CoastersRZ

Well, a couple of strands of garland with lights. A Christmas hat or two here and there, a couple boxes of presents. It wouldn`t cost all that much.

Thanks, pkiboy. I had a fun time at Winterfest last night. Although it was a little on the cold side. PKI did a good job bringing back Winterfest! I did have some disapointments, but those were more related to the decorations (or lack there of) to some of the rides that were open. Excluding the White Christmas Express, which was very well done!

Nope, not even a christmas hat or strand of lights anywhere within the ride. The ride was EXACTLY the same.

Just a heads up to everyone. I just uploaded 25 images I took at WinterFest`s media day tonight to the photo gallery . Ryan and Bill will have further updates and images from WinterFest later on.

Well, I became aware of the date media day was on in October. I was busy working at school in the summer, so my trips to PKI were few and far between.

Jeff was a world class act! He will be missed at PKI. But I`m sure that Maureen is up to the challenge of filling the void left by Jeff Siebert as he moves onto bigger and better things. Congratulations Jeff on your new job! Hopefully, Muareen and the new person that comes into the department continue to offer enthusiasts such wonderful opportunities! Jeff`s enthusiasm about the park will be a hard void to fill! But I`m sure that there is someone out there up to the challenge of promoting our beloved park!

Well, don`t expect anything that elaborate this year! But I doubt that PKI has totally forgotten what day it is.

Well, I had actually known it was media day long before this week. Since the middle of October. But yes, I was reinformed that it was on Tuesday this week.

That would be correct.

Only members of the media get into the sneak peak on Tuesday. Anyone who has a valid ticket can attend on Friday! The article that pkiboy referenced appeard in today`s Cincinnati Enquirer in the A&E section. The article was written by Jim Knippenberg, who has written several article on PKI over the years. Cincinnati Enquirer article

Published in what publication? Or can you not share that information until it is published? I will be going to WinterFest at least two times, and possibly a third time!

Well there are two rides that I know of that are gone forever and will not be part of NU. One has been discussed about before. The other might have been mentioned before.

The only problem with that would be that the elevation change is insignificant, and unless you were in the parking lot, or a far distance from the tower, you wouldn`t even really notice a ball dropping that much.

They removed that, becuase too many people were tripping and getting hurt on the curb of the "street." Plus why renovate it now. They have some really nice mature shade trees lining either side of the fountain, that they did not have back then.

Well, it was late 70`s early 80`s engineering. Yes, the shocks wore out rather quickly from what I`ve heard. This is based purely on rumor and not confirmed by the park, but I heard that they had to replace the shocks about once a week because they would wear out that quick.

I would say that it was at Carowinds, as the theme of the buildings seems to fit with what smurf Island looked like. I`m fairly certian that it wasn`t at PKI.

I heard that the mine themed building will be staying. The Nick Universe will encompass the former HBL and the current Nickelodeon Central. No more room will be taken from Rivertown, with the possible transformation of Wings into a Nick themed (or some other theme( restaurant).

Actually, the pedestals were painted when they redid the fountains in 2003. And when they did a lot of new concrete work when they renovated the fountain.

No, to the best of my knowledge the park has not (and will not) release any concept art or details about Nick Universe until after Winterfest in January. They will then have renderings of the new area from Keith McVine(sp). He is the guy that does the animations on Badnitrus over on Coasterbuzz. I believe he also did the Italian Job and Boomerang Bay movies and renderings.

I don`t know if those images are from PKI. The first image looks like it could be from Rivertown, if that once had a basketball game. Otherwise, it could be one of the other Paramount Parks (former Taft or KECO parks).

All of International Street, The Festhaus, Bubba Gump`s, the Carousel and the Paramount Story. Additionally, Rivertown (with the train) will be open and connect to Hanna Barbera Land with Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle, the HB Carousel, Topcat`s Taxi Jam and Pixie and Dixie`s Swing set being open. Also, the former Animation Station shop (the original skyride station) will be open as Santa`s workshop.

Yes. But that is what Jeff was saying before the final ride of the season. I`m just relaying what Jeff was saying! Like you said, a lot of the revamps they did were necessary revamps. Things only last so long before they have to be replaced. And yes, ice cream at a winter event doesn`t mix. Hot coffee, though does. In any event, they brought back Winterfest, and it is evident that they had been doing planning work on it for a while, (whether it was a year or longer) based on the images from the park this week!

Kings Island`s Trabant (Wheel of Fortune as seen in the Brady Bunch episode) was sold to Fantasy Farm. However, that park closed in 1993, and its rides were sold at auction. I`m not sure where the Trabant ended up at. Coney Island purchased their Tilt-A-Whirl from the Fantasy Farm auction.

All of the decorations from this year`s Winterfest are brand new. The old decorations were either donated to local communities and organizations or scrapped. The park has had this in the works for a while. Did you notice they renovated the fountains on International Street in 2003? And did you notice that they installed an all new sound system on International Street? Not to mention adding more venues on International Street with indoor seating (Graeter`s and Starbucks). Yes, the park has seemed to not skimp on the decorations for Winterfest. They are far outshining my memories of the original Winterfest! Hopefully the actual event will be aweseome! I`ll be up there one week from now to find out.

From what I have heard, that will be debatable. We`ll know more in January!