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Could Holiday In The Park come to SFGAm? JRA says "Maybe"

Talk about anything that has to do with Six Flags Great America and Hurricane Harbor here.
Postby Guy_With_A_Stick on January 8th, 2017, 7:07 pm
RaceBoarder wrote:
Coaster Justin wrote:
RollingCoasting wrote:Any HITP info at the presentation today?



No plans.

Justified!

This year is a perfect example: The park would have lost two entire weekends prior to Christmas to weather. That would have killed revenue.

But it wouldn't have?

Having 2 closed weekends would mean that they don't make nor loose money(aside from taxes and stuff like that). It wouldn't kill revenue, it'd just halt it for a bit. Plus, HITP isn't just December until Christmas, it's the last week of November until the first weekend of January. And knowing our weather, we could most certainly be open earlier in November. During the open weekends, the park would've most certainly reduced the amount of operating rides and shops, which reduces running costs. And like Justin said, specialty items(which probably cost more) would also boost revenue. People love things like Hot Cocoa, Apple Cider, Eggnog(well, some people), etc. Sales for those would definitely go up. As for crowds, it might be fairly empty the first few weeks, yes, but once schools let out for Winter Break, attendance would skyrocket. And if we were to host some sort of NYE party/countdown, all I can think of is that it'd be successful. People would flock to the park to enjoy the park during the day, then celebrate New Year's right there with music, lights, a countdown, etc. You don't even need to have rides running. You can have walkthroughs, shows, a Santa Meet & Greet, other attractions like a Reindeer Petting Zoo, Gingerbread House contests, Christmas Movies in the Pictorium, etc. and people would enjoy it just as much.

But what do I know? I'm just a stupid high schooler.
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Postby RollingCoasting on January 9th, 2017, 2:27 am
Guy_With_A_Stick wrote:But what do I know? I'm just a stupid high schooler.


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SFSTL did lose a couple of days to snow but most of their event turned out fine
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Postby RaceBoarder on January 9th, 2017, 8:48 am
Guy_With_A_Stick wrote:
Coaster Justin wrote:
RollingCoasting wrote:Any HITP info at the presentation today?



No plans.

But it wouldn't have?

Having 2 closed weekends would mean that they don't make nor loose money(aside from taxes and stuff like that). It wouldn't kill revenue, it'd just halt it for a bit. Plus, HITP isn't just December until Christmas, it's the last week of November until the first weekend of January. And knowing our weather, we could most certainly be open earlier in November. During the open weekends, the park would've most certainly reduced the amount of operating rides and shops, which reduces running costs. And like Justin said, specialty items(which probably cost more) would also boost revenue. People love things like Hot Cocoa, Apple Cider, Eggnog(well, some people), etc. Sales for those would definitely go up. As for crowds, it might be fairly empty the first few weeks, yes, but once schools let out for Winter Break, attendance would skyrocket. And if we were to host some sort of NYE party/countdown, all I can think of is that it'd be successful. People would flock to the park to enjoy the park during the day, then celebrate New Year's right there with music, lights, a countdown, etc. You don't even need to have rides running. You can have walkthroughs, shows, a Santa Meet & Greet, other attractions like a Reindeer Petting Zoo, Gingerbread House contests, Christmas Movies in the Pictorium, etc. and people would enjoy it just as much.

But what do I know? I'm just a stupid high schooler.

HitP has all their costs up front. This season saw just 6 operational weekends on the Calendar. When you lose 1/3 of your operating days, and then have Christmas be another financial loss, things don't turn out well. It's very difficult to climb out of the hole at that point.

Specialty items brought in for an event like this have an extremely short shelf life. Any eggnog purchased for those weeks gets thrown out after a week to 10 days. Specialty items like that also cost more so margin shrinks. And any Christmas related merch be it hard or soft lines? Better be rid of that by Dec. 23rd cause it's worthless after that.

You need to see the big picture for an event like this. There is a reason we're in the minority of parks that haven't gotten this event yet. But enthusiasts gonna enthusiast.
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Postby staticshadows on January 9th, 2017, 1:57 pm
Edit: Removed from forum.
Last edited by staticshadows on July 8th, 2017, 9:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Guy_With_A_Stick on January 9th, 2017, 4:34 pm
RaceBoarder wrote:HitP has all their costs up front. This season saw just 6 operational weekends on the Calendar. When you lose 1/3 of your operating days, and then have Christmas be another financial loss, things don't turn out well. It's very difficult to climb out of the hole at that point.

Specialty items brought in for an event like this have an extremely short shelf life. Any eggnog purchased for those weeks gets thrown out after a week to 10 days. Specialty items like that also cost more so margin shrinks. And any Christmas related merch be it hard or soft lines? Better be rid of that by Dec. 23rd cause it's worthless after that.

