Winterfestguy

Carowinds has now removed their Winterfest 2018 calendar which originally showed starting 3 days prior to Thanksgiving, extended weekend hours opening at 2pm on Saturday, and special Dec 31 hours open to 1am. Wonder if this is a sign of the budget cuts across Cedar Fair due to low summer attendance figures? Chad Showalter in his interview at the end of June indicated same Winterfest hours for KI as last year but perhaps more lights, and no mention of being open Dec 31. Let’s just hope the plans for having Shake,Rattle,Roll and FOF open for Winterfest this year are still on table and have’t been cut from the budget.

Have had a season pass for many years and can say attendance is definitely down this season - kept thinking after July 4th attendance would pick up, but it hasn’t. Maybe the lack of a new attraction for KI this year, the weird extremely hot / rainy weather, or the inconsistency in food options has kept some away. And now with schools starting up in next few weeks in surrounding states like Indiana, the lower than normal attendance will likely continue for the remainder of the summer season.

KI announced on twitter today shortly after 330pm announced that Soak City was closed for the remainder of Saturday due to the rain. The weather definitely has to be one of the impacts for lower attendance and profits this season.

All season long locker rental is being piloted in the CF chain at DP in 2018 for $99. https://www.dorneypark.com/tickets-passes/rentals This is one standard locker per visit and is different then the All Park daily moveable locker option rental where you have up to 3 hours of locker rental at one location before you have to move to the next during the day. I just wish the Soak City lockers were part of the program

It took a man loosing his eye after being hit with a loose object on Dueling Dragons back in 2011 before Universal Orlando management actually took things seriously - the coasters never dueled again and several years later metal detectors appeared at all their coaster queues. With the July crowd peak season about to start at KI, I hope it doesn’t take someone loosing an eye for park management to decide on some type of solution to keep riders safe from flying phones (and even saw an iPad come out earlier this season at KI after the train had left the station - ouch if that hit you!).

It was my 6th visit to Coney BBQ Sunday and my 6th bad experience - the macaroni was dried up and had no taste at all and the hush puppy was hard as a rock like a golf ball. I am not recommending this place to my friends after multiple bad experiences. On a positive note over at the waterpark for dinner at the Smokehouse I had the best chicken tenders and hot sidewinder fries that I have ever had at the park.

At Kings Island Sunday we were assigned the back of the train (row 12) at Mystic. As soon as we left the station we saw 4 different people take out their cell phones and started recording. We were horrified that one would become loose from their hands and hit us so we could not enjoy the ride. Universal had to install metal detectors at their coasters due to several court cases with loose items on their dueling dragons coaster before it was removed. People using cell phones (or forgetting to secure loose items like coins) continues to increase every operating day. If the parks are serious about rider safety, then metal detectors at the coaster entrances are likely the only solution. I hope something is done soon to prevent injuries such as the one described in this post.

Carowinds Winterfest 2018 schedule was just updated - Carowinds Winterfest starts the Sunday before Thanksgiving (Nov 18). Additionally, on all Saturdays will be open from 2-10pm instead of 4-10pm like last year. Of special note, they just added New Year’s Eve hours Dec 31 of 5pm-1am. I would imagine KI will follow a similar Winterfest schedule and open before Thanksgiving. Will KI also have special New Year’s Eve hours like Carowinds? (Let’s hope so!) https://www.carowinds.com/explore/calendar-and-hours

Of the four parks visited thus far this season (KI, KD, CP, and Carowinds) KI has so far had the worst food/drink service - no drink stands open or non-functional, food outages, and a super slow micros cash register system that needs to be replaced. Will see if KI makes any changes since still early in the season and hope KI is closely monitoring these issues - Hats off to Carowinds for the best food/drink service I have ever had at a CF park.

Likely addressing the Indiana marketing competition with Kentucky Kingdom - KK also has a special deal for Indiana residents.

It used to be that the boiler for the steam engine on the train was only permitted by the state inspector to only operate for X number of hours per year. Instead of using the remainder of the permitted boiler hours for Haunt, the remaining boiler hours went towards operating for Winterfest.

According to the Carowinds 2018 Winterfest calendar they are opening the three days before Thanksgiving (November 19,20,21). Interesting that KI is not doing the same and waiting until November 23. https://www.carowinds.com/explore/calendar-and-hours

They should have left the Mac and Cheese bar (featured during Winterfest) at Hanks. Hanks current menu and taste is so hit and miss that I just avoid it.

At Universal there is a metal detector at Rip Rocket and Hulk coasters so no phones, coins, or metal objects allowed. (Back when Dragon Challenge was in operation several were hit with coins and the park settled several lawsuits.). Could Cedar Fair be considering the same of putting metal detectors at coaster entrances to reduce their liability of someone getting struck with an object).

