KD Winterfest & BGW Christmas Town

[Tr0y]

First trip to KD’s Winterfest and BGW Christmas Town.

 

Day 1 Winterfest:

Arrived in Doswell Sunday night at rope drop. Upon entry I noticed how much less grand international street appeared compared to the sister park Kings Island. It wasn’t much because there was less decorations but because the decorations and lighting on the buildings are obscured from view due to the large trees along the fountain. After taking in what was viewable from international street I made my way to handle the first order of business, dinner. In doing so I encountered the longest line at the park for the night at Firehouse BBQ. They offered their take on a Christmas Platter with a variety of options for protein. As usual I couldn’t say no to brisket. I got my plate and was surprised by how generous the portions were. The food was good and after loosening my belt buckle by a couple notches I made my way to my first ride of the night, Twisted Timbers. The lineup for coasters was few but was expected being that it is Winterfest. The other coasters being available were Dominator and Apple Zapple. After a couple cold rides I ended up taking a break with a hot chocolate or should I say hot water with chocolate flavoring. Although they did add complementary whip cream upon request. Which helped lessen the cheapness of the beverage. Afterwards it got my fix on nostalgia with riding the Diet Coke of Flying Eagles, and Antique Cars.  The Antique Cars route was themed 12 days of Christmas with identical props and lights. I was actually a bit hyped for this being that now I’d have the control of the speed of the ride and with that ability be able to sync the lights and the music. This was short lived being that I got an OG car that was loud, and the kid behind me road my tail. It was good idea in thought but I digress. All in all I was impressed with decorations and lighting throughout the opened sections of the park. Although the large trees hindered viewing from international street, they did take advantage decorating abundance of large trees throughout the park. Which was really nice.
 

Day 2 Christmas Town:

As usual I arrived at rope drop at BGW. What surprised me was how much busier this park was for a weekday compared to KD the night before. Made my way to what normally is the longest line at the park being Darkoaster. BGW had the entire park opened, with only 3 of there coasters not running: Griffon, Apollos Chariot, and Tempesto. I was amazed by this being that BGW is only an hour away from KD, so the weather change wasn’t very different. Being how busy the park was I didn’t make much time to watch any shows, and mainly focused on riding rides and taking in the decorations around the park. Decorations was the most disappointing thing about Christmas Town. The towns were decently decorated but the main decoration they used around the park is a 4 foot tall tree with lights on it. They littered the park with them, however the shops were nicely done. Another disappointment was the train ride, there was very boring decorative lightning around the track, outside of those 4 foot tall Christmas trees. They did have heated party tents set up with tables inside for people to eat, which was nice. I finished my night doing a marathon on Darkoaster being it only had a 10minute wait.

 

In summary, I thought KD had better Christmas Decor than BGW, yet the ride lineup was much better at BGW. 

[IndyGuy4KI]

Thanks for the PTR! I enjoyed your perspective of the two parks. 

[BoddaH1994]

KD: If you want to have more rides open for Winterfest then you need to expect them to not be ready for Opening Day next year.

BGW: Hold my beer.