Carowinds Aeronautica Landing, Charlotte, North Carolina

Welcome to the 2023 summer season of Carowinds at the Gate of the Carolinas. Carowinds is in both North and South Carolina with an address of 14523 Carowinds Boulevard in Charlotte, North Carolina. At this exact spot, a park guest can stand in both North and South Carolina at the very same time. The park is decorated for the Grand Carnivale event, which is a lot of fun.

Park guests go through a security queue before entering Carowinds. Strollers, purses, backpacks, and swim totes are searched. (This is also the entrance for the Carolina Harbor water park.) Visitors pass through a metal detector, and those without packs or strollers and who pass through can bypass the queue.

These young people are performing at Carowinds’ Celebration Plaza on the morning of Wednesday, June 28, 2023. The performance began at 10:30 am and finished an hour later. The “Showbiz Kids” from Dancensation Studios in Louisville, Kentucky, were really polished, despite the heat and humidity.

Aeronautica Landing was created for 2023 to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the founding of Carowinds. The Aeronatica “runway” is located between the Crossroads and Blue Ridge Junction areas. This area feels new and polished, with a nod toward the nearby Charlotte Douglas International Airport and the golden age of air travel.

Aeronautica Landing is full of fun airplane props. This area is easy to get around in with conveniently located amenities. Note the drone on the right and the well-traveled steamer trunk on the left atop the tower of luggage. There are rides of all types here plus several food options with even more just outside this zone.

Hover and Dodge is a great re-imagining of the old Dodge’m bumper cars. This level-four thrill ride is designed for guests 48 inches (122 cm) and up if they wish to drive. The minimum height to ride with a supervising companion is 42 inches (61 cm). Hover and Dodge has an accessible entrance and accepts the Fast Lane pass.

The Hover and Dodge circular track is quite the retro-futuristic update from older Dodgem tracks at, say, Kings Island in Mason, Ohio. This ride has shiny new cars, and lacks that musty, early 1980’s smell. Looking at the far back wall, the description says “Hover Board Testing,” which adds nicely to the overall experience.

Windstar is billed by Carowinds as a family-style, level-three hang-glider ride. There is an accessible entrance for those who need it. Windstar is designed for guests 48 inches (122 cm) and up, and the minimum height to ride with a supervising companion is 42 inches (61 cm). The maximum weight for each glider is 600 lbs (272 kg).

ike most moveable attractions at Carowinds, riders will need to leave their unsecured belongings on the ground. Windstar has a block of cubby holes by the ride-operator’s hut for backpacks. These cubby holes also have drink-holder slots for cups and souvenir bottles. As a reminder, small cups of water are provided for free at open food stands.

Gyro Force is all decked out like a high-tech proving ground. This level-three family ride uses centrifugal force to spin riders around on a variable-lift roulette wheel. The minimum height to ride is 42 inches (61 cm) and smaller riders should be on the inside of the car. Riders use a lap-bar and a seat belt to stay secure.

Air Racers is a level-five thrill ride with a minimum height requirement of 48 inches (122 cm). Riders are fully inverted on this attraction, which generated a lot of smiles from the riders as they landed and deplaned. The maximum weight is 300 pounds (136 kg), and the cockpit includes a shoulder harness. A safety strap between the legs completes the restraint, which all must snap securely over the rider.

The Airwalker disk’o roller coaster is a lot of fun and evokes the Carolina dunes, like for the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk. A “disk-o” combines a spinning ride with a roller coaster into one ride. Airwalker at Aeronautica Landing is similar to the Surf Dog ride at Kings Island and Pipe Scream at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio.

Afterburn has been at Carowinds since 1999 and is a fun roller coaster and a level-five thrill ride. Evoking Navy fighter jets, Afterburn is an inverted coaster with seats hanging below the steel track. This ride has six inversions, reaching a height of 113 feet (34.5 m) at 62 mph (100 kph). There is a US Navy fighter jet on display here.

This cobblestone pavilion at Aeronautica Landing provides shaded rest areas from the sun. (Note the propeller design of the artificial turf.) During the heat of the afternoon, it may be wise for guests to sit down under the shade to avoid, or even recover from, heat exhaustion. Bottle-filler type water fountains are located in this zone to ward off dehydration.

Brewery Bites, a food truck featuring gourmet hot dogs, is a new eatery at Carowinds. The menu includes beef dogs with various toppings named after big airports like LaGuardia, O’Hare, LAX, and Charlotte-Douglas. This food truck was closed the week of June 26, 2023. Some of Carowinds’ bigger attractions were also closed, like the Coastal Currents lazy river attraction in Carolina Harbor, while the Fury 325 coaster was closed due to a serious structural defect.

This is the Terminal A eatery in Aeronautica Landing, which was designed to evoke first-class lounges in big airports. After much hype in the local media, justification for the hoopla was hard to come by during several visits in late June. Nearby Frequent Fryers had more takers, but with little respite from the Carolina sun. (The best things about Terminal A were the washrooms to the right, which were well-appointed and clean.)

Terminal A is not really an eatery, but more of a beer and appetizers place, and is not on any of the dining plans. There are several beers on tap, plus appetizers like pork sliders, chicken sliders, charcuterie, smoked brie, and pretzel bites. Food may or may not be available past 5 pm, and a smart phone is needed to access the menu.

Although Leonardo’s Hometown Italian Food is not in Aeronautica Landing, it is right around the corner from the Terminal A eatery and the Boo Blasters ride in the Crossroads zone. This is the best choice for food, for many reasons, for guests in the Aeronautica zone. The food, service, washrooms, and ambience are all good.

Leonardo’s, which is named for 16th century Tuscan polymath Leonardo Da Vinci, lives up to its namesake for the variety and quality of food. According to PBS, the following appears in a Da Vinci notebook, which describes the Italian comfort food served here: “ … and whatever you take into you / Should be well-cooked and of simple ingredients. …” This place is also air-conditioned.

This is Leonardo’s Stuffed Shells offering with jumbo pasta shells stuffed with ricotta cheese, topped with a good marinara sauce, plus a choice of one of three side dishes. The roasted broccoli and cauliflower side dish shown here was hot and fresh, and the seasoned new potatoes were excellent. The garlic knot offering was delicious.

Shown here is Leonardo’s piadina stuffed pastry. (Shown on the left is the tasty garlic knot.) The piadina is also known as a piada, which is a thin, Italian flatbread from the Romagna region of Italy. The piadina shown here is stuffed with spicy sausage, roasted pepper and onions, and mozzarella cheese.

The bigger food stands like Leonardo’s have the 50th anniversary desserts, like this big slice of birthday cake. This is a heavier cake (with perhaps a hint of pineapple?) and the frosting was delicious. Having a slice of birthday cake is a great way to end a good Italian dinner as Carowinds prepares for its evening street party.