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Seems like an excuse to get rid of the event when, predictably, people are unhappy with this.

For all those complaining that the upcharge was stupid and would fail, the season long option is now sold out....

A lot of locals who have a season pass, drink plan, dining plan that aren’t spending any additional money to visit the park during WinterFest.

Fast Lane to bankruptcy

Carowinds just announced their Winterfest operating hours are going to be 11 AM until 7 PM. I have the feeling this is the end of the event there They probably will not put up many lights for that early of a closing. Additionally, a few years ago they tried operating from 3 PM until 11 PM and they went back to 5 to 10 the next year. So it did not work. Also, when Carowinds tried operating in the winter during the daytime, it did not work. They only did it one year. The majority of the crowd for these events comes after dark. That includes Kings Island. I’m often surprised how crowded Winterfest is at Kings Island on cold nights the people of the area know how to bundle up and as long as it is dry, it seems like there is a good crowd it less it rains. The same issue of this event just regurgitating season passholders remains regardless of the operating hours Let’s hope Kings Island does not go down this route. I know they have fired a lot of their staff with knowledge of the parks and now decisions like this are being made.

On the latest episode of Tower Topics, Ryan Suhr and I sit down with Barry Hutzel, one of the original crew members on The Beast. Watch here:

There are several reasons at this business is bleeding right now. All of them have been caused by mismanagement. But one of them is because they are actively chasing off customers by cost cutting that has negatively affected the customer experience. So their solution is to keep on cutting, reducing the and keep on losing attendance…… Unfortunately, like I said before there’s no way out for this company other than bankruptcy at this point. Maybe a few of the better parks will get sold off to ownership that can properly manage them and not become housing or warehouses

Yes to both. I admit I take advantage of both of those, but would willingly give them up if it meant keeping a quality event.

Thank you. People really aren’t grasping basic business and how bad the bleeding is right now.

I think closing off more of the park during Winterfest would be much better than getting rid of it entirely. As much as I'd miss those December rides on the antique cars it might be worth whatever money it'd save to close off the back of Coney Mall, past the entrance to Area 72; the back half of Rivertown, past the KI&MV RR station; and all of Action Zone. Frankly, I'd think they could go as far as closing off all of Coney Mall provided Mystic Timbers stays operating for the event. They could move any of the displaced shows up to the front of the park and put them in the other locations as well. Some of you may remember that Winterfest 2.0 in 2005 only used International Street, Oktoberfest, Hanna-Barbera Land, and Rivertown. I'll post the 2005 map from KIC below as a visual. Does anyone know where I can find any of the maps from Winterfest 1.0? Getting rid of the ice skating would leave a gaping hole at the front of the park. I doubt they'd find a good way to replace the revenue it generates, nor would they be able to make the Royal Fountain look good without the rink in it. They'd have to turn it into the world's largest holiday themed seating area for it to not just sit dormant. I believe Carowinds cutting/shifting their Winterfest hours could just be a (bad) one-year test from Six Flags. There's also all of the people from SFOG and Kings Dominion that Six Flags is trying to find out how far they'll travel for a holiday event. I doubt many families will make the trek out of state. Fiesta Texas is apparently getting some new decorations for their Holiday in the Park this year: I wonder which park's cancelled event those are coming from.

With AlpenFury being a major success, I created a Premier launch coaster concept for the Invertigo/Congo/Timberwolf/entry plaza area. The Action Zone area becomes an expanded Oktoberfest with a dark forest vibe and Drop Tower gets renamed "FallTrum. The station and queue for the new coaster would be on the skyflyer plot and Coaster Connection would become the exit gift shop/ride photo area.

