Greetings,

I ran into an article about Holiday Fest at The Beach Water Park. It seems like a great place to go in the winter without WinterFest around anymore.

http://www.pulsejournal.com/hp/content/oh/...familymain.html

Best regards,

Italian Chef

Geez....and people were complaining about the pricing at Winterfest. This event costs $15, only has 6 activities, and most of those you have to pay extra for.

That being said.....I love going to these sort of events and I hope that the Beach has a successful year!

Lets see, so for my family:

Parking = $6

Admission = $39

Pony Ride = $4

Carriage Ride = $15

Total = $64

I'll skip it and go to Festival of Lights at the Cincy Zoo instead. Much more to do there, and cheaper too!

http://www.cincinnatizoo.org/VisitorGuide/...l07/FOL_07.html

Holiday Fest at The Beach is a blast. Last year me, Boddah, zoso, and coastersRZ went. My only complaint was how unbelieveably slow the line moves for the paddle boats due to the fact that the paddle boats often get stuck and an op is required to come and use a pole to get you back on track. The boats will often cause a traffic jam. Id say it took us atleast 20 minutes to get around the whole course.

The two times I went in the past, back when I had Beach season passes, it was just an ok time, but I didn't have to pay admission then. But now that I would have to pay $64 to do what we would want to do, I don't see it as worth the money compared to Festival of Lights' $11 adult/$7 child admission or $24 adult/$20 child admission that includes the 4D movie and UNLIMITED rides on train, tram and carousel vs just one carriage/pony ride at The Beach.

Lets see, so for my family:

Parking = $6

Admission = $39

Pony Ride = $4

Carriage Ride = $15

Total = $64

I'll skip it and go to Festival of Lights at the Cincy Zoo instead. Much more to do there, and cheaper too!

http://www.cincinnatizoo.org/VisitorGuide/...l07/FOL_07.html

Here's a little history of Holiday Fest:

They had it for a few years and it went... meh... Then KI launched the failed Winterfest, which ultimately HELPED The Beach. All of the advertising for Winterfest caused a spark of interest in Holiday Events, which lead to a big increase in attendance for Holiday Fest. The next year when KI canceled Winterfest, The Beach used this as an opportunity to beef up their event, which worked rather well. Unfortunately, now we're to the point of arrogance in which the Beach is charging for everything. I'll go to this thing if I get bored, but it certainly not worth any $64.

Except Ryan you wouldn't be spending 64 dollars. Admission is not 39 bucks per person, that is how much gatorhead would spend to take his family. Admission is 15 dollars according to The Beach website. So lets see, you would pay for admission and parking (which compared to KI 6 bucks is not bad and you get a discount if your a AAA member). You didn't do either the carriage or pony rides last year nor did we spend any extra money on skating and I seem to recall all of us having a blast last year. So you can be entertained for a night at Holiday Fest for 21 bucks at the most if its anything like last year, even less if you have a AAA card for discount parking. Definently more affordable than winterfest was.

But, from our visit last year, there was no where near the amount of entertainment that WinterFest at Kings Island provided. Frankly, I found The Beach`s holiday event was rather boring with not a lot of live entertainment.

True, there was a lock of entertainment where as winterfest had wonderful stuff like the Toy Factory show but I still think HolidayFest gets its success from the fact that its more affordable and offeres a decent amount of activities, rather than its successful just because winterfest failed.

How GOOD an event is has nothing to do with how profitable it is. Winterfest was EXPENSIVE to put on, which is why it had to cost some cash. Holiday Fest is thrown together and very inexpensive to produce, therefore very profitable.

Maybe KI should've taken some notes then, people seem to keep coming back to the Beach's event.

We are season pass holders to “The Beach” so we where able to get in for free which was nice and that is actually the reason we went, “It was free”. We ended up doing some shopping, Skating, rides and dinner, so we did spend some money while there.

Would I go back? Yes – as it was not the best Holiday Event that we have attended, it was still a nice way to get out and to enjoy some time with the family. Last year a lot of guests seemed to put down “The Beach” carriage ride, but we really enjoyed that a lot.

We originally were going to go to KI WinterFest as we where waiting to go the second year so that KI would be able to improve on there first year performance and because the first year was so cold. I was really looking forward to going ice skating with my daughter for her first time. Since “The Beach” offered ice skating that is where we ended up and now “The Beach” holds a special place in my heart for an endearing family memory.

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Think we should have an unofficial KIC meetup at Holiday Fest?

Think we should have an unofficial KIC meetup at Holiday Fest?

I still have my season pass so I would be in. who else?

I'm home for 6 weeks and off of work in the evenings! Im down for a meet up!

I don't know if they are doing this again this year on but....last year on Dec. 9th at holiday fest the radio station KISSFM. was at the park and if you went up to the admissions and said "Merry Kissmass" you would receive a free ticket for that night. It really was a good deal.

Also don't forget that Beech Bend in Bowling Green, Kentucky is hosting its first Holiday Lights Spectacular. Kentucky Rumbler is for sure to be open and it looks like a lot of other rides will be open as well.

http://www.beechbend.com/Holiday%20Lights.htm

-Jake

Boddah and Dane have some great stories about Beech Bend. Hey Boddah, hows the looping star?

Boddah and Dane have some great stories about Beech Bend. Hey Boddah, hows the looping star?

Worst...ride...ever...