robintodd

In addition the ability to see how "much time is left" before your next drink/meal. that would save alot of confusion.

As some of you may know the first thing I do every morning is check the webcams at CP and KI. This season has been interesting watching the transformation of Snowflake Lake on the Towercam. It has been left on so everything can be seen. Since Monday I've seen at least 10 people working every day, 11-12 hour days including this morning getting it ready. As of this am they are almost done with the 1st layer of plywood. Not sure how many layers there are (I would guess 2 along with the "cooler" layer of panels. Also of note, looks like the 2x2's and plywood are all new this year or at least they all look like they came packaged from a lumber company. Not sure if they use new every year (seems like they would re-use every couple of seasons) and if it's true they re-use the lumber that may point to Snowflake Lake returning for the next couple of season. Either way kudo's to those working on the project along with the rest of the team, looks like most halloween stuff was down by mid-day on Monday. It's been interesting seeing the transformation in real time and it certainly looks like they aren't "cutting costs" in this aspect of the transformation. Well done by all involved and can't wait to see the park for the first time in the 2nd week of November today.

Don't forget the Moose, the one that should have told you the park was closed

I never recall seeing a floral clock, rather it was a floral representation of whatever attraction for what was new that year.

We also saw Fangs on Friday, wanted to see it because consistanly it is the best show in any park and I always look forward to the Red Garter Saloon Rock show. Wanted to see it Friday to catch it Saturday as well, and we decided not to catch it Saturday because the show was sub-par in our opinion. The sound was not on par with previous years (balance was way off) and just not the same intensity. Don't get me wrong we enjoyed it (KI needs something similar) it's just that we weren't blown away as we have been in previous years. I would suggest hitting the second to last weekend. Seems as though the last Sat/Sun is always crowded. Get there Thurs, it's less crowded and stay however many nights you want. We stay 3 because it acts as an insurance policy in case of bad weather. Maybe we'll run into you next year! Cheers.

My wife and I were also there Thusday - Sunday. We always go the last weekend, been doing it for 26 years now. Thursday as mostly a wash out. Friday the park attendance was VERY light. Never saw more than a half hour wait for SC all day. Expected it to get busier at night but it never did. I put it up to trick or treating. Kids may love CP, but the love candy more Saturday was completely busy. 90+ minute wait for SC. Only stayed till about Noon on Sunday just to get a last walk around the park. The main thing that stuck with me was the mazes. With the exception of Cornstalkers 2.0 (we didn't go thorough Slaughterhouse) but the other 4 all had changes/updates to them. I found the $10 worth it. Lines were 45-60 minutes so the crowd didn't seem to mind the cost either. The biggest change was they took the shower scene with the bugs out of Eerie Estates and replaced it with spiders and webs??? Didn't go thourgh Cove because the line was outrageous (no maze access required) and also skipped Bayou because it's a hike just to the walk through. All in all great trip but think we'll be doing the second to last weekend from now on. Tomo's inside Breakers was closed for the last weekend (happens from time-to-time) and we both really look forward to that dinner.

It's very nice. Web cam views are much larger.

Up here at CP they have had Thursday's for the past 3 years or so. They keep doing them up here even with very light crowds. That would signal to me the keeping them at KI. Up here with the wind and low park attendance the only coasters running were Maverick, Corkscrew, Iron Dragon and Mine Ride. Decent line for Conjuring but no other out or indoor scarezones/mazes were open. 12 Rv's, 6 cabins and only about 50 cars in the parking lot for Breakers this am. Should be a good day.

They also stated that it will be replaced with a different show. I don't believe Winterfest is going anywhere. People spend plenty of money there. I see several boxes of cookies being carried around, plenty of people skating, buying the specialty hot chocolates and pulling out credit cards at restraunts. There seems to have been several misses this year. At the beginning of the year people were talking about cutting hours and or days and instead we got extended hours (sundays till 11 for haunt) added days (thursdays) and an additional weekend after Haunt. (strange that if you are expecting anyone to admit missing those points you'll only hear crickets...) We are fortunate enough to have enough of a population around the park to keep it going with little to no competition. Kings Dominion competes Bush Garden Williamsburg an hour away. We have no major park that close to us. We compete against animals inside their shelters in a zoo and drive-through attractions. People during the winter tend not to drive too far away from home. If you want a sign of Winterfest going away I believe the first sign will be when Ice Skating is not offered one year. It takes ALOT of money to do that and since they have already seemed to drain the fountain in preparation for Winterfest, I think it's safe to say Winterfest is safe for the foreseeable future.

They are working around the base as well as 6 square black pieces of metal. You can see it from the Orion webcam. Plus there was a trick and a van parked there this am. My guess is they may have it ready for next weekend (Columbus day weekend) since it will be the busiest days of the fall seaon.

Activity around the Monster this morning. No sight of the arms back yet, but movement none the less.

