WinterFest 2025

[DonHelbig]

9 minutes ago, Tr0y said:

More info on the New Year’s Eve Dinner Party at International Restaurant:

Tickets will be going on sale wednesday December 10th. Price is $130 without passholder discount. (Park admission not included.)

https://www.sixflags.com/kingsisland/events/new-years-eve-celebration

 

You can get a 1-day Walt Disney World ticket for less than $130. 

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

The price of $130 for an addition to the (largely free) event is cheaper than the price of 1 ticket to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, which starts at $169 and reaches a whopping $229 cost per person, not including tax. While the price is high, it seems to include an indoor VIP Lounge experience ($40 for one day at the outdoor lounge), unlimited drinks ($20 for the Single Day Drinks wristband), a special holiday dinner (around $50 at a restaurant outside the park), a midnight champagne toast, and views of International Street. That's at least a $110 value for an event that most will get into for free. If you add the $37 NYE online park ticket price on top of that, you get everything for less than the cost of one MVMCP ticket. Everyone can debate whether you actually get similar value out of each event elsewhere.

I won't defend the park's pricing structure too much, but I feel like you can get your money's worth out of this limited seating special occasion Dinner Party.

https://www.wdwmagic.com/events/mickeys-very-merry-christmas-party/news/16jul2025-2025-mickeys-very-merry-christmas-party-ticket-prices-full-breakdown-by-date.htm

[PKIVortex]

More info on the New Year’s Eve Dinner Party at International Restaurant:
Tickets will be going on sale wednesday December 10th. Price is $130 without passholder discount. (Park admission not included.)
https://www.sixflags.com/kingsisland/events/new-years-eve-celebration
 

The From $130 means 130 will be the cheapest price. Last year Prestige pass holders paid $130.

Sent from my SM-S936U using Tapatalk

[CedarPointer]

They finally released the food menu. https://www.sixflags.com/blog/kings-island-winterfest-food-guide

Strange that it says that the Grain & Grill turkey ball meal also includes all of the other entrees and sides, as does Coney BBQ. 

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

Something to note: Kings Island will not offer the Winter Wonderland Dinner in the International Restaurant for Winterfest 2025. The park confirmed this change in a comment on their Facebook page.

[Orion-XL200]

Very sad, though the menu the last couple of years weren't appetizing to me.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1C8qPYaVmz/

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

Opening night, here we come!

[CedarPointer]

No show times in the app, of course. But at least they had time to add yet another pop up ad begging people to buy a pass.

[Imperial79]

Have fun everyone who gets to go. 

[Diamondback_Is_King]

It looks as though the string lights are not up in Coney Mall. Don't they normally have them up for opening night?

[SonofBaconator]

It seemed somewhat dead for opening night, then again it is Black Friday, colleges were playing, and it was cold. Started to pick up as we were heading out after about 2 hours.

Something felt lacking. Not having the dark ride (Boo Blasters/Phantom Theater) open hurt the appeal a bit as most people would flock there for warmth… but that’s a temporary issue. I still argue the train needs a change- the lights along the ride were starting to show their age.

It’s a shame the park doesn’t have nearly as many dark rides at once did because something like tomb raider/the crypt or even the action theater would have been a welcomed ride for people trying to escape the frigid cold.

[CoastersRZ]

The Feshaus was packed when we went in there this evening.  I rally enjoyed the new Tinker`s Jingle Bell Ball show.  We also checked out the new Charlie Brown show which was standing room only.  Given the cold weather, the crowds seemed decent.  We arrived right at 5pm, and left shortly before the parade started.  The kiddos were getting quite cold after a ride on the Scrambler, so we headed out before catching the parade.  As always, the park looked beautiful.

We didn`t get to the train this evening, but I know last year the lights were looking kind of sad along the route.  I still miss the White Christmas Express from Winterfest 2005.  There weren`t as many lights along the route, but it had a story, and actors/somgers along the way (think a soldier returning home from WWII.  They should do something to spruce it up.

[SonofBaconator]

3 minutes ago, CoastersRZ said:

We didn`t get to the train this evening, but I know last year the lights were looking kind of sad along the route.  I still miss the White Christmas Express from Winterfest 2005.  There weren`t as many lights along the route, but it had a story, and actors/somgers along the way (think a soldier returning home from WWII.  They should do something to spruce it up.

You didn’t miss much, nearly identical to last year‘s. I think that there should be more lights along the route for people to look at instead of the 12 days of Christmas.

But as long as people ride it, I’m sure they see no effort in wanting to fix it.

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

7 hours ago, CedarPointer said:

No show times in the app, of course. But at least they had time to add yet another pop up ad begging people to buy a pass.

Do you have an Android or an iPhone? I've noticed that the show times only tend to show on my iPhone app while my group member (an Android user) does not have them in the app.

3 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

It seemed somewhat dead for opening night, then again it is Black Friday, colleges were playing, and it was cold. Started to pick up as we were heading out after about 2 hours.

