Winterfest Closings 2022

[RedSummit20]

Winterfest will be closed this friday! 

 

https://www.visitkingsisland.com/events/winterfest/calendar 

[Klabergian Empire]

Makes sense. Nobody's gonna wanna be out in that kind of weather.

To give you an idea how bad its gonna get, wind chill for 7am Friday morning is supposed to feel like -27 degrees.

[BoddaH1994]

Disappointing because I was planning on going to go ice skating that nice, buuuuuut, I suppose I can spare myself the 1 degree weather. 

[SonofBaconator]

To the people who are online complaining:

It cold. Stay home.

[RedSummit20]

9 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

To the people who are online complaining:

It cold. Stay home.

Whos complaining?

[standbyme]

2 hours ago, RedSummit20 said:

Whos complaining?

The people who are not happy about it.

(Just trying to add a little of The Interpreter’s old literal humor into the conversation. )

[RedSummit20]

17 minutes ago, standbyme said:

The people who are not happy about it.

(Just trying to add a little of The Interpreter’s old literal humor into the conversation. )

LOL  all good i appreciate that. Yeah people get mad, but better than the park telling us 2 hours before they open. 

[Gabe]

I know it's been played out, but for anyone thinking of showing up Friday:

 

[silver2005]

The real question is would we have seen @malem wear a jacket that night if the park were open?

silver2005, asking the hard hitting questions. 

[IndyGuy4KI]

4 hours ago, silver2005 said:

The real question is would we have seen @malem wear a jacket that night if the park were open?

silver2005, asking the hard hitting questions. 

The lightest jacket sold. 

[KIEagle33]

On 12/20/2022 at 3:13 PM, RedSummit20 said:

Winterfest will be closed this friday! 

 

https://www.visitkingsisland.com/events/winterfest/calendar 

Ah, yes. The wonderful southern Ohio weather, doing what it does best.

[terry wass]

Just got out of michigan and landed in atl. So I guess I will miss it. Might do holiday in the park at six flags georgia. But it will still be chilly. Good luck with the weather.

[chad_1138]

The park is closing at 8 tonight.

[BoddaH1994]

12 minutes ago, chad_1138 said:

The park is closing at 8 tonight.

Official Tweet:

 

[brenthodge]

They’ve actually had a good run this year. First cancellation to date. And a good reason. 

[MDMC01]

I was thinking today if they could possibly "make that day up" (as in, make up for Friday's closing) somehow and add either Jan 1st or 2nd as an extra day of Winterfest. It would be regular Winterfest (with shows and food and everything, minus the rides of course (Except maybe Snow Works...). I completely understand the weather situation (tomorrow is going to be crazy!), but I was wondering if just maybe that could happen...

[brenthodge]

Contracts are probably written for performers. Sone of the shows are produced by outside companies, and I doubt you could easily explain to the GP the isduecc C with the rides not running. I’m sure they build a day or two of “losses” into the budget knowing each season there may be a cancellation or two. I think there was at least 1-2 late closed and a full cancellation last year due more to rain and storms  during the week of nightly ops. 

[super7]

Cedar Fair does a lot of things right, but Tonight (Thursday) was a perfect example of their biggest flaw in park management.  
 

They knew the forecast for today yet they allowed people to come and then close early. It’s always because of attendance when they close early and they blame the weather.

If they open the gates, they should stay open as scheduled. If the weather looks bad, then cancel ahead of time. They did  for Friday.    Which Pretty much confirms tonight was because of attendance.

It’s just a little bit sleazy way to operate. And nobody is going to come when the weather is questionable because of the chance of the park closing. They’re digging their own ditch with this policy.

 

And just to clarify, it’s fine if they want to close because of weather and safety. But do it before people start traveling to the park

 

Additionally, they cut scheduled hours on the employees.   That’s what this early closure is totally about. Saving payroll and operating cost.    But they were just having Problems finding employees not too long ago. Who wants to work for a non-reputable company that cuts hours on a whim?

