Winterfestguy

For July 4, a lot of buried details in the article for what to expect at Kings Island for food, drink, entertainment, decor, and fireworks https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/six-flags-parks-in-12-states-from-coast-to-coast-celebrate-americas-250th-anniversary-with-spectacular-fireworks-festive-eats-historic-thrills-and-patriotic-summer-fun-302802608.html

Why confuse things anymore than they are already by adding a new “membership”? Why not have a simple toggle button on season pass that simply says auto renew my current season pass and add ons each year or auto renew my current season pass and add ons each year with my Easy Pay?

It does seem odd that Holiday World likes people to think the Boulder Canyon area name is new when it really is not. Boulder Canyon area housed the Raging Rapids ride from May 1990 until June 2023 when the park removed it. While the rumored water coaster may be new for the area, the area name is not. You can still find the old area t-****s on clearance for Raging Rapids in Boulder Canyon in their gift shop (which I found this past weekend) that am sure may confuse some when looking at the posters on the walls for what is coming soon.

Social media certainly had tons of negative comments which I agreed with so not surprised they took it. I don’t think SF appreciates coaster enthusiasts (regular ticket, season pass holder, or coaster club member) who being spend to their parks, to their hotels, on food, and on beverage not to mention the free publicity they get from coaster events. I kind of knew when CF sold to SF that would be the end of park coaster events as we once knew them.

I imagine the second half summer season of the theater budget is going towards doing Carnival just like last season did with the theater going dark later in June. Carnival has run its course and likely no longer a huge crowd draw for non-pass holders as it once was.

Six Flags marketing can make this new season pass structure sound so nice but think in reality it’s their dumbest marketing move yet (and if this is what SF marketing management was thinking, why didn’t they do it before the fall MVP sale? Reminds me of when JC Penney went to a not having any sale prices model with the lowest price being offered everyday that miserably flopped). Now pass holders will be totally confused on what their benefits really are for 2026 and what they will get with a renewal in 2027. Sure, it’s great that my 2026 gold pass with all park passport will be upgraded to prestige all region for 2026 at the end of February (so I can go to all 4 regions this year) but this will likely result in way too many trying for the prestige benefits like KI premium parking and lounge access, not to mention the previously purchased prestige being basically downgraded for 2026. I think SF management is wrong to think people will pay the extra (and am sure it will be a substantial amount) to keep prestige all region in 2027 to attend the other regional parks as opposed to the simpler all park gold pass access. This change is making me reconsider my travel plans in 2027 to several of the other regional parks.

The weather for this years a Winterfest reminds me of the weather back to Winterfest 2.0 by Paramount in 2005 that only lasted that year. Attendance was low partly due to extremely cold and daily snows but also season passes were not honored and the gate price was like $29 which became the sudden death of the event. Cedar Fair then announced in July of 2006 Winterfest was discontinued (and sort of cited not profitable) until Cedar Fair brought it back again in 2017. Now with Six Flags running the show and admitting they like to focus on improving the summer/fall seasons rather than focusing on winter events, it will be interesting to see what happens. If this years Winterfest shows a loss on the books (cold and snow likely to blame), I would not be surprised to see a July 2026 announcement that Winterfest has been discontinued (it would fit the July announcement pattern for Winterfest over the years). Of course it’s been advertised with the season passes sales, but we see things get changed all the time with season passes.

Expect less entertainment for Winterfest this year. Tower Topics has already reported the KI tradition of Tinkers Toy Factory was cut. Without the many characters including Santa from that show to participate in the parade, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the parade cut too. Six Flags does not like winter park events so enjoy this year’s Winterfest as it may be the last for many more years to come. Then the park won’t have to worry about draining the fountain early or removing all the Halloween in a short period of time.

There was one year at Haunt where they had a Halloween themed buffet in the International Street Restaurant. I remember looking out and seeing the fog overtake the old pedestals in the fountain as well as the scare actors roam around International Street. It’s a shame that SF misses good opportunities like the buffet/fountain show viewing from the restaurant.

Being the first night of Haunt and just as expected, many season pass holders came out including lots of families with their large buggy wagon strollers, children under 10, and even saw several babies maybe 1 year old in their mothers arms. There did not seem to be many lines at the houses unlike other years likely because like me, refuse to pay for something that used to be free and pretty much the same every year. However, I do agree it is worth the money to do the Conjuring Beyond Fear experience and wanted to see for myself after reading about experiences at CP. Conjuring Beyond Fear was very well put together and you could tell a lot of thought went into it. I was disappointed in the scare zones as the scareactors were playing up to the little kids instead of scaring folks walking through like me. I walked behind a father of a 5 year old filming his little boy going through Hooked as the little boy chatted with each pirate instead of being scared by them (or maybe they are supposed to be very friendly pirates and in pumpkin eater, friendly pumpkin gut eaters?). Ghouls Gone Wild and Nyte Walkers seem to be more G content rated for families and pretty much the same with a few different songs (and there were lots of kids and families in the audience of both, so seems like Haunt has moved away from the adult theme for mature audiences only. I do miss Dead Awakenings and Hot Blooded for sure.) Exceptional pub burger at the Brewhouse as expected but the place wasn’t super busy. The longest food line seemed to be at Skyline but then again, that place always has a long line being so slow. Considering all the budget cuts lately, my Haunt experience was just okay, not the best and not the worst.

Many of the Winterfest white lights were never removed from the trees as you could still see the strings on the trees this spring/summer, so imagine they might be testing to see what still works and what doesn’t - or maybe they will use the lighted trees with white lights for Haunt as well to get their money out of them.

And to think the 52 week high was $49.77 and has gone down down down from there

Carowinds quietly removed the parade from their Winterfest line up, changed to daytime hours, and rumors of no ice skating there as well. Wonder when or if KI will make the same announcement? The puzzle pieces start coming into focus for KI as no Tinkers means one less show and maybe an empty theater as well. Enjoy what’s left as KI Winterfest 3.0 as it likely comes to a sudden end this season.

Six Flags does not like winter events as evidenced by cutting 4 holiday events this year from parks. Definitely sadly looking like this will be the last year for KI Winterfest especially given Carowinds has just cut their nighttime hours from their original calendar this season. Hopefully, KI doesn’t follow this budget hourly cutting trend.

Both KI and CP have had sleepovers in the park after hours before with proceeds benefiting charity - KI in 2019 and CP in 2021