Winterfestguy

Herschend will be good for KK. They will likely keep focus on family entertainment and keep the sea lion and bird shows since they also own the Newport Aquarium. Like the news article says they also want to bring festivals and other seasonal events (Maybe hope for the return of their Halloween event?) which will bring more people to the park. A nice infusion of capital will help pay off the past due bills/lease payment as well as add some new little things to the park. I wonder what (if anything) will be said at the winter walk through in March about the sale.

The calendar is definitely in line with their conference call of “rigorous cost management”. It appears CP shortened their 150 year celebration this season by a few weeks from their originally scheduled start date of early June in 2020 to start later start date in June 2021 (June 26 this year, also likely a cost cutting move). I would expect KI to follow “rigorous cost management” and maybe shorten Grand Carnival time. Instead of the big evening parade, KI or even CP might consider what Universal has done this year due to the on-going pandemic and social distancing requirements. Universal has parked their Mardi Gras floats this year in various areas throughout the park and has allowed guests to interact with them at various times of the day (I found this much more effective and fun when visiting Universal this year rather than everyone bunching up and climbing over each other during their one, elaborate nightly parade). Universal’s approach was very effective for crowd control. It does to remain to be seen what the vaccination rate progress will be by summer, and will likely vary considerably by each state, another big variable for KI (or any Cedar Fair park) 2021 attendance.

Policies are typically “re-visited” when some type of an awkward situation has happened. We don’t know what percentage of the CP workforce is not local AND above 30, but suspect they analyzed the data, and because the percentage was so low, decided not to deal with it instead of coming up with innovative, alternative housing solutions for them. As schools and colleges are starting classes earlier in August (and many others looking for work), it would seem CP would want to welcome those non-locals over 30, especially non-local retirees, to help during the summer and extend the typical season. However, CP typically brings in students from other countries (cheap labor) to fill many positions, but that premise may be risky this season due to the continuing COVID pandemic, Visa, and various individual country travel restrictions. All of this points to “buy a Fast Lane for later in the season” as with less and less workers as the summer goes on, the lines will be much longer than normal (and they were already pretty long this past season) the closer it gets to Labor Day.

Wish KI had a winter walk through event like CP and KK do. It would be a great new charity event for KI to start. I did get our tickets to the KK event before they sold out (KK event sold out in less than 15 min but not as fast as CP winter chill out which sold out in less than 5 min)

Kentucky Kingdom is opening a few weeks later than they did the past few seasons on May 8

Planet Snoopy definitely needs an overhaul if KI has any future hopes of taking back the Golden Ticket award for best kids area. The rides in Planet Snoopy are old and stale in comparison to the new and innovative style kids rides in Dollywood’s Wildwood Grove (which took away the Golden Ticket award for best kids area from KI this last season after many years). KI needs a kids steel coaster like the Dragonflier instead of their typical re-paints, re-themes, and re-names of rides in their kids area.

This coaster has a interesting history including two deaths in 2019 before arrival at Indiana Beach In late 2020, Quimera was reportedly being carefully dismantled for relocation from La Feria. The park's Ratón Loco and several other rides had already been removed from the site some time ago.[8] However, it wasn't until the days leading up to the announcement that individuals with inside knowledge had posted information online regarding Quimera's future, stating that it would find a new home at Indiana Beach in Monticello, Indiana. Rumors promptly began to circulate, but it was only days later, on November 24th, 2020, that until Indiana Beach released a press statement confirming such

Strange as the Carowinds webpage advertises Winterfest returns in 2021 - guess will see if that changes in the next few weeks -

It appears people will have to wait in the regular food lines (which can be very long on nice Fall days especially in the Festhaus and Jukebox) to get any of these special items. Wonder why the tents/huts used for Grand Carnival were not used and spaced throughout the park for easier access to these special items which would make them easier to obtain with the tasting card? If one wants to pay regular price, wonder if the items will be available for mobile food ordering at the Festhaus, Jukebox, or Hanks?

Wonder when contact free pouring with freestyle machines will be launched at KI and CP?

Fauci debunks the low CDC coronavirus death toll numbers - there actually are 180,000+ deaths https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/01/fauci-debunks-theories-of-low-cdc-coronavirus-death-toll-there-are-180000-plus-deaths-in-us.html?&qsearchterm=fauci debunks theories

Check their website the day you want to go as they list the rides not operating for the day as well as their hours. All summer the big wheel, the 5D theater, and bumper cars all have been closed due to COVID-19. The rafting ride sometimes opens from 2-6pm to cool off. Over in the waterpark, deluge has been closed all summer. KK is only open weekends now through the end of September (check their calendar on their website because hours do seem to change some time). No word yet if KK will open on weekends in October with some type of fall event like last year.