I believe that the problem with these Christmas events at Six Flags and Cedar Fair is the same problem that is causing cost cuts all year long across the company that has actively chased off customers year-round They sell these cheap season passes, especially the cheap meal plans and people are able to attend the park all year and average their cost per visit down to $25 or so. Including meals. When they added the season meal plans, it just gave people the ability not to spend money on each visit. When Winterfest was added, the season pass price did not increase significantly. Now with these cheap season passes, the price actually went down. So there is no motivation for them in the short run to extend the operating season to include these events because they are just regurgitating season passholders and giving them more meals, etc. Plus, there’s the incompetence of this company that only allows operations when is school is out. That’s because their attractions are mainly for children. Other more successful holiday events, such as Dollywood and Busch Gardens have significantly more operating days on the Christmas schedule. It’s expensive to put all these lights up for just 20 some days of operation. also, the shorter hours of this event allow one time customers not to spend money in the park. It’s easy to eat elsewhere and not pay 20 some dollars for a mediocre quality meal. Parks like Dollywood and Busch Gardens tend to have longer operating days for this event, which encourages more in spending. Back in the beginning, Winterfest unlimited admission, should have been an add-on to the season pass in my opinion. The meal plan should’ve never been implemented to begin with because season passes are designed to encourage spending on every visiit. But the meal plan definitely shoukd have ended at Labor Day. I know if Winterfest goes away at Kings Island I am absolutely done buying season passes from this company. It’s the only thing that’s kept me renewing my season pass through all of this other awful cost cutting and reduced customer experience. this makes me sad because the Winterfest events were my favorite events of all the theme parks in this region because of the Christmas lights. It had the most immersive lights in the mature trees, on the shrubs, on the centerpiece, tower, etc. Carowinds was my first personal favorite because they had about twice as many lights in each tree as Kings Island and even more trees with lights in them. It appears that’s going away this year. Cutting out this event may save them a few bucks in the short run, but like all their other cost cutting it’s going to chase off customers in the long run IMO.

Sure, but when they added 20ish something days to the calendar for Winterfest and never adjusted the season pass price to accommodate those extra days, it is now taking your pass price and spreading it over more days. The lights ain't free. If the daily admits have steadily dropped over time and it is mainly passholders and meal plans coming, how can that pay for all of Winterfest? I have said here before Winterfest doesn't make as much as people think and would be surprised if it stuck around longer than the original version. One bad winter and it is money loser. I think they would be more inclined to cancel Winterfest and extend the season thru November. That way if a weekend sucks, they just don't open or close early and haven't spent a lot of money, whereas a bad winter after spending all the time and money to put up the lights can't afford to close a weekend or early.

That was great. It is awesome to hear stories folks never heard about.

Great episode.

I have a feeling a lot of this WAS planned. Had the park actually meant it when they said “the resources from Winterfest were being put into the summerbration” there should’ve been at least a close to lateral show for show comparison. It wasn’t even close. They had all the hardware needed for the parade and cut it to “rolling out set pieces”. Had all the recipes and legwork done for special food from us, and did none of it. They had the completed set design and even some of the key set pieces until last year for club KI stored behind racer. The fact that only recently have they finished breaking them down leads me to believe they were being kept until needed at KD. When they weren’t they finished destroying them. We saw a drop off in quality from KI to Carrowinds 50, but this time it fell off the cliff.

It was an exciting time for the park. Diamondback was and remains the most significant ride added to the park since The Beast. You have to consider that nothing of that scale had been built since S.O.B.—which in all honestly was kind of a dud—and probably Flight of Fear before that. Regardless, it was kind of cool to have two hypercoasters in the park at least for those brief couple months. The food prices were expensive but more affordable than today if you knew what you were doing. I think two slices of LaRosa's was about $5.99 or $9 in today's money. Now that would be $16.29 (with two breadsticks) which is absurd. When folks talk about Kings Island's value being higher than in the past that's really only true when speaking specifically about the gate price. The food is more expensive and the expected number of rides per visit is fewer due Fast Lane. The park had a larger calendar Summer/Fall in those days and there were more days during the week where someone could ride everything in just a few hours. There was much more emphasis on the kids' area in those days and the Nickelodeon IP was still much more relevant than today's peanuts. The kids area got much more attention and investment in those days and it was updated more often. There has been good and bad since then, but anyone who tells you that the park is much better now is probably not seeing the full picture. Halloween Haunt was a lot better then than it is today and it was of course all inclusive. Today's park does offer Winterfest which is a nice thing not offered in 2009. In short: Today: Slightly better rides, more affordable pass, Winterfest. 2009: More expansive Summer and Fall calendar, Fresher Kids' Area, more rides per visit, more affordable food, better Haunt, better entertainment and special events (thanks Don!).

