Event WinterFest 2025

[paintervision]

Forgive me if this is the wrong place to post this, but it looks like Carowinds is only open 11AM-7PM for their Winterfest event this year. Is this to make shifts only 8 hours for employees? Previously they were open a lot later into the evening (10PM) on these operating days.





Looks like they're only 11AM-6PM on the three weekends between Halloween and Winterfest, too. Thoughts?

 

[guy305]

Makes me wonder if they are cutting back on lights. I’m sure the event got some heavy cuts this year. Seems pointless to put as many lights up as they did and only be able to really enjoy them for 2 hours.

 

[paintervision]

Makes me wonder if they are cutting back on lights. I’m sure the event got some heavy cuts this year. Seems pointless to put as many lights up as they did and only be able to really enjoy them for 2 hours.

Bingo. I can also see wanting to run coasters in the daytime before temps drop after sundown. It does make me wonder if more parks will follow.

 

[RollyCoaster]

Another stupid move. We want Christmas lights and shows, not the same things we can do any other time of year. Will it even be dark enough to light a tree well at those times? Magic = Gone

 

[harry580]

I agreed, I felt like six flags cedar fair is the worst merger since dan snyder buyout of six flags in 2005

 

[CoasterBroCam]

Wait thunder strikers open for winter fest now? Does that mean no fury?

 

[Mojosdad]

Again, less value after selling season passes. Winterfest is not about rides as much as family time around the holidays and their traditions.

 

[Mojosdad]

This deception by six flags has to be stopped one way or another. This should be illegal after they just ran that flash sale on season passes and then tell us we have to now pay for parts of Scarowinds that has always been included with admission. And now changing Winterfest to daytime operations which is pointless for the large majority of the market. What is next? Next year they tell us we have to pay money to walk from our cars to the gate? I know that is a bit over the top, but it seems like they want to run off their seasons pass holders despite what they are saying. I have been a customer of Carowinds since 1977, this is why I am passionate about not seeing the park destroyed any further.

 

[Coasternerd]

I agreed, I felt like six flags cedar fair is the worst merger since dan snyder buyout of six flags in 2005

I get you’re upset, but for the love of pete, can we PLEASE stop bringing up prior history? It’s already happened, and there’s nothing we can do now.

Again, less value after selling season passes. Winterfest is not about rides as much as family time around the holidays and their traditions.

Hit it on the head. It’s an event meant for the entire family to enjoy, which means a mix of things, not just thrills. Also, the reduced hours, primarily fall in business hours for a lot of people, meaning if they can get there, they’ll have at best, 2 hours in the park.

 

[harry580]

but if cedar fair & six flags kept making more mistakes, they about to follow dan Snyder's footsteps

 

[paintervision]

Hit it on the head. It’s an event meant for the entire family to enjoy, which means a mix of things, not just thrills. Also, the reduced hours, primarily fall in business hours for a lot of people, meaning if they can get there, they’ll have at best, 2 hours in the park.

I do want to add, Dollywood's hours are 11PM-9PM around the same timeframe (and they're open more days in Nov-Jan than Carowinds).

Going after a more family market isn't a bad idea, and we don't know if there are any cutbacks to decorations, entertainment, or rides at this time (although it seems like this is a factor - the website has nothing to say), so I don't want to jump to conclusions. If this is a change in line with saving the company money, along with an upcharge for paid Halloween houses, I do see this as starting to really burn off energy out of these seasonal events that have been building for years now.

 

[Zachary]

Removing evening hours from a Christmas event is comically stupid. I don't know about Carowinds, but up here in VA, people often don't start flooding into Christmas Town until like 5pm—you know, as the sun goes down—since, you know, THE LIGHTS ARE THE ENTIRE SELLING POINT OF THESE EVENTS.

I don't know who is making these decisions but it really feels like they don't understand their products or their customers AT ALL.

 

[Mike541x]

Those hours are preposterous. That's like about, two hours to see lights at it's peak? Considering how popular Christmas events are, they draw big crowds and for them to only be open for so long just sounds like a disaster.

 

[RollyCoaster]

Enjoy Winterfest in the night! For just $15 enjoy the wonder of WinterFest as our lights shine bright! For only $15, you can stay at WinterFest until 8pm providing you the ultimate WinterFest viewing experiance. Enjoy unlimited 2025 after hours access for just $49.

General Admission not included.
Pass terms subject to change any way we want whenever the fuck we want.

 

[AmyUD06]

Maybe a blessing in disguise that KD lost the event, then haha.

 

[mtpelepele]

That just sucks. My plans again changed, Six Flags doesn't get my money. I had planned to go the Informer Meetup at USO with a couple more days at Epic, drive to SFoG for Holiday in the Park, Carowinds for Winterfest, then Dollywood for a few days. First SFoG got replaced by Wild Adventures. Now, we're replacing Carowinds with Tweetsie Railroad. So, two new for me attractions, and no souvenir and food money for those bastards.

 

[CoasterBroCam]

That’s a big fat SKIP for me. I’ll just be doing the KD extended days in November and then I’ll do Scarowinds for my last CW visit of the year.

 

[Zachary]

Okay, I'm back to rant more. This evening I've just been spiralling on "What the hell are these clowns thinking?! This is SO OBVIOUSLY incredibly stupid!" and then something else dawned on me.

You know how much dining revenue they're gonna lose to this change? People with dining plans will be happy to plan around eating lunch and dinner at the park for free, but a 7pm closure makes it INCREDIBLY easy (and honestly, from a time-investment standpoint given the brutally short after-dark window, just a strictly good idea) to not eat dinner at this event. Normies without meal plans are going to show up at 2pm after having eaten lunch, leave at 7pm, and pick up food on the way home. A CORE part of the theory behind evening events at amusement and theme parks is that they force guests stay at the park well through dinner time to ensure people are cornered into eating dinner at the park. It's why summer evening events exist and it's a primary driver of profitability for Halloween and Christmas events.

Not only do these hours make absolutely zero sense from the consumers' point of view, but the chain is actively shooting Carowinds' own financials in the foot too.

Truly an unbelievably stupid move.

 

[mtorange]

Maybe a blessing in disguise that KD lost the event, then haha.

Eh, idk. I’d rather have WinterFest with shitty hours than no WinterFest at all.

With that being said, holy fucking shit… what a dumb move on Six Flags’ part this whole thing is.

 

[mtorange]

Sorry about the double post but this deserved its own message. I’ve also heard through the grapevine that the WinterFest Wonderland Parade has been cut entirely, which is on top of unconfirmed rumors that many of the shows have been cut.