[PKIVortex]

They announced the early closure tonight before the park even opened. They didn't have to open at all.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

[brenthodge]

9 hours ago, super7 said:

Cedar Fair does a lot of things right, but Tonight (Thursday) was a perfect example of their biggest flaw in park management.  
 

They knew the forecast for today yet they allowed people to come and then close early. It’s always because of attendance when they close early and they blame the weather.

If they open the gates, they should stay open as scheduled. If the weather looks bad, then cancel ahead of time. They did  for Friday.    Which Pretty much confirms tonight was because of attendance.

It’s just a little bit sleazy way to operate. And nobody is going to come when the weather is questionable because of the chance of the park closing. They’re digging their own ditch with this policy.

 

And just to clarify, it’s fine if they want to close because of weather and safety. But do it before people start traveling to the park

 

Additionally, they cut scheduled hours on the employees.   That’s what this early closure is totally about. Saving payroll and operating cost.    But they were just having Problems finding employees not too long ago. Who wants to work for a non-reputable company that cuts hours on a whim?

Pretty much none of that is what happened. They announced Fridays closure on Tuesday when it became clear it would be unsafe to open. They adjusted Thursday’s close and published it BEFORE open at about 3-3:30 when it became clear that the rain would be hitting about that time and rapidly changing to snow, then dropping temps. Did anticipated attendance after 8pm factor in? I’m sure, but to say it was done “on a whim” doesn’t seem to have been the case. I’m sure the opportunity to make $$$ the last two nights before Christmas was seriously weighed against the cost of doing business, potential staffing challenges, and possible liability to guests and staff being open in unsafe conditions. Your “if you open you stay open” policy takes none of that into account as any well run business looking out for their bottom line should. 

[super7]

6 hours ago, brenthodge said:

Pretty much none of that is what happened. They announced Fridays closure on Tuesday when it became clear it would be unsafe to open. They adjusted Thursday’s close and published it BEFORE open at about 3-3:30 when it became clear that the rain would be hitting about that time and rapidly changing to snow, then dropping temps. Did anticipated attendance after 8pm factor in? I’m sure, but to say it was done “on a whim” doesn’t seem to have been the case. I’m sure the opportunity to make $$$ the last two nights before Christmas was seriously weighed against the cost of doing business, potential staffing challenges, and possible liability to guests and staff being open in unsafe conditions. Your “if you open you stay open” policy takes none of that into account as any well run business looking out for their bottom line should. 

I have been there before when they said they were closing for weather.    And it stopped raining at 8.   They close for attendance when they cut days short at the last moment.  Period.  
 

And fyi Thursday’s forecast predicted rain all night days ahead.   They could at least have done common decency and not open the gates at all if they are going to pull these tricks. 

[brenthodge]

1 hour ago, super7 said:

I have been there before when they said they were closing for weather.    And it stopped raining at 8.   They close for attendance when they cut days short at the last moment.  Period.  
 

And fyi Thursday’s forecast predicted rain all night days ahead.   They could at least have done common decency and not open the gates at all if they are going to pull these tricks. 

They pulled no trick. They posted at 3:30 on a day they were opening at 5 that  they were closing at 8. The forecast shifted from shifting to snow at 10-11 to earlier. Sorry their actions don’t fit your made-up narrative. 

[BeeastFarmer]

If they announce a closing, as you say above, they have already made plans with staffing and operational procedures.  Those can't be changed on a whim, so even if it's sunny at 8pm, they likely can't remain open anyway.  

I admire the decision makers for opening for 3 hours, knowing it would be a light crowd night. I'd venture a guess that the people who showed were the hard core fans, who would understand the reason for shutting down 120 minutes early. 

Finally, they did right by the employees.  I had to get a hotel for two nights to make sure I can get to work tomorrow morning, and by 10 it was violently snowing in central KY and wet roads became snow covered and slick in 15 minutes.

[Snowball]

1 hour ago, super7 said:

I have been there before when they said they were closing for weather.    And it stopped raining at 8.   They close for attendance when they cut days short at the last moment.  Period.  
 

