowinds averages 8 minutes against 13 at Six Flags Magic Mountain. 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 Six Flags Magic Mountain best time to visit to pick a quiet day.

Can I visit Carowinds and Six Flags Magic Mountain 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 Six Flags Magic Mountain for the full ride lists.

Is Carowinds bigger than Six Flags Magic Mountain?

By rides we track waits for, Six Flags Magic Mountain is the bigger day out: 37 rides against 36. 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 Six Flags Magic Mountain calendar Compare other parks