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Winterfest ... sinking faster than the Titanic


A_Titanic_Mess
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And, as already stated before, if you really held some big full time position where you were all buddy buddy with Craig Ross, I doubt youd be posting on this board and youd probably have something intelligent to say.

Gosh....you are 2 for 2...you got me again....I've never met Craig Ross, or his wife, and 2 boys....don't even know who they are. Didn't know him when he was the VP of Resale at PKI, didn't know him when he was transferred to Charlotte to work with corporate, and I still didn't know him when he came back to PKI as the GM. You're right....never met the guy in my life.

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Once again Paramounts Kings Island has priced themselves out of the market. Here are the prices for the Beach Holiday Fest. I will let the numbers speak for themselves.

Admission Prices

_____________

General Admission (Ages 13+) $10.00

Youth Admission (Ages 5-12) $7.50

Children (Ages 4 & Under) FREE!

Senior (Ages 60+) $7.50

Military Personnel (show proper ID) $7.50

Season Pass Holders ('05 and '06) FREE

Group of 4 (any age) $30.00

Skate Rental $6.00

Carriage Ride $4.00

Pony Ride $3.00

Adventure Passport (Enjoy all 3 Adventures!) $8.00

Parking after 5pm $5.00

Parking before 5pm FREE

Food Prices

_________

Lasagna, Salad, Breadsticks $9.85

Fried Chicken, Steak Fries, Cole Slaw, Rolls $9.95

Pulled Pork, Cole Slaw, Potato Salad, Chips $9.50

Assorted Meat Tray, Chili, Chips $9.50

Youth Meals Available $5.50-6.50

Choose from one of our delicious holiday menus. Meals will be served in the Polar Palace by the Holiday Fest catering staff. All meals are served with drinks (cola, coffee and hot chocolate) and jumbo cookies. Additional side items may be added to any meal: cup cakes, cheese tray, meat tray, vegetable tray, shrimp tray, meatballs, wings, pigs in a blanket.

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Let me see if I remember right or not wasent the last time KI had winterfest they we a family owned park? Hmm now PKI is a corporate owned park if my memory jogs me right just how many people are still working there that were employed when it was KI and had anything to do with winterfest this year. My point is how can you compare the 2 to each other.

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Actually titanic ididot, If you read, which you seem to have some trouble doing, I never said you NEVER knew Craig Ross and the information you gave about him can be found just by searching these forums or reading the article that was written about him in the Cincinnati Enquirer. As far as Paramount outpricing themselves, theyre not there to try and compete with the beach fest, its part of a corporate chain, so those prices are throughout the chain, not just at PKI, theyre not designed to compete with individual competiton and Winterfest offers a lot more than the beach thing.

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Went to the big Winterfest opening night, as was less than impressed. I worked for PKI for over 12 years. I was part of the original Winterfest crew. The new Winterfest is a sad knock-off of the original. Very disappointing.

The show in the Paramount Theater used the Elf number from "Home for the Holidays" when the show used to be in the Festhaus at the original Winterfest. Pretty much the same music and set. The original Festhaus show was so much better.

The train ride was just awful....everyone around us was commenting "where are the lights and decorations???". It was just horrible.

The light show on Swan Lake did not work. It would start, and then stop about 2 minutes into the show. This happened about 4 times in row. It was finally fixed. The show was ok at best.

The lights on International Street were nice, but none of the trees on the street had lights in them. Where are the 3 million lights??? The old Winterfest had 1 million lights, and all the trees on International Street had lights.

The biggest noticable problem was the lack of attendance....very sparse for the opening night of an event of this size. PKI was saying that you should buy "date-specific" tickets because most nights would be sold out. Please.....they will be lucky to get one sell-out. Any one of us that worked the original Winterfest's could have told you that this would be a flop. I give this event maybe 1 or 2 seasons max. The original did not last, and neither will this one.

news flash.its thanksgiving weekend.people are on trips and things.so it would explane the lack of people its opening night.and the only places to put lights and things at near the train tracks is on the buildings where the props are at.its very hard to put lights and things on trees in the woods if animals are there and the trees could fall over breaking everything.

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Once again Paramounts Kings Island has priced themselves out of the market. Here are the prices for the Beach Holiday Fest. I will let the numbers speak for themselves.

Admission Prices

_____________

General Admission (Ages 13+) $10.00

Youth Admission (Ages 5-12) $7.50

Children (Ages 4 & Under) FREE!

Senior (Ages 60+) $7.50

Military Personnel (show proper ID) $7.50

Season Pass Holders ('05 and '06) FREE

Group of 4 (any age) $30.00

Skate Rental $6.00

Carriage Ride $4.00

Pony Ride $3.00

Adventure Passport (Enjoy all 3 Adventures!) $8.00

Parking after 5pm $5.00

Parking before 5pm FREE

Food Prices

_________

Lasagna, Salad, Breadsticks $9.85

Fried Chicken, Steak Fries, Cole Slaw, Rolls $9.95

Pulled Pork, Cole Slaw, Potato Salad, Chips $9.50

Assorted Meat Tray, Chili, Chips $9.50

Youth Meals Available $5.50-6.50

Choose from one of our delicious holiday menus. Meals will be served in the Polar Palace by the Holiday Fest catering staff. All meals are served with drinks (cola, coffee and hot chocolate) and jumbo cookies. Additional side items may be added to any meal: cup cakes, cheese tray, meat tray, vegetable tray, shrimp tray, meatballs, wings, pigs in a blanket.

