Fall Bonus Days

[richmondrider]

We always loved WinterFest and tried to go every year, but the late start with young kids always made it hard. That, plus the coasters closing when the temperature drops, made it a lot less appealing.

Whereas at Christmas Town, we go early to enjoy the prides, then enjoy the lights and events at night.

Never understood why Kings Dominion did it that way but it’s easy to see why it wasn’t as popular.

 

[guy305]

Fully expected them to close yesterday so I had to stop by when I saw they were still open. If you ever wanted a solo ride on Rapterra, last night was the night to do it




Good job on the park for staying open though. It was a blast for those that went, felt like you had the place to yourself.

 

[Thriller]

I lied. I ended up attending two days of this last weekend. I was in town to go to Christmas town on Friday and did not want to mess with the crowds of Busch Gardens on the weekend so I went to Kings Dominion.

On Saturday it was raining in the morning into the day and I’m absolutely amazed. They stayed open until 7 o’clock, but they did. The crowd was super low that day.

Sunday was clear skies in the crowd was somewhat better, but definitely not huge. There were no significant lines for any of the limited rides that were open and keeping in mind that a decent part of the pork pathways are closed. And all of the roller coasters are in one area, so so the crowd is more concentrated in one area.

I had a great experience because of the low crowds Kings Dominion is the park. I enjoy just walking around and looking at the atmosphere the most, and this was a great time to do it. Plus, there was more nighttime to this event the most summer days.

As long as they have the meal plans, I don’t think extending the season is a money making venture….

 

[Thriller]

Crowds looked pretty dang healthy to me yesterday. Not crowded of course, but they definitely had to have been making money.

Given the attendance reported last weekend and what I saw yesterday, I wonder if part of WinterFest's problem was that it started so late? Feel like if WinterFest had been operating this weekend—even in a preview state like BGW's Christmas Town—it would have been printing money.

BGW starts Christmas Town super early and I can see where it would probably be really beneficial to them. It gives them way more access to November when, on average, weather is better. Plus it gives them more spins of the roulette wheel overall to hopefully land on more weekends overall with really great weather (like this weekend) which pay off in spades.

I don’t think the nighttime hours were the problem with Winterfest except maybe five hours is too short The lack of quality live, entertain entertainment, and total family attractions like a train, cable, skyway, quality, dark ride, etc. made this event hard to compete with Busch Gardens.

And don’t forget the meal plans I think that’s the culprit of the failure of Winterfest.

At every Winterfest, I have been to at Kings Island, Kings, Dominion, and Carowinds, the majority of the crowd came after dark.

 

[Mike541x]

Despite the cold and the wind, today was a great day to visit. I was worried about the rides being closed today because of it, but everything except for Tumbili was open this afternoon. My younger cousins were finally tall enough to ride Pantherian and was very happy it was running today so they could conquer it along with Rapterra, Dominator and Flight of Fear. The park was pretty quiet today too. Everything was a walk-on with the exception of Flight of Fear since it was only running one train. I know it's unlikely, but if Winterfest were to ever come back, I'd love for these bonus weekends included too. Even if it was only for two weekends.

 

[rswashdc]

I don’t think the nighttime hours were the problem with Winterfest except maybe five hours is too short The lack of quality live, entertain entertainment, and total family attractions like a train, cable, skyway, quality, dark ride, etc. made this event hard to compete with Busch Gardens.

And don’t forget the meal plans I think that’s the culprit of the failure of Winterfest.

At every Winterfest, I have been to at Kings Island, Kings, Dominion, and Carowinds, the majority of the crowd came after dark.

I would like the Winterfest hours to be around 3-9 to balance time for rides when its warm with time for the event itself.

Getting rid of the meal pass benefit for Halloween and Xmas the way HP does, would help balance the food issue to ensure it's a profit center and not a loss from dining plans.

 

[Mushroom]

I went today and was pleasantly surprised to see a light but healthy crowd at the park. I was expecting it to be a ghost town given the cold temperatures. Everything was a walk-on, but even with two-train operations on most coasters, it seemed like the rides were running with mostly full trains.

It blows my mind that Winterfest wasn’t profitable (or profitable enough) when a decent amount of people showed up to the park on a freezing cold day when there is literally nothing different from the normal park. Maybe they could take the Carowinds route, shifting the hours to the daytime and focusing the event more on the rides and small shows/activities and less on elaborate decor.

I’ve heard that Winterfest cost several million dollars to put on each year, and I imagine most of that cost was in the extremely complex light displays, the ice rink, producing several large shows, and the full-time staff to support those things. I wonder if the Fall Bonus Days prove that people will still show up even if those things aren’t there, because the park itself remains a draw. Obviously, I’d rather have Winterfest and its beautiful decorations back. But I’d rather the park do something for the holidays than nothing at all (and I want the park to make money for more of the year so it doesn’t get murdered by Six Flags), so I wonder if a scaled-back daytime winter event could capture the demand that clearly exists, while minimizing the financial risk to the company.

 

[numberonetumbilidefender]

I imagine a large part of why the park is able to do this and not a holiday event comes down to the decision to move away from a full time work force. With essentially the entire labor force of the park being seasonal there needs to be a 13 week gap between the end of operations and the beginning of training. Having this as the last weekend allows staff to return at the beginning of March.
Assuming the park continues with a late November season end date I would love to see a small level of seasonal theming go up and maybe some special fall drinks or food items

 

[Zachary]

Assuming the park continues with a late November season end date I would love to see a small level of seasonal theming go up and maybe some special fall drinks or food items

This is a good call. KD could differentiate themselves from BGW by having a proper Harvest/Thanksgiving event in November. You could keep fixed costs low by making it far more F&B focused (vs scenic and entertainment like WinterFest) so it's less financially battered by poor attendance or cancelled days due to weather. There's some good Peanuts synergy and strong family appeal with that theme too.

I've long wanted a minor cider festival in Candy Apple Grove during some part of the calendar. Maybe a larger harvest event would house that nicely? Candy Apple CiderFest—I'd be all over it. Strike before BGW realizes there's a hole in the alcohol events.

 

[rswashdc]

This is a good call. KD could differentiate themselves from BGW by having a proper Harvest/Thanksgiving event in November. You could keep fixed costs low be making it far F&B focused (vs scenic and entertainment) so it's less financially battered by poor attendance days caused by weather or the like than WinterFest was previously. There's some good Peanuts synergy and strong family appeal with that theme too.

I've long wanted a minor cider festival in Candy Apple Grove during some part of the calendar. Maybe a larger harvest event would house that nicely? Candy Apple CiderFest—I'd be all over it. Strike before BGW realizes there's a hole in the alcohol events.

This would make sense given the weather that can start getting bad in mid/late December. Max out decent weather days with a more appropriate event than Xmas in November.