Carowins is a 112-acre theme park, located adjacent to I-77 on the state line between North and South Carolina, in Charlotte and Fort Mill, respectively. The park opened on March 31, 1973, at a cost of $30 million, after a four-year planning period spearheaded by Charlotte businessman Earl Patterson Hall, who was inspired to build the park by a 1956 trip to Disneyland and a dream of bringing the two states closer together.