Kings Dominion Kills WinterFest

[Bring Back Questor 87]

Guaranteed this is not only a KD isolated cancellation.

Winterfests across the board are surely under the knife.

At this rate - don't be surprised if The Beast is marked for removal in the near term due to "increasing costs to maintain an icon which has thrilled guests since 1979."

Nothing is off the table these days with these parks. Nothing.

 

[YachtyLogs]

Looks like they hit Carowinds as well. Calendar shows 09/07 as last operating day

https://www.carowinds.com/events their events are up to date and winterfest is there.

 

[Mushroom]

Looks like it's time to bust out this classic Parkfans copypasta again:

Last night I went to a park in Doswell, VA and had my heart broken. I've always had a strong emotional connection to the park, but tonight was the first night that connection has lead me to tears. I've seen the park go through bad times and I've seen the park go through good times but, through all of that, Kings Dominion was still the park and that bond between the park and I remained. Yesterday, that bond was severed. I didn't feel the heartbeat of the park- that park in Doswell, VA that I went to last night felt cold and dead. All the things I had ever loved about the park had been completely erased and replaced. After getting over the initial shock, I quickly realized that the park that had always been under all the nonsense- through the good and the bad- wasn't there last night. That connection- that link that has caused me to stand by the park for so long- was gone.

I know there's people reading this right now that are scoffing at the idea that I love and stand by the park but those people have to understand something: Standing by the park doesn't mean standing by Six Flags. Six Flags is simply a management structure full of incompetence and ignorance that has been given the right to do as they please with the park. Throughout the park's history, we've seen different eras of management affect the park in different ways- some good and some bad but, like I said, the park could still be seen under all that garbage and fluff so I still cared and I still had hope. Looking at the state the park is in right now- not just Winterfest, but everything that's happening internally and throughout the rest of the chain- as of this morning, my hope is gone.

That leads me back to the two words at the top of this thread. I'm done. As much as it pains me to say it, I can't write about a place that I see no hope for. I don't have anything to defend anymore. I don't have anything to stand up for anymore. The thing- the park- that I have spent the last 10 years defending is dead- all that's left behind is the garbage someone piled on top of it. There have been times when things looked rough, but I've always been able to point to something someone could do to fix it. That's no longer the case. I don't see a way to fix it. It feels too far gone.

Over the last few years, I've seen these occasional sparks of hope coming out of that park in Doswell, VA. It hasn't been much, but those sparks- those little things that cause me to hope that things are turning around- are what have kept me going this long. Last night, every last one of those sparks had been extinguished- the park's heatbeat had flatlined. The park was dead. Trust me, there's nothing I want more than to see another spark of hope or to hear another faint heartbeat from under the rubble but, until that happens, I'm done.

I'll still try to keep up with the forum, but until I see something positive to grasp onto come out of the park, I fear I'm just another radical on the verge of letting their season pass lapse and that isn't the type of person who should be writing on ParkFans.

 

[MusicEnlightens]

There have been times when things looked rough, but I've always been able to point to something someone could do to fix it. That's no longer the case. I don't see a way to fix it. It feels too far gone.

I agree with much of your post, it’s a pretty devastating day, with the demos and layoffs leading up to winterfest’s cancellation, it’s hard to feel hope not just because of the upcoming season, but it also shows the direction the park will be heading for years to come.

I do disagree with your quote above though, there absolutely are ways to fix this mess, and many of them are obvious enough that even we as attendees can figure out. It’s not like they brought down the Eiffel Tower, reduced i305’s height to make it less intense, or half built Rapterra only to pack it up and send it to another park. The difference isn’t that there aren’t ways to fix it, it’s just that corporate is unwilling to listen, or try, or care.

They attempted year round operations in hopes of offsetting seasonal weather losses, but there’s no reason to now because they inherited their parks in Georgia, 2 in Texas, and an additional one in Southern California from legacy six flags. Those are going to become their babies. I would argue that the failed year round operations (which they never gave the park a chance to prosper in the first place) is why they were more open to a merger, and I think directly caused the merge. Everyone knows they wanted a Texas park, now they got the icing on the cake with the whole six flags chain.

Is there a pathway to fix this mess, absolutely! We only lost two aging rides, that could be replaced if they wanted to, and a seasonal event that has the ability to return if they chose to. The reason I now have less hope is that corporate simply doesn’t WANT to.

I don’t want to minimize the layoffs though, as we also lost irreplaceable staff, and their livelihoods are important.

