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Winterfest 2018 Discussion Thread


Imperial79
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I went for a few hours again tonight and had a blast! I rode Flight of Cheer twice (the last ride ended up being a lights on ride on the last train on the night- thanks to @harmony29 and her husband who encouraged me to wait as it was worth it!), saw 4 Drummers Drumming, Mr. and Mrs. T, and even ran into Chef Major and Woodstock! I also rode the train and Mystic Timbers. My next trip will be Friday.

 

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23 hours ago, standbyme said:

It appears that you can now buy meal tickets for the International Street Buffet on line in advance...plus they block out the dates that it is a corporate event.

That’s good news for anyone going in the future, but a day late and a dollar short for me and my family. We just got back from our yearly Winterfest trip...only to find that it was a corporate event on both Friday & Saturday. :angry:

Nice to see they finally have this information available.  You do have to go to the 2nd screen (after saying how many tickets) to see the blackout dates.  The park hours tab only shows the hours for Winterfest itself, not the buffet.  Just so everyone is clear.  Next open date seems to be Sunday.  

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2 hours ago, Klabergian Empire said:

The horse drawn coaches in Coney Mall are $40 a ride (not per person).

How long does the ride last?

We where there Friday and it was not very crowded at all.  I walked right on Flight of Cheer but somehow we managed only to see one show from open to close to the park.  Just an FYI for those wanting to see What the Dickens show its not on the Kings Island app park map in the proper location.

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54 minutes ago, XGatorHead 8904 said:

Dems fytin werds. Hams the 2nd best meet n bakins tha best. Turkees tha werst meet ther is!  -Sam

Just when I thought Sam was gone for the year...

We may have to have a KIC intervention for developing multiple personalities. Now you are dressing up like some other guy at Winterfest! :lol:

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Went last night for 3 hours. The main thing I wanted that I loved from last year was the cinnamon bread and the hot apple cider. Neither of which were available I asked multiple people and all they really could say was they ran out or didn't have the stuff to make it. No one seemed to know if other places in the park had it. Last year the only place I could find the apple cider was the shop with the fudge on IS. Cafe Noel had the cinnamon bread last year but this year the website lists the funnel cake stand in Rivertown (they didnt even have it listed on menu) and the turkey leg shop on IS (they were sold out). We did try the bacon on a stick and I was surprised how huge it was.... that was great!

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19 hours ago, MDMC01 said:

I went for a few hours again tonight and had a blast! I rode Flight of Cheer twice (the last ride ended up being a lights on ride on the last train on the night- thanks to @harmony29 and her husband who encouraged me to wait as it was worth it!), saw 4 Drummers Drumming, Mr. and Mrs. T, and even ran into Chef Major and Woodstock! I also rode the train and Mystic Timbers. My next trip will be Friday.

 

It was nice seeing you tonight and yes it was awesome doing the last ride. My husband got a kick hearing you during the ride! Lol

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1 hour ago, Outdoor Man said:

Anyone at the park Saturday night to take in the Severe Thunderstorm Warning?

We were in festhaus and the thunder was so loud that you could hear it over the "Tinker" music... and the lights flickered a bit.

 

We had some pretty heavy weather down here Saturday.  I have been in the park during a tornado warning and honestly I felt like a sitting duck.

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On 11/28/2018 at 5:01 PM, timfsu2k said:

We are planning on going this Sunday, it will be our first WF visit this year.  Loved it last year so can't wait!  Thinking about trying the buffet at the Reds HOF Grill.  I read somewhere that it is a $5 upcharge for Gold Pass members, is that correct?  Is it an all you can eat style buffet or just fill your plate once?  

Here's hoping for a non capacity packed park on Sunday.  Weather is looking unseasonably warm so that will probably bring out a lot of people who would otherwise not venture into the cold.  Either way it will be great I'm sure.

Ended up being crazy busy but we had a great time. I told my husband just watch it will clear out around 8-830 and it did, we had the best time rvere! We did reds buffet again and it was awesome. I don't know where they get those cookies from but I'm absolutely hooked on them. Can't wait to be back up on Friday.

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37 minutes ago, harmony29 said:

Ended up being crazy busy but we had a great time. I told my husband just watch it will clear out around 8-830 and it did, we had the best time rvere! We did reds buffet again and it was awesome. I don't know where they get those cookies from but I'm absolutely hooked on them. Can't wait to be back up on Friday.

We had a great time as well.  It was pretty packed but I thought everything ran smoothly.  The buffet was pretty good and well worth the $5 upcharge.  The only complaint I have is that some of the hot chocolate locations serve what is obviously some brand of "just add water" instant hot chocolate.  Blitzen's Hot Beverage Bar has amazing hot chocolate.  We bought a refillable mug and one of the refills we had from a different location we ended up throwing out because it was not good at all.  

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4 hours ago, XGatorHead 8904 said:

Dems fytin werds. Hams the 2nd best meet n bakins tha best. Turkees tha werst meet ther is!  -Sam

Just when I thought Sam was gone for the year...

Agreed, Sam; ham is delicious. Let's just agree to disagree on that whole bacon thing lol 

-MDMC, not a fan of bacon

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I had a great time at Winterfest on Saturday night.  I thought they had done a great job with the additional lights in Coney Mall and really livened up that area of the park which was kind of dead last year.  I saw GM Mike at the KI Theater and told him I thought it was even better than last year.  We ate at the buffet at Reds HOF and it was solid as others have said.  I would be in favor of them making that a buffet year round.  

