Winterfest Closings 2022

[TombRaiderFTW]

17 minutes ago, standbyme said:

I envision this Winterfest discussion going through the summer!  
 

Unless, of course, the mods decide to close it due to low attendance.

[disco2000]

Nah it will just turn to the Summer 2023 closings thread when they close early even though the rain is gone by 8pm....or renamed KI closely early again....

[chad_1138]

7 hours ago, TombRaiderFTW said:

Unless, of course, the mods decide to close it due to low attendance.

 

7 hours ago, disco2000 said:

Nah it will just turn to the Summer 2023 closings thread when they close early even though the rain is gone by 8pm....or renamed KI closely early again....

Just be sure to give us more than 2 hours warning.

[super7]

On 1/5/2023 at 11:31 AM, Klabergian Empire said:

Kings Island specifically said they were closing early on the 22nd because of the winter storm. I live really close to Kings Island and the storm started around 8:30~9:00pm. Granted it started out as rain but the temperature dropped pretty fast and rain became snow.

Kings Island closing early was done from a safety standpoint and not from a business standpoint. Assuming Kings Island stayed open 'till 10pm would mean that people would be having to exit the park and the parking lot in poor and potentially slick conditions. Winter weather impact is a whole different animal from summer weather impact. Heck, there's even been times during the regular season in the middle of the summer where KI closed early because of an approaching severe storm. The park staying open 'till 10pm would have just plainly been unsafe for both visitors AND KI personnel. Keep in mind, lots of KI personnel don't actually leave the park right when it closes. A good chunk of employees leave around 11pm after shutting things down and security sweeps are done. They would be driving home in very hazardous road conditions if KI closed at 10pm. Kings Island made the right call by closing early. Period.

Lastly, to argue that Kings Island closed early because of business reasons, such as cutting costs, is wrong. Sure, you could make the argument that they could save money by closing earlier or say that they weren't going to make much money staying open at the beginning of the winter storm or whatever. Kings Island pulls millions of guests every year and with that millions of dollars in revenue. And considering this on top of how much Cedar Fair has invested into the park, to argue that they wanted to "cut costs" is crazy. 

You are absolutely wrong. They May close occasionally because of the weather, but most of the early closures are 100% for cost cutting. I have witness it in person. At Kings Island they have closed early for simple Rain and the rain stopped. I Carowinds I have been there when they closed for 50° weather and a clear sky.    There is no other reason to close in those circumstances other than cost cutting. 

[BeeastFarmer]

^ I don't think it's worth the time and energy to try and convince them of any views they hold. They either can't comprehend other views or they can and just want to stick with the line they have drawn. 

[disco2000]

I don't think anyone is saying the park being closed after 8pm on that icy/snowy night so that guests and employees could get home safely was the wrong call.

The park will never say if the 3 hours they were open that night justified opening at all.

Information was in hand that they could have made the call to not open at all, but it is kinda like the school closings, some will be ticked off no matter what they do.

But they made the decision to close early BEFORE the park opened, so it would have been just as easy to not open at all.  They must have made the decision that a low turnout would still be worth it.

I get this is the Winterfest closings thread lol, but the point that Super is making is often times it isn't because of weather.  

Let's toss this ice/snow event out and look at the summer season.

Up until recently I never recall the park closing early during the summer season and have been at the park far worse days and they stayed open and certainly could have closed early due to the rain and so few guests than some recent years where the threat of rain had passed by 2pm yet they closed early with a decent crowd.

I think they closed early 5 times in summer season in 2022, and had a few days where just Soak City closed on top of that.

One of the days I remember it rained around 4:30 or so and cleared the park out.  About 6pm they made an announcement that the park was closing at 8pm due to weather.  But the weather had passed and nothing was on the radar and the sun was out and rides opened up around 6:30pm or so.  For the few guests that stuck it out, they had the rides to themselves for a little over an hour.  It is hard to argue in that situation that it closed because of weather.

I too have experienced traveling to another CF park to find they closed early despite the rain had passed.

I totally get they are a business, but they had stayed open in the past with far fewer guests on rainy days...but back then people actually had to pay for meals if they stayed in the park and many would grab skyline or LaRosa's and wait it out in the FestHaus, whereas now the business model is different with all the meal and drink plans...

KI used to tweet out "with rain in the forecast, today is a great day to get rides in with lower crowds" or something to that effect and then would later have to tweet out park is closing...so I doubt we will see any tweets like that anymore...

[brenthodge]

2 hours ago, super7 said:

You are absolutely wrong. They May close occasionally because of the weather, but most of the early closures are 100% for cost cutting. I have witness it in person. At Kings Island they have closed early for simple Rain and the rain stopped. I Carowinds I have been there when they closed for 50° weather and a clear sky.    There is no other reason to close in those circumstances other than cost cutting. 

I think I hear the thumping sound of someone beating a dead horse. LOL

[Klabergian Empire]

12 hours ago, super7 said:

You are absolutely wrong. They May close occasionally because of the weather, but most of the early closures are 100% for cost cutting. I have witness it in person. At Kings Island they have closed early for simple Rain and the rain stopped. I Carowinds I have been there when they closed for 50° weather and a clear sky.    There is no other reason to close in those circumstances other than cost cutting. 

They were literally closing for a winter storm that became a blizzard! This isn't like closing because of a few rain showers...Like I said earlier, winter weather impact is a whole different animal than summer weather impact. 

And yeah sure, sometimes Kings Island has closed when there is foul weather and then shortly after it closes the weather fine again. But in this particular circumstance, closing early was the right call because it would be unsafe for guests AND KI personnel to working and/or traveling home in winter storm conditions.

[chad_1138]