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Nicole

and Team / Co
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Jul 22, 2013
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(Since Coasters and Craft Brews has been extended, I thought it made sense to give this concept a thread. I wasn't sure where it really belonged, when I first posted, but now it seems more relevant.)

If the Coasters and Craft Beers event works out for the park, I've been pondering what other events I would like to see them host this year. So, I thought I'd share my random ideas. I haven't fleshed them out very much, and I am sure they could all use some tweaking.

September: Oktoberfest. The have done this mini-event for a few years. They could keep the beer with fewer stations and add more German food kiosks. Hamlets: Banbury, San Marco, Festa, Oktoberfest, and Rhinefeld.

October: Howl-O-Scream. The event would have to reduced and modified dramatically, but they could have scare zones with a few actors, heavy theming, maybe the train, and one or two outside mazes with atmospheric actors. Hamlets: Banbury, Heatherdowns, Killarney, Wild Reserve, Aquitaine, and New France.

November: Harvest Festival. They could do a harvest themed food and wine event. Hamlets: Banbury, San Marco, Oktoberfest, Rhinefeld, New France.

December: Christmas Town. This would also have to be scaled back, but I think there is a great opportunity for shopping, food, and lights. I would love to see the Skyride operating and a full loop (Flight of Lights). Hamlets: Banbury, Scotland, Wild Reserve, Aquitaine, New France, Rhinefeld.
 
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October: Howl-O-Scream. The event would have to reduced and modified dramatically, but they could have scare zones with a few actors, heavy theming, maybe the train, and one or two outside mazes with atmospheric actors. Hamlets: Banbury, Heatherdowns, Killarney, Wild Reserve, Aquitaine, and New France.
This.

Literally all the park has to do is theme Ireland to Jack and bring back the train as a haunted attraction and the event would sell out instantly. Some sort of subtle, Rhine River Cruise HOS overlay with audio could be really neat and inexpensive, as well. Also, as the temperature drops I could see theme parks become even more appealing as many are choosing not go due to the mask policy combined with summer heat.
 
October: Howl-O-Scream. The event would have to reduced and modified dramatically, but they could have scare zones with a few actors, heavy theming, maybe the train, and one or two outside mazes with atmospheric actors. Hamlets: Banbury, Heatherdowns, Killarney, Wild Reserve, Aquitaine, and New France.

If they could get the rights to David S Pumpkins they don't need to worry about contact at all.
 
It just occurred to me that I left out Forest of Fun. I think it might make the most sense to open it for the Harvest Festival and Christmas Town. I'm not sure that Land of the Dragons could be opened at all, however. It just seems like one, big COVID-spreading touchpoint.
 
October: Howl-O-Scream. The event would have to reduced and modified dramatically, but they could have scare zones with a few actors, heavy theming, maybe the train, and one or two outside mazes with atmospheric actors. Hamlets: Banbury, Heatherdowns, Killarney, Wild Reserve, Aquitaine, and New France.
This may improve the Howl-O-Scream experience for me. I'm not a big fan of the scare actors jumping into my personal space.

EDIT: I mean this within the context of social distancing and presuming scare actors wouldn't be allowed so close to guests.
 
This may improve the Howl-O-Scream experience for me. I'm not a big fan of the scare actors jumping into my personal space.

EDIT: I mean this within the context of social distancing and presuming scare actors wouldn't be allowed so close to guests.
I personally like the actors jumping toward you but not getting toooo close. It gives that scary but yet fun feeling.
 
So with the news today that SeaWorld intends to continue to run—at the very least—Halloween and Christmas-themed, limited capacity events, I figure we should commit to workshopping this in more detail.

Let's say, for the sake of argument, that they don't do a September event, and instead focus on getting the park ready for Howl-[C]O[Vid]-Scream. The best logic for this is that it is unlikely that non-members are the type to make a return trip to the park outside of a ritualized event, meaning that any September dates they would introduce would likely be predominantly members, and without knowing the math on ticket sales I would gather they don't think member-only dates are sustainable in the long term.