Something felt lacking. Not having the dark ride (Boo Blasters/Phantom Theater) open hurt the appeal a bit as most people would flock there for warmth… but that’s a temporary issue. I still argue the train needs a change- the lights along the ride were starting to show their age.

It’s a shame the park doesn’t have nearly as many dark rides at once did because something like tomb raider/the crypt or even the action theater would have been a welcomed ride for people trying to escape the frigid cold.

I thought the park was not packed when looking at the midways, but any time we wandered into a building or went along the parade route there were already a ton of people packed in there. The Festhaus, Brewhouse, and Kings Island Theater[house] were all packed and standing-room-only. Enrique's had a line out the door with only one side open, but they were working (a little slower than I'd have liked) to open the other serving line. There was somehow already a mountain of ice under both dispensers on the soda fountains. It would be nice if someone could come around and do something to clear those out before it starts falling off and onto the floor.

 

My review of the night to come in the next post.

[super7]

The park looks absolutely great. There are even more lights this year than previously. There are lights in the trees. There are lights on the shrubs. There are plenty of live Christmas trees.

So far this year, I have been to both Dollywood and Busch Gardens and I think Kings Island does the lights better than either one of those. The lights at Kings Island are the most immersive being low on the shrubs at eye level and above you on trees.  The only park I have seen with better lights was Carowinds but they have destroyed that event thus year   

The only 2 things that I noticed missing this year are

the plastic (purposefully tacky) retro decorations in Tinseltown.   They have been replaced by the cartoony trees that were previously in Planet Snoopy

And none of the trees are up-lit this year on the train ride   That is definitely a downgrade.

A lot of  live Christmas trees are big 7/8 ft trees.   I do wish that since they go to all the effort to get these quality trees that they would light them properly with more than 50 lights on a tree

One thing I do not care for this year is the change in music.  Gone are most of the songs that Winterfest has played every year  and i associated with the event. Plus, the the music is being broadcast at rather low volume this year.

Finally Songs of the Nativity got a sitdown venue  

This also is the time of year when the food actually is good instead of just edible   
 

Overall this is a great event, and it is my favorite Christmas event because of the immersive lighting  

 

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

Winterfest 2025 has officially started!

A quick note: I normally try to use the special names (or close to those) for everything, but I won't do that here right now. My brain needs a little break after Thanksgiving  

I thoroughly enjoyed my night — despite the cold weather. We parked in some really good parking spots and proceeded through the left-most security gates. It was so nice to be able to use those. International Street looked beautiful in the daylight and felt nicely full of decorations/stuff. Kings Island sometimes has problems with having either too much or too little in an area so this was a nice balance. We stopped into KI Essentials and the KI Trading Co. and found a nice mix of Peanuts, Christmas/Winterfest, and general KI park merchandise. Definitely an improvement over the same-old stuff we saw in every store during the normal season. It was interesting to see how much I recognized as coming from either the Snoopy Boutique and the Emporium. The KI Trading Co. was especially interesting since they had some new metal can decorations ($7.99/each or 4 for $25). There was one for Orion, The Racer, The Beast, Diamondback, Adventure Express, Mystic Timbers, Flight of Fear (I think), Zodiac, Flying Eagles, and Firehawk. I'd have bought one if I wasn't on a no-buy phase right now. Sweet Spot's food offerings looked good. I noticed they haven't gotten another shipment of Boysenberry Jam though. The French Corner appeared to have two items available with the Dining Plan while the Cinnamon Pull-A-Part Bread did not have the dining plan indicator. Next, we watched the Tree Lighting Ceremony. I noticed the "lighter" prop was an ornament again, though I feel like the one from last year was larger and had the Winterfest logo on it. I miss the days of having the big light switch but understand that it was probably more relevant when Lykins Energy Solutions was an event sponsor. We also noted that Snow Flake Lake is itself missing a sponsor this year. In past years it's been sponsored by Kroger and/or Hershey, but this year it is without a sponsor. Winterfest feels like the event to have sponsors within (but not attached to the name), so I wonder what happened with those. The ceremony itself felt a little wobbly, but that was almost certainly because of it being opening night. Like a lot of KI shows they could've used some help with singing at different dynamics to allow the melody/solo parts to stand out, but again it was the first show of the year. My phone also showed that other shows also began at 6:30: I would've expected a little more showtimes offset from the Tree Lighting.

Our next stop was to the Artisan Village. There were a lot of wonderful vendors out there, be sure to pay them each a visit! I particularly enjoyed Theme Park Art by Allen's shed where he looked to be working on a new Marathon Turnpike painting. Those vendors put a lot of time and money into their work and would love for you to take home some pieces! I've also heard the vendor fee is higher for Winterfest, so every sale would help them make some of that money back. Go find some wonderful holiday gifts for your families!

