CoastersRZ

I too thought about the not having Fireworks until Memorial Day weekend. Yes, that does seem odd to close at 7pm on Sundays. Likely due to schools being in session though. At least we still have the 10am opens. There was a year where the park was opening at 11 during Covid.

Yes, it does stink that there are no 10pm closings in April/May on Saturdays. I am sure they had their reasons why the change. Likely to save on labor costs for one. Maybe that last hour just wasn`t as profitable as they had hoped. I am sure that Cedar Fair/Kings Island have analyzed things like that and know how much they typically make for any given hour based on the time of the season.

Repainting a ride like Viking Fury comes from a maintenance budget. They probably needed to repaint the boat, and wanted it done as cost effective as possible. Yes, those details are nice, and would have been great had they been kept and repainted, but that would have cost money. Either money they didn`t want to spend, or would have come at the cost of some other project not getting funding/not happening. Be glad that they painted the ride. New rides like the ones coming with Adventure Port come from the capital budget, which is separate from the maintenance budget. Keep in mind that I don`t think KI originally intended to remove Sling Shot last year. There were reportedly a picture/post from the company that was going to be repainting the cage from Slingshot, about this time last year. Then the ride never opened last season. Not sure if that post with the cage was legitimate or not. Was is the plan all along to remove Sling Shot and add Adventure Port for this season? We may never know. I am thoroughly looking forward to Adventure Port and the two new rides within it. I think they are the perfect addition to KI. Hopefully in the coming years, we can get some more additions like this.

That ride looks like a very dynamic ride, that is sure to be a family hit. I am sure that this ride will be relocated to another Cedar Fair park, once California`s Great America closes. It seems like almost all of the ride installations at Cedar Fair this year are from Zamperla.

Keep in mind a couple of things. When the original campground was closed, the park was owned by Paramount Parks, which in turn was owned by CBS. When CBS sold the land for the campground they maintained a small (I believe it was 24% ownership) in the new Great Wolf Lodge. Upon the sale of Paramount Parks to Cedar Fair in 2006, I believe they did not purchase CBS`s stake in the resort. CBS later sold their stake to Great Wolf Lodge. I would say Cedar Fair is interested in running resorts. A few years ago they purchased the Sawmill Creek Resort in Sandusky. They just finished a major renovation to that property as well as the Castaway Bay property in Sandusky. They built a hotel down at Carowinds. I think the hotel that they had planned at Canada`s Wonderland is still on pause, however. These resorts allow Cedar Fair to generate "out of park" revenue, and is a further way to use their parks to generate additional revenue outside of the core revenues the parks themselves generate.

And I believe at one point in time there was a plan to build apartments on that site. This was years ago, and I don`t think anything other than the demolition mentioned above occured. One would think it is a prime piece of property, and a new hotel could do wonders there. \ I wonder if Cedar Fair ever considers building a hotel that they control at KI. I know there was Camp Cedar, but they didn`t own that, just managed it.

Yes, I agree that Twelve days of Christmas on the train needs an update. I still loved what they did with the train in 2005 in terms of having live entertainment in the station and onboard the train. There were not as many lights on the route as there are now, but it was certainly more entertaining. I agree that I street and the ice skating could open earlier. I have not done the ice skating in this incarnation of Winterfest but it always seems so crowded.

The reason they do the parade so late is often times after the parade a lot of guests head for the gates. Having the parade when they do keeps them in the park longer. I agree, that it is hard to see all the shows before the parade start time. I could see them maybe opening at 3 on some days. I could also see them opening the weekend before Thanksgiving. I think they did that in 2019. The problem there is the turn around time between Haunt and Winterfest. The first weekend of Winterfest, there are typically a few things that are completely set up yet.

Sounds good. Is it getting Gravity Group`s new track system? In several years, if KI keeps up this rehab work on The Racer and The Beast, they will eventually all be the new vertical style track, which will hopefully provide a smoother ride for years to come.

Or maybe Cedar Fair was asking more for the contract this year and the owners decided that the cost of the services Cedar Fair was offering were not worth the benefits. Or they received a better deal from another company. Or Cedar Fair decided the cost of the management contract was not worth the benefits. We may never know the true answer.

Or be an allusion to the rumor that the changes are not being made by the original ride manufacturer, but one which Cedar Fair has been working with a lot recently? I think we will likely have to wait until August of this year to find out exactly what they are up to.

There are some areas that could use a flat ride or two within the park still. Besides the vacant land where Vortex once sat, the land where the former Salt Water Circus (the path from the backside of the Eiffel Tower towards the Rivertown Pizza, could certainly use a flat ride of some sort. The problem is, other than Paradise Island drink stand, there isn`t much there to bring in new revenue at existing food/merch locations. With Adventure Port, there is the food stand that is being renovated that these two new attractions will help draw people to in order to spend money. Additionally, while the park is adding these two new rides in Adventure Port, keep in mind that they removed a ride (albeit it an up charge attraction). So while they are adding two new rides, from an employee labor standpoint, they are really only adding one new ride`s worth of labor.

I`d imagine since there is not much going on in the area in January and February, that the demand for weekday stays is not high. It is interesting that they apparently decided not to renew the management contract with Cedar Fair. I guess we will see how successful they are once the spring season kicks things back up.

What does Canada`s Wonderland do with their rides on New Year`s Eve? Or what about Carowinds/Kings Dominion? I know they are all different jurisdictions. Just wondering if they kept their rides going. Carowinds and Kings Dominion are different this year, since they are going to year round operation with weekends in January and February, I get that the ride certification calendar typically runs through December 31st. But Dollywood typically is open a few days into the new year with their Smoky Mountain Christmas. Seems like the park could get another couple of nights of Winterfest with all the set up and preparation they do for the event. Sadly, I still have not ridden Flight of Fear at Winterfest yet.

I am sure once January hits, they will start more site work in earnest. Especially since they will have access to the full site.