If it was doomed from day one and the great experiment failed so bad, then why did CBS (Paramount) plan to bring it back for the 2006 season? Cedar Fair were the ones who cancelled it after their acquisition was completed, CBS was advertising it and even selling pre sale tickets.
It's difficult to tell what Paramount's plans were for Winterfest in 06. Maybe they were going to change the pricing, maybe they were going to downsize it, maybe they were going to make it bigger and better than ever, or of course, maybe they assumed that whoever the new owners were would have to be the ones to cancel it.
Actually, I remember when FF did go free, people were on the message boards upset by the possibility of long lines for Halloween stuff.