Plus weather cooperates better in Fla and Cali. 

I could see them leaving the lights up on the International Street buildings. Would be cool to be lit up during the summer. I don’t see a way to leave them in the trees though.

 OK I checked so it is on sale for about $44 

Everything Winterfest branded is 30% off too.

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Walking through the park tonight with the snow pouring down was amazing.  Not sure if/when I'll ever see the park as it was tonight.  Beautiful.

PSA: Ride operators were just notified that no rides will be opening tonight (12/30/17) at Winterfest due to the weather conditions. AFAIK everything else will be operating as normal.

Official word is that outdoor rides and shows won't be happening. The park is still scheduled to be open with limited operations.

Thanks for the update. Is Plight still showing (only asking as it's technically outdoors, but also is under a covered structure)?

1 hour ago, malem said:

Official word is that outdoor rides and shows won't be happening. The park is still scheduled to be open with limited operations.

So I’m taking that carousel and dodgems are included in the outdoor rides, even though they are shielded from the elements?

Just heard that Jingle Jazz/Mistletones will be in Festhaus, but not sure what times.

29 minutes ago, MDMC01 said:

Just heard that Jingle Jazz/Mistletones will be in Festhaus, but not sure what times.

Jingle Jazz at 6, 7, 8, 9 in FH

Mistletones 6:10, 7:10, 8:10, 9:10 in FH

 

Just a heads up: candy and fudge at Sweet Spot is 75% off.

6 hours ago, gforce1994 said:

So I’m taking that carousel and dodgems are included in the outdoor rides, even though they are shielded from the elements?

Yep! Although Dodgem would likely be closed due to accumulating snow anyway.

WOW! What a night! I had a fantastic time at both viewings of Tinkers, from getting to sit with all my KIC Peeps, my friends I brought with me, as well as others that I knew who were also enjoyed the show, to getting to finally see Santa after the last show. I even got my picture with him. I also said my goodbyes to Mr. Tannenbaum and Scrooge as well as played a unique air hockey game in the Coney Arcade that was tons of fun!

To all of you who busted it so we could all have FUN, thank you for a fantastic Winterfest season (and the rest of the 2017 season obviously!) and Happy New Year!!! 

8 minutes ago, MDMC01 said:

WOW! What a night! I had a fantastic time at both viewings of Tinkers, from getting to sit with all my KIC Peeps, my friends I brought with me, as well as others that I knew who were also enjoyed the show, to getting to finally see Santa after the last show. I even got my picture with him. I also said my goodbyes to Mr. Tannenbaum and Scrooge as well as played a unique air hockey game in the Coney Arcade that was tons of fun!

To all of you who busted it so we could all have FUN, thank you for a fantastic Winterfest season (and the rest of the 2017 season obviously!) and Happy New Year!!! 

@MDMC01 - did you happen to seek shelter at the chicken shack propane heaters tonight and strike up a convo with a guy and a gal who was carrying a Yoda and Darth Vader stuffed character?  

If so, that was my wife and me.

That was me, my good sir. Good to see you are on the forums and nice to meet you and your wife tonight! 

9 minutes ago, MDMC01 said:

That was me, my good sir. Good to see you are on the forums and nice to meet you and your wife tonight! 

It was a pleasure to meet you as well.  As we were leaving my wife asked, "do you think he is part of that website thingy you go to?"  (Yes, she refers to KIC as that website thingy... She's not very tech savvy).  I told her I thought it was possible since I noticed you were wearing a lifetime coaster sweatshirt.

Then reading your post and realizing it sounded exactly like what we had been talking about and seeing the Pokemon avatar... I just had to ask.  Talk about a small world eh?

Exactly. Fun Fact: The "club" on my sweatshirt (Roller Coaster Nation) is not a real thing. My parents have been getting me coaster shirts/sweatshirts like this for the past 3 Christmas. They got the sweatshirt last Christmas due to Closing Day being during Winterfest (as I typically wear the shirts Opening Day and Closing Day).

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.

I went twice this year and my impressions were that it was very very good. Great even. I loved how much effort they put into it. Felt much different than the last attempt at Winterfest. 

I loved how they renamed a lot of the shops and food places with Christmas themed names and signs. There's so much to see and do that even after 2 visits we still missed a lot. 

The only show that I saw was the elf one in the Festhaus which was really well done. Reminded me of old Kings Island level of shows. I don't know how they can ever go back to just having generic 70's/80's/90's singing revues there during the regular season when they proved that they can do much better. 

I did like the Eiffel Tower lights more in person than pictured, but I agree with @CoastersRZ's earlier post that the star needs to be filled with light instead of just an outline. If the lights can't go above the observation level, the star needs to be brighter and stand out more. Other than that, it was pretty cool. Also, what was up with the metal candy cane structures that were put up during the regular season? I thought they were going to be lit up, decorated or something, but since they were just dark I hardly noticed them. It was cool that they had them I guess, but seemed not worth the effort compared to other stuff.

But yeah, I don't have much negative to say about it. Much better than I expected. 

