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Kings Island Nominated for Favorite Holiday Park

IndyGuy4KI

By IndyGuy4KI,
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IndyGuy4KI KIC Immortal

IndyGuy4KI

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20 American theme parks pull out all the stops as they deck their halls–and attractions–for the holidays. Winter visitors enjoy parades, seasonal live entertainment, visits with Santa and plenty of holiday cheer. Vote for your favorite theme park holiday event once per day until voting ends on Monday, December 10 at noon ET. The 10 winning events, determined by your vote, will be announced on Friday, December 21. 

https://www.10best.com/awards/travel/best-theme-park-holiday-event/winterfest-at-kings-island-mason-ohio/

20171124_215808.jpg20171202_190120.jpg

 

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XGatorHead 8904 KIC Superstar

XGatorHead 8904

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2 hours ago, flightoffear1996 said:

I have only been to KI and Dollywood.  I didnt do any of the shows at Dollywood so my vote is for KI.

Please, if you ever go to Dollywood's Smoky Mountain Christmas again... and this goes for everyone reading this... see the shows!  Christmas in the Smokies, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and It's a Wonderful Life especially are phenomenal!  I cannot say enough good things about them.

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flightoffear1996 KIC Immortal

flightoffear1996

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21 hours ago, XGatorHead 8904 said:

Please, if you ever go to Dollywood's Smoky Mountain Christmas again... and this goes for everyone reading this... see the shows!  Christmas in the Smokies, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and It's a Wonderful Life especially are phenomenal!  I cannot say enough good things about them.

We are going to try to make it back this year but not sure if we are going to be able to squeeze it in or not.

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Shaggy KIC Double Platinum Member

Shaggy

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Really,  Holiday in the park at Discovery Kingdom is winning?

Talk about stacking the votes!

Everyone needs to give KI a nod... it's a stellar event.  Yes, Dollywood and SDC are deserving too... but I can tell you I attended Busch Garden's Christmastown just last week - and KI's Winterfest is superior BY A LONG SHOT!

VOTE!

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super7 KIC Expert

super7

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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.

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Shaggy KIC Double Platinum Member

Shaggy

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1 hour ago, super7 said:

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.

The awe of International Street is by far what makes Winterfest the standout to me... but it doesnt stop there.  I'm old school KI - as most everyone knows - and I measure today's KI by the standards the park set 30+ years ago...  I can honestly say, when I attended last year's Winterfest, it had every single bit of the old school feel.  I nearly cried because it was the first time I felt like the original charm of KI was back.  It made my year.

That having been said... there was one big dissapointment.

I saw the absolute MESS of a show in the KI Theater during last year's Winterfest with the Peanuts characters.  Frankly - as much as it pains me to say this - that was the worst show I've ever seen at a theme park - hands down. (And LOUDEST.... PLEASE SOMEONE TELL THE SOUND TECHNICIAN THAT LOUDER DOESNT MAKE IT BETTER.  I swear my ears were bleeding when I left the theater.)  I couldn't believe they used the best show facility to host such a ramshackle, thin show.  Tsk tsk...  The show in the KI Theatre should be as over-the-top as it can get... it should be so well produced that people would come to Winterfest just to see it.  That stage has at least a 30' fly space... spend the coin and make it all about the spectacle.... costumes, rent every holiday back-drop imaginable, use a live orchestra, add a turntable to the stage deck, make it snow, sing every holiday song known to man etc etc etc... Cut those &%#) Peanuts characters to a 5 minute segment for the kiddos (or preferably get rid of them from the show completely...) and make it literally puke Christmas all over the audience.  Trust me, they'd LOVE it.

As a side note - I recently attended Busch Gardens Williamsburg Christmastown.  They utilize their "Broadway-style" theater to house a nativity themed show called "Gloria."  It was terrific - a full live orchestra - professional singers, great visuals.  It was standing room only - I swear half that park's guests were crammed into that theater with us.  KI- take note - and pay a visit.  Although it doesnt do the show justice (recorded versions of live shows never do..) here's a video of the show from 2 years ago (they update it every year)...  remember - every bit of it is played and sung live... 

 

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CoastersRZ KIC Immortal

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I tend to agree that the Peanuts show in the KI theater is less than stellar.  All in all I love the entertainment at Winterfest, I have yet to see the Peanuts show in the KI theater this season.  The park already has another Peanuts show in Planet Snoopy.  It would be amazing if there was something along the lines of Dollywood`s Smoky Mountain Christmas in the KI Theater.  It just feels like the venue is under utilized with a Peanuts show with relatively simple sets. 

I love the amount of characters the park has roaming the midways and all the spontaneous photo ops/live entertainment options.  It would be nice if some of that transferred over to the summer month.  KI Clown band? We took my in laws with us last night, and my son LOVED the Four Drummers drumming show and loved seeing Santa in Tinker`s Toy Factory.

Judging by the amount of people that came out last night, Winterfest is here to stay and will only get bigger and better.  I have been three times so far, and keep wanting to go back.  It is simply a magical experience and very well done.  I would like to check out the events at the other Cedar Fair parks to see how they compare.

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BeeastFarmer KIC Legend

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WinterFest was a return to the "old" KI for me last year, with a current day twist.  I think the park is adding in nostalgic treats for us old school folks and look forward to seeing what they have planned down the road.  International Street was absolutely the most incredible thing I have seen at Kings Island.  When the lighting ceremony counts down, it actually feels like the buildings are beaming with pride and dancing.  It really is electric.

