Cedar Fair has unveiled its plans for 2022, with an emphasis on special events at its theme and amusement parks across the country.
"Based on positive recent trends and our renewed confidence in the recovery of the business, we now plan to invest between $175-$200 million for the 2022 season to improve the guest experience at our parks," Cedar Fair President and CEO Richard A. Zimmerman said. "These investments include ongoing renovations at the Castaway Bay and Sawmill Creek resort properties at Cedar Point, as well as the addition of new rides, attractions and guest amenities across our parks in the U.S. and Canada."
The only new ride mentioned in the company's press release is Kings Dominion's Tumbili, an S&S Free Spin coaster with a height of 112 feet and top speed of 34 mph. The coaster will be part of the park's Jungle X-Pedition area - a retheme of its current Safari Village.
Elsewhere, Cedar Fair is preparing for Kings Island's 50th anniversary next season. The park's Eiffel Tower is getting a new coat of paint for its birthday, so Kings Island will be closing the landmark after this weekend to prepare for that. More details on the anniversary will be released in the weeks ahead.
Cedar Point is coming off its 150th anniversary season this summer, but the Celebrate Spectacular Parade will return as part of Cedar Point Nights, in between the returning Frontier Festival and HalloWeekends. Frontier Town will get a new "chef-inspired signature restaurant," and as Zimmerman mentioned, Cedar Point will be "reimagining" the Castaway Bay Indoor Waterpark hotel and "reintroducing" Sawmill Creek by Cedar Point Resorts with "a full renovation of guest rooms, eclectic dining options, golf course upgrades, outdoor amenities and an enhanced convention and meeting space experience."
At Knott's Berry Farm, the Knott’s Berry Farm Hotel is also getting a major renovation, and the Boysenberry Festival will get extended dates in the spring. Peanut’s Celebration and Ghost Town Alive! will be back, as well.
Canada’s Wonderland is getting a new International Food Festival as well as "a multi-level, rustic lodge-restaurant that will be the park’s largest dining facility to date."
Grand Carnivale is coming back to Kings Island, Kings Dominion, Carowinds, Dorney Park, Valleyfair, and Worlds of Fun, and WinterFest will return to Carowinds, California’s Great America, Kings Dominion, Canada’s Wonderland, and Kings Island.
Finally, Cedar Point will be investing in enhancements that "focus on infrastructure and aesthetics throughout the park, including upgraded food locations and attractions" at its Schlitterbahn water parks in New Braunfels and Galveston, Texas.
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I don't know. The re-theming of Safari Village makes sense to me. A safari is specific to observing wildlife, and there isn't any wildlife there, unless you count the lonely lion statue by the scrambler or the ancient Arrow coaster named after a snake. The S&S Free Spin seems like a good replacement for the troublesome top spin ride that was there. And I'm sure they'll have something decent to replace Volcano. They have to do something for that area. It's a big piece of real estate, already themed to a jungle, and right now it's just a walkthrough. Cedar Fair would never pay to completely overhaul the land with new theming, so a re-theme/refresh is better than nothing.
How bad were the Schlitterbahn parks before Cedar Fair bought them? Any Texas water park fans out there to comment on that ownership change?
I should have clarified my position on this. I have no problem with enhancing the safari village theming into a jungle theme, and I understand that this new ride is just something to fill out the area and they plan on putting another big new ride close to it soon. That all is fine and makes perfect sense.
But I can't stand S&S free spins to me they are just nauseating and are not fun at all. It is one of my least favorite coaster models. Also the name "Jungle Xpedition" reminds me of SFMM circa 2001 and it doesn't even sound like a place, it sounds like something an 11 year old would name a ride in RCT.
I don't have an issue with what Kings Dominion is doing. In fact, I was a bit surprised that Tumbili is being appropriately viewed as a flat ride, replacing The Crypt/Tomb Raider, with a future cornerstone ride likely coming to fill in the former Volcano parcel. Fans have been aware of the S&S 4-D free spin for nearly a year, with parts of the coaster sitting in the parking lot since last winter. However, it was a pretty big surprise this new coaster is just the first addition in a multi-stage revamp of the area. Retheming Outer Hanks, which was just a generic reskinning of what was a Bubba Gump (dating from Paramount's ownership), is a positive development as Kings Dominion has some of the worst overall food options within the Cedar Fair chain. Transition to a Jungle theme makes sense given the history and existing theming of the area, but still presents a lot of challenges in not presenting offensive imagery or other non-PC situations.
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I think what they're doing makes sense but the KD addition is cringy as hell. Who thinks its a good idea to name an entire area of the park "Jungle Xpedition" ? That is like something you would expect at one of those Chinese parks that was designed and built in a month.