One neat thing that I hadn't seen anybody notice is that they have old school Winterfest pictures hanging in Coney Bar-B-Que so you all might want to check that out if you haven't already.

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My thoughts on 2018.  It is definitely a better event than 2017, which was to be expected since 2017 was the first year.  It's an amazing event that keeps on getting better.  This year the entire park has lights with only a few dark zones.

First of all, there is nothing as magical as I Street for Christmas in any other theme park.  (KI, KD and next year CW).

The lights are much better this year. They feel more immersive, with many more canopies of lights in the big trees.     My biggest suggestion about the entire event is still the lighting though.  There are 6 colors in the rainbow, plus cool white and warm white.  But a high majority of the lighting is cool and warm white lighting.  They should do what Busch does at Williamsburg, and have a different color lighting scheme in each themed section.

They moved the synchronized lighting show to Coney this year, which is an improvement.   I compliment them on how many trees they put lights on in Coney.  Even outlying trees by Racer station.   One wish is that they would put them higher in the trees next year. 

Since they moved the light show to Coney, Winterfest Way is not really distinctive.  Although the canopy of lights is gorgeous (again another color would help make this section distinctive).    The lighted booth things are pretty weird and a little creepy though lol.

They moved 4 Drummers Drumming just slightly and gave them a stage.  It's less of a traffic jam now.

They fully lit up The Vortex walkway and moved the Ice Prince and Princess back there. 

The Flight of Fear area looks good with the random rope lights.  They could actually create another themed Christmas section back there if they wanted since the lighting is unique.

Tinseltown is nice, and a great place for the Mistletones to be relocted.  I like that they added music to their show this year.  It gives more of the nostalgic feel.  Main suggestion about Tinseltown is that is is done in warm white lights.  50's style lighting is the big bulbed, multi-color lights.  They have those lights at Carowinds but not KI for some reason.  Tinseltown will probably even feel better next year with Antique Cars in place.   Carriage rides added as an upcharge attraction based in Tinseltown.  

Jingle Jazz and Sounds of the Nativity have increased to 5 vocalists in the shows this year.  Both shows have amazing talent and very tight harmony, as well as the Mistletones.  There is a LOT of familiar talent from the other seasons at the park with just about all of the top recent vocalists in the shows, plus a top vocalist from 4 years ago.  KI has done great job retaining their talent as of lately.

I do wish that the event was at least 6 hours. There are so many shows to see within the 5 hour time frame.

This is my favorite time to go to the park.  A theme park in the dark is always magical, and with all of the lighting it is just incredible.    I am hoping that I can hit it again one night when it snows.  That was the best thing I have ever experienced at a theme park!



 

 


 

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I do agree that they need to extend hours for Winterfest, at least on Saturday and Sunday. There is just so much to do that it is virtually impossible to see and do everything in just 5 hours. I kind of wish they would just open the entire park at 4:30 when International Street opens.


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22 hours ago, Melody said:

Went last night for 3 hours. The main thing I wanted that I loved from last year was the cinnamon bread and the hot apple cider. Neither of which were available I asked multiple people and all they really could say was they ran out or didn't have the stuff to make it. No one seemed to know if other places in the park had it. Last year the only place I could find the apple cider was the shop with the fudge on IS. Cafe Noel had the cinnamon bread last year but this year the website lists the funnel cake stand in Rivertown (they didnt even have it listed on menu) and the turkey leg shop on IS (they were sold out). We did try the bacon on a stick and I was surprised how huge it was.... that was great!

I'm not sure where to find the apple cider in the park, but I know for sure that Rivertown Funnel Cake (Claus Confectionary) has the cinnamon bread.  I walk by there many, many times every night (for some reason :lol:), wanting the cinnamon bread or a peppermint funnel cake.  My partner & I stopped in there the first night to see what they had.  I'm not sure if they ran out of the bread Sunday night at that location, but my mom was at the park and got it there sometime between 8:00 - 9:00 that night.

https://www.visitkingsisland.com/play/winterfest/attractions/claus-confectionery

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It's been a little challenging with our work schedules, but we are looking forward to one WinterFest visit this month!

We went to WF twice last year. The first time we stood in a 30-45 minute line for the cinnamon bread, only to find out that it has been sold out. The second time we went, it wasn't crowded/no line. So, we went right up to the window, and there was no bread to be had in that visit either. I'd like to try it, but I'm not waiting in lines on any future visit since it's availability seems to be an issue. 

Does anyone have a short list of the places that serve good hot chocolate versus brown hot water? About the only positive comment I can provide about the hot chocolate last year was that it was (usually) hot. 

I'm trying to remember exactly what they had at the IS buffet last year, but it looks like last year's IS menu is more like what they are serving at Reds Grille this year?

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1 hour ago, kikid74 said:

It's been a little challenging with our work schedules, but we are looking forward to one WinterFest visit this month!

We went to WF twice last year. The first time we stood in a 30-45 minute line for the cinnamon bread, only to find out that it has been sold out. The second time we went, it wasn't crowded/no line. So, we went right up to the window, and there was no bread to be had in that visit either. I'd like to try it, but I'm not waiting in lines on any future visit since it's availability seems to be an issue. 

Does anyone have a short list of the places that serve good hot chocolate versus brown hot water? About the only positive comment I can provide about the hot chocolate last year was that it was (usually) hot. 

I'm trying to remember exactly what they had at the IS buffet last year, but it looks like last year's IS menu is more like what they are serving at Reds Grille this year?

We ad the cinnamon bread last year and you were not missing much.  The Cinnamon bread at Dollywood however is worth the 4 hour drive alone

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