Howl-[C]O[Vid]-Scream


Challenges:
- The event is historically built around primarily indoor, claustrophic experiences that cannot be replicated under existing guidelines.
- The other piece of the event is entertainment, which is (to my knowledge) not yet back up and running and would need to be heavily adjusted.
- The reality of the Howl-O-Scream approach has been that the scare actors are a huge part of the theming, and it's not clear how the numbers would work to be able to have any meaningful number even in a limited capacity.

Opportunities:
- Howl-O-Scream days are already inherent built into two windows: one imagined for families and young kids, and then the adult-focused evening timeslot. While shifts in what will be available will change that, it does create the potential opportunity to reallocate staff between the first and second time windows, like say opening Forest of Fun during the 11-3 slot but then allocating that payroll differently in the evening. There would be some communication challenges associated with this, but if you branded the two timeslots as different sides of the same event, it could work.
- If they can rethink their approach to theming and think about how to repurpose some of the existing houses into the park proper, they could sell it as more of a park walkthrough comparable to seeing the lights at Christmas Town, which won't offer as much value as a typical Howl-O-Scream experience but might still be something people see as a comparable holiday ritual if they're used to visiting the park during this period.

Suggestions:
- I think, to Nicole's original point, the train is key to both of these holiday events. In the case of Halloween, it's a way to repurpose some of the existing houses and deliver a themed seasonal experience with a minimal number of scare actors, creating short vignettes along the train's route.
- I do think that an approach to getting non-members back to the park is offering some parts of the park that weren't open during this event, since there will no doubt be some folks who were frustrated not to be able to eat at Festhaus (if the park feels comfortable opening an indoor dining location, that remains a question mark), or ride Apollo's Chariot/Verbolten, etc. For this reason, I think the priority should definitely be on Festa and Oktoberfest, although obviously not everything will be open.
 
From what I am hearing from my sources is that there will likely be different events each month. So September will have it's limited event followed by October with it's own and so on. I'm hearing a lot of different things for September so I can't really give an indication which way they are leaning right now.
 
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From what I am hearing from my sources is that there will likely be different events each month. So September will have it's limited event followed by October with it's own and so on. I'm not. I'm hearing a lot of different things for September so I can't really give an indication which way they are leaning right now.

Oh, good, you found your way to this thread too.

As I said, I'm a little skeptical about the viability of a September event, and I would feel similarly about a distinct November event, which I feel like would just have to be an extended Christmas Town event given that Christmas Town opens in mid-November these days.

But to Nicole's original point, I think you'd have to use food/wine type appeals for a September event, it's really the only option.
 
I hope they do month specific thing. I know it would suck to lose HoS, but doing maybe targeted event in September (I’m blanking on what they could do) followed by an Oktoberfest event in October, harvest event in November, Christmas in December, winter wonderland in January (basically December without Santa); they could have some fun events going on along with new and different revenue streams from never tried things (like a pumpkin patch for Harvest Fest).
 
Suggestions:
- I think, to Nicole's original point, the train is key to both of these holiday events. In the case of Halloween, it's a way to repurpose some of the existing houses and deliver a themed seasonal experience with a minimal number of scare actors, creating short vignettes along the train's route.
I can't believe covid will bring back The Nightmare Express. All of those people asking for years when it'd return. Turns out all it took was a plague.

On a serious note, I could honestly see the train being a sort of good way to get those scares (or scare attempts because it's only so scary when they can't get close due to safety), while remaining distant. And low attendance means the line shouldn't be awful. It'll prolly just look long. Who else remembers those old lines for the train in the early days. All through the eagle's nest, filling the entire le scoot queue, up and wrapping around the gift shops and down on to the bridge between New France and alpengeist. Except maybe this time I won't take like 2 hours.

Personally, I'm more for a spooky decorations in the pathways rather than scares this year. My brain has been though more this year, than the scare actors have to offer. Or even just a plain old fall festival. Just focus on the atmosphere rather than trying to get the scares.
 
While I 100% agree with that @Nicole i wonder if a majority of people that would go would connect actual Oktoberfest dates as to why they did it at that time.
 
So maybe a September-October beer fest type event (they should have Germany and those pretzels open - with the guest limit maybe find a way to provide alternate access to that section without having to open literally half the park at a probable loss?)?
 
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