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Kings Island Announces Food and Wine Festival for 2024


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3 minutes ago, robintodd said:

While we're at it might as well bring back Grad Nights :D

Isn't it a little bit of a mixed message when you're installing more "family friendly" rides and at the same time increasing the ability to have inebriated people walking around the park.  (Nothing like spending a day with Drunk Uncle at KI :) :) :))

Maybe the'll sereve a "Dirty Martini" at Pig Pen's Mess Hall :) 

"Drunk Uncle Brawls" will be occurring on the I-Street stage at the top of every hour. There will also be alcohol and side dishes served during this show so everyone can get in on the fun! ***The Park is not responsible for any injuries or the likes for participation

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23 hours ago, teenageninja said:

If you can afford to get drunk at Kings Island, you probably aren't the type to cause trouble.

Now Halloween Haunt when the parking lots garbage cans are full of $10 handles of vodka and cases of beer, different story.

Eh. From my experience in my line of work, money ain't got nothin' to do with how proper a person acts. Whether you're choosing to spend $13-20 per drink or $2-5 a drink, drunk and stupid can be applicable to anyone regardless of financial status. Especially on a hot day in the summer sun. Alcohol can't replace water and some folks forget that.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The setup is looking pretty nice so far throughout Tower Gardens with the tables and small Grand Carnivale-style tents, along with the decor in Oktoberfest to tie that area into the event as well.

It will be interesting to see how guests react to the offerings.

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On 5/20/2024 at 7:57 PM, rlentless said:

With all the alcohol it is time to bring back the "Half Pint Brawlers".

It sounds like you're suggesting a fun and entertaining addition! The "Half Pint Brawlers" brought a unique and exciting energy. With all the alcohol flowing, their return could add some lively and memorable moments. Let's hope for some epic matches! Cheers!

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I think they actually should keep this area “reserved” for this type of event. It lends itself really well to this and honestly gives the area more  “ROI” potential that allows them to justify better landscaping and furnishing. I don’t think it ALWAYS needs to be festival central, but it will be interesting to see if they leave a lot of this as is and roll into CARNIVALE. They could just keep it on into fall with a “BBQ AND BLUES” or other fall type festival, then just add the hooks on toP of the red trusses and wrap them as candy canes. 

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The Food & Wine Festival could be a preview of the summer events that might replace Grand Carnivale at some point soon. Worlds of Fun and Dorney Park are both offering Summer Nights events instead of Grand Carnivale this season, so Kings Island might do something similar next year.

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8 hours ago, Timchat2 said:

The Food & Wine Festival could be a preview of the summer events that might replace Grand Carnivale at some point soon. Worlds of Fun and Dorney Park are both offering Summer Nights events instead of Grand Carnivale this season, so Kings Island might do something similar next year.

KI was actually originally supposed to introduce a Summer Nights event in 2020. I believe it was going to be in Action Zone, but Covid put it on hold and the park never brought it back. Same with the Island Nights they did in Soak City which idk why that hasn't been brought back.

Another event I would personally watch is Carowinds Summer Music Festival and if it is a success I could potentially see the other CF parks with these concert venues do something like it only if CF is willing to invest big money into updating these venues as Timberwolf is not anywhere near as nice as the Carowinds Palladium. 

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  • 5 weeks later...

WOW If only Kings Island put this much thought into promoting their product and special limited-time events like this and the Food and Wine Festival that got next to no mention outside of their own social channels

 

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24 minutes ago, brenthodge said:

WOW If only Kings Island put this much thought into promoting their product and special limited-time events like this and the Food and Wine Festival that got next to no mention outside of their own social channels

 

Once upon a time they had someone that did. 

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52 minutes ago, brenthodge said:

WOW If only Kings Island put this much thought into promoting their product and special limited-time events like this and the Food and Wine Festival that got next to no mention outside of their own social channels

 

Back the truck up... We posted photos and a video on our social for Food and Wine. Along with a video.

 

 

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Welcome back @gforce1994 did Mr. Showalter ask you to post this?

 

To be fair, @brenthodge said "If only Kings Island put this much thought into promoting their product..."

 

While yes, there was coverage, that doesn't mean the park really promoted it. OOO yay, people talked about it at Coastermania? You mean enthusiasts talking about things happening at the park, not passive people who would want/need a reason to visit the park. And Columbus region? Don't say that so fast. I live in the region, never saw it on the news, a quick google search under "news" nothing on the first 6 pages from a Columbus news affiliate.  

Has anything news worthy (aside from the Banshee incident), about the park made it outside of Ohio on a news site? 

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2 hours ago, disco2000 said:

A one off message in May along with a bigger story is not coverage. They needed to have coverage of it actually opening. Stories on it. Chef Perez on the morning shows. Wine connoisseurs blogging about it. 

That would have happened in the past.

No effort was put into this. 

Having the 200 Followers & Under Club out (like they did for the construction tour) isn't meaningful coverage. 

That’s why it failed. Then again, those cruises ain’t go on themselves on the event’s opening day, right @gforce1994?

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3 minutes ago, Orion-XL200 said:

Welcome back @gforce1994 did Mr. Showalter ask you to post this?

 

To be fair, @brenthodge said "If only Kings Island put this much thought into promoting their product..."