Went Saturday and Sunday and over all I would say this event is better than last year. Overall hard to judge how people are taking to being charged for the mazes on Saturday because from what I understand the Toyota guests got wristbands for the mazes and the park was packed all day. Got there at 6 and was told to go over by the old Timberwolf entrance (behind the smoking area). From there they had you go to whre Invertego was and had it roped off at the restroom across from Amazon Falls. It was a nice large area and having access to a restroom and water fountains while you waited I thought was very thoughtful. At about 6:15 several people were going around checking to see if anyone wanted to purchase an armband for maze access or if they already had a ticket and needed an arm band. Since the tickets were only $10 for a Saturday I went ahead and got them for myself and my grandson (14). We decided to wait on the Conjuring till another night, but did get through all the mazes. Here are my thoughts on the mazes on Friday: At 7 we went directly to Order of the Dragon which had a very small line. I think because it was new and not many people knew about it. The pathway to the maze and the props outside are a nice touch to set up the atmosphere and the outside entrance is amazing. As others have stated I think it may be best to wait until it gets dark outside to give your eyes time to adjust because it was pretty dark. If the lighting was 10% brighter I think the scares still would have worked and you could see and appreciate the work and detail of this maze. I definitely would love to have a lights on walk thorugh of this. The faux cave walls and other details were fantastic. Lots of neat stuff to see and very much worth while. Next we went to Alien Abyss. Very short line (10 min). Pretty much the same without the spinning tunnel. The dark part of the maze is still the worst part and continues to log jam the walk through. In my opinion, this one needs to be the one replaced next year if they replace one. It's old and tired. After that we went to Kill Mart. Short line again (15 min) and over all a little upgrade from last year with 2 (I think) new animatrionics. I always enjoy this one as it has a simple premise that's easy for the scareactors to play off of. Next was Hotel St. MicHELLe. LONG line about an hour. Not sure why but the line looked as long as it did for a normal busy haunt night. Didn't notice anything new, still a nice haunt although I do miss the bed bugs lighting effect from a few years ago. Went to Cornered and it had a decent (30 minute) line. I do like the way it is set up this year with starting at the invertego side and ending at Drop Zone. Seems cleaner and uses the amazon falls queue better. Seemed a better experience than last year. Finally went to Slaughterhouse which was a walk on around 10:15. Great as always and again seemed to be a better experience than last year. For the most part I feel the major "improvements" seemd to be mostly things haning down from the ceiling to bump into and go around. Almost like that was the way they were trying to "enchance" a maze on the cheap. Seemed a bit overdone. A new thing I also noticed was they seemed to be moving away from the bright light in your eyes to help mask a scareactor. Moving instead to using darkness to mask them. Finally rode The Beast at 11 and amazing the difference it make to ride it on a (nearly) new moon in a crisp fall evening. Just absolute bliss and why I continue to love The Beast. Entering the helix tunnel the second time still has about 3 jack hammers, not sure why but hope they address it in the off season. They don't ruin the ride but with as smooth as it is it just seems more noticable. Saturday we went with my granddaughter (10). Didn't do the mazes since she doesn't want to do them yet but the lines for the mazes were considerably shorter than on Saturday. That being said a thunderstorm passed just southeast of the area around 2 which closed down the coasters and seemed to have people exiting early. Rode a couple of rides and unfortunately I forgot my lantern (will try those spots out next weekend). Watched NyteWalkers and this season is the best version of the show I've ever seen in my opinion. The premise is better, the third guy doesn't dissapear, the music is better, they background video is better and at one point all 5 performers are moving on the ramps at the same time, it's simply amazing and hypnotic. The ONLY complaint I have is the same one I've always had with this show. Why on Earth do we need to see "jacked", shirtless devil and company on the screen during the curtain call. It's so distracting when the performers are taking their bows. Focus should be on them, having the wall off in my opinion would be better so people can appreciate the performers making their final bows. Overall the show is so enjoyable and worth the trip on it's own. Well done. Finally I did notice something I haven't seen mentioned. The Royal Fountain has a different song each time playing that has the water, lights, fire and pyro synchronized to the music. It is absolutely INCREDIBLE and a show upon itself. I feel this is what was intended for the royal fountain to do when they refreshed it. It is absolutely a MUST to see and simply put something that is much appreciated because it is obviously a cost they could have avoided to save money, but instead they quitely put in something that is a can't miss. Hope to stay till close next weekend to see the finale. Definitley and upgrade from last season. Over good job on improving the overall experience from last year. Nice job to all involved will certainly be making it out at least once each week this season.

Three more that I found. These are back at Potato Works: This one is at Juke Box: And I believe this was a Coney BBQ: All photos taken by me.

Preliminary reports this morning mention a "big piece of metal" in the seat with the man who was passed out. Seemed to be part of the seat?

I've always felt that Rick didn't come to KI from California just to watch the show. I believe he had plans with him back then.