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Winterfestguy

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Everything posted by Winterfestguy

  1. Agree that Kings Island, Kings Dominion, and Carowinds are the three likely candidates for a return of Winterfest 2017. With the 2017 Season passes going on sale soon and the 2017 operating calendar being released towards the end of the year, I would not be surprised if some type of announcement was made within the next month about Winterfest's return. It will be interesting to see if Winterfest is part of the 2017 Season Pass or if there will be an upcharge (or a combo of free during the week and upcharge on the weekends). A cirque Christmas show in the Festhaus and Santa's Toy Factory in the KI Theater would make a perfect holiday line up for the park.
  2. Some have said there is not enough time between the end of Haunt and Thanksgiving to get the park ready for a Winterfest event. With the new technology in lighting, image all the buildings outlined with the new LED technology of 4 colors in a single bulb, then outline all the buildings with those bulbs - the bulbs could be red (to match the fountains) at Haunt, the colors could be red/white/blue for the 4th July, or a color show at fireworks time, and clear (or multi-color) for Winterfest. (The building outline lights need updated and fixed anyway). Lights and floodlights in the trees become multi-purposed lessening some of the time it would take to prep the park. Indianapolis has the record for the World's Tallest Christmas tree, except when Kings Island put up the tree on the Eiffel Tower, which then took the record away from Indianapolis - so imagine the World's Tallest Color Changing Christmas tree set to music around the Eiffel Tower - that would be a show in itself.
  3. Since the Cirque shows are so popular at KI, image the return of KI Winterfest with the Christmas version Cirque Dreams Unwrapped (which also plays at the Gayloard Palms in Florida) in the Festhaus and Santa's Toy Factory in the KI Theater, and then seeing Santa the North Pole (via train ride) over in a huge indoor tent set up in Soak City. Just sad that KI will now be the only park in the area (with the announcement of the Coney Island drive through display this year) without some sort of public holiday event.
  4. Wish they would also bring back the Turkey dinner to the Festhaus at KI for Christmas in July just like they are doing at Dorney - such good KI Winterfest memories
  5. Several years of strategic planning and careful marketing potentially could bring a very successful Winterfest revival. If the park would have only spent the millions of dollars on lights/decorations for Winterfest instead of Snoopy's Starlight Spectacular (which lasted only for several seasons before /the lights became just pathetic and the show discontinued when the contract ran out for the company that put it on.) The strobes used for Snoopy's Starlight could still be seen this past season strung on the Eiffel Tower deck as the elevator goes up and some trees in the area still had the strands of lights grown into them as a distant memory of the millions of dollars spent for something that only existed for several years. The weather is always a factor in any event whether is be the regular season, Haunt, or a potential Winterfest - good weather brings crowds, bad weather people stay home. There are many good ideas from many of us out there of how to utilize spaces with the park for Winterfest, how to get the park ready in a very short period of time without interfering with Haunt activities, and how to market to the event to the various areas outside of Cincinnati. Maybe someday Santa's Toy Factory will once again return in the King's Island Theater and the Home for the Holidays show will return to the Festhaus (since it was sadly missed in the 2005 Winterfest revival) along with the traditional holiday turkey dinner.
  6. Winterfest just needed a bit more careful planning and it would have taken off again like it did in the 80s. For KI It would be nice to replace the "cat eyes" from Haunt on top of the tower with the giant Christmas tree coming from the tower for all to enjoy as they drove by over the holidays.
  7. This show had such high potential - after seeing it Saturday, I will "Forget" about it until April 2015 when it gets replaced after it's two season cycle (and if reallly lucky, will only last this season). Definitely on my bottom list of shows to ever play at KI . I guess the park put all their dollars into the other new show, PlayList Live this season.
  8. As one of the most photographed back drops of the park as one enters, I am sure management has consulted with one of the new Kodak business units for use of the proper background colors in order to achieve that perfect picture on a sunny, blue sky day. I don't think I would purchase my picture in front of something with water that has a black, less cheerful effect to it (unless it was Haunt).
  9. I wonder when they will post the times for Graveyard Shift (likely during the day Sat/Sun in the Festhaus)? - Graveyard Shift is not on the main page under attractions/ shows like Hot Blooded is nor is it on the Haunt website like Hot Blooded and Half Pint Brawlers are. Too bad they can't cover up the ice and put the show back into the King's Island Theater where it played years ago. Graveyard shift is still one of the best shows that played in the park - Maybe someday KI will bring back a few of the other great shows that have played in the past in the theater (wishful thinking now that the ice show with Snoopy has taken over the theater)
  10. This show can be good and can be awful. RBL is an all summer show at Cedar Point and the audiance band members are the key to a good show. Two shows were awful (almost walked out) but the last show of the night had some terrific auidance band members that had everyone on thier feet for almost the entire 35 min show. But better yet, why not ditch the fake guitars and bring back real guitar rockers like were in school of rock? I miss the live musicians at King's Island. It would be nice to bring back "live" musicians rather than all these "props" the singers carry around.