 

[Mushroom]

Totally agree. The loss of Winterfest sucks, and I do believe it’s a bellwether for more bad changes to come, but we still do see a lot of positive progress coming out of the park (Jungle X, Rapterra, restaurant renovations, 50th enhancements) and it’s very possible that will all continue.

To be clear, that post is a copy pasta of a decade-old post from a certain admin, so not everything is relevant here

 

[MusicEnlightens]

I think it’s also important to note that the current direction of the chain’s investments all started at Kings Dominion. Investing more in theming, story telling, area cohesiveness, and upgrading food and beverages options were all experiments at Kings Dominion. Those principals must have showed success if they have been adopted chainwide. Just looking at the sudden transformation of Georgia Goldrush before it even opens shows they are caring more about how rides fit into their areas, and are not just generic park placements with no theme like legacy six flags.

Can I also point out that KD’s original wing coaster design was small, and disappointing. We came together as a community and showed our dissatisfaction, to the point where we are now getting a much better ride in Rapterra. How many other times in this industry has a community come together to get plans to change so drastically?

We need to share our voices loudly, consistently, and respectfully, and not just for Winterfest to return, but just to show our appreciation for the park that deserves continued investment. I still hope for an extremely successful season, as lower attendance or outright boycotting will only feed into corporate’s view of the park. But we need to convince corporate to not let our park go by the wayside. Do not go quietly into the Nighthawk! I mean night.

 

[Lord Robert]

This sucks, that's what I can say about all this. But I gotta tell ya, BGW and United Parks are looking at this bit of news and being like.

 

[the_pantsmith]

(I would rather them not run the event at all then try to run it while overworking and underpaying staff)

 

[Irishlad]

This sucks, that's what I can say about all this. But I gotta tell ya, BGW and United Parks are looking at this bit of news and being like.

Haha they honestly need to offer to buy the decor lights

 

[Great Adventurer]

I'm disgusted by this corporation and their insistence on slapping loyal customers in the face. Have any parks actually benefited from this craptastic merger aside from Cedar Point and (seemingly) Fiesta Texas?

It's utterly demoralizing that a season with so much promise between Rapterra, the 50th anniversary, and a general upward trend in park operations has to be blighted by a short-sighted decision like this one. Compounding the problem, how long have they known this was going to be the case? To just release the schedule with Winterfest conspicuously absent is an insult.

There is no doubt in my mind that corporate had their grimy paws all over this. KD itself probably fought tooth and nail to keep Winterfest. Ire will no doubt be unfairly directed at the workers who actually care about the park while the corporate overlords suffer no repercussions. And worse still, what can you do to make corporate regret this? Any action against KD could easily be spun into a misinterpretation ("See? Attendance at the park is down, we Big Wigs made the right decision with those cuts...").

I would say let's all just become investors (at least we can feel like they care about us that way, right?), but I honestly feel like the shareholders going to suffer too. This blatant disrespect towards customers could cause a lot of problems. Trust is hard to gain but easy to lose. Think about it - through word of mouth, how many people have you gotten to visit your local park who wouldn't have gone there otherwise? Multiply that to factor in the large amount of people who do the same but aren't on this forum. Most of them are justifiably seething right now.

 

[GAcoaster]

Shockingly (at least as of now) Great Adventure is still showing Holiday in the Park as happening for 2025. Really surprising that they wouldn't have cancelled for GA as well being farther north...

 

[warfelg]

 

[bwick29]

Totally agree. The loss of Winterfest sucks, and I do believe it’s a bellwether for more bad changes to come, but we still do see a lot of positive progress coming out of the park (Jungle X, Rapterra, restaurant renovations, 50th enhancements) and it’s very possible that will all continue.

No. We saw those. They were in place prior to the merger.

I'm genuinely concerned for this park moving forward. We've decided to hold off on a few grand worth of Cedar Fair passes/addons/etc. this year to both vote with our wallets and encourage our family to revisit BGW, Dollywood, and Hershey a bit more this year.

 

[MusicEnlightens]

Unfortunately, we have no numbers to back up any decision-making speculation either. Nobody truly knows the cost of seasonal events, normal operating days, or season pass revenue. Heck, Cedar Fair stopped releasing yearly attendance numbers by park years ago, and unlike the last few years, KD didn't even release their top ride numbers for the season!

