Rivertown Rider

I went last night and it was great seeing the park with snow. I also got to try out the International Street buffet and the view was incredible. I've wanted to see the view from that space for years so I can mark that off the bucket list.

When I got to the park tonight I stopped by Guest Services to check on if there would be an announcement tonight and they said not that the knew of. They said that as far as they knew next year would just be general improvements and not a ride. Obviously time will tell and hopefully some of the general improvements will include more indoor restaurant seating and bathrooms back in Xbase.

The land clearing was massive when I was there in November and I'm sure it is much bigger now. The videos and pictures of the land clearing don't do it justice until you see it in person.

Maybe they will bring back the Coney Mall sign.

I completely agree. From Zephyr to the bathrooms the only thing that is open 90% of the year is the Coke refill location on that side. A flat or two would be great.

I've been very impressed with Winterfest and look forward to seeing what the park does in the future with the event. All of the food from the cinnamon bread to The Beast Hot Chocolate to the little Christmas tree cookies have been outstanding. I actually preferred KI's cinnamon bread to Dollywood's because I didn't feel it was as greasy. One of the things I have enjoyed about Winterfest is just walking around and taking it all in. As we think about the future of the park, I wonder what impact the success of Winterfest has in taking into account future development. I think they should look into building more winter-proof buildings (another indoor show building and more indoor restaurant seating) which would come in handy during those cooler nights of Haunt as well as during Winterfest. I would also like to see them add more flats that can be used year round. I realize it is probably a stretch at this time but I would be thrilled if they announced that they were putting more flats in for next year. One of the benefits of Winterfest has been the love that Zephyr and Scrambler and Dodgem have gotten from the crowds that they normally wouldn't. Adding more flats would also help better disburse the crowds and wouldn't require a lot of extra workers to run them.

Opening that path would also allow them to open up the diner as well and help the park better allocate foot traffic across the park.

Finally tried The Beast Hot Chocolate and it is the real deal.

I just checked the property search site and when you click on memos, then general memos, "Coney Island BBQ" now shows up at the bottom. It will be interesting to see if we are getting anything else. Hopefully we get a flat or two at the other end of Coney Mall down by where Dinos entrance was.

My wife and I were in guest services on Friday as my wife was filling out positive comment cards. We asked the girl working about a 2018 announcement and she said the announcement would be made on December 30 so we should get confirmation soon.

1. Antique Cars - They are a nice change of pace from the regular rides and something that the whole family can do. I hope at some point they bring them back. 2. Different themed music throughout the different lands 3. Scrooge at the top of the Festhaus shouting down to the passersby during Winterfest 4. Additional flat rides (more flats that can run year-round will only help with the success of Winterfest) 5. Train Theming - It was nice hearing a spiel-less train ride last night. Additional faux buildings and scenes to look at would help as well.

I was really impressed with the Mac and Cheese bar. I built my own with the White cheddar, pulled pork, bacon, and blended cheese. It was really good and I hope it sticks around all year as well.

I was very impressed by Winterfest. I go to Dollywood every year for "Christmas in the Smokies" so I was curious how this would compared. All in all I think they did an excellent job. If anything I feel like the lights here are better than they are at Dollywood. All of the different photo ops and walk on around characters were great as well. If you are on the fence about going you should go. I know the Zoo's Festival of Lights has die-hard fans but this is at another level. For me the zoo is one of those you do once every few years and Winterfest will takes several visits to see everything. Yes there are things that could be improved (i.e. food-service lines) but it was a very successful first night and the park and its employees should feel very proud of what they accomplished.

I would say Friday would be less busy than Saturday. As far as wait times, Lightning Rod and Firechaser Express can both see their wait times get very busy and I would say Lightning Rod will probably be well over an hour. I would recommend getting in line for Lightning Rod at park opening (if it is running). LR tends to have very slow loading times and many times they are only running one train operation. Because of this it gets very backed up. After you do that I would probably head up the hill toward Craftsman's Valley do a counter clockwise trip around the rest of the park, hit Barnstormer (S&S Screamin' Swing), Blazing Fury, Tennessee Tornado, Wild Eagle, Firechaser Express, Mystery Mine, and then Thunderhead. Of those coasters, Thunderhead is more likely to be busy first thing in the morning and then shouldn't much of a wait after that (20 minutes max but more like 10-15 minutes). Wild Eagle is high capacity so it will never have much of a wait even on the busiest days. I would suggest watching the wait times posted in the lines as Dollywood will show all of the adult coaster wait times in line for the other rides. LR is the most likely to have downtime followed by Mystery Mine so just something to keep in mind.

