Ask Mr. Theme Park: Christmas Holiday Program

Dear Mr. Theme Park:

I am a small to medium amusement park in the southeastern part of the USA. I am considering putting in a Christmas holiday program. I have seen some of these come and go through the years. Any thoughts on how and if this can be a success if I did put it in?

- Adrienne

Dear Adrienne:

Holiday programs in amusement parks have been in existence for many years. One of the first was WINTERFEST at Kings Island in Cincinnati, which I helped establish in the 1970s. It was a prototype Christmas event that we created to achieve several goals. First and foremost, we wanted to bring in revenue in the off-season. Second, we wanted to keep the Kings Island name “in place” a few months longer, giving the park greater awareness. And, third, we wanted to create an event that would bring the entire family out to the park.

All of these objectives and goals were achieved during our first year of operating our Christmas event. It was amazing to see how successful the first WINTERFEST really was. At the end of the one-month event, we had entertained over 330,000 people – basically in 1/5 of the park. The event occurred in the International Street area and the surrounding Esplanade, which also offered the German Festhaus that we had built as a huge performing restaurant. It offered a great stage on which to present a Christmas Pageant show.

At the end of the first WINTERFEST, after all expenses, capital, and operating expenses cleared, we netted $500,000! It was amazing. And, equally amazing, we achieved all of our objectives and goals during the winter! People – mainly families – enjoyed the event and loved coming to the park experiencing carolers, and special food and drinks such as roasted chestnuts, hot chocolate, smoked turkey legs, and wonderful bakery goods.

Moms, dads, children, grandmothers, and grandfathers came to experience the ambiance, shows, food and beverage, and specialty merchandise. One thing we did to help promote sales of Christmas/Holiday oriented items was to bring in concessionaires. They sold out of basically everything they had to offer. It was truly phenomenal.

The park charged a mere fraction of the summer entry price to attend WINTERFEST. The goal was to price it so that the entire family could afford to come together in the same visit. And come they did!

After the success of WINTERFEST, and after I had left the Kings company and started ITPS, I went to my friends at Six Flags and presented the benefits of opening a winter program in the Texas park. We named it “Holiday in the Park.” It opened over 25 years ago and is an integral and important part of the annual business at Six Flags Over Texas. Six Flags is now expanding the “Holiday in the Park” to other parks as a way to expand attendance and revenues. Other companies are doing the same, and I believe we are going to see more parks adding Christmas/Holiday programs to their current operations.

Adrienne, let me leave you with some things to keep in mind. It is best offered as an evening experience when the lights bring the park alive. It will not be affected by snow. Rain does affect attendance, however. A good operating schedule is from the Friday after Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day, and from 4:00p.m until 10:00p.m. or 11:00p.m. is an ideal operating time.

Also, keep the admission to the event reasonable.

Offer traditional holiday food and beverages that cannot be gotten at the park during the summer operation (some duplication is ok). Flood the park with all of the great Christmas seasonal music you can (people love it!). Also, start a program to dress your employees in old-time Holiday costumes, at least the Christmas carolers.

Realize that you need a three-year commitment for establishing the program. It will take three seasons for people to “buy in.” Properly launched and executed, you will get a tremendous amount of PR from the local media. You may even want to bring in some local sponsors and affiliate your program with a local charity.

So, the answer is YES – properly designed, marketed, and executed, a Christmas program can be a wonderful addition to your park’s business and your community’s Holiday experience.

Be sure when you dismantle the program, you carefully and strategically store the decorations so you do not lose any and they can be easily installed the following years.

Each market is different and each park has its own personality; however, done properly, you can create a wonderful seasonal and family event. I would try it.