[tarheel1231]

I love it. It's little things like this that give the park more charm.

[arby]

...and lead to increased attendance. Thrill parks alone don't continue to bring in families like these little touches do. It's a lot more fun to go to the park and hang around to interact with the characters roaming the park.

They've been doing things like this all season, although I don't know if they specifically started at park opening this year or were gradually phased in earlier in the season.

[FamousAmos]

And the last part.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iciEdRBD6ow

[redrunner97]

The fine folks over at NewsPlusNotes had an interesting article detailing that recent Cedar Fair conference call, and some of it directly pertained to the future of Carowinds.

• Both Carowinds and Knott's Berry Farm are expected to report record levels of attendance for the 2015 season.

• The partnerships with Electronic Arts for two new licensed attractions in 2016 will help secure new "unique" guests, meaning a new audience that might not be visiting now. If these are a success, Cedar Fair is ready to expand them to other parks "in the near future."

• California's Great America will debut a new "winter event' in 2016, without much detail given. They will leverage the knowledge gained from the success of Knott's Merry Farm in their attempt. In the future the winter event could come to multiple parks, but not at all of them.

• CEO Matt Ouimet said he underestimated the amount that Carowinds could grow, with the 1st season of expansion putting the park over 2 million guests. They think Carowinds could eventually grow to be as large as Kings Island or Canada's Wonderland in terms of attendance. Carowinds needs a much larger season pass base to do that, and the water park expansion is aimed at growing that. Both Valleyfair and California's Great America were also again mentioned as the focus parks for large growth.

• The Hotel Breakers renovation exceeded the company's expectations to a degree that they are looking more than ever at upgrading campgrounds at existing parks, adding them to new ones, and it sounds like crunching the numbers on an actual hotel at Carowinds.

You can browse the full article here:
http://newsplusnotes.blogspot.com/2015/11/heard-on-cedar-fairs-3rd-quarter-2015.html

[Jonathan]

Wow, great stuff.

[tarheel1231]

If I had to guess, if this new Winterfest is successful, it will probably be rolled out to Carowinds, Kings Dominion, Worlds of Fun. Really interesting to hear that Knott's surpassed 4 million, but then again, it is a year-round park.

[Jarsh]

Worlds of Fun might be pushing it temp wise to have a WinterFest event. Kings Dominion as well...

Carowinds will do well with it if they do it right. Six Flags Over Georgia seems to have had a good turn out for their 2014 version because they dumped millions of dollars into it. A few lights strung off the SkyTower won't cut it. Speaking of... there has to be a way to create that christmas tree and still operate the SkyTower.

[Jonathan]

Busch Gardens has a winter event so Kings Dominion can probably handle it. December temperatures in that area are also similar to Pigeon Forge where Dollywood is able to pull it off too.

[Jarsh]

That's true... I forgot about BGW's Christmas event. Doesn't that usually sell out and cause the park to close up the gates for a bit? I'm betting KD wants some of that overflow.

Either way, they'll definitely have to step it up the offerings at their "winterized" parks. If the temps get to cold at Dollywood to run stuff, at least you have other things to fall back on. Not so much at the Cedar Fair parks.

[RollerBee]

Speaking of... there has to be a way to create that christmas tree and still operate the SkyTower.

I know the Skytower Christmas Tree is tradition but to me using Skytower for it's intended purpose for Winterfest makes more sense. It would be too cold to ride Windseeker so my thought is to move the Christmas tree to Windseeker instead.

[carolinaman]

They are messing with the web cam.

[FamousAmos]

there has to be a way to create that christmas tree and still operate the SkyTower.

I would think that it might be possible to raise the star a bit higher, or move the anchors for the lights farther out? Is there not enough room at the top when the carriage comes up? Does it hit the lights? If it would, then these two options would be a good way to change it possibly?

[RollerBee]

They used to park the cabin halfway during the Christmas tree.

[carolinaman]

Is there a reason the park is all lit up right now like it is open?

Never mind.....the lights just went out

[sccoasterbear]

Worlds of Fun might be pushing it temp wise to have a WinterFest event. Kings Dominion as well...

Carowinds will do well with it if they do it right. Six Flags Over Georgia seems to have had a good turn out for their 2014 version because they dumped millions of dollars into it. A few lights strung off the SkyTower won't cut it. Speaking of... there has to be a way to create that christmas tree and still operate the SkyTower.

When Kings Island had their Winterfest, I worked there two seasons and it was incredible. There were even times that we had a couple of feet of snow on the ground which made it even better. So temp wise it really depends on how you look at it. Honestly up there it was about ice skating on the Main Street fountain, train rides, and shows.

Great memories!