48 minutes ago, LongLiveTheSmurfRide said:

I went twice this year and my impressions were that it was very very good. Great even. I loved how much effort they put into it. Felt much different than the last attempt at Winterfest. 

I loved how they renamed a lot of the shops and food places with Christmas themed names and signs. There's so much to see and do that even after 2 visits we still missed a lot. 

The only show that I saw was the elf one in the Festhaus which was really well done. Reminded me of old Kings Island level of shows. I don't know how they can ever go back to just having generic 70's/80's/90's singing reviews there during the regular season when they proved that they can do much better. 

I did like the Eiffel Tower lights more in person than pictured, but I agree with @CoastersRZ's earlier post that the star needs to be filled with light instead of just an outline. If the lights can't go above the observation level, the star needs to be brighter and stand out more. Other than that, it was pretty cool. Also, what was up with the metal candy cane structures that were put up during the regular season? I thought they were going to be lit up, decorated or something, but since they were just dark I hardly noticed them. It was cool that they had them I guess, but seemed not worth the effort compared to other stuff.

But yeah, I don't have much negative to say about it. Much better than I expected. 

I totally agree with you on the shows.....I so hope that they move away from revue shows of genres and types of groups. They can totally do it....just how and what. 

As far as the stars...I agree...although, the Eiffel Tower tree is much better than Carowind's WindSeeker tree! 

The Candy Canes were a work in progress from what I could tell....early in December they looked the same....dark and just there. When I visited before Christmas, they had lighting at the base of them shooting up and some decorations inside of them......still kind of odd....thought they'd be wrapped in lights.

I was completely blown away with Winterfest. What I expected to be a one or two visit adventure turned into several weeks. I was so impressed. I enjoyed the hot chocolate and candies, the food sight and sounds. Every minute was truly building a memory. I cannot wait to see what’s in store for next year! The shows were fantastic and the kids in the shows truly enjoyed performing! It was just like the shows of the old Kings Island days. I want to thank those in charge of creating this event. From the tree lighting ceremony to last few minutes of the evening. It was a blast to come and explore and to make memories that will last a lifetime! 

I had a blast at WinterFest across my half dozen visits or so. I ended up visiting far more than I had originally anticipated due to my work schedule changing, and was able to see all but one of the shows (I didn't catch the Peanuts one in Charlie Brown's Christmas Town). Looking forward to next year.

2 hours ago, chugh43 said:

I totally agree with you on the shows.....I so hope that they move away from revue shows of genres and types of groups. They can totally do it....just how and what. 

As far as the stars...I agree...although, the Eiffel Tower tree is much better than Carowind's WindSeeker tree! 

The Candy Canes were a work in progress from what I could tell....early in December they looked the same....dark and just there. When I visited before Christmas, they had lighting at the base of them shooting up and some decorations inside of them......still kind of odd....thought they'd be wrapped in lights.

Im not sure the candy canes ever got really "finished" as intended. They were obviously not done in time for opening since opening night there was led tape light adhered to the inside edge of all of them with no connectors plugged in and extra wire and tape light just laying at the base. They must've abandoned that idea since eventually they got an led Spotlight at the base with white garland wrapped around them (but the tape light was still there, like it never got finished so they did a "plan b" these are the same used at California great adventure last year, but I agree there was so much going on in that area that they seemed superfluous. I think they would have had more impact lining the path from candy cane lane to Coca-Cola plaza where they could have strung red and white lights across the walkway from them. There were a few things that were direct lifts from CGA that could have been used better. It's like they "had" to use the same elements so they just stuck them someplace. Great job all around but that whole area was one of the areas that could have been stronger  

 

Looks like CGA got Kings Islands original set for tinkers. Wish they had "fleshed this out" a bit more for us, or even figured out a way to cover/ heat international showplace and use that for tinkers since the architecture sort of lends itself to the original set design. 

Carrowinds did a great job with their elf village. Hope our coney area gets a bit brighter next year. I think they used the winter fest way light show in this area  

21 hours ago, chugh43 said:

The Candy Canes were a work in progress from what I could tell....early in December they looked the same....dark and just there. When I visited before Christmas, they had lighting at the base of them shooting up and some decorations inside of them......still kind of odd....thought they'd be wrapped in lights.

That's good to hear. I went on opening weekend and then the following weekend. I wanted to go back one more time but other activities and obligations got in the way so couldn't make it. 

Looking back at Winterfest in the eyes of the Mystic Timbers webcam.

 

So, there is one thing on Closing Day that I enjoyed, but haven't publically commented on... I loved that The Mistletones were moved to the Kings Island Theatre as they served as a "pre-show" to Charlie Brown's Christmas Spectacular (I know this was done for weather, but I think it should be a permant change as it fits the vibe of the show).

15 hours ago, malem said:

Looking back at Winterfest in the eyes of the Mystic Timbers webcam.

I watched that video frame by frame, and GIGA appeared between 4:30 PM and 4:50 PM on 12/30 (closing day). A shame that you missed the 4:40 PM frame, else we might have been able to see the culprit in action.

^ No frames from that day are missing.