Carowinds SpringHill Suites, Charlotte, North Carolina

SpringHill Suites is located at 1000 Coasterview Drive in Charlotte, North Carolina, off of I-77. This hotel is situated near Carowinds’ toll plaza, and is just north of the Carolinas’ state line. There are other nationally branded hotels at the Carowinds’ exit off Interstate 77, but SpringHill Suites is the only on-site hotel, with all the convenience that such a location would offer.

The lobby at the smoke-free Carowinds SpringHill Suites was clean and well-lit, and the staff was friendly. Check-in time is 4 pm, and check-out time is 11 am. For a hotel stay from Monday, June 26 through Saturday morning, July 1, the total bill was $912.78USD. A fee of $107.22—approximately $20 per day—was added for “incidental expenses,” and was dropped from the bill after a few days.

The sundry store at SpringHill Suites was clean and well-stocked during the last week in June 2023. Carowinds, including this hotel, is a cashless venue, as is every Cedar Fair property. There is an ATM near the elevators to obtain cash from a credit card, but there is no cash-to-card kiosk in the hotel.

This is the first floor of the hotel. This hotel was clean, but scuffed up in the common areas, which were very warm. The hotel’s ATM is just off to the right behind the camera, and the nearest cash-to-card kiosk is at Carowinds’ main gate near the Guest Services windows, past the Security screening line. Luggage carts are parked near the front desk.

This is a suite with two queen beds and a trundle bed (behind camera). The wardrobe closet is shown at the left foreground, and has an extra pillow, blanket, and a plastic laundry bag. The wardrobe is fairly roomy, and this room also has a dresser. Although not shown, an averaged-sized flat-screen television is mounted over the dresser. There is no great place in the room to view the TV.

The nightstand between the two beds had a clock, a phone, and two outlets. The outlet bank has two USB type A ports, which means no “wall-wart” is needed to charge devices tethered to USB type A cables. (USB type C outlets were not found in this room.) There are additional, similar power banks near the window and at the desk.

The suite located in room 204 was well-designed and spacious, though the room was dim and devoid of color. All artwork is shown here. There were large lamps and many task lights throughout the room, but they did not add any ambience. There was a pronounced separation of the sleeping area and the perfectly adequate gathering/eating/work area. The couch pulls out into a trundle bed at evening’s end.

The refrigerator, microwave, coffee pot, and ice bucket are all located right inside the door. Both the microwave clock and the nightstand clock were set correctly. The refrigerator was off upon entering the room, and could be turned on via switch on the inside. This fridge will run for a while but will need to be turned on again.

There are two washrooms in Suite 204, and shown here is the washroom with the sink and commode. Both have small wastebaskets and tissues, plus large, well-lit mirrors. This room has a nice hair dryer as well. SpringHill Suites guests need to know that rooms are not made up everyday, only on the third day.

Both water closets have sliding doors that lock for privacy. Having two sinks in one hotel room is very convenient, as is the case here. Since rooms are not made up every day, guests can collect their waste baskets and their towels to put outside the door on days the room is not being cleaned. Towels, liners, and bath tissue can be requested from the front desk but may not come right away.

This window faces toward Carowinds amusement park. The window shades and curtains can be adjusted to let the desired amount of sunlight into the room. Guests should note the outlet bank on the bottom right of the photo, seeing the electrical outlet and the USB type A ports. The register under the window is controlled via a digital thermostat by the entry door.

This room has the thermostat and two main light switches located at the door for quick illumination and temperature adjustments right at the door. There is a peephole in the door. This door is heavy and guests need to be sure to pull it shut so it fully closes upon exiting the room. Putting the upper latch in place and using the deadbolt at night is recommended. The deadbolt will prevent key-card access from the outside.

SpringHill Suites has a comprehensive breakfast bar. Shown here is one of the slower days, Tuesday, June 27th, 2023, at 9 am. Breakfast runs from 6:30 am thru 9:30 am on weekdays, and from 7 am through 10 am on weekends. For the rest of the week onward, the breakfast area was packed solid for the last hour.

The breakfast bar, even when the line was two or three deep, was always pretty clean. Hotel staffers were frequently replenishing food, wiping counters, and helping guests move from station to station. The breakfast bar had a juice dispenser, which looked difficult to service, and it was frequently out of orange juice.