I went to Holiday Fest two years ago and I can tell you that it's a joke in comparison to Winterfest. They're not even in the same league. I'd gladly spend the extra $7 or $10 to go to a real holiday event.

Also may I point out that the Beach's Holiday Fest sure seems to have a lot of upcharges. With WF, everything is included except food and skating.

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It just seems that no matter what PKI does, you people will never be happy. With all the complaints you people make, they should take the lazy route and do nothing for some of the most unappreciative people i've ever heard.

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Quote From another Member - "Also may I point out that the Beach's Holiday Fest sure seems to have a lot of upcharges. With WF, everything is included except food and skating."

If you look at the price list that I have provided from the Beach Holiday Fest Website and do some simple math you will see that it is much less expensive than Winterfest.

The Beach

------------

Parking After 5 pm = $5.00

Group of 4 (any age) = $30.00

Adventure Passport (Enjoy all 3 Adventures!) $8.00 (Includes Skate Rental / Carriage Ride / Pony Ride) (4 Adults) = $32.00

Lasagna, Salad, Breadsticks $9.85 (All meals are served with drinks (cola, coffee and hot chocolate) and jumbo cookies) = $40.00

Grand Total = $107.00

WinterFest

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Parking = $5.00

Group of 4 (Adults Kroger Discount) $80.00

Skate Rental = 40.00

Lasagna, Salad, Breadsticks = $60

Grand Total = 185.00

Total Savings The Beach Over WinterFest = $78.00

Quote From Another Member - "As far as Paramount outpricing themselves, theyre not there to try and compete with the beach fest, its part of a corporate chain, so those prices are throughout the chain, not just at PKI, theyre not designed to compete with individual competiton and Winterfest offers a lot more than the beach thing."

Paramounts Kings Island is not only competing with the Beach Hoilday Fest but they are also competing with the Cincinnati Zoo Festival Of Lights / Newport Aquarium / Sharon Woods Holiday In Lights. The typical family only has a certain amount of entertainment dollas to spend and many times they will have to make a decision on which of these events that they will visit. They cannot afford to go to them all each year. Each on of the holiday events that I listed above has something special / exclusive to offer. You mention that Winterfest is part of a corporate chain. To my knowledge WinterFest is only being offered at Paramounts Kings Island. I do not know about you guys but I sure could use that additional $78 that you save from going to the Beach Holiday Fest over WinterFest.

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You have no idea how hard we worked this year to get this place looking like this.

Oh yes, I have worked WinterFest Set Up.

Now the points that Titanic has made are serious points. From the pics of the show, it does look similar to Home for the Holidays from The Festhaus. Also, I can't imagine that there are not lights on every tree on International Street. It does boggle my mind that Season Pass Holders are not free and that they are charging for parking.

Maybe they do want the event to tank?

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It just seems that no matter what PKI does, you people will never be happy. With all the complaints you people make, they should take the lazy route and do nothing for some of the most unappreciative people i've ever heard.

Yeah it could be like Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom! weird.gif When is the last time they got a NEW ride? Not a used ride and not a water slide. laugh.gif

I think their sales would be way up if Gold Pass holders got into Winterfest. Of course - 2006 Gold Pass holders - not 2005. It would be an incentive to buy your Gold Pass early, plus it would get all those extra people in that would spend lots of money on food, drinks, skating etc.

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There is lots of work left to do for winterfest set up. so who knows there may be more additions next weekend. the only point that Woofer makes that i would support is charging for parking. I think that is something that should not be charged for. However I can see why they are. That money would cover for someone to come in and remove all the snow in the parking lot.

I am sorry that some people are not having a good time at WF, but there are many who are having a good time. Honestly if you have a valid complaint go and tell guest realtions. that is why they are there.

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Gotta Remember, it is a work in progress. I've mentioned before that there were certainly glitches with the old Winterfest that had to be tweaked.

I have no problem with them copying from the old Winterfest so long as the park adds to it and continues the tradition.

I'm sure me or any other employee can predict things that will change for next year, but that's for the park to decide.

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Winterfest might not have gone over on opening day but you have to remember that they have to have time to prepare and get everything running up to par. Also as the season progresses they will get more people because it is getting closer to Christmas. I love to visit the park anytime.

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the information you gave about him can be found just by searching these forums or reading the article that was written about him in the Cincinnati Enquirer.

WOW....combatstupid-endous....you are much too clever. You figured out everyone one of my moves out. How did you guess that I did a google search and found out all of that info on Craig??? Your superior intelligence is too much of a match for me. I can only hope that one day I will too have the knowledge of PKI that you do.

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Well here is my thing. This year everything had to be bought brand new and next year they will be able to reuse stuff and add more things for peoples enjoment so I guess over time it will be a nice event to attend. Hopefully they don't give up on it and keep trying to get things right because it could be a real money maker when they do.

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JPButler365, WinterFest is also running at Paramount`s Carowinds in Charlotte, NC this year.  It is their first winter festival in the history of the park, unlike at PKI.

Wrong, we did Winterfest in 1983 but it didn't return until 2005. The point of Winterfest is too provide something for families to do over the holidays. The rides are limited by what can operate within the temps. We have not heard any of the guests complaining at all about Winterfest yet.

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