super7

My thoughts on 2018. It is definitely a better event than 2017, which was to be expected since 2017 was the first year. It's an amazing event that keeps on getting better. This year the entire park has lights with only a few dark zones. First of all, there is nothing as magical as I Street for Christmas in any other theme park. (KI, KD and next year CW). The lights are much better this year. They feel more immersive, with many more canopies of lights in the big trees. My biggest suggestion about the entire event is still the lighting though. There are 6 colors in the rainbow, plus cool white and warm white. But a high majority of the lighting is cool and warm white lighting. They should do what Busch does at Williamsburg, and have a different color lighting scheme in each themed section. They moved the synchronized lighting show to Coney this year, which is an improvement. I compliment them on how many trees they put lights on in Coney. Even outlying trees by Racer station. One wish is that they would put them higher in the trees next year. Since they moved the light show to Coney, Winterfest Way is not really distinctive. Although the canopy of lights is gorgeous (again another color would help make this section distinctive). The lighted booth things are pretty weird and a little creepy though lol. They moved 4 Drummers Drumming just slightly and gave them a stage. It's less of a traffic jam now. They fully lit up The Vortex walkway and moved the Ice Prince and Princess back there. The Flight of Fear area looks good with the random rope lights. They could actually create another themed Christmas section back there if they wanted since the lighting is unique. Tinseltown is nice, and a great place for the Mistletones to be relocted. I like that they added music to their show this year. It gives more of the nostalgic feel. Main suggestion about Tinseltown is that is is done in warm white lights. 50's style lighting is the big bulbed, multi-color lights. They have those lights at Carowinds but not KI for some reason. Tinseltown will probably even feel better next year with Antique Cars in place. Carriage rides added as an upcharge attraction based in Tinseltown. Jingle Jazz and Sounds of the Nativity have increased to 5 vocalists in the shows this year. Both shows have amazing talent and very tight harmony, as well as the Mistletones. There is a LOT of familiar talent from the other seasons at the park with just about all of the top recent vocalists in the shows, plus a top vocalist from 4 years ago. KI has done great job retaining their talent as of lately. I do wish that the event was at least 6 hours. There are so many shows to see within the 5 hour time frame. This is my favorite time to go to the park. A theme park in the dark is always magical, and with all of the lighting it is just incredible. I am hoping that I can hit it again one night when it snows. That was the best thing I have ever experienced at a theme park!

Silver Dollar City probably does a better job with the lights. They have lights on every board of every building. I would rate both equivalent on the amount of entertainment, although Cedar Fairs entertainment excels over Herschends hokey entertainment in general (Hershend has some outstanding talent, but their shows are generally not that well produced). But nothing compares to the awe of International Street for Christmas.

We should feel lucky this ride survived the wrath of Paramount! They removed the railroads at Kings Dominion and Great America. Location of the waterpark was probably the saving grace of this ride.

Sigh. From the days when the dark ride was a quality 3-d ride, and not cheap 2-d plywood cutouts......

I think the Oktoberfest Skyride station was also a yogurt shop at one time, when yogurt was first trendy.

The best thing they could do with that warehouse-y building is tear it down! It doesn't belong with the theme of Rivertown. Keelboat Canal was quite beautiful in that spot with the train running along the lake. This is one of the big pieces of damage that Paramount did to the park.

I saw somewhere that the Breakdance that CF bought was the one that the little girl was killed on at Holiday Park in Germany. If so, its the ugly version like Six Flags America has with the turntables on arms. If its that ride, it has a morbid history and not sure why they would have purchased it.

King's Dominion's Racer and Thunder Road is/was a superior model to King's Islands Racer. King's Island's has that stupid split at the turn arounds where the other train is a football field away. Racer 75 and Thunder Road keep the trains side by side longer before the turn around. KI Racer looses the feeling of racing at that point. The ultimate retrackign would make the turn arounds come together into a deulling turn around (like Lightning Racer), but that probably will not happen.

Action Zone is horrible. Totally generic and barren. The easiest re-theme would be Transylvania for that area, since they already did some type of theming on Banshee and all of the other buildings in the area are non-themed. Plus The Bat is already named for Transylvania. Oktoberfest needs a flat ride package like Carowinds got for their new County Fair and retheme Adventure Express to Barvarian Mountain railroad. That would bring the area alive again.

And red-to-yellow trains, complete redwood staining of the coaster, trees around the entire station instead of that hideous aluminum building......

Its one of the best run rides in the park. The lines move fast because of the way they operate it. They aren't waiting for people to cross the train and drop off items on the other side. All coasters should be operated like this, with no carry-ons (and reasonable all-day locker prices).

