Shman

It's great to hear all of these wonderful comments about WinterFest......I hope to read good trip report after good trip reports!!! It's also great to hear that everyone is enjoying the great Live Entertainment that is at WinterFest....the park really put time and money into this stuff this year, and I think it is showing BIG time!!!!

Just as a clarification......there are NO nickelodeon characters in the christmas parade. Nickelodeon has nothing to do with this parade, it is a whole different company and there is no affiliation with their characters. The characters will be in the christmas tree lot everynight. And lost girl is correct....the path is actually the reverse of what is listed there.

Yes.....it is a real ice rink!!! and apperently the new cooling system is able to chill the ice even if it is a "warmer" winter......I think I heard up into the 50s. And yes.....things are at a very frantic pace right now......I have never seen so many people working on one project at the same time before.

A little update from in the park... The star logo has been added atop the tower (haven't seen it lit yet) The garland, wreaths, and lights have taken over and are all over the buildings. The outline lights are about halfway done down I-Street The wire-frame sculptures have been added to the fountain pedistals and look really nice. The cooling units have begun to be added to the ice-skating rink The Holiday Illuminations show has been completed on the lake, and looks really nice at night. Tonight they were testing the new lighting on the tower around 6:00pm. Overall the park is looking really nice.....I can't wait for it all to be lit up!!

i thought it sounded a little fishy....thats why i thought i would ask here figuring that someone here was probably there and could confirm ot deny this

So was anybody at the ACE walkback in which Jeff Siebert apperently confirmed that this is going to be a Disko-coaster??? I haven't heard this until today.

The main show is in the Paramount Theatre, but there is also another show in the FestHaus. Live Entertainment is one of the main focuses of Winterfest, it always was, and it is going to be great seeing it happen again!

Wow....yet again another post with mis-information Yet again....another thing that most of the attraction managers do NOT do. The manager's are not in charge of teaching them the scare tactics nor are they in charge of the plot lines or what each scareactor does. They are incharge of making sure that the performers do what they were told to do. The only exception of this that I know of is the Maze Of Madness where the attraction manager did place the scareactors in their positions and told them the basics of what to do inside that attraction, but that is mainly because the director that they had for the attraction spent very little time there and the attraction manager basically took over. As for the "creepers" again....there is someone who is very knowlegable and talented that comes in and teaches the newbies everything that they need to know and how to properly slide. This person has been doing this stuff for years and knows what he is doing. As for the "local competition" Again...we are talking about money....USS Nightmare and other local haunted houses are only open for one month of the year....they have one budget....they dont have to spend millions of dollars on things that don't pertain to the haunted house....they get to spend all of the money they make in admissions and donations and such on one thing...their haunted house. Now let's look at a major theme park like PKI.....you have all the money that the park is making that has to be spread out around dozens of departments in order for the park to be able to operate smoothly for the entire year, let alone adding a mulit-million dollar attraction every year and paying for liscencing fees for naming it after a movie. Yeah....I guess you could go to Party City or Wal-Mart and buy a $20 fogger, a $5 mask and a $10 strobe light..but you get what you pay for. And PKI is a professional business that entertains millions of visitors....that $20 fogger that can only hold a pint of fog fluid and has to turn itself off every 5 minutes to cool down sure couldn't produce the amount of fog need to cover coney maul. Good one Hidden_adgenda LOL

You do realize that the managers that you are talking about are the ones that are there to make sure things are running smoothly and to take care of your whiny complaints as a guest...and as a performer. These people are not the people who have the creative input or the people who are in charge of how things look or function at FearFest. The people you are talking about are there as "attraction managers" and that is what they do...they take care of the night to night things, the work with what they are given. I always find it very funny the people who come on here and bash and complain about things they really don't know about. You may know somebody from somewhere....or you may have be involved in a haunted house somewhere...but you don't know how things operate and work in a theme park, specifically PKI...the only way you would know is if you have been there as a member of the staff. Of all the FearFest managers there this year there is 1 that is new to FearFest......everyone has had experience with FearFest before and most of the people who are doing the set-up and build of FearFest have been doing since the original conception. As far as the comparison to Universal and Knotts goes....you need to let it go. These parks are Year round operations that have millions of dollars the gets budgeted every year for their events....because they have that much money. It all comes down to money....these parks have a lot more of it to spend....that is also why there attractions and special event can be a big and amaizing as they are. These parks have money flowing through their gates year round....and they don't build major attractions every year. PKI has no money coming in for a portion of the year and they add something every year. Trust me.....if the park would give more money to FearFest then we would be able to get new equipment and new haunts. But the park simply does not give enough money out to it.....the people who do they set-up and build do the best with what they have....and every year they come up with new ideas....but it all costs $$$$ As far as Hauntguy is concerned I say this every year......don't think that you are going to get in and magically change things. Each year you say that you are going to get a job at the park and so far you haven't done it. and even if you do get a job with the park you are never going to be in a high enough position to make the decisions needed to change things.