 

While yes, there was coverage, that doesn't mean the park really promoted it. OOO yay, people talked about it at Coastermania? You mean enthusiasts talking about things happening at the park, not passive people who would want/need a reason to visit the park. And Columbus region? Don't say that so fast. I live in the region, never saw it on the news, a quick google search under "news" nothing on the first 6 pages from a Columbus news affiliate.  

Has anything news worthy (aside from the Banshee incident), about the park made it outside of Ohio on a news site? 

IMG_6214.jpeg

 

Here’s one of many articles outside the Cincinnati market that mentioned it. 

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3 hours ago, disco2000 said:

So by that logic, if I’m looking for something to do… wonder to myself, “Hey I wonder if Kings Island has something around food… and wine?  I’ll type those words into google and see what comes up” I’ll get hundreds of articles? That’s putting a lot on the average  bored Cincinnati region resident to randomly search those words isn’t it?  

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21 hours ago, brenthodge said:

So by that logic, if I’m looking for something to do… wonder to myself, “Hey I wonder if Kings Island has something around food… and wine?  I’ll type those words into google and see what comes up” I’ll get hundreds of articles? That’s putting a lot on the average  bored Cincinnati region resident to randomly search those words isn’t it?  

You said there was barely a mention outside of park social media about the events and I simply pointed out that isn't the case.  I am not referring to quality of content, but it was being talked about on hundreds of sites.

I saw about the wine festival in Reach magazine, emails from the park, Tower Topics, KIC forum, daily on the season pass facebook site that has what over 70,000 members on it (that is the probably the best way to get word out and attendance and even the last week people on their were saying they didnt know about it), KI socials, and other sites.

What is your solution - maybe have Chad knock on doors everyday reminding people of it and Mike calling people everyday reminding them of the events?  Should the phone calls be personal, actual calls, or the recorded message like I get from the presidential candidates?  Tony being a Uber service bringing people to the park?

Even if they did the events Ryan talked about, people would still not know it is going on.  You cannot reach 100%.  Having it run on ads in France wouldn't have ticked the attendance meter nor helped the bored Cincinnati region you mention..

If someone is bored and looking for things to do, most would type in Google  "what's going on this weekend in Cincinnati" to find out what's going on. An ad that ran on Monday is long forgotten. 

And if those that run in the wine and cheese circle were only interested in those types of events, well they would be the ones doing searches for wine festivals in cincinnati.

Even when people get emails and information overload, they still don't know about it.  The park could certify letter it to people and they would ignore it or forget about it by the time the event happens.

Just look at Facebook at all the daily questions asked that those people were clearly provided the information and either ignored it or forgot.  As an example, how many times do we see "what time are the fireworks?"  How long has KI been doing fireworks...

 

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On 7/2/2024 at 9:21 PM, disco2000 said:

You said there was barely a mention outside of park social media about the events and I simply pointed out that isn't the case.  I am not referring to quality of content, but it was being talked about on hundreds of sites.

I saw about the wine festival in Reach magazine, emails from the park, Tower Topics, KIC forum, daily on the season pass facebook site that has what over 70,000 members on it (that is the probably the best way to get word out and attendance and even the last week people on their were saying they didnt know about it), KI socials, and other sites.

What is your solution - maybe have Chad knock on doors everyday reminding people of it and Mike calling people everyday reminding them of the events?  Should the phone calls be personal, actual calls, or the recorded message like I get from the presidential candidates?  Tony being a Uber service bringing people to the park?

Even if they did the events Ryan talked about, people would still not know it is going on.  You cannot reach 100%.  Having it run on ads in France wouldn't have ticked the attendance meter nor helped the bored Cincinnati region you mention..

If someone is bored and looking for things to do, most would type in Google  "what's going on this weekend in Cincinnati" to find out what's going on. An ad that ran on Monday is long forgotten. 

And if those that run in the wine and cheese circle were only interested in those types of events, well they would be the ones doing searches for wine festivals in cincinnati.

Even when people get emails and information overload, they still don't know about it.  The park could certify letter it to people and they would ignore it or forget about it by the time the event happens.

Just look at Facebook at all the daily questions asked that those people were clearly provided the information and either ignored it or forgot.  As an example, how many times do we see "what time are the fireworks?"  How long has KI been doing fireworks...

 

To be clear, there was no episode on Tower Topics on the Food & Wine Festival. We explain why during this episode’s listener questions:


https://youtu.be/98kYgg9XAz0

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It wasn’t a “food” festival at all. It was a few snacks that “went with wine”. After one visit, and a tiny sip of wine, with no way to try multiples without paying full price since you had to get your full flight at one booth with no “tasting card” to make it feel more “festival like” I was pretty much done first weekend.
Nothing inspiring to eat.

It was the wrong time of year - too hot- and would’ve made sense pre-memorial day to drive attendance when the park is quiet and closes early anyway. 

Tower gardens looked GREAT - wasted afford on the part of landscaping and event decor. Food operations was bad and didn’t give a compelling reason to come, Marketing/PR dropped the ball and didn’t hype any reason  to WANT to come (maybe the uninspired food wasn’t worth their effort).

The whole thing felt like an assignment in school you have to do where you find a lot of clip art and spend a little time on it to make it LOOK pretty- hoping the teacher won’t read it and find out you didn’t do any research and had nothing really compelling to say. 

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