Winterfestguy

It’s going to be difficult as a chain for Cedar Fair to open any of their parks because each state governor will make their own state laws for opening despite whatever the Federal government may want. For example, Virginia is under the stay at home until June 10 which means King’s Dominion likely not open until at least July. So each park in each state will have to abide by the governor’s laws. Just because the curve may be leveling off and is on the downward slide doesn’t mean the hidden virus is gone.

They need to put the paper towels back in the restrooms that were updated and replaced with Dyson air dryers - those air dryers spread and blow more germs around (Not to mention blowing any airborne virus particles from sneezes and coughs everywhere) whereas the paper towels actually help remove any remaining germs on your hands https://www.theverge.com/2016/4/21/11479038/dyson-hand-dryer-hygiene-paper-towel-debate

With the CDC now recommending people wear masks in public, and since Cedar Fair in earlier park messages say they follow CDC guidelines, and if any park was to open this season, how would masks be viewed when boarding a coaster? Are masks loose articles which are forbidden on coasters? Some masks have the elastic behind the ears which would be similar to eye glass straps, so those might be okay. Some fabric masks, non-medical masks, and bandanas tie behind the head which do have a potential to “fly off” when coaster riding. Definitely will be interesting to see how Cedar Fair handles the CDC mask recommendation especially on coasters if they do try to open any of their parks this season.

This article was rather interesting on the microscopic aerosol virus transmission theory. A Washington State Choir rehearsal where they did not hug and kept their distances made 45 ill and sadly, 2 passed away. “Members likely expelled viral particles into the air during their rehearsal.” So, if on a roller coaster of someone is in the front row (who carries the virus but does not show any symptoms) screams emitting their viral particles, one wonders how far back in the train those viral particles could infect the other riders, especially traveling at 40-60mph. Granted the coaster is outdoors with lots of air around it, but I would not want to be directly in the second row behind the person screaming. Interesting thought to ponder. https://apple.news/AlfeY274mQ5aZZPhD_X0WGQ

The Indy 500 is being postponed from May 24 to August 23, so a mid-May opening of KI or CP may not be looking so good. https://fox59.com/news/indy-500-postponed-until-august-23-because-of-coronavirus-pandemic/

The CEO of Apex Parks Group (John Fitzgerald) which ran Indiana Beach through last year came from Six Flags where he was the park manager of Six Flags Great Adventure in NJ. So Indiana Beach was already being ran by Six Flags in a sense (which explains why Indiana Beach failed) https://apexparksgroup.com/news#18

Dollywood will be giving being a friend tickets to their Season Pass holders as a result of their delayed opening. I wouldn’t worry about delayed openings impacting season pass holders as parks will find a way to make good for their delayed openings. Dollywood - “We are focused on the health and safety of you and our hosts and this is a short, temporary delay in our season. For all Passholders we will provide an additional bring-a-friend free admission to be used during the summer 2020 season”

Be sure to check your spam folder - I found my email from Don in my spam folder.

Grand Carnival is June 6-28 as per the mailing from the park

People will definitely need to check their spam folders as there are some pretty aggressive spam filters on some email platforms. Sometimes, the email is marked as spam by the email domain and never will even reach the user’s email spam folder. I hope the email potentially being marked as spam was considered in their new approach, and would hope that a regular postal mail approach follow up happens from the park if a ticket purchased never receives the link from the park to actually register. As someone that has run several non-coaster events, sending an email link to an users account may be successful, end up in user’s email spam folder, or never actually reach the user email account since filtered out in the email domain spam background mechanism.

It’s a sad merchandising year for the Winterfest shops, especially the trim a tree area. 95% of the merchandise is left over from 2018 Winterfest (they are still trying to sell the 2018 King’s Island ornaments) with only 1 very limited 2019 ornament. Whereas 2018 had a pretty new robust selection for trim a tree, 2019 just brought out the 2018 leftovers with very very little new things (Very sad). This is especially obvious in the Peanuts shop by the main gate where only 2018 snoopy ornaments have been available since opening Nov 22 and none of the 2019 have ever been available there. And if that was not enough to be discouraged, they raised the prices on the 2018 leftovers by a few bucks! (In the Snoopy shop found a snoopy ornament labeled as $6.99 where all the identical ones had been re-ticketed for 2019 to $8.99! The people I was with were really amazed. If the park is really serious about increasing customer spending in the shops, they will have to stock with fresh new merchandise, not just keep boxing up the left overs at end of season and then putting them out again for next year’s Winterfest.