  11. Great job on Snoopy's Starlight Spectacular - For winter time, change the sound tracks, add the ice rink with a few decorations, return Santa's Toy Factory and Home for the Holidays shows and you have an instant Winterfest. Just wishful thinking .....
  12. Well, Snoopy Rocks on Ice made its debut this last season at another Cedar Fair Park (Dorney Park in PA) in an their new building (which was delayed in construction). The show itself is okay if you are a small child, and hoping someday that the ice show finds a different venue at Kings Island in order to restore the true entertainment (with a live band) to the once great Kings Island theater. Signed, Sealed, and Delivierd has played the last two seasons at Cedar Point - not the best show to play at Cedar Point, but now brought to Kings Island and hopefully greatly re-tooled (the show itself needed lots of work). At least Kings Island is getting one new show, Way too much TV, so will wait and see how that comes together in the Spring.
  13. Does anyone know if the Eiffel Tower Christmas tree is still in storage? It still would be nice to see the tree lit up over the Holidays as you drive by on the Interstate. Marketing and price are keys to a successful event. A successful scaled back Winterfest event could be profitable if well thought out, just as the original Winterfest once was. With Haunt running longer in the season, it may be a bit of a challenge to transform the select venues of the park, but with careful planning and some public input, think it still might be possible, although probably very unlikely in my lifetime. Santa's Toy Factory will always remain one of the top shows in the history of the park - gotta love those dancing reindeer and singing penguins, not to mention the elves.
  14. Some wish that Endless Summer on Ice would finally End and restore the great variety shows like Graveyard Shift or School of Rock back to KI - that will probably never happen. But since Scobby-Doo had to hang up his skates forever on Sunday, my bet is to watch for "Snoopy Rocks on Ice" to come to KI next season (which opened new this year at Dorney Park, and Cedar Fair typically likes to cycle some shows between parks).
  15. It would be nice for KI to install the Effile Tower tree for all to see while driving by over the Holiday Season instead of keeping it stored in all the drums for eternity with no future use in sight.
  16. Would be nice to see musicians return to any of the show venues at KI. It would be nice to see a show similar to School of Rock return to the Kings Island Theater or something other than an ice show.
  17. On televsion they now have a live band with the ice show. The live band is on a stage just behind the rink. Maybe KI should just add a live band to their ice show? It certainly would be nice to see live musicians return to KI once again in any of their show venues.
  18. It certainly would be nice to restore the entertainement in this facility like it used to be, and to have an in house production with a live band. I think the ice shows have their place at Cedar Point (where the facility was huge andcan not be used for much more since it used to be an IMAX). The King's Island Theater (which was built as the American Heritgage Music Hall) was built for live shows, and even had the sound system upgraded to support such entertainment. It will be interesting to see if an in house production does indeed replace the ice show next season. Hopefully the summer did end for the ice show.
  19. Missed an instrumental band to accompany at least one of the shows (well, one guy playing the guitar in The Country line or the clown band short come back was nice). Endless Summer on Ice was nice for a few seasons, but would like to see a new instrumental / variety type of show return with the set changes, cool costumes, cool lighting effects/fog, and put to good use the cool sound system in the Kings Island Theater.
  20. 1) Separate Season Pass Entrance 2) School of Rock 3) Winterfest 4) King Cobra 5) Back Porch
  21. I would also hope they do reintroduce Winterfest several years from now, but that is unlikely given the expansion of Halloween Haunt (not enough time to transition the park). 2005 had one of the coldest Decembers on record, and the extreme cold weather in addition to the bad pricing structure produced poor attendance. Everything takes time to work the bugs out. It still would be nice to see the park put up the Eiffel Tower Christmas tree for all to see as everyone drives by Kings Island over the Holiday season (It was a great sight to see every evening on the way home from work). It is probably better to get some use of out of it rather than keep it in storage somewhere.
  22. Best show that the International Showplace has seen in years. Now if KI could only bring the Monsters Rock - Buried Alive to the Paramount Theater (good riddens to the awful baldini). the park would have the best entertainment of all time.
  23. I would have to agree that the best part was Dead Awakening followed by Club Blood.
  24. I saw all four shows Friday night, and this show is definitely not for kids. In each show, there were many older folks that got up and left, but on the other hand, heard lots of positive comments from those that stayed. Who ever thought that there would be a girl in a white teddy and a shirtless guy "dirty dancing" on stage at KI? For some this was not the family ice show type of entertainmnet that some expected and for others, it was the best show ever held at the International Showplace in years. On the other hand, the show at the Paramount Theater left a lot to be desired - KI should have brought in Monsters Rock from Cedar Point to play there with the cool guitar players.
  25. It's the best ever - and the best show ever held at the International Showplace. There were some monsters in Rivertown, Drop Zone, and Coney Maul, but agree that the majority of them seem to be stationed at the front gate.
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