CP Christmas lights

Dies anyone else think that it would be cool if Cedar Point opened thw park for a few weeks in the winter and decorated it with Christmas lights and such.

Obviously the rides will not be open, but I think that it be really cool to see something like this.

What are some pros and cobs to this ?

Con: December on a peninsula in the middle of Lake Erie

Con #2: see above, add wind

Kennywood has just announced that they are going to try this for the first time this year. They are going to have areas of the park decorated, and are going to have a few rides open (Carousel, paratrtooper, etc.) and have their concessions open.

Like the Cap'm said above - I can't imagine this working at CP. I was at Lyman Harbor for New Years Eve concert a few years back (across the marina from CP) and out on the boardwalk facing the marina it was BITTER cold with the wind off the lake.

Cedar Point did this back in the mid-late 90's. There's a reason they didn't continue doing it.

Kennywood is doing it this year.

Yikes, imagine staying in employee housing in the winter. I get nauseated just thinking about it.

Imagine staying in employee housing ANY time of year.Yikes.

Imagine working there.......;)

I've been in the park in the dead of winter and while it's beautiful in some aspects, it's a pain to navigate. Not to mention walking around with snow in your boots when your accustomed to walking in the same area with shorts and walking shoes is a bittersweet feeling. :)

When Cedar Point added Starlight Experience I had a feeling a Christmas event was in the works and they just used Starlight to see how popular it would be before they would do a Christmas event. I dont know if it will be soon but someday CP will have a christmas event do to everbody else is trying it even if it wont be outside...maybe in the colliseum?

it seems like alot of different parks will have a christmas event this year....i wonder if cedar point will try it out again in the future?

Probably not until global warming has had a chance to warm the area a bit more, so that winters on the CP peninsula aren't horrifically miserable.

I always thought it would be cool if they turn the Hotel Breakers into a North Pole kind of setup. Decorate the lobby with all kinds of Christmas stuff and make some cool displays in the store windows and have a nice model train. Have the rotunda turn into Santa's North Pole where you can get your picture taken with Santa. Have one of the shops turn into a toy shop or kid's holiday shop and turn Perkins into a holiday themed restaurant.

yep, when kings island had winterfest i thought it was the best day i had in the park ever.you could make the train with christmas stuff, and use the lagoons for an ice skating rink, the breakers idea was good, disaster transport could be used for something, starlight experience could have a christmas theme, and of course the carousel would be open. the only problem is it would be really cold and cedar fair wouldnt spend the money to have it.

They could rent parkas...

Yeah, but will they have pockets?

For an extra charge of $5.

It seems to me that holiday lights would be mostly a draw for locals. There's probably not enough locals who'd be interested to justify it. That's probably one of the reasons it didn't work before.

I was thinking how they could make it work, but I don't think it'd be worth it still.

They could make the CP Causeway and the perimeter road a Christmas Drive-Through event (no more than $10 per car), with lights and scenes along the way.

Then, as mentioned, it could lead to Hotel Breakers as a Christmas Palace with Santa in a roller coaster car and other activities like decorating cookies, Blow-Up Play Areas, and Family Mini Golf inside...all with a CP twist (charging for sprinkles...kidding).

The problem is that CP is a destination park, and how could they get people to come when most have local events like this already?

It could work at a park like King's Island, but they'd really need to figure out some unique draws and entertainment for today's generation. One thing we have now that we didn't have back a decade or more ago is the mass adoption of the Internet and social media, so it'd be much easier to gather people today. I wish I could have attended KI Winter Fest. It seems like many have great memories about it.

as it's been mentioned the closest big cities to the park are cleveland and toledo. You don't have a major metropolitan area that would want to flock next door to go to a winter event. Locals might like it for a bit, but most locals know that on a peninsula surrounded by frozen water in the middle of winter won't be real pleasant. The whole sticking out surrounded by flat and ice really does make a difference. I love the cold, I've done a lot of stuff in far worse temperatures but to drive to the park from somewhere other than sandusky they'd have to be offering me a lot to do and the price would have to be right. There's just not enough people around the park to draw in with it.

I think Walt said this back in 2003 in another thread:

"Christmas in the Park suffered more from the fact that people didn't want to drive 2 hours to Cedar Point for a gift shop, a cup of hot chocolate, and a spin on the carousel than it did from the weather. I think the event failed because there wasn't enough to do to make it worth driving there unless you were a local.

Jeff and I were just talking about this very topic the other day. With Sandusky's winter potential, I think the market could support "Christmas in the Park" in the future."

I agree that there are many successful Christmas events in weather as bad if not worse that Sandusky's. Christmas in the Park would have to be an event worth making a trip to Sandusky for in December. Now that Sandusky has Castaway Bay and Kalahari, there is a draw to get people there in the winter. Attend a nice Christmas event at Cedar Point then head to the indoor water park to play and warm up.

CP would have to create an event worth making the trip. Do things such as turn the Cedar Point and Lake Erie Rail Road into the Polar Express and such.... I think it could be successful with the right even. Time to put the Disney Imagineering process to work and let the staff get creative.