There have been rumors all over the place from Winterfest being a huge loss for the park every year, to it being profitable, just not as profitable as they had hoped. At this point, part of me hopes it had just been a loss for years now but still managed to hold it anyway. I know the cost-savings won't go back to the park (just the pockets of Six Flags investors), but perhaps they can invest the money elsewhere. I've been happy with the last few years of retracking Grizzly and Racer, and for food upgrades, but maybe we'll see some investments that actually bring a few people to the park (even if they are small). At this point, a new flat ride, or two, or three is really what the park could use. Hopefully the new shows this season will show it's marketability and they can continue to feature live entertainment for years to come, and maybe even bring back Let's Get Wild.

Tricks and Treats and Oktoberfest seemed really successful last year, and don't seem to have a need for much upgrade, so hopefully a loss of Winterfest could spark a few upgrades to Haunt, at the very least. Build a small airplane hanger behind Reptilian for a new Haunt maze and build an entrance queue between Rapterra and Reptilian (on the outside of the dive loop) and you can have a brand new Jungle/Temple themed Haunt maze to tie into Rapterra and Jungle X. Ghost in the Machine/Iron Menace worked really well together for Dorney.

 

[Crunchewy]

(I would rather them not run the event at all then try to run it while overworking and underpaying staff)

I'm more concerned with that in the regular season with all the rides open (maybe).

 

[horsesboy]

There are mixed reports out there from different people with some reporting that they were able to cancel and get a full refund and some saying they were told passes were non refundable so at the very least it's worth trying. I personally am actively considering it.

 

[lyingtorobots]

This. Reach out to local media too. Hell, consider trying to charge back your 2025 season passes. We have to turn the screws on the corporation here, clearly. Kings Dominion knew they were announcing this and actively decided to do it in the most scummy way possible. They didn't announce its removal—they just announced an event lineup where one of the park's two primary events was missing. They clearly have every intention of trying to scam everyone who bought a 2025 pass and/or addon product(s) out of that money. Frankly, that is how this decision makes the park additional profit—selling passes for a price that is justified with the inclusion of WinterFest but without WinterFest.

We gotta make this decision as painful for Six Flags/Kings Dominion as possible.

This! #fraudforthe50th?!

 

[MrBradferd]

Unfortunately, we have no numbers to back up any decision-making speculation either. Nobody truly knows the cost of seasonal events, normal operating days, or season pass revenue. Heck, Cedar Fair stopped releasing yearly attendance numbers by park years ago, and unlike the last few years, KD didn't even release their top ride numbers for the season!

There have been rumors all over the place from Winterfest being a huge loss for the park every year, to it being profitable, just not as profitable as they had hoped. At this point, part of me hopes it had just been a loss for years now but still managed to hold it anyway. I know the cost-savings won't go back to the park (just the pockets of Six Flags investors), but perhaps they can invest the money elsewhere. I've been happy with the last few years of retracking Grizzly and Racer, and for food upgrades, but maybe we'll see some investments that actually bring a few people to the park (even if they are small). At this point, a new flat ride, or two, or three is really what the park could use. Hopefully the new shows this season will show it's marketability and they can continue to feature live entertainment for years to come, and maybe even bring back Let's Get Wild.

Tricks and Treats and Oktoberfest seemed really successful last year, and don't seem to have a need for much upgrade, so hopefully a loss of Winterfest could spark a few upgrades to Haunt, at the very least. Build a small airplane hanger behind Reptilian for a new Haunt maze and build an entrance queue between Rapterra and Reptilian (on the outside of the dive loop) and you can have a brand new Jungle/Temple themed Haunt maze to tie into Rapterra and Jungle X. Ghost in the Machine/Iron Menace worked really well together for Dorney.

Im pretty sure KD did show the top ridden ride numbers from last year

 

[Themeparkfan09]

Sounds like a lot of you are not going this year or visiting less. Ah well, at least I’ll enjoy the park if I can go.

 

[horsesboy]

The response I got back from emailing the park about my anger over Winterfest an my pass being given purchased with it advertised.

"For the upcoming 2025 season, Gold and Prestige Passholders whose passes were purchased before 1/28/25, will receive 1 free Bring-A-Friend ticket per pass, as well as a Pass Perk of 50% off any merchandise item, including exclusive Rapterra and 50th-anniverssary products. We are also inviting all passholders to an exclusive Season Passholder Preview Night on Friday, 3/28/25 from 5pm to 10pm.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. We understand that change can be difficult, and we value your feedback. This decision is focused on enhancing our core operating season, which includes our 50th anniversary celebration and the debut of Rapterra. We hope you’ll join us.

Thanks,

Kings Dominion Guest Services"

Still not pleased and still actively considering asking for a cancelation and refund but it's something and maybe a hit that the PR storm is worse then expected.