I also prefer the pedestals over the gift boxes, but a glad they figured out a way to keep the wireframes in the middle of the ice. Maybe someday the old pedestals in the bone yard will become patterns for future pedestals many years from now. It was also nice to see the Festhaus restored glockenspiel playing Christmas tunes. If you are standing in line waiting for the Feathaus to open at either 4 or 5pm, you will definitely hear it. We are not big fans of the new Tinkers Toy Factory. My kids never understood the story line and kept saying eeeew about Santa disgustingly blowing his nose so loudly and frequently. However, the cast and choreography are excellent. There are Christmas traditions that the original Winterfest parents bring back their kids and grandkids to see, but that tradition is no more with this newer version. (Where did Wendel’s fuzzy brown bear go?)

Since Cedar Fair hired a corporate imdividual to run the Pass Perk program, I would imagine the programs are similar between parks. I know a few individuals that visited KI multiple times as their home park in the summer and fall and never received any “perks” - not even one! Hopefully, the program for KI is better planned and thought out for 2020.

The enhanced lighting packaging on The Racer will add to the Winterfest atmosphere this year (much better than just the color changing LED spots)

My suggestion on the survey was to open at 2pm on Saturdays (like the original Winterfest and the one year return of Winterfest did). That didn’t happen either. Carowinds does open their Winterfest at 2pm on Saturdays, so must be a park to park decision for hours. Just seems to me that people would shop, skate, and spend more money if they had more time in the park, especially on busy weekends.

I am surprised that KI did not really add anything new for Winterfest like the new lighted Christmas parade which was selected by Cedar Fair to strangely debut at Carowinds instead of KI. Looking at the weatherbug KI webcam, Istreet looks very bland without the large trees containing canopies of lights and the heights of the old pedestal wire frame lights on the ice rink to compliment the overall lighted atmosphere. To move up in rankings (today currently #3), KI is likely going to have to step up their decorations and new versions of entertainment for the future. Both Branson and Dollywood have stepped up and added additional lights/decorations and show this year (and if you have not visited these two parks before, it’s a must on the Christmas time travel list as two of my favorites)

Dollywood Is now offering a Free Pre-K season pass for kids born in 2015 (5 year olds) and 2016 (4 year olds). Like many parks, under 3 typically free. I wonder when King’s Island will join the rest of the Cedar Fair park chain and and the rest of the amusement park competition to finally offer a Free Pre-K season pass? https://www.dollywood.com/tickets/season-passes/pre-k-pass?utm_source=non_passholders&utm_medium=email-smc_dw&utm_campaign=evergreen20-pre_k_pass&utm_content=smc_em-191104-non_passholders-outer-christmas_pass_info&utm_term=row2a&spMailingID=41035775&spUserID=NjU5OTU1MTU0OTkxS0&spJobID=1640313513&spReportId=MTY0MDMxMzUxMwS2

And without the pedestals which held giant, tall lighted wire frames of fountain lights in the middle of the ice rink, it may also also make Istreet super underwhelming compared to the past seasons. It will be interesting to see what is in the middle of the rink this season, if anything.

Same number of operating days as previous years - just happens that Thanksgiving this year just happens to be the latest on the calendar that it ever can be. What is interesting is that Carowinds Winterfest opens on Sunday Nov24 which is after KI debuts their Winterfest on Nov 22.

Unlike KI and CP, the crowds at KK for Hallowscream have been just right with minimal wait times. It was nice to see the park alive again at night (last time was when SF owned the park). One really cool thing KK did was to line and light the pathway track of the antique autos with tiki touches - really cool and spooky touch. KK also used their picnic grove to outsource their two haunted houses (free with 2020 season pass). Maybe KI could utilize their picnic area for some desperately needed new haunt mazes (it really is a good use of typically unused space in October, and outsourcing is the word in business these days.)

It’s always nice to see the former pedestals and spray jets in the Royal Fountain on the original International street. How much the park has grown since the episode is amazing.

Disney had down played the accident and advertises that the Skyliner is experiencing “unexpected down time” despite multiple guest photos showing the station crash. I imagine the Skyliner will be out of operation for awhile while Some type of new station parts are engineered to prevent a recurrence.

If the description is correct, it will be a welcome sight to see a 40 foot Christmas tree return to Winterfest Way. Last year they moved that tree over to Coney Mall by the Zepher and Winterfest Way was lacking something nice (just the white lights did not do much for the pathway).

There is still some very bad feelings among the Kentucky State Fair Board members of how Six Flags closed the park and took several rides with them. While Ed Hart once again may be looking to make a profit from a sale if approached by Six Flags, I the State Fair Board (who owns the land) would likely not approve of a sale to Six Flags again.