There were multiple designs to the ArrowBatic coaster....including a "family" version. I have always wanted them to put in one of these coasters for the adults, especially when KC went away....that land was prime for one. But if I can't get an adult version I would go with the "family coaster" version anyday.

So PKI hasn't really announced the specifics of this new rollercoaster. I was wondering what you guys are thinking they may have in store. I know people have passed around the thoughts of a disk-o style or halfpipe style, but the press release said "First of it's kind." So what are your thoughts? Personally I'm still hoping for the first installation of an ArrowBatic coaster....I think S&S Power is still marketing this Arrow Coaster idea that was never built.

The FearFest managers deal with the attractions......they do not have the time or ability to watch over the rest of the park and theming. If you want to blame people in all honesty it should be Security for allowing park guests to climb into those gardens and planters and mess with the props and themeing (Please understand that I am NOT pointing fingers, nor am I blaming anyone....just trying to prove the point) The FearFest managers have enough to deal with when it comes to the attraction that they are in charge of. The park made the decision to not waste the money and product (fog juice) that would have just blown straight up into the air. If you saw the fog was not staying near the ground due to the weather and the high wind gusts, the fog was hanging above the park like a giant cloud.

Ummm....if I'm not mistaken they are called MANAGERS.....that means that they are there to Boss you around....they are your Boss!! You obviously have not seen what those manages have to deal with on the outside of the attractions. Everytime I walk passed one I see them running around, or talking to security about a guest incident, or dealing with problems in the que line, let alone taking responsibility for all the performers and the overall quality of the attraction. They are strict because they have to be....thats the only way to keep the problems under control and keep PKI's haunted attractions safe for everyone.

Its nights and crowds like this that make working at PKI fun and enjoyable......unlike the crowd on Sat at FearFest.

The Limited engagement could mean that it is only going to be there for a year before moving on to other parks

You don't have to sneak your camera in....you are allowed to bring it inside. You just can't use a flash or a light source on your video camera. That is for an obvious saftey reason, the scareactors eyes get adjusted to being in low level lighting and any sudden flash of bright light would literally blind them for a while. Be sure you post your pics!

I'm talking about the old Sea World days....long before Six Flags came in. That was when that side of the park thrived, the exhibits and attractions were top notch and nothing less then you would expect from the nations leader in wild-life parks. But then Six flags came in and stripped away all of the excitment and turned it into a zoo. Then they closed half of the buildings and attractions and let the park basically start to rot away.

Unfortunatly I have not been able to get up north to this park this year. But...I always have loved the ride collection that they have. I'm sure the new water park is great, I just wish that they never had to sacrifice Sea World for the Six Flags Expansion. That being said, I thought over the last few years that the only thing really wrong with that park was the way Six flags was running things. The ride collection is great, and I am very happy that they added what they did (well...except for Villian...I just don't care for it) and I was very happy to see X-Flight added as Ohio's first flying coaster (to bad Paramount bought out of that exclusive deal with Vekoma or that coaster would have been at PKI on the IJ site...and I would have preferred that!) Once Six Flags got out of there things seemed to start an upswing, and I think Cedar Fair is doin a good job with everything. I can't wait for my next trip up and to see what they have in store! I still hear that the permit for a 200 ft. hyper is valid as long as they build on the Sea World side

