CP Winter Wonderland

I think it would be cool if CP had a winter/Christmas event in late November, December, and maybe early January. Or at least a few weeks around Christmas. None of the rides would be open for obvious reasons but ride lights could be on as well as the Luminosity and Starlight Experience lights. Plus a bunch others could be added throughout the rest of the park. There could be floats, holiday music, crafts for kids, a Christmas parade, and even Santa :) The arcade could be opened, and several food stores could sell hot chocolate, cookies, and other Christmas-related refreshments. Add other fun holiday games spread around the park, have a Christmas show on the Luminosity stage, and I think it would be a big hit with families. There could also be maybe snowman building contests (if there's snow) and an ice rink could be built somewhere. Make admission like $20 or something around that and it would include all of the activities. Plus it would give the GP a chance to see the park in winter. Maybe even turn one or two of the Halloweekends trails into Christmas or Winter themed walkthroughs.

Wow...it's a little early for the annual "CP Should Have a Holiday Event" thread but so be it.

This was tried once before back in the mid 90s. It wasn't successful then it and it was pretty unpopular with the FT staff. There were lights, hot cocoa, "sleigh rides", etc.

One mitigating factor is that it can be downright miserable on the peninsula in the winter. Yes, it gets cold all over Ohio but the wind cutting in off the lake in December is not much fun. It was an effort to get out of the car and walk 10 steps to my warm office let alone wander around on the midways. Driving the causeway with blowing snow isn't a picnic either.

Now, I suppose you can make a case that there are more visitors in Sandusky in the winter now than back then considering Castaway Bay, Great Wolf and Kalahari but I'd contend that if I had a chance to stay in the 80 degree indoor water parks or go out to the CP midway I'd be happy to stay at the slides.

Not sure if King's Island still does their winter event but you can argue that their market for that is much larger. They don't have to pull people in from an hour away. Sea World did a winter event back in the day but I doubt they would have considered it a success and I don't remember is lasing for more than a few seasons.

They would have to staff it with locals and I doubt they could get any significant entertainment as most of those performers are college kids that aren't going to trek back to CP at that time of year.

Bottom line is; if they thought they could make a few bucks off of it they'd have done it already. They tried and apparently didn't figure it was worth it.

Kings Island also dropped theirs due to no one showing up. So if it can't work in Kings Island, where it is also significantly warmer, doubtful it will ever fly again up here.

It seems as though there are only 8 people in Ohio who think this is a good idea. Well, adding Ride_on_17 spikes that number to 9.

Also note that the Indians cancelled their own Snow Days thing after two years of low attendance. 20 bucks is half of a lift ticket, and I know where my winter entertainment dollar will be spent.

^^^Yeah, all those reasons make sense for them not to have somthing like this. I didn't realize that it was already attempted a while ago. And sorry for the early holiday thread, I guess it's just the time right now when there's a lull right after a major anouncement and before there's any other really interesting news. Plus I'm still on summer vacation so that might have something to do with it too haha.

Kevinj said:
Kings Island also dropped theirs due to no one showing up.

No, they dropped it because Cedar Fair killed it. The Paramount folks planned to build it and the audience over time.

And Cincy doesn't get nearly as crappy in winter.

So Cedar Fair just axed it? I just assumed that was the reason why; perhaps just not enough to make it financially worth their while. That's what I was alluding to.

This thread did remind me that we have a trip to Dollywood planned over Thanksgiving. If you like this sort of thing, Ride_on, what Dollywood does with their park will blow you away. It's worth the drive. And, with temps usually in the 50's, the rides are usually all open.

Under Paramount they were willing to take a loss on the event, and gradually build it up over a few years. The thing is, I'm not sure it even took a loss.

The fact that I had to wear 3 coats during a night at Halloweekends tells me I would have to wear 6 during a night in the dead of Winter.

Man up. It gets cold but not that cold.

I would attend an event but they would have to do a lot more than what they did at the Christmas in the Park in the 90s.

what did they do back in the 90s? just lights, hot cocoa, and sleigh rides? No wonder people didnt come, aside from cold weather.

The 1994 Christmas in the park brochure
http://rollercoasterfreak.com/CP_Brochures/1994_Christmas.html

I do think it would be cool if they tried something like this again, except with more activities. But there have already been many reasons mentioned on here why it could fail, but with Ouimet, who knows. Maybe he'll be able to pull off something like this. But I know that I wouldn't want to travel an hour and a half just to go on a 25 minute sleigh ride, look at some lights, and then come home again.

The new Winterfest at Kings Island was great. We were really looking forward to the second season of the event...but then Cedar Fair came into the picture. They really could have had something there.

Wasn't PKI Winterfest made to attract buyers for the chain?

It would be kinda cool to see the park in the winter, but there would have to be many activities like Busch Gardens has during their ChristmasTown event. the park would be extremely cold and just getting to the park would probably be a challenge in itself. I wonder if the park will ever extend their HalloWeekends into November though.

Let's not forget most CP employees are not from the area and nearly all are seasonal. Bringing them back into the area around this time of year might cause all kinds of logistical issues, besides the ones that come to mind immediately.

DSShives said:
Man up. It gets cold but not that cold.

I would attend an event but they would have to do a lot more than what they did at the Christmas in the Park in the 90s.

You're ****ting me, right dude? I love the cold as much as the next Ohioan, but **** almighty it's cold up there at night, with those harsh bay winds blowing in.

^Exactly. I am one of the rare people who enjoy winter/cold weather but even I have a breaking point when it comes to being outside and trying to have fun. I lived in Sandusky for 11 years, been to Cedar Point in the winter and at night, not something that is the least bit enjoyable. Even the park in the day in the middle of December can be brutal, specifically the parking lot. The wind whips across the lot so fast and will literally make you want to run back to your car for warmth.

An event like this would be nice, would love to see it done but at Cedar Point it just doesn't make sense. Now at other parks I believe a winter event has a damn good chance of working. Doing it at parks like KI, KD and Dorney would be great in my opinion.

They need to invest in a huge dome.

We just go to Holiday Nights at Henry Ford/Greenfield Village in Michigan. Being inland it's not nearly as cold and they have fires set up throughout the event to warm up. I can't see CP allowing any open fires. I for one would rather keep my point memories the happy sandal wearing variety.