Renovate International Street so it is similar to Kings Dominions set up with shade and separated sitting areas along the fountain. Right now it is VERY trashy looking with little shade and those white tables. Renovate Oktoberfest with new flat rides and retheming Adventure Express into Barvarian theme. Renovate Action Zone into an actual themed area. Probably Transylvania given the coasters that are there Return of the cable skyway Replace Vortex with a B & M floorless Giga similar to Fury Replace Boo Blasters with a quality dark ride like was previously there (Phantom Theatre and Enchanted Voyage were both quality) Get rid of the 2 ugliest things in the park, Stunt Coaster & Tomb Raider buidling

I agree! Two of the rides mentioned here wanted by Tim Fisher to "modernize the park" are the 2 biggest eyesores in the park. The Tomb Raider building and Stunt Coaster. The Keelboats with the lake and the Antique Cars with their landscaping were definitely not eyesores, they added beauty to the park. So the person that did the most damage to Kings Island now has a name! Tim Fisher.

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Exciting or annoying? I vote annoying. The atmosphere looks great all in orange lighting, but sitting by the fountain its annoying have the random flames shooting. Kings Dominion does not such thing. Just fog.

My wish would be Stunt Coaster because it is one of the 2 most hideous things in the park along with the warehouse formerly know as Tomb Raider....... But Vortex has seen its time and Firehawk is also a bad ride.

Instead of a low capacity, slow loading ferris wheel I vote for transforming WindSeeker into a skyseeker gondola ride.

I forgot Firehawk. Not a fan of that either. I would choose that to before Invertigo. Invertigo is at least visually pleasing as you enter the gate even though the actual ride is nothing special.

These are rides that need to go and be replaced Congo Falls Vortex (replace with B&M floorless) Stuntcoaster (its hideous, low capacity, and did I mention its ugly in the middle of the park?) Invertigo Boo Blasters (it was done soooooooo cheaply, even when it was Scooby Doo. Enchanted Voyage and Phantom Theatre were excellent dark rides) The skycoaster and the vertical launch upcharge (for same reason as Stuntcoaster, they are hideous!)

Yes. Because the wide midways are a great feature of the Taft-built parks. Bottlenecks take away from a good experience. For example, even though I think Busch Williamsburg is a wonderful park overall, the narrow walkways make the park often crowded when it really isn't.

I agree. The Taft parks (Kings Island, Kings Dominion, Canada's Wonderland and even Carowinds feature nice wide midways that don't make you feel crowded even when the park is crowded (unlike Busch Williamsburg, Dollywood, Silver Dollar City, Great America etc). I hope they don't make the walkway there too narrow.

That's how I first remember it. Riding the Zodiac, you could hear the disco music coming from the Coney Disco. Anytime I hear certain disco songs now that they played there, I think of the awesome Zodiac.

Oktoberfest basically has the pirate ship and the misthemed Adventure Express. That area needs rides more than anywhere else. It’s very neglected. .

OK That's fair. Cedar Point is the #1 priority park of Cedar Fair I do believe. That being said, it is a B class park at best for the reasons listed about. The former Taft parks have SO much more potential to be A class parks....

Cedar Point has lots of rides and coasters, but it is hardly a flagship quality park IMO. Some of the dirtiest restrooms in the business, horrible food, total lack of shade (including the queues)/concrete/asphalt atmosphere and lack of total family attractions puts it in a B class category. Kings Island is in that same category IMO for some of the same reasons. Plus Cedar Point is not even a theme park other than Frontiertown. That definitely throws it out of a flagship status. In fact, I don't believe there are many flagship parks in the USA. Europa Park in Germany and PortAventure in Spain are fine examples of a flagship parks. Quality rides in all categories, excellent theming and atmosphere, updated facilities, etc. Kings Island has a lot of potential. When it was built, it was designed as one of the best regional theme parks in the US. However, changes of ownership really deviated from the master plan and lowered the park in its status. Cedar Fair has been taking it in the right direction. Kings Island needs a lot of infrastructure work to this day. CF has been doing that with new concrete, new buildings and remodeled restrooms. Still, compared to its sister park in VA, the park has a "trashy" atmosphere. For example. The condition of International Street and the general lack of trees are two big factors. I Street definitely needs an overhaul to be more like Kings Dominion with more shade and cozy sitting areas instead of the trashy white picnic tables that are in the main walkways with no shade. The park still has Paramount eyesores like the Stunt Coaster and the empty warehouse in Rivertown that trash it up. Oktoberfest needs a complete overhaul as there is not much to do there or neither is it Oktoberfest themed. Then there is the ever trashy Action Zone with no theme and no shade. The addition of the antique cars was also a step forward installing a new total family attraction. It should clean up that deserted area of the park with the potential landscaping. They also need to step up their live entertainment at these parks to become flagship. Cedar Point did that this year. One could go see shows all day long if one wanted. THAT is the kind of thing that elevates at park. Cedar Fair has been taking these parks in the right direction with themed attractions and replacing infrastructure. If they continue to do so, they could have several flagship parks from the Taft chain. KI, KD and CW are all in high population areas. KD is one of the most beautiful theme parks in the country (with some Paramount/KECO damage evident in the park) on one of the most highly traveled freeways on the est coast. It baffles me why their attendance is so low. Busch is surely a factor but lack of family attractions and shows is a factor also.