Rotisserie chicken is really nothing new - many years ago the park had rotisserie chicken roasters on the outside wall of the now Reds restaurant in Rivertown (facing what is now the Diamondback queue). Guess the old park rotisserie chicken concept is new again? It would be nice if guest feedback was valued for the meal plan options. For example, the mac and cheese bar at KI Winterfest was a huge success (and wish that would have stayed instead of bringing back the horrible burritos at Hanks), but where is that mac and cheese bar at KI based upon guest feedback? Kings Dominion copied the concept and created The Mac Bowl which has been a huge hit this early in the season (and it is on the meal plan). With more emphasis these days on healthier options, why did KI remove Salads from the Festhaus meal plan (thereby decreasing healthier options)? Carowinds added a build your own Salad option as well as other salad options (all of which are on the meal plan) at Harmony Hall which again have been very popular with guests so early in the season.

The Disney Dining App for Walt Disney World does accept the Disney dining plan in addition to major credit cards. (So in theory could work for Cedar Fair meal plans including season passes). It was just announced this weekend that the dining app is being expanded to Disneyland within the next month. https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/mobile-food-orders/

Of course subject to change, but Carowinds has already posted their Winterfest 2018 calendar/hours. Last year many wished that Winterfest would open before Thanksgiving, open earlier on the weekends like the old Winterfest did at 2PM, and wished for New Year's Eve/Day hours. https://www.carowinds.com/explore/calendar-and-hours Will Kings Island follow a similar Winterfest schedule like Carowinds and open the three days before Thanksgiving (Nov 19,20,21) or wait until after Thanksgiving. With Haunt ending Oct 28 it will be a very tight squeeze to have all things in place 3 days prior to Thanksgiving, unless more Christmas décor than what was seen last year starts showing up much earlier in September/October. (Winterfest staff last season worked Thanksgiving day in the park and worked right up to the last minute before the Friday opening trying to finish up). It is also interesting to note that Dollywood will be running their extended fall pumpkin lights through Sat November 3 and delaying starting their Christmas celebration by one week until Nov 10. However, to keep the same number of operating days, Dollywood Christmas will run past New Years through January 5 this season.

Cedar Fair profits were up about 9% due to Winterfest activities at the three parks (and that was after paying for the all the contracted shows). It seems they could easily repurpose the expensive trolley used for the Winterfest show (remove the Christmas garland and put some flowers on it) somewhere in the park to easily create another summer show. And what about the clown band that everyone enjoyed at one time at Kings Island? Just seems quality of entertainment is going to be lacking this summer season.

Some of the Kings Island 2018 entertainment schedule has now been officially posted. https://www.visitkingsisland.com/play/shows Still waiting to see what show will be playing in the Kings Island theater. Think Winterfest had many more entertainment options around the park.

Kings Island should experiment at both smokehouses (wet and dry sides) with new app ordering and paying just like the MyDisneyExperience app does - simply view the menu, place your order, and pay with a credit card (all on the app), and when you arrive to eat at the location, simply tap the app button that you have arrived, and your food comes out at a special pick up window dedicated to only to app order pickups- no waiting in line, no clueless check out employees, and very quick and efficient (not to mention all the labor cost savings to the park).

Kentucky Kingdom to operate a Zipline Kingdom 20 miles away from the amusement park. Best part is one free visit with a Kentucky Kingdom season pass and reservations are required. http://www.ziplinekingdom.com/

Two things make me think that the train will not be running during Haunt - 1) There is a boiler permit issued by the state for the steam engines to operate X number of hours per year. The train did not run for 2005 Haunt so it could run during Winterfest that year. There is a small chance with the over one year notice of the Christmas event, the boiler permit could have included the extra hours needed to run for both Haunt and Winterfest. 2) The 12 days of Christmas are already being staged over the train route so I doubt the train will run much past Labor Day. (as posted in a previous post, the survey markers along the train route are already tagged with what wire frame display will go where)

As shown on the interview with Don this week, the giant Candy Canes have been placed in the Tower Gardens and all the electrical updates throughout the park are just about complete (the controller boxes go all the way down Coney Mall to WindSeeker, so this area is sure to be very festive (will be interesting to see if construction of the "Dry side Smokehouse" where Attitudes/warehouse was on Coney Mall will start before Winterfest or immediately after). Now that the daily operations are over, watch for lights soon to appear in places throughout the park.

This is going to be an awesome park event. With only 7 days to transform Timber Canyon from these Halloween lighted displays October 29 to Christmas trees by November 4 will be interesting to watch. Too bad Kings Island did not think of this (but then again they have heavily invested in Winterfest, at least for now). The video of the lighted pumpkins is funny and cute http://www.dollywood.com/themepark/Entertainment/GreatPumpkinLuminights

The old footers on KI & MVRR are not going to be used for Winterfest. If you look closely as your ride the train now, you will see wooden survey sticks along the way with writing on them representing the components of the 12 days of Christmas. (there are a few miscellaneous animals thrown in as well) These wire frames representing the 12 days (just as seen in other city displays) are free standing with post and guide wire supports. From what I heard, most of the pieces have arrived and are in the new storage building. Dollywood this past weekend started to hang their lights (but their season starts Nov 4) so would expect as soon as the regular daily schedule ends Aug 20 at KI, they too will start hanging lights.