Jarrett
Most Obnoxious Member 2016
http://coasteraddict.com/winterfest-exp ... ore-parks/
So it looks like Cedar Fair plans to spread a little holiday magic! With the two Cali parks having it, they're apparently planning to bring Christmas events to more of their parks.
I first started to suspect this nugget from the rumor mill to have some weight at KI the other week. I pulled into the lot and saw a notification from the KI app ding on my phone. This happens every time I pull into the parking lot, but what intrigued me was the completely random "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!" caption to the notification. Well I get in the park and they have Christmas trees, garland, presents, and all that making International Street very festive. They had a Santa display in Tower Gardens, the employees had Christmas sweater t-shirts, all sorts of random Christmas stuff on a hot July day when there were excessive heat warnings in the area. The day was pretty normal otherwise, except for one minor detail. Leaving Kings Island at close, it's always been nothing but magical but it always feels the same way. Walking out of the park and seeing everybody leaving with International Street deserted. However, this time it felt different. They had a little foam machine spitting out little splatters of white foam that floated to the ground like snow, there was calming Christmas music in the background, lights were twinkling on International Street, there was a merch employee blowing bubbles for laughing kids to play in, it felt completely transformed from the park I knew in that single moment.
We used to have a Winterfest during the Paramount era before I lived there, and they brought it back in like 2005 but it only lasted a season. You can still see the footers from some of the Christmas theming they temporarily put on the train for the event. I never went because Paramount wouldn't include the event with our passes. However, Cedar Fair does take passes for CGA's event, so this is something I can get behind right now if it means extended time with my pass.
Now my home park KI is a bit different because my region is fairly devoid of Christmas stuff to do, none of the other parks in the area have Christmas events (yes, even Holiday World that has a whole Christmas village as their **** promenade is only open during 1/4 holidays featured in the park which always bothered me). However, the rumor is that the other two parks will be KD and Caro, and that seems like it could be way more interesting. Caro is located in a sort of triangle with the other two legs being Dollywood (which has a killer Christmas event) and SFOG, also with a Christmas event. Kings Dominion's rival park, BGW, also has a very high quality Christmas event. And if this is wrong, the only other park I could potentially see being open so late in the year might be Worlds of Fun, which is a bit further from SDC but also lacks the substance the former Paramount parks have. Cedar Point and Wonderland both have massive draw to them, but I don't see either of them being able to comfortably stay open so late in the year, especially CP with how seasonal Sandusky is and dreaded lake effect.
So KI I think has the best shot at this, but any of the other parks I think would either have a lot of competition or weather issues to compete with. Cedar Fair knows what they're doing, they've been on top of things keeping current technology in use in the chain, and they put a lot of thought into what they do. However, I'm just not sure the ones that wouldn't be brutally cold have the capability to deal with any competition that's been there for years. Should be interesting, discuss...
So it looks like Cedar Fair plans to spread a little holiday magic! With the two Cali parks having it, they're apparently planning to bring Christmas events to more of their parks.
I first started to suspect this nugget from the rumor mill to have some weight at KI the other week. I pulled into the lot and saw a notification from the KI app ding on my phone. This happens every time I pull into the parking lot, but what intrigued me was the completely random "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!" caption to the notification. Well I get in the park and they have Christmas trees, garland, presents, and all that making International Street very festive. They had a Santa display in Tower Gardens, the employees had Christmas sweater t-shirts, all sorts of random Christmas stuff on a hot July day when there were excessive heat warnings in the area. The day was pretty normal otherwise, except for one minor detail. Leaving Kings Island at close, it's always been nothing but magical but it always feels the same way. Walking out of the park and seeing everybody leaving with International Street deserted. However, this time it felt different. They had a little foam machine spitting out little splatters of white foam that floated to the ground like snow, there was calming Christmas music in the background, lights were twinkling on International Street, there was a merch employee blowing bubbles for laughing kids to play in, it felt completely transformed from the park I knew in that single moment.
We used to have a Winterfest during the Paramount era before I lived there, and they brought it back in like 2005 but it only lasted a season. You can still see the footers from some of the Christmas theming they temporarily put on the train for the event. I never went because Paramount wouldn't include the event with our passes. However, Cedar Fair does take passes for CGA's event, so this is something I can get behind right now if it means extended time with my pass.
Now my home park KI is a bit different because my region is fairly devoid of Christmas stuff to do, none of the other parks in the area have Christmas events (yes, even Holiday World that has a whole Christmas village as their **** promenade is only open during 1/4 holidays featured in the park which always bothered me). However, the rumor is that the other two parks will be KD and Caro, and that seems like it could be way more interesting. Caro is located in a sort of triangle with the other two legs being Dollywood (which has a killer Christmas event) and SFOG, also with a Christmas event. Kings Dominion's rival park, BGW, also has a very high quality Christmas event. And if this is wrong, the only other park I could potentially see being open so late in the year might be Worlds of Fun, which is a bit further from SDC but also lacks the substance the former Paramount parks have. Cedar Point and Wonderland both have massive draw to them, but I don't see either of them being able to comfortably stay open so late in the year, especially CP with how seasonal Sandusky is and dreaded lake effect.
So KI I think has the best shot at this, but any of the other parks I think would either have a lot of competition or weather issues to compete with. Cedar Fair knows what they're doing, they've been on top of things keeping current technology in use in the chain, and they put a lot of thought into what they do. However, I'm just not sure the ones that wouldn't be brutally cold have the capability to deal with any competition that's been there for years. Should be interesting, discuss...
