Christmas Holiday Lights At Gilroy Gardens (nee Bonfante Gardens)
This may well be the last year that Holiday Lights is celebrated at the Gilroy Gardens (formerly Bonfante Gardens) amusement park. It will certainly be your last chance to meet Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang as Cedar Fair’s operating contract expires February 2, 2009 and the Peanuts characters were a part of that deal.
We still haven’t decided if we’ll be attending Holiday Lightsthis year as the cost is rather prohibitive: $15 for parking, $29.99 each for park admission. Especially considering the park will only be open for 5 hours each evening (4pm to 9pm). Even with my $150.00 Cedar Fair Platinum Pass I still have to pay parking and $9.99 for admission. So, if I use the coupon from Wienerschnitzel (pictured above) for Zaira’s ticket and my pass to get me a discounted ticketwe’re still looking at $50 for an evening’s admission. That’s the same price I paid for an entire year’s worth aof admission to all of the Six Flags parks nationwide. Is it any wonder Gilroy Gardens is a massive loss leader for the City of Gilroy?
Anyway, I’m getting off track. You can find more information about Holiday Lights at GilroyGardens.org. They’ll be openWeekends evenings thru December (5-7, 12-14, 19-23, and 26-28). If you’ve never been now may very well be your last chance. And don’t forget to pick up the coupon from Wienerschnitzel!
Tags: Bonfante Gardens, Christmas, Gilroy, gilroy gardens, Holiday Lights, holidays, Wienerschnitzel
Actually, parking is $8.00, not $15. This is probably the last year they will feature a Charlie Brown’s Christmas. But the contract with Cedar Fair has been extended another two years. As far as being a loss leader for Gilroy, it is sounding like the non-profit park Gilroy Gardens Inc. will break even this year. I heard Six Flags was NOT going to break even this year, and their stock has plummeted to $0.25 a share. (Oh, and Six Flags is a for profit park)
Welcome Mike,
Parking was $15 last time I visited the park. It’s nice to see it’s been made slightly more reasonable. It’s also nice to see that Cedar Fair extended their contract.
But I fail to see why their non-profit status is relevant. What, exactly is your point? Do you believe that all for-profit ventures are evil or that all non-profit ventures are automatically worthwhile? Non-profit status is just a matter of filing paperwork with the government. It’s still a far costlier park to visit with much less value per dollar spent.
As for comparing the financials of tiny Gilroy Gardens to the behemoth of Six Flags, that’s simply ludicrous. The only reason Gilroy Gardens is still afloat is because the City of Gilroy spent taxpayer money to pay off its debts. The park didn’t actually earn its way out of the hole as Six Flags has been doing.
Oh, I almost forgot, Six Flags profits are actually way UP this year. They’ve managed to turnaround a 10-year losing streak without resorting to using tax-payer money to do so-
“By any measure, this is shaping up to be the best year in the history of the company,” said Mark Shapiro, president and CEO of Six Flags, in a news release. “We’re on track to be free cash flow positive for the first time, our customer satisfaction scores are at all-time highs, we’re building an international footprint, and our network of parks are increasingly being seen as an out-of-home solution for advertisers. The culmination of this turnaround is within reach and we’ve laid a solid foundation for long-term growth.”
[...] Wants To Be Santa Claus! Zaira and I had never attended Gilroy Gardens (aka Bonfante Gardens) Holiday Lights celebration before this year, so decided to take the plunge despite their incredibly high prices [...]
[...] in the month I wrote about the Holiday Lights event at Gilroy Gardens and my frustration with the cost/benefit ratio. Well, we decided to go in hopes of getting photos [...]
Changes have occurred in the better and I am very pleased.
Gilroy Gardens is perfect.I have a lot of good memories from there.Recomended to all…
This is probably the last year they will feature a Charlie Brown’s Christmas. But the contract with Cedar Fair has been extended another two years. As far as being a loss leader for Gilroy, it is sounding like the non-profit park Gilroy Gardens Inc. will break even this year. I heard Six Flags was NOT going to break even this year, and their stock has plummeted to $0.25 a share.
The only reason Gilroy Gardens is still afloat is because the City of Gilroy spent taxpayer money to pay off its debts.
Sparkling with more than a million dazzling lights, Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park will be magically transformed into a winter wonderland filled with one-of-a-kind holiday entertainment for the entire family including ice skating under the stars at Gilroy Gardens only ice skating venue, an all-you-can-eat holiday feast, holiday themed rides, visits with Santa and more!