Good to see the interest in Haunt remains strong with guests quick to purchase the product.

Case in point - charging to park and never filling in the potholes

Coasterstock "sold out" too.

Sure, and I see people pay for parking, but we never see the potholes fixed Putting on Winterfest is a major expense for 20 something days.

I'll also post this image I found of a Carowinds' 2005 Winterfest map to show what that looked like. Photo: CarowindsFansOnly on Facebook.

I actually saw qutie a few people skating last year, along with cookies, etc. I find myself spending more now thatn ever and I have all 3.

Oh, I’m not saying they should do it now. That would be an absolute disaster. Once you give customer something you can’t take it away easily. I was saying they should have done that in the beginning. I remember at Busch Gardens before they started year-round. Memberships Christmas town was an additional $35 for unlimited admission on a season pass. And Busch was able to eliminate their meal plans after experimenting for one or two years. It’s the same thing with these ridiculous meal plans. And I mean ridiculous in a business sense. They are great for the customer. Six Flags tried to take them away when Bassoul took over and it resulted in a huge drop in attendance that is still continuing at this point they are so engrained in the customers that it will be impossible for Six Flags to take them away successfully I don’t believe there’s any hope for this company other than bankruptcy. They have dug their ditches too deep with the way they have sold season passes. If they raise prices, they lose customers if they continue the same path, they lose customers because the experience will continue to deteriorate

With the amount of locals I would think there is enough attendance to keep Winterfest around. Maybe not, we'll see. I still feel like where as there will be Winterfest, this may be the last year for the Ice skating.

Enjoy WinterFest this year.

They also cut two weekends in November from the event. It now only operates 21 days. Last year there were around 29-30 operating days.

Carowinds cut some Fridays, too. The 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. hours can work if they market it and promote it right.

And people think I am crazy when I say that KD could be one of the sacrificed parks from Six Flags....all the signs are there...but it is a nice park and of size and potential that could be lumped in with the smaller parks they want to shed as a way to encourage higher bids.

If the timing of this ride closure is so they can start working then I'd hope it would be done by Opening Day. I think the current setup of the ride also lends itself better to being Phantom Theater or another spooky dark ride. If it becomes a Justice League dark ride then it will need a lot of work beyond just adding the screens and reprofiling the castle (which I assume is what would happen with a conversion to PT). For a company trying to save money, it may be easier to convert Boo Blasters into a new Phantom Theater. Kings Island may be more of a regional park than a destination park, but I think it deserves something better than a ride most of the big Legacy Six Flags parks got years ago.

One thing Id thought id point out is when Scooby Doo and the mystery of the spooky swamp closed at SF: St Louis on 9-14-14 and the new Justice League ride opened the following June, I do not want a justice league ride and would much prefer a phantom theater ride even with the gun element but just saying it can be done quickly, I rode Boo Blasters yesterday and it’s really sad the state it’s in, only one of the three guns worked and half of the ride props where off or non functional,I will miss this ride but I’m ready for a change

Never rode Son of Beast regrettably, had the chance but was too scared and when I wasn’t scared anymore it was headed the way of the Dino

I wonder if, as the Fall events season rolls around, we'll see new maps come out for the Legacy Six Flags parks. This is about the time (also during Winterfest) that the newer maps started to make their way out at the Legacy Cedar Fair parks. They could save the rollout for 2026 and reuse the 2025 maps for Fall/Winterfest, but some like the SFOT and Magic Mountain maps, haven't even been updated from 2024's versions. The new seasons combined with the past-due release of the new park websites and mobile app(s) makes me wonder if anything else will change in the coming month. The Fright Fest event website looks terrible and is as if it were thrown together because the planned replacement wasn't ready. I'm hoping we'll see everything new begin to be released with the 2026 announcements that may be coming throughout September.

