super7

IMO this edition of Winterfest was the best yet. It had the most lights, a solid ride lineup, plenty of live entertainment. snowy nights, and (surprising) no major cutbacks to the event despite what is going on elsewhere in the company. The only things that have been lost over the years for this event are 4 Drummers, Holly Jolly Trolley, the music-synchorinzed lights, and upcharge carriage rides. (Cool Yule and Charlie Brown's Spectacular were replaced) While coasters have been added since the 2017 edition where only Mystic Timbers operated. This is probably the most creative of all the theme park Christmas events, with the roaming characters, holiday activities and re-branding just about every shop and restaurant in the park. The weather was the coldest it has been in a while, and it seems to have affected the crowds this year. There were only 6 "warm" days with high attendance. Is that enough for survival of the event? The park did a great job operating on the colder days with low attendance. They reduced operations on those days but kept the park open as advertised. That is the best way to handle this kind of situation. There is a LOT of labor in the park decoration for only 24 operating days (which ended up being 21 2/3) this year. It seems to be an odd decision not to operate the 2 weekends before Thanksgiving when the weather is warmer. I understand that ride permits cause the Dec 31 closure. However, the Columbus Zoo is operating 2 rides at their Christmas event through Jan 4, so wondering what the difference is. It would seem that maximum operating days to recuperate the labor costs would be beneficial. This event would probably be more successful if the park had the indoor infrastructure for the event. At least another indoor theater, dark rides (1 coming soon!), another indoor restaurant etc There are 2 big former attraction buildings sitting empty that could accommodate if renovated. This event deserved the #2 award this year. Better quality live entertainment, continued increases in the lighting and more indoor options would push it to #1 IMO.

They cant even change the video or music in the shed of Mystic Timbers for the holidays…… which would be simple.

tonight, Saturday 12/20 is the perfect storm. It’s the warmest weather of the event, it’s Saturday, and school is out for break. It’s the first big crowd of this year’s event

Monday 12/15 was a great night to see the Christmas lights with snow completely covering the ground. The crowd however was very low but park management did a great job tonight. They kept the park opened for the advertised hours. Racer and Flight of Fear were operating all night. Racer was just operating the red side and the blue side still has snow on the tracks. Mystic Timbers, Soap Box and Sol Spin were closed. The train and Shake Rattle and Roll closed early and most of the outdoor entertainment was canceled. They also quietly closed down the duplicate restaurants earlier in the night (pizza, burgers). But there were rides open until Park close and restaurants open until at least 930.

The Schwarzkopf type monster is a trade-off. It is quicker loading because all gondolas load at the same time, but it does not have as high of a range of motion of their arms so it’s a bit less thrillIng ride

My passes showed up on it when i logged in. I had previously loaded them to the Kings Island Kings, Dominion Carowinds Canadas Wonderland and Cedar Point apps. So one of those carried it over. however, when I bring up the pass on my normal size iPhone, it only shows about 2/3 of the QR code and will not scroll over

They did a good job with the theme and appearance of Adventure Port. But they definitely skimped on the rides in that expansion Instead of a quality 42 person Huss Enterprise they have an uncomfortable, low capacity knock off that doesn’t even tilt 90°. Plus they didn’t even purchase a lighting package for it. The barrel ride is one of the lowest quality versions of this type of ride They also skimped on the little bit of cost. It would’ve required to have provided shade in the queues to make the customers more comfortable. So its a trade off In the case of Adventure Port, they put lipstick on a pig. It looks great, but that’s the best thing that can be said about that area.

This was something I completely didn’t notice. You are right it is an improvement. It was very annoying when one was walking in Coney.

It’s a shame that none of the Winterfest maintained their synchronized lights over the years

The park looks absolutely great. There are even more lights this year than previously. There are lights in the trees. There are lights on the shrubs. There are plenty of live Christmas trees. So far this year, I have been to both Dollywood and Busch Gardens and I think Kings Island does the lights better than either one of those. The lights at Kings Island are the most immersive being low on the shrubs at eye level and above you on trees. The only park I have seen with better lights was Carowinds but they have destroyed that event thus year 2 things that I noticed missing this year are The plastic (purposefully tacky) retro decorations in Tinseltown. They have been replaced by the cartoony trees that were previously in Planet Snoopy And none of the trees are up-lit this year on the train ride That is definitely a downgrade. A lot of live Christmas trees are big 7/8 ft trees. I do wish that since they go to all the effort to get these quality trees that they would light them properly with more than 50 lights on a tree One thing I do not care for this year is the change in music. Gone are most of the songs that Winterfest has played every year and i associated with the event. Plus, the the music is being broadcast at rather low volume this year. Finally Songs of the Nativity got a sitdown venue This also is the time of year when the food actually is good instead of just edible Overall this is a great event, and it is my favorite Christmas event because of the immersive lighting

A show with dedicated, choreographed dancers like Yuletide Follies or even the previous Cool Yule (after the split the cast into dancers and vocalists) belongs in doors for the sake of the dancers well being. The KI Theatre should host something that’s more of a total Christmas production like an expanded version of the Follies.

They have been removing eye sores from the park, such as the slingshot in the sky coaster. But the Tomb Raider building and the Stunt Coaster are the two remaining biggest eye sores. Doing anything with that tomb raider building would be an improvement for the entire park.

IMO the main thing holding back Winterfest is the low quality of the production of the live entertainment and the lack of sit-down entertainment locations. And perhaps its shorter five and six hour days compared to other events. The entire park is lit up with lights (although they could do a better job with the lights in the trees like Carowinds in previous years, there are enough rides open, and Winterfest has some creative activities that the other events lack.

I don’t think Kings Island Winterfest will ever win the best Christmas event simply because it only operates 20 something days compared to how many days the other events like Dollywood and Busch Gardens operate. More days means more people means more votes.

I agree it would be very difficult to take away the meal plans in anyway. But the meal plans should’ve never been part of Winterfest. That was a huge business error. In fact, implementing the meal plans at all was a huge business error. The whole point of the season passes is to get people to come back and spend money. This defeats that. I know there will be the people that say they spend money on something else since they don’t have to pay for the meals, but they’re still getting nonprofitable meals, and I would guess the majority of the people on the meal plan. Don’t feel obligated to spend anything when they come back. The holiday events that seem to be the most successful, Dollywood and Busch Gardens. Do not include any form of a meal plan. They also include higher quality, entertainment, and experiences such as the train that everyone can do together. I also don’t feel these events, push up charge attractions such as ice-skating and cooking decorating etc. these events are profitable through admissions and selling food. Both of which Six Flags/Cedar Fair has given away at the gate. One other note about these events is that they are an excellent opportunity for these companies to bring in new customers that have absolutely no interest in amusement rides. Because the park is now this magical Christmas village. The rides are secondary. Carowinds has chosen to totally abandon this aspect of the event and just provide more ride operating days by closing at 7 PM. Which is just going to attract the same people that come for the rides in the summertime and most likely have season passes a meal plans and won’t spend any money