Cedar Fair Growth Hits A Snag

[The Interpreter]

http://m.seekingalpha.com/article/1081231

Don't miss the comments. Winter festival?

Also note the veiled Q reference.

[fanofFirehawk]

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

[IndyGuy4KI]

I do not see Winter festival in that article Terp, or are you taking about something in the comment section?

[jdawg1998]

The comment section won't even work for me.

[malem]

^^ It was in a comment, but these appear to be broken at the moment. Something about whether winter events could further lengthen the profitable portion of the year. Considering that WinterFest at KI was cancelled twice and hasn't been retried again, management seems to believe that it would not. In Ohio, at least.

Note that California's Great America leases the entire park to another organization during the holiday season for a winter event. Weather in the SF Bay Area is a lot more predictable than in Ohio, where we could have upper 60s with sunshine or lower 20s with a foot of snow.

This article is a great read for anyone who thinks Madam Fatale's or Wolf Pack is wasted space.

[shark6495]

But then again, previous management has cancelled it. Not current. So if they are looking at ways, maybe everything is on and off of the table. If you are to look at how profitable or not profitable a winter event can be, one only has to look at the Cincy Zoo. Where KI may have an advantage is the ability to have stage shows both indoors and out.

[Leland Wykoff]

For a fresh link to the story, and comments, please try:

http://seekingalpha.com/article/1081231-cedar-fair-growth-hits-a-snag

[BB1]

If you remember, KI was in competition with the neighboring Beach Waterpark's winter event as well, with that event out of the area, one may think the profit margin may be larger, but not large enough due to the current management making the decision for no WinterFest, which I would visit a few times out of the year if in service. To believe that the growth could expand from a winter event at KI and or at other CF parks would not be the best idea, but it is a possibility in hindsight.

[CoastersRZ]

Winterfest compared to the event that The Beach had (HolidayFest) was like night and day. I found the Beach`s event to be lacking in entertainment value and just not a lot to do. I attended WinterFest in 2005, and would have recommended it to anyone. Yes, I think the pricing back in 2005 was a little high. But look at Dollywood. They pull off a wonderful winter event. Yes, Cincinnati is more subject to bad winter weather in December, and the unpredictibility that comes with that. But I think if the price point is right, a re-incarnated Winterfest can lengthen the season at Kings Island and several of the other CF parks. From everything I heard, the original WinterFest was a financial success. And I think if they priced it right, a new Winterfest could be too. They would have to be careful not to price themselves out of the market, which is what I think happened in 2005.

[The Interpreter]

That and their initial 2005 silliness of requiring advance purchase of good only a specific date tickets. Whereupon it snowed oats and Kings Island didn't even open a couple of the nights. Down at Carowinds, some nights had fewer than 200 advance tickets sold.

This attempt to create artificial scarcity backfired. And Festival of Lights was also a much better value.

[CoastersRZ]

Yes, it didn`t exactly work out. They were even stating that people would have to get "free" tickets to see the Santa`s Toy Factory show. Essentially to reserve a spot in the Kings Island Theater.

I think had the park priced Winterfest comparable to Festival of Lights, they would have had a huge hit on their hands, as Winterfest did have good entertainment value. They just over priced it.

I wonder if the thought has crossed Ouimet`s mind of re-introducing it at some of the properties.