can you take food or drink in? what food places are there?

Pack a cooler and walk out for lunch!!! Get hand stamp to come back in.

The drink stations will give you a cup of free water. And you can take a bottle in. I would stay away from Chick-fil-A. The prices are very unreasonable even for an amusement park.

I was at the park today, I believe you can bring in your own water bottle, but you have to fill it up in the park. I saw many people with their own nalgenes etc.

Go to carowinds.com and enter food in their search bar or dl the Carowinds app

No. They look in every bag before u are allowed to go in.. Lots and lots of food choices. Chik-fil-a, pizza, cheesesteaks, burgers, corn dogs, lots of sweets too.