New GRAND CARNIVALE International Celebration at Kings Dominion this summer
An all-new festival joins our entertainment line-up this season with festive food, entertainment and even a parade!
It's been officially announced on their blog.
The Grand Carnivale Debuting June 2019
- Thread starter Pretzel Kaiser
- Start date
It's been officially announced on their blog.
Interesting they mentioned 5 different foods available including France,Italy and Germany. No Brazil or other Latin american countries that are known for Carnival. The other 2 are China and India. Anyone think that's a shot at BGW? I know they are wanting to have unique food items but the choices seemed kind of like the 4 safest countries possible (with the exception of maybe Mexico) and we will put Germany in there just for kicks at BGW.
From the Coaster101 site, this event is being held at three additional Cedar Fair parks this summer. Based on the summer schedule below, Kings Dominion and Kings Island premier the event at the same time. Dorney park and Worlds of Fun hold the event 1-2 weeks after the event ends at KI and KD. My guess this that the props, floats, costumes, used in this event, are shipped to those parks to use next (KD's stuff goes to Dorney and KI's stuff goes to WOF).
- June 15-July 7: Kings Dominion and Kings Island
- July 13-August 4: Worlds of Fun
- July 20-August 11: Dorney Park
Then that is a miss on corporate in my opinion. I'm sure I can get good Chinese and Italian outside of the park for cheaper. No Brazil seems just crazy to me. I want to try foods that I can't readily get.
It is smart to split the cost and share resources with the other parks. Also it lets them see if they want to invest and expand it for their other parks in coming years without buying for all parks at once.
I am not sure why the CF did not choose at least one Latin American country for this event. As far as food prices go, just about ANY type of food would be cheaper outside of a theme park. ?
Also, Coaster101 reported that 3dx scenic and Kern Studios are involved with this event. Kern Studios constructs floats and costumes for Mardi Gras in New Orleans. I guess 3dx scenic will be used for props and costumes (they are entertainment related). Coaster101 quoted CF CEO R. Zimmerman on this event.
Given that Carowinds just opened Copperhead and a refreshed area around it for 2019, I think this event is premiering in parks that either did not receive any attractions for 2019 (KD, WOF, Dorney) or those parks that got small scale attractions (KI - antique cars). Like Winterfest was new 3 years ago, the Carnivale event is new to the chain for 2019. Open it in a few parks and see how it is received/attended by the GP. If the public/CF like it, Carnivale could be expanded to other CF parks in 2020.
Course, this event is of a smaller scale than Winterfest. A parade; then, a street festival centered around the Eiffel Tower afterwards (not sure where the event would be for WOF and Dorney). I would not be surprised if this event expands to Carowinds, Canada's Wonderland, and possibly the California parks in 2020.
Carowinds seems to have something really good going with Taste of the Carolinas. Taste of VA never seemed to take off like their event did.
I think the chef at Carowinds has been at that park since CF started hiring chefs for each park in the chain 4-5 years ago. Plus, with Harmony Hall added at Carowinds, it has given the chef there a strong base to work from and create dishes, entrees, and menus. KD has struggled with hiring and keeping a chef long enough have good quality food events. I think the new KD management and new chef are working together better than during Chef Paul's time there. Too much management discord back a few years ago.
Cedar Fair put out a communication about the Grand Carnivale event. One other tidbit given was that there would be nine floats featured in the parade and that parade participants would be throwing beads to the folks watching. I just pray that the GP remember that there is NO flashing of body parts for the beads. this is supposed to be a family park.
While I love the theme (if not perhaps the specific culinary choices), it does puzzle me. Cedar Fair designed an event that seems based on a festival that always happens when many of their parks are closed.
Carnival is a pre-lent celebration, which means the latest it can fall is the first week of March.
Carnival is a pre-lent celebration, which means the latest it can fall is the first week of March.
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Well this thing does check all the boxes of the seasonal events that Cedar Fair was looking into expanding on per their annual performance review. This is also the thing that Dorney was teasing for the longest (and I mean the longest) time.
If I could guess I would say the parade will start somewhere over by Windseeker and work its way over towards the Eiffel Tower, likely through Candy Apple Grove and Planet Snoopy. It's the only spot with enough space to hold some floats that's not immediately visible by guests.
If I could guess I would say the parade will start somewhere over by Windseeker and work its way over towards the Eiffel Tower, likely through Candy Apple Grove and Planet Snoopy. It's the only spot with enough space to hold some floats that's not immediately visible by guests.
That was my second guess but I was concerned about guests seeing the floats just sitting behind the fence in plain view.
When Paramount owned the parks, KD had a Nickelodeon themed parade for a couple seasons; that started between zapple and twisted; went along one side of CAG; made a u-turn at the far end of CAG (swings/dogem); came back down the other side of the CAG midway and ended at the same gate between zapple and twisted. If I remember correctly there were 4-5 Nick themed floats and walk-around characters. I think the roving band band was in it as well. The parade was only 10-15 minutes long.
The Grand Carnivale parade is going to have nine floats and characters/performers in it and the parade is supposed to last 30-40 minutes. It seems the parade will start in the same place as the Nick parade. I assume the parade goes down the CAG midway and makes a left turn at the Swings/Dogem and takes the path up past the Peanuts Showplace to the Eiffel Tower. Nothing is mentioned if the floats stay around the tower for the rest of the evening or if they continue out the gate between the tower restrooms and Panda Express. I assume the performers stay around for the street festival shows performed around/under the tower.
Job postings give off the vibe that this will be the inaugural year of the park’s newest SEASONAL event, meaning that this is more than likely a permanent event similar to Halloween Haunt and WinterFest. YAY!
Time to change my profile tag line again...
jobs.cedarfair.com
Time to change my profile tag line again...
Entertainment- Grand Carnivale Performer - Kings Dominion - Cedar Fair Jobs
jobs.cedarfair.com
I'm excited! Although I will miss Taste of Virginia.
This event is obviously more excitement and pizzazz, but I always enjoyed trying some food and listening to a local band play. Hopefully they can retain that aspect of it!
This event is obviously more excitement and pizzazz, but I always enjoyed trying some food and listening to a local band play. Hopefully they can retain that aspect of it!