Opryland was an amaizing theme park, with a lot to offer for the entire family. I made my first trip to the park when I was 4 years old and my family and I made bi-annual trips there until the year it closed. I still remember the first time I was big enough to ride the Screamin Delta Demon...I loved that ride! It was unlike any other ride I had ever ridden. To ride in a bobsled type car down an open track was amaizing, to feel the turns and to see how high the cars would go up onto the sides, it was awsome! Other rides in the park were great as well, The Rockin Roller Coaster was a great mine train coaster. And Hangman was one of the best SLC I had ever ridden (and it is still in commisson today....where? GL!) I remeber when they added Chaos it was so cool to see that long of a train on a coaster, and the special effects were really cool too (for the time) You even got to wear 3-D glasses on the ride! The coaster itself wasn't much, but everything else made the ride that great! Even above the rides....the Entertainment was excellent! The shows there were always high quality and I felt that they lived up to the industries top competition. Even if the shows were based around country music (which I didn't like) I still enjoyed the shows. The food was top quality! And their special seasonal events were great too! I remember hunting for easter eggs in a makeshift field of hay and straw out by the picnic groves. And for Christmas I remember going to see all the lights and ice-skating in the amplitheatre. Opryland was a great theme park and it such a shame that we had to loose it to a shopping mall. That area of Tenn. was a destination that everyone could enjoy. I have not been down since the closing of the park so I haven't been able to look around but I have heard there are reminants of the park around still to this day. Does anybody know if the Opryland Hotel is still as majestic as it was when the park was there? That hotel was amaizing and beautiful. The gardens and the dancing waters & light shows. And I remember it was always booked solid.

Wow!!! For starters.....you obviously don't know who you are talking to here becuase I NEVER stated that PKI is Life....or that it is the only park out there. Trust me I've been making trips to theme parks all over the United States every year since I was 3. I love every park that I have been to and fully support each. I post on numerous boards across the internet that have to do with theme parks, rollercoaster, haunted attraction, many different things. And all I have to do is click my mouse and I am brought to a website that is dedicated to another park. I never stated that PKI is the only theme park that I talk about or anything like that so maybe you should watch where you point you attitude. Well if you don't want peoples opinions don't ask for them. "You want the truth? You can't handle the truth" Obviously those words never were so true! BTW.....I happen to be a very respectable person and I know a great deal about the theme park industry and PKI in general, I have been interviewed and written about many times on many different industry topics. So maybe you should watch where you are pointing comments Like and

They weren't as excited about Massacre Manor than they were about Maze of Madness. Every group that went through there last night was comming out Exstatic about the Maze. Ever group said that they got turned aound, trapped in dead ends, and lost mulitple times. And that it was the best one of the night. Those guys are crazy in there!!!

In all honesty I have to say that you are correct in saying that this is a PKI fansite. The purpose of this site is to talk about PKI. I highly doubt that most people on here limit themselves to just PKI or just the rides at PKI. But they do limit themselves when talking on here because the purpose of this site is to be dedicated to the news, rumors, opinions and business regarding PKI, and it's big brother Viacom. This site has a community forum for talk about other parks and that is where we can start new topics and talk about other parks and rides. Also if you feel the need (which most of us do) to get more info. or more talk about multiple parks you can always go to Costerbuzz or Screamscape, or any of the other forums that talk about muliple parks, in addition to your trips to this site. I think it is great that we have a site that is completly dedicated to PKI and I don't think we need to mess with the structure or layout at all. Just my honest 2 cents.

No NO....I know I said "contacted life" but I didn't mean the roality life......I meant the life of the costume. Those costumes only hold up for a certain length of time before they just aren't good to use, at the end of that life is when they are destroyed. Most of those old HB costumes have been gone for years.

The earliest any attraction will be opening will be 7:00, except for Friday the 13th which I heard will be having one early showing. Thats because it is not supposed to look creepy on the outside. The plot line of this attraction has changed this year with the new name and it is now supposed to represent a nice older style house that is "for sale" The group that you go through with is supposed to be taking a tour of the house and they come to find out why the house will not sell on the market. The changes to this house lend themselves very well to the FearStreet books and I give major props to the PKI Entertainment staff for coming up with a new story line and a way to change things to fit the new name.

There are only a small few of the H-B costumes left at the park, just the ones that were used on Picnic Grove events over the last few years. By contract with H-B the costumes must be destroyed at the end of their contracted life.