KI has tried in the past with the Banshee Brew Festival complete with food trucks in June 2015 (a year after the Banshee opened). https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.journal-news.com/news/beer-festival-one-several-new-kings-island-features-this-year/VMjav4iWbat6spvsK8041J/%3foutputType=amp Attendance at the brew festival was just okay, nothing spectacular, and management decided to direct their efforts to more family friendly events. However, a similar event at CP (Frontier Festival with great craft beer, BBQ, and entertainment) is very well attended and highly anticipated by many every year. Maybe KI could develop a similar type of BBQ/craft beer festival later in the summer and re-purpose all the huts that were used for the Grand Carnival food stations.

And KI listened to their fans and added a few restrooms in Area 72, ah finally relief! (Granted not the high crowd capacity kind but any restroom in the area is most welcomed when you gotta go)

I bought a bunch of FUN in March when it was almost at it’s lowest point of $15 and at today’s $25.89 Closing price, very happy with my purchase. I doubt the price will go much below $23 (given that all the announcements have already been made of which parks won’t open at all) and may actually go up if Canada Wonderland or Knotts can open at all this season. Of course good fall weather on an October could increase crowds at CP and KI with their special fall even this year. (Remember the traffic and crowd mess at CP last October).

With many Christmas events being already cancelled this year, it still would be nice if the park put up just the Eiffel Tower Christmas Tree this season to bring cheer and hope for all those that drive by to see. Christmas lights always make people smile, and in this strange pandemic everyone could probably use some Christmas cheer.

Skipping the event this year as their mask policy is very weak, plus Spencer country is seeing more virus cases. As reported other places here in the boards, Holiday World mask policy and social distancing has been minimal compared to the excellent job KI has done with their mask policy and social distancing procedures. Note at Holiday World no mask required on the midways while walking around. Be sure to spread out when eating the meals and snacks with all those coaster fans. https://usafacts.org/visualizations/coronavirus-covid-19-spread-map/state/indiana/county/spencer-county Guests will be required to wear face coverings as they enter the gates, and in any indoor spaces in the park including roller coaster stations, gift shops, indoor restaurants, Pepsi Oases, and restroom buildings. Guests will not be required to wear face coverings on any water rides, while eating or drinking, or in the midways, but are expected to maintain 6-foot social distancing from other travel parties at all times. In accordance with guidance from Indiana, children 7 and under will not need to wear coverings in the park (though they are strongly recommended for children ages 2-7) and exceptions will be made for those with medical conditions.

Today is my 4th visit to the park and can say with light attendance today have seen several families with masks around their neck. Also, seems the park has gone backwards on hand sanitizer stations as promised in their opening plan. This one by Orion and the sanitizer station under The Racer by the games had no dispenser attached to the sign. What good is just a sign indicating hand sanitizer?

Not all CF parks have reopened this season - while we have been lucky that both KI and CP reopened with limited hours, other CF parks remained closed (King’s Dominion, Carowinds, Valley Fair, Knott’s Berry, Great Adventure, Michigan Adventure rides (their waterpark is open however). The virus is still impacting many of the CF chain of theme parks this summer season.

Also note on August calendar park is closed Wednesdays and Thursdays for the first two weeks of August and starting August 17 closed Monday through Friday for the remainder of August - not many summer operating days left.

Good idea to have some type of entertainment but bad execution with afternoon bandstand events for thinking ahead with extreme summer heat - KI should install “social umbrellas” in front of the bandstand spaced 6 feet apart similar to what the current queue for Disney’s Slinky Dog coaster is. Each group can have their own umbrella (and social dot) to stand underneath for shade to avoid the direct hot sun. With temps in the 90’s and heat index above 100, who would want to stand directly in the hot sun at the hottest part of the day to watch something?

KI should be giving away the free cupcake with ever meal plan purchased as an incentive to boost attendance this season instead of charging the ridiculous $1.99 price.

We should feel lucky that the park is open in July with daily hours even if just 11-7. I would not be surprised that in August KI will follow the lead of other CF parks (Worlds of Fun and Dorney Park) with closing of the entire park in early in the week - both WOF and Dorney are closed Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2020/07/cedar-point-opening-day-preview-face-masks-social-distancing-halloweekends-and-more.html He (McClure) also said he is planning for Cedar Point to stay open through HalloWeekends, the very popular Halloween-themed event that runs weekends in September and October. But he added: “I don’t know anyone who is confident saying anything in the future is definite.”

At least KI has been excellent with their social distancing queue plan and implementation. When the Magic Kingdom opened to the general public today, Disney did a terrible job of ensuring safety of their visitors with their social distancing queue implementation. The sad thing Is many of these people may potentially catch the virus and bring it back to their town.