It's to consistently damn cold up there to have it ride focused. So wtf happens when it's below 40? We get 0 rides and if were lucky half the lights as before?
Winter Event Returning to Kings Dominion in 2026?
- Thread starter AmyUD06
- Start date
I would rather Six Flags keep Kings Dominion closed for the traditional off-season until they can finance the proper return of a competitive winter holiday event. Kings Dominion faces some of the most aggressive, most successful winter event competition in the entire chain. Coming at one of the Christmas kings in the regional park space with "come walk around a hardly decorated, empty park where all the rides are closed because it's 39°" isn't worth the time or investment. They're just gonna set themselves up for more failure. A supposedly-rides-focused event (where few things will actually manage to run many days) will just exasperate the problems that faced WinterFest the first time around. You thought there wasn't enough non-pass-holder visitation when there was an all-ages, broad-audiences, multi-generational holiday event? Wait until you see the demographics for Kings Dominion's new "some closed rides in an empty park" event.
I hope this rumor is wrong, but after seeing how much our regional leadership fucked up Carowinds last December, my faith in the special events competency of the Mid-Atlantic region's leadership is in the toilet.
A watered-down winter event is better than no winter event, but still, it's hard to imagine Six Flags saw the reception to Carowinds' 2025 Winterfest and thought that format was a winner. Maybe the calculation is that a winter event basically needs to "check the box" -- it just needs to exist -- and that helps them sell passes and retain pass members. IDK.
If it were me calling the shots, I'd still keep the park focused on lights and leave it as a nighttime event, since that's what people are really looking for with a holiday event like this. You need to sell the product that people are shopping for. If finances are an issue, here's what I'd change:
Those are just a few off-the-dome thoughts one what I'd do.
I will say, while it will be less than perfect if a winter event returns but it's in the mold of Carowinds' recent attempt, I'd still much rather take something over nothing. I did just miss walking around KD and soaking in the holiday music and atmosphere this past winter.
If it were me calling the shots, I'd still keep the park focused on lights and leave it as a nighttime event, since that's what people are really looking for with a holiday event like this. You need to sell the product that people are shopping for. If finances are an issue, here's what I'd change:
- Eliminate the ice rink. I've repeatedly heard that this was one of the most expensive and resource-intensive parts of putting on Winterfest, and it's never been clear to me whether it broke even despite pulling a decent crowd with moderate ticket prices. If they wanted to de-risk the event, this seems like an easy one to axe. I'd miss the atmosphere of the ice rink, but KD's 2020 Taste of the Season event showed that the fountains can run even in sub-freezing temperatures. And with the added lighting effects from the 50th anniversary light show, I think they could still create a really pretty atmosphere with the fountains.
- Stick to smaller-cast live shows. I don't think size of the cast necessarily equates to quality of the show. Winterfest had several good shows with small casts, like The Mistletones (three performers) and Four Drummers Drumming (can't remember how many performers this had... just kidding). But I do think quantity of shows matters. At KD, the shows are diversions that make the event interesting. The more shows they can have, the more they make the event feel unique and like it has more to do. Sticking to smaller-cast shows gives them more budget to spread more shows around the park.
- Put a lower-cost production in the Kings Dominion Theater. I was never a fan of Tinker's Toy Factory, despite it being popular, and I never thought it was a very high-quality show; I have a hunch that a large part of its popularity was that people just wanted to do something in the Kings Dominion Theater to escape the cold. The two 50th anniversary summer shows in the theater (the laser show and the Gazillion bubble show) show that KD's audience still shows up for these single- or zero-performer shows, if they're interesting and well-produced. Gazillion even already has a holiday version of their bubble show that KD could use. They'd save a good chunk of change by eliminating this large-cast show, and still give most guests what they're looking for.
- Put a 3D movie back into the Action Theater. I know I'm technically proposing adding something here, but a 3D movie is presumably incredibly inexpensive to operate, but it gives guests something to do, something that's different from the main season, and (maybe most importantly) something heated and indoors -- allowing the park to save resources elsewhere. nWave Studios, the company that produced most of the 3D movies the park showed in the 2010s, has a number of winter-appropriate shows. They could even show two different shows at different times, effectively doubling the amount of unique things for a guest to see here. For example, they could show Sleigh Ride 3D (which was actually played in the Action Theater for Winterfest's first year) as a fun family show, then show Penguins 3D as something more educational geared toward older kids and adults.
- Open more of the park. I know, again, counterintuitive for cost savings. But I think a major complaint against Winterfest is that's just too small. Opening more of them park gets a few more weather-appropriate rides into the mix, putting less pressure on the decorations and shows. Expanding into the easternmost corner of Planet Snoopy would unlock Boo Blasters plus an additional kiddie ride (Red Baron). And if they opened up Jungle X, that would open up Arachnidia, Flight of Fear, and potentially some other coasters (Tumbili? Reptilian?) in addition to two indoor restaurants. Plus, Jungle X could probably get by with modest decorations and lighting, given the theme.
- More emphasis on specialty dining. I thought Taste of the Season was a brilliant way to get people to come and spend money on food, even if they're a dining plan. While I don't agree with the take that dining plans are bleeding the park money (I think it's easy to calculate how profitable they are and it would be easy to cut them if they weren't profitable), I do think giving guests an excuse to spend more money is an easy win. Have the corporate chef whip up a good handful of tasty-looking recipes that are screaming to be bought. I think the best move is more treat-like dishes and desserts rather than full meals, so they can complement the dining plans rather than competing with them.
Those are just a few off-the-dome thoughts one what I'd do.
I will say, while it will be less than perfect if a winter event returns but it's in the mold of Carowinds' recent attempt, I'd still much rather take something over nothing. I did just miss walking around KD and soaking in the holiday music and atmosphere this past winter.