You need to see the big picture for an event like this. There is a reason we're in the minority of parks that haven't gotten this event yet. But enthusiasts gonna enthusiast.

Simple, you increase prices, or find a way to get more money from more people. Simplest solution would be to exclude members and regular passholders from the event. You could also increase prices, especially on specialty items, but ticket sales are much more cost-effective.

Speaking of specialty items, they're not special in terms of shelf life. All unsold food items are thrown out at the end of every day. As for eggnog, if stored properly(frozen), it can be used for up to 6 months. And I know this from personal experience. The park already serves Hot Cocoa and Alcohol, so no change there. Most other Six Flags parks offer specialty holiday items in terms of both merch and foodstuffs, so why can't we sell them here? Also, why can't we sell stuff after the 23rd? They're usually discounted, but people still buy holiday items after the fact(see Fright Fest merch being sold on closing day).

I'm not sure I get what you mean by 'seeing the big picture'. I have looked at most everything related to HITP as far as I know(if I'm wrong please correct me). Rides are able to operate, but some do need to be closed(i.e. Whizzer, the two towers, water rides, etc.). Food and entry I've already discussed. Employment should be similar to FF, with workers working normal shifts. Decorations shouldn't be too big of a deal, since all other SF parks deck their parks in lights and decor. For shows, again, other SF parks can do it, why can't we do it as well?

The real reason we don't have HITP isn't because it'd be a 'financial disaster', but rather the weather, which I agree, can be spotty in the Chicagoland area. This year would have been an iffy year to host HITP, yes, but this month was unusually cold. It's typically warmer on average, ranging between 45-25*F. Any other year would've been a fine time to host the event. What about the snow? you may ask. Well, I have 2 points for you. One, December isn't usually the month that gets snow(again, this year was an exception), it's mid-late January/Early February. And two, even with snow, many rides are still able to operate, especially coasters. Here's a video of Air @ Alton Towers operating in a decent amount of snow:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMSTIECBrSw

Anyway, HITP is possible, it just needs to be well managed in terms of weather.
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Postby Coaster Justin on January 21st, 2017, 12:55 pm
Could've been open today.
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Postby tribar on January 21st, 2017, 4:17 pm
Coaster Justin wrote:Could've been open today.


In January?
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Postby Guy_With_A_Stick on January 21st, 2017, 4:57 pm
In 55* weather! It's incredible today.

Timing is off, but weather like this would make for a wonderful day.
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Postby RollingCoasting on January 21st, 2017, 5:11 pm
The event most likely would've ended by now, but yeah, today would've worked out great :)
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Postby RollerCoasterFavRide on January 24th, 2017, 2:20 pm
A little late, but I really wish we would get HITP at SFGA. On New Year's eve we didn't have any plans and I was seriously considering driving the 5-6 hours to St. Louis for an overnight trip to have fun at the park. The weather wasn't terrible and it would have been something fun and different to do. We definitely would take advantage of it, if it were available.
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Postby n9yty on January 25th, 2017, 4:43 pm
RollerCoasterFavRide wrote:A little late, but I really wish we would get HITP at SFGA. On New Year's eve we didn't have any plans and I was seriously considering driving the 5-6 hours to St. Louis for an overnight trip to have fun at the park. The weather wasn't terrible and it would have been something fun and different to do. We definitely would take advantage of it, if it were available.

You should have gone... We went opening and closing weekends... New Years Weekend was DEAD, unfortunately for them. They stayed open on Monday, so we were there Fri through Mon,well worth the trip. They closed at 6:30pm Monday instead of 8pm citing "weather", but it was clearly due to attendance. Still it was a great end to the event, we had a great time. I'd put it on the calendar for next year. But honestly, I think there is enough difference in climate that it works in St. Louis but I'm not sure it would work in Gurnee.
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Postby RollerCoasterFavRide on January 26th, 2017, 5:17 pm
Dang it! Now I wish I did! We were watching a couple of extra kids, but we all have season passes. I just didn't feel like driving 5-6 hours with 3 kids. That's quite a deterrent for me...
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Postby ChicagoCoasters on December 16th, 2017, 10:42 am
I think we all know Last Call Fall Festival was a test to see if Holiday In the Park could work and it looks like it could. Fingers crossed for 2018. I think a lot of rides could be open. During Last Call every coaster was open and only Sky Trek, water rides, and Hometown Fun Machine were closed on closing day. The temperatures were in the low 30s but felt like the low 20s. Not to mention that the day before rides were operating in the snow! People from all over would come to see the lights. Add specialty food and drinks like Cinnamon Pretzels, Roasted Corn On The Cob, Apple Cider, Hot Chocolate, Eggnog, Holiday Churros and Funnel Cakes, Turkey Dinners, etc and you have a great deal. Plus rides, shows, and holiday attractions like ice skating, Pics with Santa, Decorate a Cookie, sled hill etc. That would be amazing.
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Postby SFGAMNUT9302 on December 16th, 2017, 7:36 pm
ChicagoCoasters wrote:I think we all know Last Call Fall Festival was a test to see if Holiday In the Park could work and it looks like it could. Fingers crossed for 2018. I think a lot of rides could be open. During Last Call every coaster was open and only Sky Trek, water rides, and Hometown Fun Machine were closed on closing day. The temperatures were in the low 30s but felt like the low 20s. Not to mention that the day before rides were operating in the snow! People from all over would come to see the lights. Add specialty food and drinks like Cinnamon Pretzels, Roasted Corn On The Cob, Apple Cider, Hot Chocolate, Eggnog, Holiday Churros and Funnel Cakes, Turkey Dinners, etc and you have a great deal. Plus rides, shows, and holiday attractions like ice skating, Pics with Santa, Decorate a Cookie, sled hill etc. That would be amazing.


