Another long overdue update from me! Had some stuff going on that prevented me from making updates from the parks but I finally made my way back to CGA for WinterFest! The park was as beautiful as ever and after Haunt, Christmas is my favorite time of the year! But WinterFest isn't the only news from the park, we also have some interesting ride news and some markings to keep an eye on for the future. Let's get into it!

Table of Contents

• WinterFest
  • Shows
  • General WinterFest Updates
• Ride Updates
• General Updates

WinterFest

Shows

To start with, let's look at the shows for WinterFest. It's nice to see indoor shows back in the park and I look forward to seeing what the park comes up with for next season.

To start with, like 2019, there is a tree lighting ceremony

The show takes place behind the Carousel Columbia at 5:30

It starts off with some singing and dancing until an MC comes on and welcomes us to WinterFest

They invite a family up to help turn on the lights and start the WinterFest night off!

After they pull the switch, the tree lights up and the singers perform a couple more songs. It's a great way to get your night started off right at the park

The main Great America Theater has an ice show named "It's Christmas Snoopy"

Over at the side theater near Rue Le Dodge there were drum shows throughout the night

Theatre Royale is showing Tinkers Toy Factory

Over by the entrance to South Bay Shores, CGA had the trolley show set up

Finally, over in Planet Snoopy, there was a Peanuts show

General WinterFest Updates

Now lets take a walk around the park and see some general park changes for WinterFest!

Orleans Place had lights strung up and flashing set to music

Kids could write letters to Santa again this year in Orleans Place! This year required reservations however due to limited capacity

All-American Corners became Tinsel Town again this year

The covered bridge near Mass Effect is still my favorite light display in the park

Okay, this might be my favorite decoration however. It's a jelly filling station for this gingerbread car!

Love that "motorists" could choose from Grape or Strawberry

These trees were beautifully lit up in Planet Snoopy

And Snoopy was wearing his Santa outfit like usual

Continuing around the park, there were games and a DJ both set up near Grizzly again

And Barney Oldfield's Speedway became the 12 Days of Christmas again

The walk between Railblazer and Grizzly was again transformed into a Victorian Village

Glad to see the park use these facades even if the Victorian scare zone wasn't here at Haunt this year

WinterFest even featured some walkaround characters this year!

There were plenty of campfires on the lawn behind Railblazer. They're nice to have on a chilly night!

This is another great decoration on the lift of White Water Falls!

From another angle!

Local vendors again set up shop under Railblazer

I liked these little penguins near Railblazer

Back again this year was pictures with Santa

It's always a really popular activity

The park has ""snow" areas in the park for kids to play around in

There were actually a lot more characters throughout the park than I remember

Mars Klaus Kitchen was back again this year except instead of in Planet Snoopy, it was in Orleans Place

As per usual with the park, there were special booths set up selling food and drink

Inside CGA again became Frosty Furnishings - actually plenty of stores within the park had their name changed for the season

What a great event at the park! It runs through the beginning of January so make your way out if you can!

Ride Updates

Flight Deck is in the process of getting some new paint

Not that the old paint was particularly faded, but this paint looks bold and fantastic

Glad to see the park continue to invest in some of our favorite CGA rides!

Moving over to Orbit

There has been some progress here

The ride looks much more disassembled

But there's no way that it opens this year

Looks like we'll have to wait until 2022 to get to ride this favorite again!

General Updates

Here's what you can expect for closed rides at the park this month

Mass Effect is hidden behind decorations so no extraplanetary journeys until 202

Glad to see characters can take pictures next to guests again. Things are going back to normal!

The most interesting news from the park this month is the appearance of site markings near All American Cafe

This is near the site of the former FireFall top spin

The markings go from around 30 feet of the cafe to directly next to the rope climb game

What does this mean?

In all honesty? Most likely probably nothing. Markings aren't just for new rides but also for new buildings and infrastructure work

Since it is showing up next to All American Cafe, my money isn't on a new restaurant but instead of some infra work

But the site does clearly have enough room for a flat ride so we'll just have to see!

There you have it! Glad to be back at the park after so long away! This will be my last visit of the year so thanks for bearing with me for another sporadic year of updates. 2022 is going to be a great year for the park and for this site so stay tuned for further updates from me!