Timchat2

I wonder if they'll book another outside performer at Kings Island Theater for the back half of summer.

No mention of a Bandstand show. There was rumor of no live music so it is nice to see a live band mentioned with Country Crossroads at least.

https://www.visitkingsisland.com/entertainment The 2024 summer show lineup has been posted. https://www.visitkingsisland.com/events/summerbration Grand Carnivale will be July 20-August 4.

The seasonal Universal parades (Mardi Gras and Universal's Holiday Parade featuring Macy's) capture the feeling of a real big-city celebration, particularly if you watch them in the New York streets with the police motorcycles leading the Mardi Gras parade. The smile factor throughout the crowd at Mardi Gras is something special. People really click with the whole vibe.

Interesting that it wouldn't even run as "just" a boat ride. The original version of Snake River Expedition was ambitious but it never quite found an audience.

As much as I love Grand Carnivale (or at least the pre-2023 versions) it would be nice to have summertime event that covers more of the summer season.

Two previous Grand Carnivale parks are now listing new summer events for 2024 with Dorney Park Summer Nights and KC Nights at Worlds of Fun. If these are replacements for Grand Carnivale (along with any new unannounced summer events at Carowinds) this is leaves just Valleyfair and Kings Island as the only Grand Carnivale parks that haven't specified their summer event plans yet.

A weekends-only longer run might be possible if they aren't moving floats between parks. Presumably there are savings in only have three parks do the event without having to move everything to another three parks.

If there is still supposed to be shows at Festhaus, the Bandstand and International Showplace this might be how the park is saving on performers while still have most venues active. Gazillion Bubbles might not be an amazing piece of theater but it can be a major crowd-pleaser for guests who aren't always into singing and dancing.

Speaking with some performers and tech crew we got the impression the song rights have been an issue. There was a copyright lawsuit around the use of the song "Christmastime Is Here" in Twas the Night Before Christmas at the Pines a few years ago. Shortly after that Silver Dollar City's A Dickens Christmas Carol changed out its score of existing music (largely from the Alan Menken written A Christmas Carol and the 1970 film Scrooge) for an entirely original score of similar sounding songs. At Dollywood this past season the song "We Need a Little Christmas Now" was removed from both Christmas in the Smokies and Twas the Night Before Christmas. Having more shows that feature exclusively Dolly's music might keep these issues from coming up.

With the recent song changes (presumably due to issues with the song rights) to Dreamland Drive-In we had a feeling it likely wasn't going to be around much longer. Sixteen years is an incredible run though. Dreamland was truly something special. Few theme park shows have that kind of heart and emotional impact. Hopefully the future productions will continue that tradition.

Grand Carnivale at Kings Dominion is listed as "select dates" and Carnivale at Orleans Place at California's Great America appears to be just Friday-Sunday for 2024, so if Grand Carnivale returns to Kings Island this season would it also have a limited schedule?

With Kings Dominion still getting Grand Carnivale I wonder if they'll just have three of the parks host the event with the three sets of floats. California's Great America appears to have its own New Orleans themed set of floats for its Carnivale at Orleans Place event.

https://www.carowinds.com/events Apparently Grand Carnivale is not returning to Carowinds for 2024.

The festivals are all wonderful but the Harvest Festival might just be the perfect mix of day (visiting artists/craftspeople and musicians) and night (Great Pumpkin LumiNights) attractions with the full regular assortment of Dollywood attractions and shows like Dreamland Drive-In. Along with the pleasant autumn weather it can be Dollywood at its best.

How did we all feel about WinterFest 2023? We still had a wonderful time at the event across the season. The amount of effort from the park on so many fronts from merchandise to entertainment continues to impress despite the cuts. We were fortunate to have a relatively strong entertainment lineup considering how other WinterFests like California's Great America (with its six-person Cool Yule double-cast with Holly Jolly Trolley) and Kings Dominion (no parade) saw more noticeable trimming.

The snow globe is back by Banshee:

It was a peaceful evening at the park if you dressed accordingly. We walked right on Flight of Cheer and then had Holly Jolly Trolley to ourselves.

I couldn't agree more. While I appreciate the extra exposure the new spot brings to Nativity, the surrounding noise and foot traffic (along with what feels like cranked up volume from the show to combat the noise) really impacts the mood.

We attended Christmas in the Park but we did not do the carriage ride through the park. Only the area near the front of the park between the front gate and Sky Ride station was open. Still though it was quite a unique experience to see the park in the off-season in a time before Winter Chill Out, HalloWeekends and the park even being open until the end of October.

2024 will be the first season outside of the two-year cycle of the 50th celebration shows so we'll see what kind of lineup the park has in mind. It's encouraging to see the audition list many of the usual positions, so it will hopefully be business as usual with major productions at Festhaus and the Bandstand at least.

Between this and Universal Horror Unleashed in Las Vegas it will be interesting to see if Universal will finally crack the code of bringing Orlando-style theme park experiences to U.S. markets outside of Florida and California.

It's worth noting that in our experience Silver Dollar City in Branson also has exceptional hosts. Herschend seems to be doing something right.

Friday turned out to be a very pleasant evening at the park despite the rainy misty start. The additional lights around the park look great. The new decor, along with a handful of changes like the unique music loop and repurposed Haunt props in Rivertown as well as new blocking and choreography at Mistletones and Cool Yule, makes this year's WinterFest feel freshened up despite the cuts. While the energy of Four Drummer Drumming, Jingle Jazz and Holly Jolly Trolley is certainly missed, we're still happy to have such a large holiday event so close to home.

We visit Dollywood roughly 3-4 times a season and there are probably at least a dozen hosts and even entertainment performers that know us by name and ask about our family members. I hope as the park continues to grow they can hold onto that genuine spirit that has always made Dollywood so special.