Turn the pool in front of Columbian Carousel into an Ice Skating rink! :-)
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Postby Eagle04 on December 18th, 2017, 11:37 am
Just guessing here but I would doubt it was a weather test. They have years of historical weather data to give them a basic set of odds on the weather.

Six Flags Great Adventure runs a food and wine festival about the same time sfgam did. If last call festival was a test of any sort it would be in attendance and maybe operations.

I would even speculate that weather would be even a smaller factor than during Last Call. As the temps drop the potential rain outs turn into "magical snow fall" to accompany the Christmas atmosphere (as long as it isn't a foot of snow)
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Postby DejaVu2001 on December 18th, 2017, 11:51 am
^ I think people were more referring to "testing" how the rides would perform in more wintry conditions, and I think everyone here will agree Last Call Fall Festival provided useful data in that area :lol:
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Postby RollingCoasting on December 19th, 2017, 2:27 pm
Just noticed this on: https://www.sixflags.com/greatamerica/s ... ash-passes

parkdate.png


"Skip the lines and cut your wait in half every time you visit the park until November 2018" (End of the season according to the Key Features)

Sounds like we aren't getting HITP next year
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Postby ChicagoCoasters on December 19th, 2017, 4:07 pm
RollingCoasting wrote:Just noticed this on: https://www.sixflags.com/greatamerica/s ... ash-passes

parkdate.png


"Skip the lines and cut your wait in half every time you visit the park until November 2018" (End of the season according to the Key Features)

Sounds like we aren't getting HITP next year


Maybe it is at default settings because of this year. Our operating schedule isn't out yet either. :wink:
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Postby Tardis1972 on December 20th, 2017, 12:35 pm
If not 2018 then hopefully 2019. Just reading about SFAdv's make me want to see the even here even more.
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Postby Coaster Justin on December 20th, 2017, 6:20 pm
Tardis1972 wrote:If not 2018 then hopefully 2019. Just reading about SFAdv's make me want to see the even here even more.


Wanna be more jealous of SFGAdv? Look at their dining pass guide.
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Postby ChicagoCoasters on December 20th, 2017, 8:19 pm
Coaster Justin wrote:
Tardis1972 wrote:If not 2018 then hopefully 2019. Just reading about SFAdv's make me want to see the even here even more.


Wanna be more jealous of SFGAdv? Look at their dining pass guide.


Their dining plan options are way better than ours. Want something else to be jealous of something that's at SFGAd. Two words...

EL TORO

Btw their Holiday In The Park looks like it is the best out of all of the Six Flags parks who have Holiday in the Park.
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Postby RollingCoasting on January 5th, 2018, 2:39 pm
Anyone else notice how last month the season flash pass page said "Skip the lines and cut your wait in half every time you visit the park until November 2018" and now it just says "Skip the lines and cut your wait in half every time you visit the park" :wink:

suspicious.png


Doesn't confirm anything, but it's still pretty interesting
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Postby CoasterRiderSC on January 5th, 2018, 5:33 pm
Today I received a survey as part of the "Six Flags Advisory Panel" that I joined! There were many questions about various levels of memberships and also about Holiday In the Park!
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Postby Whizzer Whiz Kid on January 5th, 2018, 7:08 pm
Unfortunately it is probably just a stock Six Flags survey. While it is still possible, I don't think this has any confirmation on it.
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Postby Goku1910 on January 5th, 2018, 9:19 pm
^King's Island managed to pull off an interesting Winter Event with Ice Skating and shows. Lights and Decorations were a nice addition too.

People need to remember that holiday in the park isn't for rides in our case. Great America would have specific challenges to make the event interesting while taking most rides and attractions out of the equation.
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