I wonder if the Mac & Cheese bar is a test and if it is successful that they will bring it back during the regular season. We don't know what is happening with the presumed Coney Smokehouse yet but if they do make it more like Carowinds Harmony Hall they could always add the Mac & Cheese Bar as one of the kiosks in that building. More variety in food options is always a good thing.

It will be interesting to see if Cedar Fair goes after any of these rides as the price seems reasonable on a lot of them. I'm sure the rides probably need major refurbs but maybe we can get us a Tilt-a-Whirl.

I too have been expecting an announcement. I thought part of the delay might have been getting the new PR person hired and then I thought maybe they were waiting to see what Kentucky Kingdom announced. I don't know how much competition they view KK as though. Now that both of those things have happened I am hopeful that we get an announcement shortly. In addition to whatever the presumed restaurant becomes (hopefully something with indoor seating) I am hopeful they add some smaller flats down toward the former Dinos entrance. That whole area has been lacking and it will be even worse without the Dinos store/DA. The other advantage of adding some flats would be it would be some more rides that they could presumably keep some open during Winterfest next year. I would love to see a Musik Express or a Tilt a Whirl. I also would like to see us get the Spinning Barrels ride from Holiday Park in Germany that Cedar Fair bought on their European pickers tour a couple years ago that still hasn't found a home.

Welcome and congrats on the job!

I think an RMC is likely. It would complement what they already have.

Great blog. I have always been interested in learning more about the original Bat. Great job @Shaggy.

According to the KI site it looks like a show "Twas the Plight Before Christmas" will be held there.

My last coaster of the regular season ended up being Beast. My actual last ride ended up being Boo Blasters. It was even cold in there.

I liked the layouts but I must have missed the bathrooms for X-base.

While I figured they would keep part of the structure I am excited to see what happens next. I would agree that I hope they have plenty of Freestyle machines available as well. I am still holding out hope that we get something like Canada's Wonderland's Backlot Cafe which has multiple choices like standard American, Greek, Indian, Italian, Kosher, and Mexican food options at respective kiosks. These are there dining plan options according to Canada's Wonderland's web site: 1. Gluten Free Chicken Fingers with Fries 2. Signature Burger (The Wild Bison Burger) with Fries (Upgrade for $2 extra) 3. Classic Burger with Fries 4. Mediterranean Chicken Burger with Fries (Upgrade for $2 extra) 5. Backlot Veggie Burger with Fries 6. Bombay Butter Chicken with Rice, Papadum & Chutney (Gluten Free option available) 7. Aromatic Curried beef with Rice, Papadum & Chutney (Gluten Free option available) 8. Spicy Vegan Potato Curry with Rice, Papadum & Chutney (Gluten Free option available) 9. Meat Lasagna with Garlic Toast 10. Vegetarian Lasgna with Garlic Toast 11. Spagetti & Meatballs with Garlic Toast 12. Cheese Tortellini, Choice of Sauce with Garlic Toast 13. Chef's Special with Choice of Sauce and Garlic Toast 14. Chef's Special Veg Option, Choice of Sauce, Garlic Toast 15. Chicken Burrito with tortilla chips 16. Vegetarian Burrito with tortilla chips 17. Beef Burrito with tortilla chips 18. Quesadillas with tortilla chips 19. 3 soft tacos with tortilla chips 20. Taco Bowl Salad with tortilla chips 21. Chicken Caesar Salad (pre-packaged) with bread stick 22. Greek Salad (pre-packaged) with bread stick 23. Greek Chicken Gyro Dinner w/ Greek Salad, choice of rice or potatoes 24. Chicken Soulvaki Dinner w/ Greek Salad, choice of rice or potatoes One thing I feel like KI is missing out on is variety in their food choices. While I doubt this one would have Mexican food because of Hank's practically next door it would be nice to have the American section (presumably the Smokehouse's current menu) along with some other different food options like above and preferably indoor seating.

Google Earth has the mostly completed Smokehouse from April of this year (the majority of the shell is there). The building itself is about 145 ft wide. The length varies from just above 40 ft in the narrowest spot to about 116 ft at the deepest spot. According to my rough calculations adding everything up it is actually just shy of 11,000 square foot. About 7,000 square foot of that is the indoor area including the kitchen (100 foot wide X 70 feet length). If the area of this new markers is 140 foot wide and 50 feet length that gets you to the 7,000 square footage. 140 foot from the edge of the fence by Scrambler takes you just shy of the half building mark of Potato Works. That still leaves you another 30 feet width to put seating. The interesting part is if it is only 40-50 feet deep that gives you about 65-75 feet behind the presumed Coney Smokehouse building and the Tower Gardens area which would give room for either a small flat or perhaps the Antiques. That is probably a stretch but it is something to think about.