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Official: WinterFest 2017


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Official Today, WinterFest is coming 2017

 

Gold and Platinum Pass holder get in Free

 

Ice Skating on the Fountains

Great Light Displays

Tower Tree

Local Crafters Corner

SnowFlake Lake

Reindeer Petting Area

Train and Carousel Rides

 

​Entertainment Offerings are the big emphasis.

 

Roaming Characters

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Official WinterFest Page  https://www.visitkingsisland.com/what-s-new/winterfest

 

After a 12-year absence, the long awaited return of WinterFest will provide Gold season passholders and Tristate residents with four seasons of fun at the 364-acre amusement and water park.

 

The focal point of WinterFest will be the world’s largest Christmas tree display with the park’s iconic 314-foot tall Eiffel Tower decorated with thousands of lights which will be seen for miles.

 

Below the Eiffel Tower, International Street will be transformed into a colorful and quaint winter village, featuring the fun of holidays past – outdoor ice skating on the park’s Royal Fountain, Christmas carolers, and homemade crafts.

 

Tasty foods, colorful gifts, live stage shows, fun rides, and of course, Santa’s workshop will all be part of WinterFest’s warmth and excitement.

 

Rides will include the Grand Carousel and a journey through the park’s Rivertown area on an authentic steam train.

 

Operating dates, hours and ticket prices for WinterFest will be announced at a later date. The event will be included free for 2017 Gold and Platinum season passholders.

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Although the plans/ideas look good...I'm trying to figure out how in the hell this is considered a "capital investment". KI really has some strange accounting practices. 

 

I don't know if it's been mentioned but I hope they offer a good Turkey leg! That and the reindeer have me excited. 

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Carowinds also announced Winterfest.  I agree, that free admission for gold and platinum pass holders is a huge plus.  I am sure that will help attendance tremendously, as well as boost spending inside the park.

 

This is likely a capital investment, as they are going to be investing in decorations, and other permanent fixtures needed for Winterfest.  It is my understanding that most of the stuff from Winterfest 2005 was rented and not actually bought by the park.  (At the time CBS, was trying to market the parks for sale and didn`t want to invest a lot of money into the parks).  Admission for pass holders to the 2005 incarnation cost $22 and you had to pay for parking!  General admission ran $25.  I loved the Santa`s Toy Factory show, which was actually a redo of the same show from the 1992 version of WinterFest.

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California`s Great America, Carowinds and Kings Island are all getting Winterfest for 2017. Along with Knott's which has been doing for awhile. Looking forward to going next year. I did not mind to paying to much last time the shows where really good and you have to pay for the zoo parking also if the lot is full

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I hope this means all the light bulbs on top of the International Street Buildings get replaced and illuminated. :-)

 

I experienced Winterfest several times.  It was always a good deal of fun, albeit cccccccold.  LOL!  Actually I think 2005 Winterfest was the last time I ice skated.

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My wife had an employee in NE that invested in some real reindeer as a winter side business. Of course the real ones look nothing like Rudolph, and those antlers are HUGE and dangerous so they were always kept behind a barrier and on a bridle so the kids could still pet them.

Taking the boys to see them became a tradition that I miss.

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With all of the trees on I Street I'm hoping for a great light display! Maybe there will be textured lighting throughout the park! Someone mentioned earlier an overlay for Boo Blasters... What a fantastic idea! I think it could be done cheaply and easily with Santa hats on the characters and strings of holiday lights. Then the soundtrack could easily be switched over to something festive!

I'm so excited about the prospect! And since they have a year to prep, they could be working on additions to come later.

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I guess I misunderstood; I was thinking that Winterfest was coming this season. Now I'm not even excited. Not sure how I feel about waiting an entire calendar year and then some for this...it was just announced so early!

Regardless, this will be a great event. I just wish it was happening this December.

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This is borderline fraud by not specifying its for next season. Winter 2017 Starts in January. People are going to buy passes for this thinking its this Winter and be ****ed when they find out it's not. This will actually start in Fall 2017, and sure they will honor passes till December 31st. But will it run into January 2018 and will they honor those 2017 passes then? I don't think it's worth the pass sales this picks up to deal with the PR headaches of explaining that no, this isn't for another 15-16 months, sorry but there are no refunds. 

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While it's disappointing we won't have Winterfest this coming winter, I think 'fraud' is overly strong assertion.

 

Winter actually starts on December 21. It can be tricky in conversation since it's the only season that spans calendar years. People tend to get confused about 12am and 12pm for reasons not all that different.

 

All along they have said the announcement(s) made this summer were for 2017.

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This is borderline fraud by not specifying its for next season. Winter 2017 Starts in January. People are going to buy passes for this thinking its this Winter and be ****ed when they find out it's not. This will actually start in Fall 2017, and sure they will honor passes till December 31st. But will it run into January 2018 and will they honor those 2017 passes then? I don't think it's worth the pass sales this picks up to deal with the PR headaches of explaining that no, this isn't for another 15-16 months, sorry but there are no refunds. 

 

Actually Winter 2016 starts December 21st.  Also, fraud?  Really.  

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More precisely from the farmers almanac WINTER SOLSTICE‎: ‎December 21, 5:44 A.M. EST‎. :)

I agree KI could have done better being more precise on their website as CF was on at least one other parks site. To be fair "boarder line fraud" is not as strong a term as fraud so I dont mean to pile on. I am sure they will fix the error shortly after they receive tons of phone inquiries.

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Actually Winter 2016 started in January 2016.  Winter 2017 starts in January 2017. They are advertising something for Winter to boost sales, and not specifying that it's not this coming Winter. People will buy passes to go to Winterfest this coming Winter and not find out till after that it's not till next Winter. KI is not going to refund those people's money, and they will be mad. People working customer service will get cussed and yelled at over it. All it takes is them specifying that it's not until the end of the 2017 season, but that aren't doing that. It's being disingenuous to drive sales. 

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