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I will say the ride ops at Mystic Timbers were on it tonight. I saw an obvious group of kids in the single rider line when the wait was over an hour. The look on their faces when the tide op started using them to fill in gaps was pretty good. Their intent was pretty obvious

For those whose gluten sensitivity is caused by Coeliac disease, avoiding it entirely (as far as possible) is important to prevent damage from the autoimmune response. There are easy substitutions, so it's very possible to eliminate it completely when making your own food. Great to see the updated dietary information on the Winterfest site.

Decent weather (for December standards) certainly helps. Haven't had a real bad snow storm yet.

I have to hope that what they have in the buffet is better than the dinners at the Festhaus. I'm really ok with reconstituted mashed potatoes and Stove-Top-esque stuffing for my basically-free-on-dining-plan-at-this-point meal, but when I'm paying $20 I expect it to step up at least a /little/. The proteins have been very good, though, I've tried both the ham and the turkey now and really liked both. Guess I'll be finding out soon, we finally scheduled a date to try the buffet one weekday this week. I'll report back, even though I know it's getting a little close to the end.

That's the leaked layout for our 2020 launched wooden hybrid 4D coaster.

Winterfest is now open nightly through Dec 30 (except Dec 24-25).

From the blog on the park's website: "Finally, from time to time we have to move things around or even remove them completely in order to look to the future. Stinger, which came to us from our sister park California's Great America in 2012, will be removed to make room for future planning opportunities. We don’t have details to share right now, but we are working on future planning and development of the park." https://www.dorneypark.com/blog/2017/december/changes-at-the-park

Yeah, I'm loving the crowds (I'm serious!). This means Winterfest has been a roaring success. I went tonight on a whim (was originally planning to do something else tonight, but that didn't happen) and had a blast. Did two (well, three) new things tonight: saw What the Dickens, listned to the piano player at Reds and saw The Mistletones. Dickens was hilarious, I enjoyed the piano player, and while the Mistletones were ok, I thought Jingle Jazz was better. I also got to see the animals at Nativity and got to hear some of that great music that the singers perform every so often. Also got in my usual favorites (Tinkers, Plight Before Christmas, and Drummers) as well as rode Zephyr and the Carousel. Finally, I really enjoyed talking to the people I met and saw along the way.

We had the buffet tonight it blows the holiday meal in the Festhaus away. Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

I'm happy for KI! Normally I don't like crowds, but for WF, I'm all for it. Let's see if I change my tune after going up on Monday and Tuesday next week.

I can't believe how crowded it is tonight, I don't think Kings Island could have even anticipated this type of turnout for Winterfest this year. Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk

Park is fuller than a Haunt night tonight

@iheartbeast79 My wife has been celiac for about 10 years so I feel your pain. Do keep in mind cross contamination is a hard one to avoid. We ate at Reds once and Michelle had a few of the potato chips then fell ill an hour or so later. Was it becuase the chips were fried in the same oil as breaded chicken? Don’t know but maybe, not the park’s fault as they didn’t label the chips as GF. Also much ice cream contains gluten but the ingredient is called something else that screwed with her for a couple of years, will ask Michelle and get back to you. Here is a recent Momcast she helped Stacy with, I can put you in touch with her for some advice and online resources she has found helpful. DM me if you are interested. http://sunny95.com/dino-and-stacy/momcast-diary-of-a-gluten-free-mom/ @Stoan Not to pile on but everyone with celiac reacts differently, some cases are much worse than others, it is not the same as diabetes which is a silent killer. In my wife’s case it can result in severe pain that can take many days to resolve. Prior to being diagnosed we had several ER trips and they could do nothing for her after verifying her appendix was fine. This was a problem a few years ago when she had similar symptoms but we hesitated going to the ER. When we finally did she had an emergency appendectomy within the hour.

Mine happens to be a wheat allergy so I do actually have to avoid it not to die. Cross-contamination is always a potential problem, but I tend to be fine with most things that don't explicitly contain wheat. I'm typically able to pick out what I can and can't eat, but the new WinterFest options threw a curveball so I was very appreciative that they updated the website and reached out to let me know.

No, it is not refillable. But it is a great souvenir.