Six Flags is shooting themselves in the foot if they pull what they did to Carowinds’ event last year. I find it very hard to believe that most of the people who answered the survey wanted a watered-down event considering that I’ve heard the opposite from literally everyone that I’ve talked to about it (and it was a rather large sample size). Hopefully they didn’t “randomly” send out the surveys to the wrong people.
Lights and shows are what make WinterFest shine. Those two things are also what makes the event competitive with BGW, which is what they need to be doing. Cutting these two things is essentially throwing in the towel before your event even starts.
With that being said, a WinterFest with @Mushroom’s ideas would be phenomenal. Smaller cast shows are better than no shows at all.
Lights and shows are what make WinterFest shine. Those two things are also what makes the event competitive with BGW, which is what they need to be doing. Cutting these two things is essentially throwing in the towel before your event even starts.
With that being said, a WinterFest with @Mushroom’s ideas would be phenomenal. Smaller cast shows are better than no shows at all.
I probably don't agree with your "something lame is better than nothing" position @Mushroom, but all of your pitches hit the bullseye perfectly in my opinion.
As long as the lighting package is retained (easily the highlight of WinterFest previously and what made it so competitive against Christmas Town in my opinion), I'm happy to endure plenty of cutbacks elsewhere.
If the ice skating rink wasn't independently profitable, definitely kill it. I will honestly enjoy a fountain/I-Street light show way more anyway.
More actors on paths vs large stage products is a big, budget-conscious win in my book—I honestly think it would be a strict improvement to the event.
Honestly a Christmas laser show with Trans-Siberian Orchestra or similar in the KD theater would be amazing and totally unique for the market. Way cheaper than a major stage show, but I think there's honestly a good chance it would even be more popular too. KD can't beat BGW at theatrical productions during the Christmas season directly, so taking a totally different approach seems like a W.
An Action Theater film makes sense too—not for me, but it would cost pennies and I'm sure there would be young audiences for it.
Completely agree on opening Jungle X. It is mind-bending to me that in all of the years we had WinterFest, we never saw the long-theorized footprint expansion to Jungle X. Flight of Fear is an absolute no-brainer. There are two major indoor restaurants in Jungle X too. The holiday overlay probably wouldn't be that expensive, but it could be SUPER fun and, again, completely unique for the market. Just ride Jingle Cruise at Magic Kingdom and copy their homework.
Though it would cost a little more, I think a cheap, cheesy holiday overlay for Boo Blasters on Boo Hill should be considered to not only justify having another indoor attraction open, but to actually turn it into a notable seasonal draw. Give it a wacky signage overlay making it "Yule Blasters on Scrooge Hill" with a little queue video talking about using your Yule Blaster to bring holiday cheer to the Christmas spirits of Scrooge Hill. You could honestly just leave the entire ride the same except put Santa hats on the ghosts, sprinkle holiday decorations around the sets, etc. The narrative doesn't have to make sense—it just has to be fun and silly.
And yeah, massively agree about specialty food and beverage offerings. Any excuse for KD to sell interesting, inventive things that the dining plan doesn't reasonable work on is a big win in my book.
As long as the lighting package is retained (easily the highlight of WinterFest previously and what made it so competitive against Christmas Town in my opinion), I'm happy to endure plenty of cutbacks elsewhere.
If the ice skating rink wasn't independently profitable, definitely kill it. I will honestly enjoy a fountain/I-Street light show way more anyway.
More actors on paths vs large stage products is a big, budget-conscious win in my book—I honestly think it would be a strict improvement to the event.
Honestly a Christmas laser show with Trans-Siberian Orchestra or similar in the KD theater would be amazing and totally unique for the market. Way cheaper than a major stage show, but I think there's honestly a good chance it would even be more popular too. KD can't beat BGW at theatrical productions during the Christmas season directly, so taking a totally different approach seems like a W.
An Action Theater film makes sense too—not for me, but it would cost pennies and I'm sure there would be young audiences for it.
Completely agree on opening Jungle X. It is mind-bending to me that in all of the years we had WinterFest, we never saw the long-theorized footprint expansion to Jungle X. Flight of Fear is an absolute no-brainer. There are two major indoor restaurants in Jungle X too. The holiday overlay probably wouldn't be that expensive, but it could be SUPER fun and, again, completely unique for the market. Just ride Jingle Cruise at Magic Kingdom and copy their homework.
Though it would cost a little more, I think a cheap, cheesy holiday overlay for Boo Blasters on Boo Hill should be considered to not only justify having another indoor attraction open, but to actually turn it into a notable seasonal draw. Give it a wacky signage overlay making it "Yule Blasters on Scrooge Hill" with a little queue video talking about using your Yule Blaster to bring holiday cheer to the Christmas spirits of Scrooge Hill. You could honestly just leave the entire ride the same except put Santa hats on the ghosts, sprinkle holiday decorations around the sets, etc. The narrative doesn't have to make sense—it just has to be fun and silly.
And yeah, massively agree about specialty food and beverage offerings. Any excuse for KD to sell interesting, inventive things that the dining plan doesn't reasonable work on is a big win in my book.
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Agreed 100%. I just hope that the single-minded, "coasters are all that matter," thoosies aren't the only ones who responded to that survey.
Question: I should have read this closer before I responded earlier, but I just wanna make sure it’s crystal clear… are you hearing rumors that the event will be watered-down or is that your speculation?
No judgement either way, just wanted to be sure! I assumed you were hearing rumors that cuts would’ve made when I made my original response.
Not directly hearing that but the rumors that I am hearing point a trail that leads me to conclude that it's the most likely situation at least as this year goes.