2016 KIC Holiday Party PTR

[malem]

Last weekend, several of us held the fourth annual KIC holiday meetup at Great Wolf Lodge. It's great to see everyone in the off-season and to escape winter for a couple days!

I arrived first, getting there just before 10:00am Friday to watch the singing trees perform in the Clock Tower show. They're not Singing Mushrooms, but they'll do.

By mid-afternoon, exscream team, jcgoble3, Oldiesmann, pianoman, & silver2005 had joined. We all had some early fun in the waterpark, getting several laps on the slides before crowds showed up. Here are five of us, weighing in just under the limit of 800lbs, getting ready to pack the River Canyon Run family slide. This slide is most thrilling with 4-5 people who just meet the weight requirement.

By 6:30pm, everyone had arrived, and it was time for dinner. We had a bit of a mix-up with the Loose Moose buffet being unexpectedly closed that night. The other restaurant (Lodge Wood Fired Grill) wasn't big enough to accomodate our group, so they made a special effort to serve us in the larger restaurant that wasn't open. We received great service from our server Ryan & had a delicious meal!

After dinner, pianoman, ohiocolts & I headed to the waterpark for last rides while everyone else continued to chat. By 9:00pm, it was time for the annual KIC white elephant gift exchange.

As usual, Thrill_Biscuit didn't disappoint with his gift - a box full of certified Mystic Timbers. I didn't get a very good picture of this; hopefully someone else can fill in with theirs.

DiamondAceExpress enjoyed her Haunt-themed gifts.

The most popular gift of the night was Toilet Tunes, appropriately gifted by pianoman. Quite literally, it's a keyboard to place in front of your toilet to play with your feet when nature calls.

I opened it first, and Mrs. No Chickens rushed to steal it as soon as her name was called. She took a video of the product in use, which someone will probably share in this thread.

More white elephant gifting.

Hoeter tried to steal Toilet Tunes a second time, from Mrs. No Chickens, but she successfully resisted.

Our group photo, with most of our faces visible. Lighting is a challenge in this area of the resort, and none of us had a camera with a good flash.

After the gift exchange, we said goodbye to Hoeter, Thrill_Biscuit, NoChickens, Mrs. No Chickens & Magenta Lizard. The rest of us went to ohiocolts' room to hang out and play games.

I have no idea why MDMC01 is sparking.

At some point, we went to sleep. Approximate bedtimes were 3:30am for my room (with exscream team & silver2005) and 1:00am for the other two rooms.

Breakfast the next morning at 8:30am was tasty.

Oldiesmann had to leave early, so we said goodbye to him. Then, it was time to check out of the rooms & get to the waterpark.

Goble was overdressed for the occasion; he decided to spend Saturday on MagiQuest & the arcade.

Another group photo, featuring Goki32, silver2005, me, ohiocolts & pianoman.

We all took a break from the waterpark around 2:00pm, as crowds started to pick up. Most of us spent time chatting, and the kids (& kids at heart) occupied the art table. Goki32 had to leave to get to his job at the Great Wolf Lodge snack bar.

IndyGuy4KI, his son Korbin & electricsun stopped by for about a half hour, then a few of us drove to the Landen LaRosa's to buy pizza for a late lunch. For Goble & me, it was our first time tasting LaRosa's that wasn't from Kings Island.

Overall, it's much better than the version served at the park. I really liked the hand-tossed crust, which was perfectly cooked and had a good flavor.

As the event was drawing to a close, ohiocolts, pianoman & I changed back into swimsuits to close out the night with water slides. silver2005 left the hotel to finish watching the UC/Butler basketball game, and exscream team, Goble, Beastie1980, her mom, and the rest of ohiocolts' family continued to chat around the lobby.

Here we are doing a good deed: clearing the mess of tubes that blocked egress from the waterslide runout pool by the end of the night.

Shooting some hoops.

The waterpark again closed at 9:00pm, and the three of us there got the last ride of the night on Hydro Plunge. Finally, it was time to say goodbye to everyone & drive home.

Thanks again everyone for being part of this year's holiday meetup. I'm already looking forward to next year's!

[pianoman]

I had a great time meeting everyone! Thank you everyone for a warm welcome into the group. Thanks again malem for telling me about this. I hadn't been to GWL in over 8 years so I was definitely overdue for a visit. I felt like I was a little kid again. I think it's safe to say that my white elephant gift got the biggest laugh. When I walked into Five and Below, toilet tunes was calling my name. Hopefully, I can do the party again next year.

[King Ding Dong]

Looks like fun. Although we didn't attend due to a scout camp out we ended up not attending that so Ryan could study for his first final exams. He didn't really need to but he was very anxious about them.

Hopefully next year will work out. Hope to be at KI opening weekend but Easter weekend is our fallback holiday trip to St. Louis if someone gets sick/weather bad over Christmas. Received an email from the school informing us someone in Kiefer's class has pneumonia. Ugg.

[IndyGuy4KI]

I am glad we were able to stop by and say hi! With a Christmas party and other things going on it was impossible to spend a lengthy time at GWL. I hope we can do it next time.

[MDMC01]

I'm not sure why I was sparkling, snow perhaps...

Also, as I said before, I had a blast last Friday night and looking forward to next year's GWL excursion (and Winterfest!)

[VortexBFForever]

I do hope I can come next year. Chances are I won't be dealing with swim meets next winter, plus my sister and I are planning to attend WinterFest. The party looks like so much fun!!

[jcgoble3]

Chances are I won't be dealing with swim meets next winter

 

Who in their right mind wants to swim in December anyway?

 

...oh wait.

[Elizabeth19]

I've never been to GWL but it looks awesome! Nor have I ever met any of you on here, but you seem pretty awesome too! Hopefully next year or within the next few years I can meet some of you!