For those knocking on CGA/Cedar Fair's theming, sounds like they haven't been to the park in a while. The park has been ramping up its atmosphere the past couple seasons. Last year they introduced Taste of Orleans, a special festival with food tasting and live entertainment. Their first WinterFest event blew SFDK's long-existing Holiday in the Park out of the water. This year continuing the trend of improvements, the park added Red, White and Brews to the mix which was yet another great event with some fun atmosphere. Once again, WinterFest continues to raise the bar (especially with being ranked among the top 10 holiday theme park events in the country).
Food and live entertainment has grown a lot since Cedar Fair purchased CGA. Maggie's Smokehouse underwent some changes and has become a go-to restaurant for many as it tends to get busy. Shows like Hot Rhythm Nights (was new this year, consisted of a live band and a pretty cool stage set complete with video wall panels) was what I felt was a game changer for theme park shows as it was very well put together. Can't forget the other shows that were a hit this summer like Vertical Impact and Nytewalkers (during Haunt).
Moving forward with the rezone, we can expect much more improvements down the pipeline.