Kings Island offers contest to win a trip to... Knott's Berry Farm

September 19, 2013, 10:54 AM · Kings Island has announced that it will run a "Scream Like a Banshee" contest on Fridays during its Halloween Haunt event this fall, to promote its new roller coaster debuting next spring.

Banshee logo
Kings Island will debut the world's longest Bolliger & Mabillard inverted roller coaster next April.

Weekly winners advance to the finals on October 26, with the finals winner getting a trip for two to Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California.

It might seem strange for a theme park to be running a contest where the grand prize is a trip to another park, but don't forget that Kings Island and Knott's Berry Farm both are siblings in the Cedar Fair theme park chain.

Utilizing sister parks to offer prize trips to an affiliated out-of-market park seem like a strong move, especially when the sister park is in a popular tourist destination such as Southern California. It's not like Knott's and Kings Island are competing for the same visitors. But the chance to win a trip across the country to Southern California and Knott's certainly seems like a good lure to bring more visitors from around Cincinnati to Kings Island. Theme Park Insider readers from the Midwest can respond in the comments as to whether this contest would help push them to visiting KI this fall.

What do you think? Have you seen this type of promotion before, at other theme or amusement parks? Which other park combinations would be good candidates for running a similar promotion?

Replies (3)

September 19, 2013 at 12:14 PM · I think something like this would be just the thing to do for Universal Studios Hollywood over the course of the next 6-8 months before the opening of Despicable Me Minion Mayhem and perhaps again next fall before the next major attraction, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter comes into being.

Given that there are only a handful of attractions at USH right now and miles of construction walls, enticing visitors with the chance to win a trip to Universal Studios Orlando and Islands of Adventure would not only lure a bigger local audience in a downtime but get people excited about USH's future particularly what the WWOHP will bring in terms of entertainment.

September 19, 2013 at 1:34 PM · Six Flags has offered a prize of "a trip to the Six Flags park of your choice" as an incentive for answering their surveys at times in the past.
September 19, 2013 at 6:14 PM · I can see this generating interest. It's unlikely that the average KI visitor would pay to make the cross country trip for the purpose of visiting Knotts. However, they would probably go if their way was paid. It builds the hype for the new ride, engages and entertains the fans, and is inexpensive. Win for the marketing dept.

Not sure if it would work with some of the other parks though. I can't see too many people in Ohio lining up for a trip to Michigan's Adventure or Valleyfair...no offense intended.

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