Wow, it comes to the point of the season and talk about Holiday events stops.

Look at the temps, I'm not going out in this weather.

Too cold.

I still would go to it, unfortunately too many people lean towards your view of it and would not go. That's OK though, plenty of other things go on during December in Cincinnati to keep anyone busy.

The Zoo has virtually the same weather as the Cinci area's largest amusement park...fewer rides, too.

Terp, known for notin', not nothin'.

Just viewed our family trip videos over Christmas (maybe 2 years ago) to Magic Kingdom. Sigh. Still wish for a December event similar to winterfest (or is it Winterfest... check me here 'Terp- is it copyrighted and therefore in need of capitalization?). I still say, Cedar Fair is missing an opportunity for year end revenue. We were at Columbus Zoo this year (shoulder to shoulder people). Were at Cincinnati Zoo (shoulder to shoulder). Weather was decent for one (43 at night) and the other 25. For what its worth it was a crisp 38 degrees on the last night of the operating season for my final Banshee ride.

Still wish for a December event similar to winterfest (or is it Winterfest... check me here 'Terp- is it copyrighted and therefore in need of capitalization?).

Son of Beast and Kenton's Cove Keelboat Canal are capitalized.

Names of former Kings Island attractions generally are, as proper nouns, even if they aren't current trademarks.

And even if they never were.

See Racer, Coney Island, Coney Mall...

I once corresponded with Charlie Frank, Executive Director of the Cincinnati Reds Community Foundation and failed to capitalize "reds." Must have been in a good mood, he never mentioned it.

You didn't do so on a public forum nor in public...

No, I did so to the front offices .

Not sure how I would do so in "public."

Honestly, I try to use proper punctuation because as one in my 40's I feel its use of proper grammar skills- skills that I feel society is slipping on in our: lol, lmao, ur, etc... culture. I could care less if it's a public forum. After all, this is a forum about a theme park, not necessarily a law review; to my knowledge no one is at risk to be fined or sued if a certain roller coaster or former attraction name is not capitalized. News sites have awful capitalization and punctuation skills represented in their forums- and by comparison more people view those than here.

My 3-cents.

to a 2015 Winterfest

No, I did so to the front offices .

Not sure how I would do so in "public."

Honestly, I try to use proper punctuation because as one in my 40's I feel its use of proper grammar skills- skills that I feel society is slipping on in our: lol, lmao, ur, etc... culture. I could care less if it's a public forum. After all, this is a forum about a theme park, not necessarily a law review; to my knowledge no one is at risk to be fined or sued if a certain roller coaster or former attraction name is not capitalized. News sites have awful capitalization and punctuation skills represented in their forums- and by comparison more people view those than here.

My 3-cents.

The park has asked. Trademarks can be lost. Websites HAVE been sued. And lost.

It's also required by the TOS here.

Terp, who does what he does because he must. And if you could care less, then you do care some!

Like I said, I do because its "proper."

and I'm not trying to be sarcastic- "tone" gets warped on a computer screen.

WCPO does a news story on Banshee. Forums flooded with hundreds of posts, most with trademark "violations." What is the response?

One is graciously invited to the park.

The other runs nasty, often slanted stories about that same park.

One is graciously invited to the park.

The other runs nasty, often slanted stories about that same park.

Fair enough.

I don't think I've really taken a moment to think that way of it. But, like I said, I have no horse in this race anyway- I think its proper English to use correct grammar.

Not sure where or how this idea got started but Winterfest of 2005 was not planned to simply show off the park to potential buyers.

Nope. Carowinds and Kings Island each had Winterfest 2005, to showcase the possible.

It worked.

And how.

Hmmm.... Look at the dollars that were missed this season. Viva la Festval of Lights.... And Beach Mountain... And Sharon Woods... Dollywood... Numerous Six Flags Parks... Oh and Disney....

Like they made in 2005?

Winterfest 2005 was an unbelievably successful event. It achieved its goals and far, far exceeded them. CBS was undoubtedly beyond pleased when June 30, 2006 rolled around.

Strategic planning. Successful marketing.

Know what you want to do and do it well.

They did. And did.

Truthfully.... I think Kinzel had his eyes on the park regardless of WinterFest... And I think he was going for broke, literally. By the way does anyone else remember the CBS/Paramount survey about who we would rather see buy the park? Any idea What was that all about?

To show prospective bidders the great competitive interest, of course.

