They’re not spending a cent back into the park. They’re slicing the quality of everything, hoping to squeeze whatever dollar they can before people wise up and stop coming, and by the time it comes back to really bite their bottom line it’ll probably be sold off to a private equity group that would put the water fountains behind a paywall. Damn late stage capitalism.
Kings Dominion Kills WinterFest
- Thread starter Celticdog
- Start date
They're definitely spending a lot on the park right now, although yes the future could be TBD. Yes we know that there's guys out to get rich involved but they are willing to take risks with the company's money too, as has been announced. The appearance is they are in this for the long term but we have to wait to find out how much. Looking long term, problems of rides aging out or becoming cost ineffective is not a problem that will go away, it will increase. They have to start building now for the parks that have a future. Operational costs are increasing so they have to be smarter about money is spent. A ride with 2 years left on it is not going to help them in 10. Also the success of an event like WF is largely dependent on how they are doing overall, that's why they're keeping it at some parks for now.
I just got a survey where Winterfest was included several times throughout the survey. There were no full sections about Winterfest specifically, but there were several spots where something related to Winterfest was asked in those “very unsatisfied / very satisfied” sort of questions, like “How important is Winterfest to your season pass value,” “How satisfied are you with Winterfest as part of your season pass,” etc.
There was nothing that specifically referenced the event’s cancellation, and I noticed the URL still said “Cedar Fair,” so it’s possible that the survey is just outdated and they forgot to change it. But considering how easy it is to edit these Qualtrics marketing surveys, and how SF probably has a whole consumer research department that focuses on things these surveys, I think it’s more likely that they’re probing pass member sentiment about Winterfest’s cancellation, among other things.
Regardless, I made sure to (politely) note in the comments my disappointment with how the cancellation was handled.
There was nothing that specifically referenced the event’s cancellation, and I noticed the URL still said “Cedar Fair,” so it’s possible that the survey is just outdated and they forgot to change it. But considering how easy it is to edit these Qualtrics marketing surveys, and how SF probably has a whole consumer research department that focuses on things these surveys, I think it’s more likely that they’re probing pass member sentiment about Winterfest’s cancellation, among other things.
Regardless, I made sure to (politely) note in the comments my disappointment with how the cancellation was handled.
I get the feeling they may have one or two relatively qualified marketing team folks that oversee vendors handling surveys as one facet of their roles, not a team that only does CX work.
Yes, which makes complete logistical sense. I really thought KD’s would go to Dorney if anything, and since it hasn’t yet, maybe there’s still a chance it comes back at some point (especially with the surveys going out mentioning Winterfest).
Pain
The real nail in the coffin will be if we start seeing KD's Christmas decorations at another park. Until then, I'll continue holding out the (possibly naive) hope that a winter event will come back to KD someday -- once economic conditions improve, they figure out a way to make the event more profitable, or corporate becomes less obsessed with cost-cutting.
They were doing Holiday in the Park at Discovery Kingdom before this— it’s just a rebranding to help the passholders from CGA understand that SFDK is their “new” park.
Technically not false, though your total Winterfest visits may end up being zero.
Looks like one of the layoffs was the QC person in marketing…
Winterfest lights and decorations are in dumpsters in the old ampa theater area.
Planet Snoopy were the ones I could most easily spit from Reptilian.
There’s tons of Haunt stuff in the amphitheater area too. Maybe they’re just using it for storage for now?
Seems weird they wouldn’t want to ship the Winterfest decorations to other parks.
Seems weird they wouldn’t want to ship the Winterfest decorations to other parks.
The Winterfest stuff is literally sticking out of a dumpster back there doubt that a go way to store it.