Should CP revive xmas in the park?

This is a case of, if you build it...noone will come. Or, at least not enough people to justify its opening.

Sandusky isn't the place to be during the winter no matter how pretty they make the park.

I love how everyone who disagrees with this is disagreeing with their main thesis being that it is too cold out. Its like, if its too cold for you and you can't handle it, thats absolutely fine, so just don't show up for the event.

Less then 20 miles away in Port Clinton, they have the Willie Walley drop or whatever its called. I went there this year and they had food, activities; people were all over the place. Think they were hoping to break 10,000 people this year or something. This idea that started from nothing, like 8 years ago or around there, has now gained international, thats right international attention, from around the world. People came from all over the place just to see some fish drop. As the movie says, "If you build it, they will come." If cp puts some money into this and makes it nice, people will come from all around reguardless if its cold out or not.

People say, "well they already tried that and it failed once." Did Cedar Point really put any money into that. I went that year many times and I can't remember ever seeing any information about it. Plus who would go if you open up one ride and then give a sleigh ride, lol. Of course it failed. However if cp wants to make this nice, advertize, open some stuff, and put some money into it; the event could definately take off.

I bet those Antique Cars would get great traction in the snow ;).

I love how everyone who disagrees with this is disagreeing with their main thesis being that it is too cold out.

Not me. I disagree with it for the the reason in my post above. :)

I guess im just personally not a big fan of this kind of stuff. If they did it, I would hope for the best, but I personally wouldnt drive from COlumbus to go up there.

And I wouldn't drive from Holland, Michigan to attend this. I doubt many from this area would.

MrScott

I would drive to CP, but only 1-1/4 hour for me. I drive by CP all the time and have spent a lot of time outdoors on Sandusky Bay and in the area in general (by the way, you can see skyhawk from downtown Sandusky and really well from Johnson Island). Yes, it can be cold and windy, but it isn't like that all the time and doesn't bother me much, unless it is really cold and really windy. This is Ohio, not northern Minnesota.

The Toledo Zoo has the Lights Before Christmas and has xmas lights on everything, including trees, shrubs, etc. It is beautiful and draws crowds from around the area, including Michigan. The only rides they have is 2 merry go rounds and a train. We go there 2-3 times and love it.

There seems to be a cold weather taboo when it comes to outdoor activities other than sledding, skiing, etc. If CP put a real effort into this, I believe that it would be a big hit. Crazy Horse, I like all of your suggestions and would like to add a few: for those who don't mind being cold, open a few coasters that aren't "sensitive" to cold conditions, if there are any. Apparently Skyhawk is unaffected by cold weather (see VF debut of Xtreme swing). Too cold to go 60 mph, what about toboggans going 40 mph, skiers going even faster. What coiuld be colder than going 60 mph down the side of a mountain.

Decorate the midway, boneville and FT buildings with lights, would be as pretty as the Plaza Lights in KC. Have a lighting celebration just like the Plaza Lights, it draws thousands of people to the Plaza streets, just to see them turn on. Open Breakers and the other resorts, decorate them too. Put patio fire pits around the park to warm up by (toledo zoo does this), and I could go on and on. If this is a weekend event, CP could recruit college students from the many schools within 1-2 hour drive, not to mention the locals.

No. Cold. I'll wait for May.

My opinion only.

MrScott

Kings Island has to charge an arm and a leg just to break even. Considering the current state of "budget cuts", I wouldnt bank on anything like this happening for quite awhile.

Would you pay $40 for this?

Correction: Winterfest at PKI cost $25. But, you still had to pay for parking AND to do the ice skating, etc.

Although...wouldnt it be fun to have an annual snowball fight instead of hand-slapping on Gemini on the turns? Do that, then Ill drive from Buckeye town.

*** Edited 2/18/2006 1:34:25 AM UTC by Kevinj***

Good point Kevinj. Didn't season passers get a discount for PKI? Maybe if CP attracts enough, it could be just another extension of the season, just like halloweekends. But there needs to be enough open to attract enough people.

On another note about the worry about cold keeping people down. Make it fun enough and they will come, especially if there are lots of warm shops, shows and game rooms to take occasional refuge in(hear those cash registers ringing?). The line for DT would probably be pretty long, since it is indoors. Look at how many people cram in times square in NCY to watch a lighted ball drop and nothing to do but rub elbows. I understand most are not from NYC. I once went to a Brown's playoff game against Minnesota and the high for the day was 0 F, and it was sold out. It all depends on what you use to draw them, and I think most would brave at least the milder winter days, which is not unusual in NW OH.

Snowball fight on Gemini, sounds like fun to me!