The breakfast area is spacious and there looked to be seating for all comers even when it was very busy. People would come and go, and seats would always open up. On the outdoors patio, there are also umbrella tables with chairs. At least one hotel staffer was wiping down tables during breakfast hours.

Again, there is plentiful and comfortable seating during breakfast hours. One drawback of this breakfast bar was on Wednesday morning when the milk and yogurt single servings were depleted by 9:15 am. On a positive note, there is an outlet on the right under the couch cushion where devices can be charged for a busy day.

The patio is open 24/7 for guest usage. No matter the time of day, this is a fun area to have breakfast, afternoon coffee, or after-dinner drinks. Although Carowinds and all of its roller coasters are just a few steps away, this area was frequently used from early evening onwards into the late night.

This hotel chain touts its swimming pools, but the pool was closed the entire week before the Fourth of July. Reasons included maintenance and parts. Another Carowinds attraction was closed at the end of the week: the Fury 325 roller coaster, due to a severed support pillar that was called in to the local Fire Marshal by a concerned father.

The fitness center is located on the first floor by the elevators. The fitness room had a few users during the last week in June 2023, but was often empty. The machines, and the entire room in general, were clean and in good order. Planet Fitness this is not, but this is a good place to relieve the stress of sitting for most of the day.

This fitness room is a good size for this hotel, as the vast majority of its guests head out to Carowinds in the morning. As of January 2023, Carowinds is open year around, even if only on weekends during the winter. Not shown is a towel cabinet and water dispenser. Two washrooms are located right outside the fitness center.

The conference room is also located on the first floor of SpringHill Suites. It was indeed used this week and promptly cleaned. The television in this room is the same as in the guest rooms. Just around the corner from the conference room in the main hallway is a single-seat computer work station with a printer.

The coffee service is located near the breakfast buffet line (where the fruit basket usually is) and is regularly maintained throughout the day. Although there is a Starbucks coffee stand just inside the front gate at Carowinds, the wait is more than twenty minutes for service. There is no waiting here and the coffee is good.

Parking in this well-maintained lot comes with the room at the hotel. Even on a crowded day, there were open spaces. Although Carowinds is the main attraction here, there are a few side-trip worthy places at Exit 90. There is a Cabela’s outdoor store, Famous Dave’s Bar-B-Que, a fireworks store, and the Frugal MacDoogal Beverage Warehouse. Frugal MacDoogal is open Monday through Saturday from 9 am until 7 pm.

Frugal MacDoogal’s is located at 3630 Festival Drive in Fort Mill, South Carolina; just a five-minute drive from the hotel. According to the company website, this store has 21,000 square feet (1950 sq m) of liquor, wine, and beer. The website all says that this store has more than 500 types of beer to choose from.

There are just as many wines to choose from as there are beers. (There is a giant beer cooler in the back.) This section of the store also has party supplies such as sodas, cocktail mixes, bottled water, cherries, olives, peanuts, ice, and much more. There’s lots of fun beer memorabilia on the walls of this warehouse.

Frugal MacDoogal’s is actually two stores in one; one side is for the beer, wine, and party supplies; and the other side is for the liquor store. Items in both stores have a credit/debit card price and a cash price. Both stores were very busy at 11 am on Friday, June 30. A government photo ID is required for any alcohol purchase.

After finding a delightful summer shandy at Frugal MacDougal’s, it was time to head back to the hotel to get it into the refrigerator for later enjoyment. To get in and out of the hotel parking lot, guests will need to wave their room keys in front of the sensors by the yellow pylons shown here. There is a call button for assistance.

The bar at SpringHill Suites is located in the breakfast area and is open in the early evening for Happy Hour. There was only one taker on Tuesday, and the bartender didn’t have much business. Later in the week there will be more activity, and on Friday night, the hotel bar hosted a small family reunion with beverages and a small buffet.

Friday, June 30th is a hot and humid evening and the sun will set in about half an hour. There is a family reunion going on indoors, and the bar area is crowded with merry-makers. There are plenty of seats around the gas fire-ring, and a helpful hotel staff member is able to show us how to turn it on for thirty minutes of enjoyment.

Del’s Shandy from Narragansett Beers in Rhode Island was quite the find at the beverage store. It is lightly sweetened with lemon concentrate. Party-goers flitted in-and-out of the bar onto the patio to ask about the fire-ring. After thirty minutes of flame, the ring extinguished itself, and the sun went down to close another day.