 

 

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disco2000 KIC Immortal

disco2000

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8 hours ago, CoastersRZ said:

I tend to agree that the Peanuts show in the KI theater is less than stellar.  All in all I love the entertainment at Winterfest, I have yet to see the Peanuts show in the KI theater this season.  The park already has another Peanuts show in Planet Snoopy.  It would be amazing if there was something along the lines of Dollywood`s Smoky Mountain Christmas in the KI Theater.  It just feels like the venue is under utilized with a Peanuts show with relatively simple sets. 

I love the amount of characters the park has roaming the midways and all the spontaneous photo ops/live entertainment options.  It would be nice if some of that transferred over to the summer month.  KI Clown band? We took my in laws with us last night, and my son LOVED the Four Drummers drumming show and loved seeing Santa in Tinker`s Toy Factory.

Judging by the amount of people that came out last night, Winterfest is here to stay and will only get bigger and better.  I have been three times so far, and keep wanting to go back.  It is simply a magical experience and very well done.  I would like to check out the events at the other Cedar Fair parks to see how they compare.

Keep in mind that most of the entertainment for KI at Winterfest is contracted out to a third party...Maybe people are just coming in to get warm LOL, but the theater is consistently packed for that show...it's a Peanuts show and a lot do enjoy it but I can see how some that could live without Peanuts characters could be turned off by it... - and Shaggy I would think some of the Festhaus all new music review shows were worse than this one...especially some that only ran one season...

Do keep in mind that part of the crowd for Sunday was to make up for the lousy weather and lack of attendance on Saturday...

But yes, I do hope Winterfest is here to stay and doesn't see the exponential attendance drop off it had during its original run!  It really is a great event that surpassed almost everyone's expectations!

 

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super7 KIC Expert

super7

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On ‎12‎/‎3‎/‎2018 at 12:40 PM, Shaggy said:

The awe of International Street is by far what makes Winterfest the standout to me... but it doesnt stop there.  I'm old school KI - as most everyone knows - and I measure today's KI by the standards the park set 30+ years ago...  I can honestly say, when I attended last year's Winterfest, it had every single bit of the old school feel.  I nearly cried because it was the first time I felt like the original charm of KI was back.  It made my year.

That having been said... there was one big dissapointment.

I saw the absolute MESS of a show in the KI Theater during last year's Winterfest with the Peanuts characters.  Frankly - as much as it pains me to say this - that was the worst show I've ever seen at a theme park - hands down. (And LOUDEST.... PLEASE SOMEONE TELL THE SOUND TECHNICIAN THAT LOUDER DOESNT MAKE IT BETTER.  I swear my ears were bleeding when I left the theater.)  I couldn't believe they used the best show facility to host such a ramshackle, thin show.  Tsk tsk...  The show in the KI Theatre should be as over-the-top as it can get... it should be so well produced that people would come to Winterfest just to see it.  That stage has at least a 30' fly space... spend the coin and make it all about the spectacle.... costumes, rent every holiday back-drop imaginable, use a live orchestra, add a turntable to the stage deck, make it snow, sing every holiday song known to man etc etc etc... Cut those &%#) Peanuts characters to a 5 minute segment for the kiddos (or preferably get rid of them from the show completely...) and make it literally puke Christmas all over the audience.  Trust me, they'd LOVE it.

As a side note - I recently attended Busch Gardens Williamsburg Christmastown.  They utilize their "Broadway-style" theater to house a nativity themed show called "Gloria."  It was terrific - a full live orchestra - professional singers, great visuals.  It was standing room only - I swear half that park's guests were crammed into that theater with us.  KI- take note - and pay a visit.  Although it doesnt do the show justice (recorded versions of live shows never do..) here's a video of the show from 2 years ago (they update it every year)...  remember - every bit of it is played and sung live... 

 

I totally agree with you about the Winterfest show in the KI Theatre, so I have to back peddle a little on my statement about the quality of Cedar Fair entertainment.     I wasn't thinking about that show when I made my previous statement.   I saw it once last year and then forgot about it.

Why are they using the best venue in the park for such a low quality show?  To me, the Peanuts characters are what absolutely ruins that show and takes it to such a low level.  They already have a Peanuts show in the Peanuts Showplace.  I agree, this should be a full scale broadway type show with a live orchestra.   No this lip syncing, corny character monstrosity that it is.

It also is a shame that some of the BEST vocalists that the park has ever had are performing in an awful venue with the goats, donkeys, no seating and a sound system that has been cutting out, while the KI theatre is being used for that awful show and International Showplace is unused. 

 

Gloria at Busch is an amazing show.  They are close enough to NYC that they always have tremendous vocalists in that show, plus the live orchestra.   They also had  show called Miracles but ended it in 2016.  That one was such a beautiful production with 4 female vocalists and ballet style choreography, but they replaced it with a ow production acapella show last year.   

 

 

The crowd on Saturday 12/8 was huge despite a high of around 25ish when the park opened.   THAT is a great sign for Winterfest.

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BeeastFarmer KIC Legend

BeeastFarmer

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5 minutes ago, CoastersRZ said:

I am curious, what kind of live entertainment offerings does Knott`s have for their Knott`s Merry Christmas event?  Do they have this show, or do they utilize a different Peanuts themed show?

https://www.knotts.com/play/merry-farm/attractions-shows

 

Looks like they have three The Peanuts shows.

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