[sccoasterbear]

Why does this happen every year? Seriously how can they continue to offer the event if people are intent on disrupting it every year? How do families feel safe to come and enjoy, much less those that travel distance to attend.

[coasterbruh]

When the event is accessable on a Six Flags level (basically free with a pass) you will get an influx of people who doesn't give a damn and have no regard to much of anything. You know how many times i've heard of fights at HHN . . . none.

Stop giving SCarowinds away and watch how better & desirable the crowds and caliber of people get.

[FezzyGamer]

They told us later that it was a gang thing and it was all planned. Not much you can do to prevent that.

[tarheel1231]

No I agree with coasterbruh, make SCarowinds a separate-ticketed event and you’ll probably see a drop in these events occurring.

I’m not going to get too deep into the socioeconomic conditions that allow gangs to thrive, because this isn’t a political site, but in a nutshell, they’re coming from low-income neighborhoods where gangs are an appealing alternative to the lack of economic opportunity they would face otherwise. This doesn’t excuse them fighting at the park, because not being violent in public should be a prerequisite for being decent human being, but if you raise the bar to entry, they’re going to be less inclined to take their BS to SCarowinds because it’s out of their price range.

I know money talks, and this appears to be an isolated incident, but the park’s bottom line shouldn’t be prioritized over the safety of other guests.

[BrianH1970]

First off you're assuming these gang members are all season pass holders. Let's assume that's true then there's nothing to stop them busting up a Saturday evening in July regardless of what your pass allows you into. If it's a planned thing you're not stopping it until after it happens regardless of the season.

And of course there's the cheaper way of not buying a season pass to hold your gang fight and just buy the single ticket.

You get fights at sporting events with season ticket holders and shootings at movie theaters with movie plan holders (that's not counting every day occurances at fast food restaurants, school yards, and street corners). It's gonna happen.

[coasterbruh]

Allow me to reiterate my point, SCarowinds is too accessible. Be it by by season pass access or just dirt cheap tickets (hence me saying Six Flags Level) They are practically giving away the gate which makes it easier for people to disregard the small amount they paid and do stupid things. Right now, SCarowinds is 32.00 and that includes PARKING and ADMISSION!

Those examples you gave are very outlandish and, to me, apples to oranges. How many Movie theaters across the nation get shot up a year compared to how many fights and incidents happen at SCarowinds? You know what, I feel even silly for even trying to correlate the two.

[Edwardo]

I actually agree that I think it should get a separate ticket like Knotts Scary Farm. The quality overall for the event has went down over the years, part of that is that it’s too crowded.

[BrianH1970]

Allow me to reiterate my point, SCarowinds is too accessible. Be it by by season pass access or just dirt cheap tickets (hence me saying Six Flags Level) They are practically giving away the gate which makes it easier for people to disregard the small amount they paid and do stupid things. Right now, SCarowinds is 32.00 and that includes PARKING and ADMISSION!

Those examples you gave are very outlandish and, to me, apples to oranges. How many Movie theaters across the nation get shot up a year compared to how many fights and incidents happen at SCarowinds? You know what, I feel even silly for even trying to correlate the two.

But they're examples of violence at public events. And that violence has taken place in movie theaters, sporting events, schools, and <gasp> OTHER AMUSEMENT PARKS THROUGHOUT A YEAR AROUND THE COUNTRY. And guess what? They've occurred at Halloween events at amusement parks as well!

They can raise the price, limit admission and guess what... it's still going to happen. If these goons don't have a regard for human safety do you really think a few extra dollars will make a difference

Come on now. Be realistic.

[coasterbruh]

I never said it didn't happen at other parks but parks it happens at more are parks that give the gate away either through season pass deals or heavily discounted admission tickets. You can defend it all you want, I just KNOW FIRST HAND from what I see at parks that charge what they should vs parks that are just focused on attendance numbers.

[tarheel1231]

They can raise the price, limit admission and guess what... it's still going to happen. If these goons don't have a regard for human safety do you really think a few extra dollars will make a difference

Come on now. Be realistic.

The point isn’t to stop fights from occurring completely, it’s to decrease the rate at which they happen. We don’t live in a world where the solution to an issue always results in zero problems occurring, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take steps to decrease them.

As others have pointed out, raising the bar to entry and decreasing the accessibility has worked for other haunt events, such as Knott’s or HHN. Price matters, and with how cheap it is to get into SCarowinds, it’s easier for some idiots to barge in than it would be if they had to pay a higher price.

[BrianH1970]

I never said it didn't happen at other parks but parks it happens at more are parks that give the gate away either through season pass deals or heavily discounted admission tickets. You can defend it all you want, I just KNOW FIRST HAND from what I see at parks that charge what they should vs parks that are just focused on attendance numbers.

And yet the violence still happens at parks. If it doesn't happen at the Halloween event it'll happen on a Saturday in July. Wanna combat it? Raise the price to where only the super wealthy can afford to go. Other than that you're really not stopping it.

Plus it's not like this is some widespread rampant thing. There'll be more fan violence in one NFL stadium or nascar track this afternoon than all season at Scarowinds from adults who should know better. And we see how much sporting events cost.

[coasterbruh]

Oh, ok . . . .

[Glitch99]

I never said it didn't happen at other parks but parks it happens at more are parks that give the gate away either through season pass deals or heavily discounted admission tickets. You can defend it all you want, I just KNOW FIRST HAND from what I see at parks that charge what they should vs parks that are just focused on attendance numbers.

And yet the violence still happens at parks. If it doesn't happen at the Halloween event it'll happen on a Saturday in July. Wanna combat it? Raise the price to where only the super wealthy can afford to go. Other than that you're really not stopping it.

Plus it's not like this is some widespread rampant thing. There'll be more fan violence in one NFL stadium or nascar track this afternoon than all season at Scarowinds from adults who should know better. And we see how much sporting events cost.

You can look at any isolated incident and rationalize why "it was going to happen regardless". However, the bigger the crowd, the more likely such incidents will occur. So thinning the crowd may not, in theory, have prevented any specific incident in hindsight, but in general it would mean theres less of a nexus to attract such incidents going forward.

Obviously with an event like Scarowinds, "sparsely attended" does no one any favors. But there is a point where additional attendees becomes counterproductive.

[coasterbruh]

And this is the kicker, I will gladly fly to knotts and HHN on both coast before I take on SCarowinds or any Six Flags haunts. They CAP attendance and care more about the guest experience vs herding people through the gates. This is one of the only gripes I have with Carowinds.

[HiveDive]

What kind of people do you think go too regional amusement parks? Lower income people make up a decent amount of their audience, they can’t afford to travel to places such as Disney so instead they opt to go to Carowinds. Raising the prices significantly to prevent the lower class from coming to Carowinds is unlikely.