Weather aside, I just don’t see enough people coming to an event at Cedar Point for them to get a good return on investment. I’m sure there would be a good crowd, but would it be enough to pay for it all. The more attractions you have open the more employees you need. It all cost money. I agree that a crowd would come, but not enough for Cedar Point to make a profit. And like I said a few posts ago, staffing would be a big issue. There are no college kids that are going to drive to Cedar Point for a weekend of work, especially if there will be snow involved in the drive. And most locals are not going to stand outside in the cold to run a ride. Have you been to Sandusky in the winter? Its dead, no one leaves their homes.
All the attractions that a few of you mentioned would require a good amount of employees to work them all. Those Live E shows just don’t pull people off the street. That takes a lot of work right there! It might not be so bad walking around as a guest sipping hot chocolate, but if you have to stand at an admission gate or in the parking lot to work for 5+ hours, no one is going to apply for that job. Even if they want extra Christmas money.

The topic asks if it should be revived, I don’t think it should. For some of the reasons above. Most of you have named other events in and around Ohio that have winter events, so why not just go to them in the winter? Go to PKI for Winter Fest and leave Cedar Point for the Summertime tradition it is.

*** Edited 2/18/2006 3:04:12 AM UTC by 99er***

I would make the drive to cedar Point, just to be able to walk through the park at night, with snow on the ground. How often (short of the pictures in the galleries) do you get to see that?

Of course it helps that I now live only 5 minuets away:) , but I would still make the trip when I lived in Akron about 1 1/2 away.

Hey 99er, you raised a lot of good points, logistics, money, personnel, and I agree with you. It all boils down to your most important point, will CP/CF make enough money (to keep the shareholders happy)? Will anyone at CF or CP put enough "out of the box" thought into this to see if it would take off? If it ever could happen, CP would have to come up with a plan and it may never come about. But I still think it could happen and be fun, and with a some creative marketing, etc., maybe? I'm sure halloweekends was just a "maybe some day" and it is still pretty new, but very popular.

Don't think they could open the Breakers if I remember correctly, something about no heating system.

"open Breakers and the other resorts"

yeah because it's THAT easy.

:)

That is the main reason why I doubt this would ever happen....the cost/benefit ratio for getting enough quality employees to operate the park for what, one day, a week, two weeks? No.

With all due respect, none of us has the reports, data or information to conclude that it is not feasible. Has anyone actually done a feasibility study to conclude this? What we do know is that PKI was boasting success, so the unimaginable was at least possible. I don't know if it would work, but if the number crunchers said it would, I would open the park on weekends from thanksgiving to new years with limited ride availability and incorporate as many of the cool suggestions in past entries as possible. Perhaps during weekdays when all the schools go on winter break too.

So since we don't really know if CP would ever revive a bigger and better xmas in the park, would you attend if it was a successful event? Did you get the impression my answer to this question would be a resounding YEEEEEES!

Either way, only 77 days 'til the midway!

i don't think its feasible because of all the work the crews put into winterizing the park at the end of the season....two weeks are put into scrubbing everything down and packing everything up...on top of maintence having to go through the whole pack to shut down the water lines and electrical; cp will just not unto all of this for a weekend just to spend another week re-winterizing everything...I just don't see it happening

It would definately be a risky venture for the park. Weather is such a big factor - sure if it's only 30-40 degrees a lot of people would make the trip, but if we get slammed with a super chilly, snowy winter that would squelch a lot of travel plans for out-of-towners. I would much rather walk around in a tank top than six layers of clothes. Then again, I'm a traditionalist - I want to spend my summers at amusement parks, and winters doing, well, winter stuff!

I think this could be a big hit at the park if CP would put a little effort into it...almost every single "flat" ride can operate in the cold because unlike the roller coasters you don't have the rollback factor. Like something like Millennium Force or Magnum could not run in such cold weather because the rollback risk would be soooo high just like why they close roller coasters when the wind gets to extremes. But open a few rides such as Midway Carousel, Antique Cars, Calypso, Disaster Transport, Space Spiral, Matterhorn, and even maXair
(even though I could not see myself riding it in those temps) because Hershey Park also gets cold in the winter and they have thier Claw ride open in the winter, its not the same as maXair but it is similiar. Also they could have all the little shops open on the frontier trail and have hot cocoa and donuts on the mdway. And have the train running. Then the spaces and midways that they are not using they could close off....such as the Dragster Midway that way they would not have to keep daily upkeep on those areas.

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Cory Marshall

Put a little effort into it? I think their doing just fine.

I say forget about Christmas in the park and bring back Millennium Mania. Id much rather have that then a cold day in the park!

I didn't say they were not putting effort into the park...i said if they would put effort into something like this it would work out great....you shoulsn't twist people's words.

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Cory Marshall