And fyi Thursday’s forecast predicted rain all night days ahead.   They could at least have done common decency and not open the gates at all if they are going to pull these tricks. 

Yes, obviously they will close if attendance is low, it's a business. It doesn't make sense to run a theme park with extremely low attendance. They'd just be losing money. Also, as others have said, forecasts change by the minute and they announced the early close hours before the park even opened.

[super7]

So by you guys it’s ok the close the doors early after you get there just because they don’t have a good attendance.   Got ya.   I hope you are very local as some people have traveled a distance in these days to get there.  Even paid for lodging 

Is it a good business decision to upset customers?    Also as their reputation worsens for these early closures (not too long ago this wasn’t standard practice) that means NOBODY but locals will risk traveling to the parks on questionable weather days.   Making it impossible for them to ever turn a profit if rain is in the forecast.    
 

imo it’s classic bait and switch to have advertised hours and not produce.   Regardless of disclaimers.   

[super7]

From what I saw this year Canada’s Wonderland does not close early for rain like the American CF parks.    The first night I attended it rained hard and they stayed open until 10

Im guessing Canada may have done kind of employment laws against curing scheduled hours?   Unlike the USA where it’s 99% in favor of the greedy business Over the employees 

[AgentSoB]

One other thing to note is Thursday was also done for employee safety as stated in the official release. My supervisory team was great with myself and a colleague. They made sure we were cut early at 7 in order to complete our drives home (1.5 and 3 hours respectively). We would have been driving in the heart of the storm had we stayed open for the previous unrevised hours. My supervisor even contacted me to make sure I made it home safe. 

[Snowball]

1 hour ago, AgentSoB said:

One other thing to note is Thursday was also done for employee safety as stated in the official release. My supervisory team was great with myself and a colleague. They made sure we were cut early at 7 in order to complete our drives home (1.5 and 3 hours respectively). We would have been driving in the heart of the storm had we stayed open for the previous unrevised hours. My supervisor even contacted me to make sure I made it home safe. 

Same experience here. My managers and supervisory team made sure I was off by 8 in order to be home before it got super nasty out. If the park had not closed early, anyone who had to stay would’ve been driving home in very dangerous road conditions. Closing early was definitely the right move. Very thankful that happened.

[brenthodge]

4 hours ago, AgentSoB said:

One other thing to note is Thursday was also done for employee safety as stated in the official release. My supervisory team was great with myself and a colleague. They made sure we were cut early at 7 in order to complete our drives home (1.5 and 3 hours respectively). We would have been driving in the heart of the storm had we stayed open for the previous unrevised hours. My supervisor even contacted me to make sure I made it home safe. 

The thing to keep in mind is there are some selfish, juvenile folks like “super7” that dont get that there is ANYONE ELSE other themselves that factors into deciding anything. I’d hate to see how self centered they were about anything REALLY important instead of something as fairly trivial as when a theme park closes. I’m thankful the team was able to provide what they could Thursday. I’m impressed the park clearly communicated expectations well in advance of closing, and I’m impressed they seemed genuinely concerned about their staff. The park management seems to get the big picture WAY more than sone folks around here. 

[brenthodge]

5 hours ago, super7 said:

So by you guys it’s ok the close the doors early after you get there just because they don’t have a good attendance.   Got ya.   I hope you are very local as some people have traveled a distance in these days to get there.  Even paid for lodging 

Is it a good business decision to upset customers?    Also as their reputation worsens for these early closures (not too long ago this wasn’t standard practice) that means NOBODY but locals will risk traveling to the parks on questionable weather days.   Making it impossible for them to ever turn a profit if rain is in the forecast.    
 

imo it’s classic bait and switch to have advertised hours and not produce.   Regardless of disclaimers.   

Maybe you SHOULD think twice about traveling to the park on questionable weather days. The more you rant the more silly you sound. They “didn’t close for rain”. They communicated 2hours in advance of opening that they would be closing early for the safety and comfort of staff and guests. If you chose to come AFTER that was publicly stated, that was on you. You might want to drop it soon, you really aren’t strengthening your case LOL!