pki winterfest

PKI has its winter fest again. I thimk cp should do theirs again!!!

I don't think people would HAVE wanted to go to CP in the winter. But since the addition of Castaway Bay people may come up there. I just have a question. What (if any) rides would be open?
*** Edited 7/26/2005 2:23:12 AM UTC by Wicked Twister 90***

Can someone please tell the dumb guy here (me) what the winter fest is?

Also (no offence to you or anyone) but what is up with all the people starting new topics?
*** Edited 7/26/2005 2:27:35 AM UTC by tophat***

Winterfest!!! Why would you want toe attend that. I would not travel for 3 hours to walk around CP in cold just looking at rides that can not operate due to the temp outside. If I want to see blinking lights lights for xmas, I will drive around my plan.

Would anyone pay to walk around CP in the middle of winter (maybe yes if your local). I would not get a hotel for this. Other than Castaway Bay, I I still would probably not pay to walk around CP.

Maybe it is just me, but winterfest sounds silly.

I think it when they open the park for a couple of weeks during the winter a they decorate the park for Christmas. It does sound a
*** Edited 7/26/2005 2:36:52 AM UTC by Wicked Twister 90***

Very few rides could operate in those conditions. Winters in this region can be brutal, especially being right on Lake Erie like that. It might be a good event for locals, but I certainly wouldn't drive 2 hours just to freeze my butt off and roam the park in 30 degree temperatures with no rides open. I highly doubt enough people would show up to make the event worth it.

To be fair to PKI, they are much further south and are not on a body of water, so although it's still winter, the conditions would not be AS bad.

I know it can get cold during the winter. Think of last winter.

Hmmmmmmmmm being from northern Ontario Canada. 30 degree temperatures sound great opposed to - 40 . I would pay fo a trip to Castaway Bay and a balmy tour around Cedar Point in these temperatures.I may even have to bring a coat.
*** Edited 7/26/2005 3:17:54 AM UTC by fastercat***

Last winter was intense, the most snow I've ever seen in my lifetime. I have heard that northern Ontario winters can be harsh, hell I'm in Windsor, the most southern bigger city of Canada and it was very cold. I have relatives in Thunder Bay and I have heard the stories of the cold. If I lived in or around Sandusky I would pay to go and walk around, but I doubt I could get someone to drive 2 hours to go. If I had my own car I'd hop in and take the trip. I can't see many, if any rides being open, the most I could see would be opening the park to let people walk around.

umm, We're lucky if it hits 30F out in Southeast Michigan. I remeber temperatures of -10/-15F last winter.

If I were CP I'd do a wait-and-see. Honestly, in addition to being a little more mild, PKI has a much better layout to do this, and most importantly, they're not an hour away from the nearest major city.

Cedar Point tried something like this once back in the 90s. I want to say Midway Carousel was operating, but I'm not completely sure. All the other rides were shut down though, and the event wasn't very popular because of the freezing temperatures, so they never did it again. I doubt they would do it now, either. Even with Castaway Bay, most people still wouldn't want to walk around outside.

The event wasn't very popular because they didn't offering anything. It must have been aimed at locals, because no one's going to drive to Cedar Point in December to ride the carousel and go inside a gift shop. Those were just about your only two options (outside of the extra-charge carriage ride). If there is something worth going to, people will brave the cold (i.e. the large crowds at a bitterly cold event at Hersheypark).

Jeff is right - population plays a part (Hershey near Harrisburg and PKI near Cincinnati). Now with the year-round tourism growth in Sandusky, that may start to change. I'd imagine that all three waterparks have high numbers during the holiday period. It'll be interesting to see where this heads in a few years.

I went to Winterfest many many many years ago at King's Island. (No, not PKI, check the "many") It was not really worth the price of admission($17?). It was really heavily advertised as a winter wonderland kind of thing, but it was just skating on the fountain, the carousel, I think, and a bunch of crafts and some hot (thank God) food on International Street. It was bitter cold when we went, and for the two hour drive, we didn't stay very long. I didn't even skate.

I can't see any point in doing it at the Point, since there's no fountain and it's WAY colder. (Paramount will learn, just as the old KI owners did.) I'll take my summers and falls at CP, but you can HAVE winter! LOL

I'm a local, and I wouldn't drag my butt over to CP in the winter to just walk around. The people that have been on the lakeshore during the winter know why.

-Tambo

I grew up on the lake, but I know it's not as simple as that. There are too many factors to make a general statement.

December isn't July, but it isn't February, either. The lake doesn't show it's fury every day. And much of Cedar Point is protected from a direct lake wind (they wouldn't hold an event at the Breakers or on the beach).

Except for those days where the lake wind machine is turned on, cold in Sandusky is just like cold anywhere else. Cedar Point isn't a mystical igloo.

On most December days, the weather isn't all that different between Sandusky and Harrisburg (except Harrisburg probably gets more snow). The difference is that Harrisburg is a much larger city. People will drive from Cleveland or Detroit to spend a day at Cedar Point. But the number of people interested in driving that far to a Christmas event is much less than those interested in an amusement park - just because of the nature of the event. If Cleveland were 15 miles away instead of 60, a Christmas event would make more sense.

On the list of reasons not to hold a winter event, weather ranks behind target audience, the desire of the full-time staff to have a break, the need to prepare for the next season, and lack of facilities built for the cold weather.

As I mentioned earlier, with the new year-round tourism push in Erie County, that may change. Or maybe it won't. The winter tourism market will be interesting to watch over the next 5 to 10 years.

*** Edited 7/26/2005 1:28:21 PM UTC by Walt***

What would be cool is if they offered midway tours as part of a Castaway Bay package. Stay at CB and get a tram tour up to the point to see the offseason work going on. That would be cool.

There isn't much to see unless it is a major capital year and even then I'm not sure how excited anyone would get about a construction site.

Going back to the event in the 90's, I don't know anyone at the company who thought that it would be a success except the one or two folks who pulled the trigger and gave it the go ahead. Heck, I worked there at the time and didn't venture into the park to check it out.

If they could get a couple of shows up and running that might add some incentive to go. Better yet, if they installed a dark ride that could operate at that time of year then maybe there would start to be a program I could get behind but otherwise I say let the full time staff take a well deserved break.

I don't think CP would put in a ride there going to use only during the winter.

He doesn't mean that it would operate only during the winter, just a ride that is totally enclosed so the outside conditions would not affect it running.