Our Q&A with new Carowinds boss as Six Flags shakes up leadership across its parks
Just seven days into her newly created leadership role as park president, Bridgette Bywater is focused on connecting with staff and guests at Carowinds. This comes as the park’s parent company, North America’s largest regional amusement operator, attempts to chart a new track for a financial turnaround.
Last week, Bywater was named as one of 10 “key” amusement park presidents by Carowinds’ parent company Six Flags Entertainment Corp., which is headquartered in Charlotte.
Six Flags has struggled with debt, declining attendance and reported a net revenue loss of $1.6 billion last year. Six Flags’ new CEO and president, John Reilly, replaced Richard Zimmerman in December.
Each president is responsible for overseeing park performance, operations and overall guest experience. “These changes are about putting leadership, expertise and accountability as close to our guests and team members as possible,” Reilly said in a April 22 announcement.
Bywater has decades of experience in the industry as general manager of Kings Dominion and Soak City water park in Doswell, Virginia, and as corporate director of operations for Cedar Fair. That’s Carowinds’ former parent company, which merged with Six Flags in 2024 in a blockbuster $8 billion deal.
Coming off a nearly year-long sabbatical from the industry, Bywater said she’s excited to be coming back and being in Charlotte.
“It was not a difficult decision, and Charlotte’s beautiful,” Bywater said. “I’m glad to be here.”
The 400-acre Carowinds amusement park straddles the North Carolina and South Carolina border in Charlotte and Fort Mill.
Coming out of the pandemic, people want experiences that connect them with friends, family and the surrounding environment, whether through storytelling or an immersive experience, Bywater said during a 15-minute Zoom call on Wednesday with The Charlotte Observer.
“People want to connect in a way that they didn’t used to,” she said. “We want to immerse people into the storyline, into what we’re doing here at Carowinds.”
The conversation has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
Let’s start by telling me a little bit about yourself, your 36 years in the parks industry and time as general manager of Kings Dominion in Virginia.
I started working through the amusement park industry as a seasonal ride operator and worked my way up into different positions. I have an ability to absorb information fairly quickly and take on challenging roles. And I was a problem solver, so I was given an opportunity to move into different places early on in my career. That really opened up the world to meet new people, try new things. Given that this is a newly created position, how will this new leadership structure enable Carowinds to be more agile in responding to market changes and visitor feedback?
This is going to be fairly similar to my role as the general manager at Kings Dominion, where it allows me a more autonomous decision-making here at the park with support from our corporate team. Six Flags is very strategic about what they do, but they recognize the need to have a strategic leader at the park that can make real-time decisions.
They’ve put us here to be able to support the needs of each park and strengthen our performance. Carowinds is a park that we know is growing. This is a strong business here. It’s going to make us more agile and be able to meet the needs of our guests. Six Flags is struggling financially amid declining visitors and even closing parks to shed debt. Where does Carowinds rank within Six Flags for stability and its future?
As a publicly traded company, we don’t generally comment on the financial structure. We’re a strong park. There’s a reason why we have a park president sitting at Carowinds.
Kings Dominion and Carowinds are about the same size. Where does Carowinds excel, and what are the park’s biggest challenges?
Charlotte is a growing region. I think that our visitors respond well to this park. And there’s a good return on investment with the capital items that go into this park. Challenges at this park, we always want to make sure that we are meeting the needs of our guests and providing experiences that match those needs and being focused on delivering exceptional experiences.
What is your immediate focus for Carowinds through this new season, and what is your long-term vision for the park over the next five years?
My immediate focus just getting out there and immersing myself in the park, getting to know the staff and the guests. I can see our survey feedback and know what I see on paper, but I want to hear it. I want to see the people’s faces. I make myself readily available for people to talk to me if they see me in the park. And I’m often in the park. I spend the majority of my day getting a feel for what is needed in the park. And then, my long-term plan is impacting our culture, making sure this is a great place to visit and that we’re providing memorable experiences for our guests.
I see it as every one of us is a visitor to the park. My family visits the park. It’s about seeing the park from a visitor standpoint and removing any roadblock, pain point that might exist so that it’s just a beautiful experience. That’s always the highest priority. My approach is always look at it from a guest perspective and look at it from an associate perspective who’s just started their job. What can we do to make it better? Carowinds was set to debut a record-breaking water ride later this summer, but that isn’t happening. Why is that, and are any new rides planned next year?
There is a sign out there that says, ‘Keep an eye out,’ because there’s some messaging coming shortly. If you get up on one of our roller coasters, you can see some heavy equipment moving.
How will you use data and technology to better understand visitor flow, predict popular areas and reduce wait times within the park? What trends are happening in the industry?
We use data continuously, whether it’s transaction data at our register point of sales in the park, whether it’s the ridership evaluating the flow in the park, what type of rides we might need in the future, if our operating hours work, staffing levels ... Every single day we’re looking at all the numbers. I’m sure AI is a part of every single person’s day at this point. Do you see Carowinds playing a bigger role in the surrounding community, and if so, in what ways?
I’m passionate about community involvement and interaction. We want to make sure that we’re doing our part to support (the community) in some way. How that fits remains to be seen. What’s your favorite ride and treat at Carowinds?
I really like the chicken tenders at the Blue Ridge Country Kitchen. Probably my favorite ride is the carousel. I like to sit in the chariot. I enjoy the traditional, slower kind of ride.
Bywater’s connection and what people are saying
Bywater said one of the most enjoyable parts of the job is interacting with workers and customers at the park.
“She truly loves talking to us and appreciates our love for our park,” a Kings Dominion employee said on her Facebook page.
The Kings Dominion Fanatics Facebook page with over 46,000 followers congratulated Bywater on her return to Six Flags, telling Carowinds: “You’re getting a great one.”
“Bridgette has a way about her — humble and down-to-earth, but also incredibly strong and confident. And if you’ve ever seen her walking the park in 100 (degree) heat, in heels, picking up trash like it’s nothing ... you already know the level of dedication she brings every single day.”
When a Carowinds fan asked if Bywater will be good fit in the Carolinas, these were some of the different responses:
“She is always in the park walking and visible down to the goodbyes at the end of the night by the park exit.”
“One of the things that impressed me most about Bridgette was the fact that she regularly hosted breakfasts or lunches for park employees from all different departments to get their input on the park.”
“You’re in good hands.”
This story was originally published April 30, 2026 at 5:01 AM with the headline "Our Q&A with new Carowinds boss as Six Flags shakes up leadership across its parks."
