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This coaster is well on the way. These are pictures from 1/1/2023.

The sign is in someone's home now. https://www.facebook.com/groups/2253091231651091/posts/3104356979857841/

An idea I thought of is what if they had a live band come in and do a performance in between the balloon drop and the main countdown to midnight? Ik the first year they did the NYE thing, they had River City come in and play between the balloon drop and midnight, but the last few years they haven't had any live bands do things? I believe Carowinds had a live band play as part of the NYE thing this year on their bandstand. Obviously the weather is too unpredictable here to plan for a live band on the bandstand on NYE, but why not bring in a live band to play in the festhaus after the balloon drop? Just a thought.

The reason they close the lines at 10-10:30 is because they cannot be running past midnight. Rides have to be cycled off and keys out of the control panels before midnight as right at midnight, the certifications expire.

Rides have to be cycled off by 12am. Try kept the lines open this year till 1030. Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

I had a great time at Winterfest this year and glad they offer this NYE event. The only thing I think should be different that night is to have the rides open later than 10:30pm maybe until 11:00 or 11:30 especially since the park is open until 1:00am and offer one later showtime for the entertainment shows since it’s a special late night event.

It is such a fun way to end the year and begin the new one. My son Logan hit the 54" on the very last day. Two weeks ago he was just a hair to short and he could not get his 54" wristband. He was ecstatic to be able to ride FOF. We ended up getting 3 rides in on it. We took a ride on the train: Logan drove us on the KMAA. Dodgem Waiting for the fireworks on IS. A KIC tradition for the Mods is after the fireworks we take a walk around the park. This allows the parking lot to clear out. You also get your first walk in the park for the new year. We stopped and took a picture. Left to Right: @pianoman, @malem, @IndyGuy4KI's daughter Kaylee, and @IndyGuy4KI @electricsun and I before we left at the end of the night. We hope you have a wonderful 2023!

It’s my favorite day of the season every year! I love the party atmosphere after 10:00! It’s always a running joke within my friends group that something inherently goes wrong with the Tinker ballon drop, and this year was absolutely no exception. Still, the balloon drop is a lot of fun to watch and kids LOVE it! I did the IR buffet last night and I do have some thoughts: The food was excellent, service was great. 10/10 would recommend. They did it a little different this year. I bought tickets for me and my girlfriend and another couple bought their tickets. Because of this, they couldn’t seat us at the same table. They had assigned the tables this year, while it was first come, first serve last year. I totally get why they did it this way, with a sold out event; but, it kind of took away from it when our group was seated at side-by-side high tops instead of all together. I wish there was a different way to make reservations so that you could guarantee that. Even the “two top, four top, etc” options like they had for the 50th ice cream would have worked, I suppose. Or even have it so you can pick out a seat like when you buy a movie ticket. Just food for thought. I suppose we will just buy them all together next year.

Who attended and enjoyed NYE 2022 at Kings Island? What was your favorite part and what would you like to see different in the future? Here is a preview of the NYE party and then the full fireworks show.

Made my first ever visit to Winterfest on Dec 30. Wife and I had a great time. Watched most of the shows, saw the animals, had dinner, and walked around. Nice evening. Parade had to stop midway due to rain but we got to see all the groups. Got lucky with light crowds after the day before was slammed. Park looked really nice with all the lights and decorations.

What does Canada`s Wonderland do with their rides on New Year`s Eve? Or what about Carowinds/Kings Dominion? I know they are all different jurisdictions. Just wondering if they kept their rides going. Carowinds and Kings Dominion are different this year, since they are going to year round operation with weekends in January and February, I get that the ride certification calendar typically runs through December 31st. But Dollywood typically is open a few days into the new year with their Smoky Mountain Christmas. Seems like the park could get another couple of nights of Winterfest with all the set up and preparation they do for the event. Sadly, I still have not ridden Flight of Fear at Winterfest yet.

As others have said, the rides do have to close (great that they didn’t do a “hard close” at 10) but I agree on the shows. I think they definitely could do one more, the problem is the tinkers cast do the countdown-balloons riot at 9:30 and wouldnt have time between parade and that. This year they also had to move over to FestHaus and SWINGING wouldn’t have a place to do a later show with the switching around of shows. Last time the tinkers cast could do the countdown and could’ve done another show right after at 10:30.

I know that paying $7.00 is neither fun nor fair for shipping such a small item as one pin…but in the site’s defense, shipping costs have gone up a lot over the past couple of years…plus they do ship Priority Mail. I am very happy with the site’s current shipping calculator. In the past it was often cheaper to split your items into 2 different shipments because the calculator that they were using at that time seemed to be miscalculating the packages true weight…now it appears that no matter how much you order it is still only around $7.00. I ordered one of the full train Beast cutouts…and those things are REALLY heavy…I also had a few pins in that order…and shipping was still only around $7.00! I appreciate the site is working like this…it means that someone like me who lives far away and can not come to the park often can still keep up with new items. I am a Gold Pass holder…so it kills me that I already miss out on a 10% discount because I can not come to the park…so having a reasonable (IMHO) shipping cost makes this situation a little less painful. I am so thankful the site even exists!

Yes I agree! I would love to see a Mack multi-launch in The Vortex plot! I feel like we need something that guests can just sit and watch a coaster go by and say wow just watching it go by. I would really like to see Mack do a stall over the path way that leads to Rivertown from Coney Mall. Orion has the wave turn but it is hard to see it from the path. So an element of some kind like a stall that I mentioned that interacts with the guests and makes them say I want to go ride that one. Like the Hive Dive for Fury.