Ah... Of course!

I think with the unseasonably warm weather we had this December that Winterfest would have been a huge success. Unfortunately, Cincinnati is not the easiest city to predict weather patterns so I can also see why they wouldn't want to take the risk. But still, just to go to Kings Island in December and maybe get a few of the rides that aren't required to be down for winter maintenance would be a great time.

I think the biggest thing is getting over the "no rides" issue. Can't we enjoy the park for its beauty? Kings Island lit up in shimmering lights with ice skating and a majestic sound track should be enough for a Christmas party. Surrounded by a few shows and delicious food... I'm game... And a couple of rides open is an added bonus. Besides only coaster enthusiasts would be upset by not being able to ride a coaster.

I was thinking if KI threw a 21+ New Year's Eve party up in the International Restaurant, with included snacks and a pay bar, maybe a band or other live entertainment, with nothing more going on in the park than the tower lit up, and fireworks at midnight, I'd probably pay $50 to get in. Of course they couldn't really have done it this year with the entrance and lot kind of torn up. But it would be an interesting event in the future.

I've been to Dollywood twice this Christmas season and it was incredible.  Coasters were open, but lines were short, shows were great, and lighting was out of this world.  They did have open fires for s'mores and it was a great addition to the atmosphere.  (Smelling the burning wood and seeing the smoke against the sunset at the top of Wild Eagle was a very special moment.)

 

It was my first Christmas event in an amusement park.  I could go on and on about how well the park in general is themed and about how magical the place felt to both myself and my friend.

 

I think a big part of the success for Christmas in the Smokies is that Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg/Sevierville is a resort destination vs. Cincy which does attract tourists, but is much more spread out.

 

It would be awesome to have a Christmas event at KI and since I never attended Winterfest, but I think if it could work, Cedar Fair would  know how to do it, given what they can control.  In the meantime, I can use my gold pass through the first few days of 2017 for Dollywood's event. 

Several years of  strategic planning and careful marketing potentially could bring a very successful Winterfest revival.  If the park would have only spent the millions of dollars on lights/decorations for Winterfest instead of Snoopy's Starlight Spectacular (which lasted only for several seasons before /the lights became just pathetic and the show discontinued when the contract ran out for the company that put it on.)  The strobes used for Snoopy's Starlight could still be seen this past season strung on the Eiffel Tower deck as the elevator goes up and some trees in the area still had the strands of lights grown into them as a distant memory of the millions of dollars spent for something that only existed for several years.   The weather is always a factor in any event whether is be the regular season, Haunt, or a potential Winterfest - good weather brings crowds, bad weather people stay home.  There are many good ideas from many of us out there of how to utilize spaces with the park for Winterfest, how to get the park ready in a very short period of time without interfering with Haunt activities, and how to market to the event to the various areas outside of Cincinnati.  Maybe someday Santa's Toy Factory will once again return in the King's Island Theater and the Home for the Holidays show will return to the Festhaus (since it was sadly missed in the 2005 Winterfest revival) along with the traditional holiday turkey dinner.

If you make it worth it people will come out. But you need to have a gimmick or similar that would make people want to come out. If it's just "look at KI with Christmas lights" then I think it wouldn't be worth it.

I have no real memories of any of the Winterfests but my parents say we went.

What if....

Hot Chocolate and Hot Soup/grilled cheese(Tom&Chee?) carts set up in the park.

Ice Skating in front of the tower

Live play (maybe Christmas Carol?) in the theater Ed Alonzo did his shows in

Live Christmas musical show in Fest House

Christmas type dinner in Fest House

Train display or holiday train/model display in one of the many shops?

Carrol singers walking around

Meet with Santa

Maybe first Christmas Present activity

Meet and feed Reindeer

A Christmas overlay in the Phantom Theater

Also, these things would need to be compacted together. It doesn't do any good to have it spread across the entire park either so I'm not 100% sure.

But what if all that happens and it's a small up charge for Gold holders ($10 each?) 30-45 for not?

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I really wish I could of experienced WInterFest, I envy the lucky ones who actually got to experience it.

I think with the unseasonably warm weather we had this December that Winterfest would have been a huge success. Unfortunately, Cincinnati is not the easiest city to predict weather patterns so I can also see why they wouldn't want to take the risk. But still, just to go to Kings Island in December and maybe get a few of the rides that aren't required to be down for winter maintenance would be a great time.

How about now??

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