I’d venture that “golden age” actually culminated in 22 with the anniversary celebration. We thought it was the beginning of a “new era” at KI with more entertainment, a focus on park history, better food, and a quality experience. Sadly instead of it being a new chapter, it seems like now it was the end of the book.

I did it at KI! It was as surreal as you can imagine setting up a tent as the park closed, riding beast late at night, going to bed to the sounds of the park after close, and then waking up in an amusement park in the morning.

Went to IOA, Studios, and Epic last week. 1 day at Studios, 2 days at Epic, and 3 days at IOA. It was a very fun time and I enjoyed being back in Studios and Islands. Epic was fun, but we faced A LOT of issues with breakdowns, especially the second day at Epic. Neither shows worked the first day, and Le Cirque Arcanus got cancelled when we were in it the second day. We got lucky with Ministry and it didn't breakdown while we were in line. In a way, I feel like Epic Universe is very hyped and maybe potentially doesn't meet the hype. It was good, just wasn't as great as I originally thought. They definitely need more rides, like at least 7 more things to be complete. Stardust Racers was AMAZING, and I think it's better than Velocicoaster! Monsters was a little underwhelming at first. It was kinda confusing without any real storyline. Just a bunch of animatronics in a big building. But as I rode it more, I liked it more. And because the capacity is good because there are so many cars, it's clear when they try to hide something because they put you on your back and have you look at the ceiling. I know I sound a little negative toward Epic, but it really was great! It just needs more things to spread people out. That's just my brief report, if you have more questions feel free to ask!

I'd sleep in the former Son of Beast station, there's nothing in there so you could really make that place your own. I also thought of bringing a tent and sleeping in the woods where The Beast is.

I'd go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower and sleep up in the control penthouse

I'll take the Paramount era for one simple reason: it was impossible for them to save money by "commissioning" AI-generated images.

Former CF CEO posted earlier last week on his LinkedIn page...

Six Flags is no longer an entertainment company. They are not about improving the customer experience and providing the highest quality of entertainment. They are an asset management company. They are trying to squeeze as much out of the assets as possible. When the assets fail, they will be sold Unfortunately the whole company is headed in the direction of failure.

This. And you CAN have it both ways. All the scary, gory stuff can be tucked away inside buildings and mazes while you can make the overall park atmosphere more Halloween friendly and appeal to families. During the day when I see all of the scary stuff just sitting out like in Coney Mall, it just doesn’t seem appealing. There’s a clear difference between making things spooky and making things scary: Outside the mazes/houses = spooky. Inside the mazes/houses = scary.

I agree. I really wish they would keep the “Haunt” aspect in the mazes and decorate the park much like what Dollywood does for its Harvest festival. Think Winterfest level of decor and atmosphere, but themed for the fall season. Keep a couple fog machines out for some of the coasters, but remove them from the pathways. Keep the roaming scare actors and gore in the mazes. Haunt is the only time of year Kings Island contradicts itself with being a “Family Park.” And I’m routinely told, “Families spend the most money.”

Have you seen the Warren County Master Plan and land-use report showing the best and highest use of the property or are you just speculating? Keep in mind just across the street, golf courses that operated year round were removed because it can make more money for 2 weeks as a non-paved parking lot for a tennis tournament...There was a time they would just fence off the greens and tee boxes and have cars park in the fairway for those 2 weeks. Your speculation may be correct or it may always remain KI, but land development can be weird, and if a developer offered Six Flags the right number, any park could be gone...just like many of the golf courses surrounding KI that have been turned into high end subdivisions, Kroger, other retail, etc.

Tricks and Treats is cool and all, but I really wish KI would do an Oktoberfest event in the Festhaus area. Other parks in the chain do it and Cincy area has a lot of German roots so it would fit so well here. Also Carowinds does a Tricks and Treats parade. I think it would be cool if KI does that too,

I believe you can mention tariffs, it would be any political commentary after that would be a violation....

Huh?