2022 Tricks and Treats Fall Fest 2022

[mtorange]

The Great Pumpkin Fest has been axed and a new event arises from the pumpkin patch. Tricks and Treats Fall Festival, which originated at the Ohio parks (Cedar Point and Kings Island) in 2020, has spread to many other Cedar Fair parks and will be coming to Kings Dominion this Halloween! The event will operate from September 24th to October 30th!

Fun Family Activities | Tricks & Treats Fall Fest | Kings Dominion

Kings Dominion’s Tricks and Treats Fall Fest is set to be the area’s new favorite Halloween event. Everyone in the family will have a spooktacular time!

www.kingsdominion.com

 

[belsaas]

But... if we don't celebrate the Great Pumpkin, how will he know where to find us?

 

[BTS202]

Not sure if I am posting this in the correct place, but I received a push notification on my phone regarding the upcoming events this year at KD. I noticed that the "Great Pumpkin Fest" to "Tricks and Treats Fall Fest." I cannot help but wonder if this could be indicating a sale or at the very least, a re-branding of the kids area. Not trying to start anything, but seemed odd to me that they re-branded that event to such a generic name rather than using the IP that is already in place. Maybe I missed the news and this is old news.

 

[Crunchewy]

Maybe nothing, but certainly curious. Don't they have rides there that are clearly Peanuts characters? Doesn't seem like they can just drop the license.

Looks like the original thread is here, though: https://parkfans.net/threads/tricks-and-treats-fall-fest-2022.7209/

 

[BTS202]

Thank you for posting the original thread. I'll post in there for future thoughts. I am curious as well!

 

[BTS202]

I find that curious considering the talks of a potential buyout. I know they have a contact for a while for Peanuts but I find it curious that they are switching that event amongst the talks of a buyout.

 

[Mushroom]

I find that curious considering the talks of a potential buyout. I know they have a contact for a while for Peanuts but I find it curious that they are switching that event amongst the talks of a buyout.

No way this is related. Like @mtorange said, this event debuted at CF’s Ohio parks two years ago. Even if that weren’t the case, rebranding a minor special event that’ll take place 9 months from now would make no sense for an acquisition deal that hasn’t even been made.

 

[mtorange]

No way this is related. Like @mtorange said, this event debuted at CF’s Ohio parks two years ago. Even if that weren’t the case, rebranding a minor special event that’ll take place 9 months from now would make no sense for an acquisition deal that hasn’t even been made.

I agree with this. I highly doubt that the Peanuts characters will be leaving Doswell anytime soon. It’s pretty normal for the kids’ event to get a rebrand after about 5 years or so, as the event was called Planet Spooky before it became Great Pumpkin Fest.

With that being said, I do wonder if the event announcement is correlated with the current deal negotiations in any way. While probably unlikely, there’s a small chance that they announced the event lineup for these two Cedar Fair parks because both have been getting a lot of attention in the past 5 years or so, and they want to assure shareholders that they’re in good hands not being bought out by Seaworld. But who knows for sure? Hopefully we’ll have more information next Wednesday during the earnings call.

Not to mention, this event offers much more than the Great Pumpkin Fest ever did. GPF was geared towards smaller kids, but there seems to be something for everyone in this event. It also has a similar feel to Taste of the Season with the return of the Bean Challenge and the tasting cards. Costume contests and interactive experiences are also mentioned, which GPF did not have that much of. All in all, this event feels like a significant upgrade to an aging kids event.

Also something of note: Carowinds is also getting this event. As of now I haven’t been able to find any other parks that have announced it other than Cedar Point and Kings Island, who again had this event in 2020 and 2021.

Does anyone else feel like Cedar Fair is trying to slowly push this park into some of its top-tier destinations?

 

[mwhinva]

To me, you are putting this event under a buyout electron microscope and trying to make a tenuious connection.

The daytime fall kids event is expanding to include adults with a food tasting event and a couple of other adult activities. There is still the same kids activities as before. I saw someone state, (not sure if it was here or another fan site), that Kings Island and Cedar Point expanded their daytime kids event this past fall. KD is following suite for 2022.

 

[BTS202]

That all makes sense. Thanks for the discussion all!

 

[mtorange]

Tricks and Treats Fall Fest is no longer coming to Kings Dominion and Carowinds this season. All mentions of the event have been scrapped from the website, and the link in the original post now redirects to the Great Pumpkin Fest.

My assumption is that this change was made so that people would not be confused with the Tricks and Treats parkwide events coming to Valleyfair and CGA this fall.

 

[mwhinva]

Tricks and Treats Fall Fest is no longer coming to Kings Dominion and Carowinds this season. All mentions of the event have been scrapped from the website, and the link in the original post now redirects to the Great Pumpkin Fest.

My assumption is that this change was made so that people would not be confused with the Tricks and Treats parkwide events coming to Valleyfair and CGA this fall.

Being on the more practical side. I believe KD, if they cancelled the new fall day-time event, did so because of projected staffing issues. They are probably looking at how their staffing goals are going for spring/summer. If the park is still struggling to meet their staffing quotas now, they probably decided holding the new event plus Haunt would cause them to be severely under-staffed.

Remember, the new fall event was described as having activities for adults as well as the usual stuff for kids. And, they were going to have a food tasting event during the day. Food service would have to have bulk up their staffing during weekend operations in the fall. I just don't see that happening.

I wonder if CF corporate thinks that their projected attendance in the park chain is going to be lower than what they first thought and decided to scrap the new fall events. I believe they promised the shareholders that they would restart the dividend payments sometime in the 3rd quarter of this year. Maybe CF cut back on expenditures to meet that goal.