After looking at showtimes we decided to go to Enrique's for the mac & cheese bar. The line was out the door and took about 30 minutes to get through. We noted that they were actively working to get the other serving line open, but there was no chain across the entrance to said closed line. The options looked to be about the same as last year and were well-enough sized portions. The soda fountains each had a massive amount of ice sitting on the drip tray. I wish the park would have someone go around to clear that out before it started to drop ice onto the floor. The dispenser also seemed to be out of spoons — a utensil some might want to use for their macaroni or tater tot concoctions. Proceeding out the door and over to the Festhaus was a little bit of a doozie because there is no door to go from the back of that enclosure to the Mercado patio. You have to go through the separately-enclosed bar area and then exit to the patio. The Festhaus was insanely packed full of guests with all tables full and more in lines and standing around to watch the show. I enjoyed Swingin' Into Christmas from the table we eventually found, though it would have been nice to have either some standing tables or at least someone to make sure the pathways were clear of strollers and other items. Next I went and used the restroom in Action Zone. I noticed that the big ice block with snow angel indents was missing while the inflatable snow globe was set up next to Coaster Connection. The restroom itself was nice and clean, but could've used some heat for the hand dryers or just paper towels instead. 

Moving to the other side of the park, we saw that Tinker's Jingle Bell Ball had long lines to go in both sets of doors. I'm a little curious now to see how Tinker's Toy Factory is doing down at Six Flags Over Texas with their 40th Anniversary "Largest Holiday In The Park Ever" event. It was a little darker as the night went on and International Street looked even more beautiful! The Boo Blasters signage are still up (contrary to our speculation) and no other exterior modifications seemed to be visible. The new Charlie Brown Christmas show and What The Dickens had show times listed on one sign and "NO SHOWS TODAY" listed on another. I hope they get those sorted out before too long. Brewhouse looked busy (as always) while Potato Works had no line.

The 12 Days of Christmas train ride had zero line as they were trying to fill every available spot on both trains. We got to the line right as the green engine was on its way out of the station and the blue engine immediately pulled into place. I really like the fact that they decorate the train cars for Winterfest with the garland and bows. Something I wish the park could/would do would be to either pre-record the train spiel so it's consistent and clear. We experienced some things that detracted from the overall train experience and it was scuffed to say the least. Our announcer said the spiel, although it was a little hard to hear for a couple of reasons. There were quite a few lights out throughout the entire ride with multiple individual display pieces completely dark. The music sequencing was off even more than in previous years. The two 12 Days of Christmas tracks were each cut off by the next song playing and we were onto Frosty the Snowman before we'd even made it to the 12th day. The Reindeer Stables display (on Fort Coney) had about half of the lights on. I was very sad to see that the Old Town was entirely dark with no decorations to be seen (seen at 1:40 in this video from 1982 https://youtu.be/czgAGxYrRWM?si=jWFqQqrPdiINxREG). The last odd thing about our train ride was that we were stopped beside Mystic Timbers for a few minutes while we waited for the other train to depart the station. I don't know if the trains were running fast or if filling each train was going slow, but it would be very nice to see timing improved in the near future so this doesn't happen too often.

To round out our night we headed back around the half loop of the park beginning in the Rivertown Arcade where I noticed that the Walking Dead game booth was off and that there was still a sign telling guests to go to the Coney Arcade to redeem tickets. This section of Rivertown is just begging for an indoor venue and some additional things to activate the space during Winterfest. Maybe they could look into a light show with trees in What's Left of Swan Lake like (I think) there was in one of the previous iterations of the event. We got to enjoy the second half of Jingle Jazz. I thought it used to face toward the Arcade instead of toward the pathway, but that might just be my memory. Shooting Star Lane was nice to see brought back, though I noticed that they removed some items that were present last year. The entrance gates on the Rivertown side were set up better than before. We saw that the movies they show were actually drastically shortened (justified) and cut out the entire part of It's A Wonderful Life where George Bailey never existed. It went straight from Clarence and George jumping in the river to George coming back from the edge.

I was fine with missing the parade since it seemed to be the same as in previous years. That being said, I hope it sticks around since it's a staple of the event! Overall, some things I'd like to see improved or changes that could be made:

• The park desperately needs more indoor seating spaces and indoor activities. Between the Festhaus, Brewhouse, and KI Theater(house) there are a lot of people trying to fit inside than those spaces can really hold. The International Restaurant buffet would probably help, but it can only hold about 160 guests. An indoor show venue in Rivertown and some kind of warming tent or another big indoor restaurant would go a long way to at least providing an illusion of choice. 
• The 12 Days of Christmas train ride has grown stale and its lights are failing. It needs some new life breathed into it. Leaving the Old Town without lights or decorations is a massively missed opportunity since there's documented evidence of how nice it could look! This staple of Kings Island's Winterfest deserves better than it has now and I hope it can be improved for 2026.
• Make Shooting Star Lane its own named area on the map. The area is so nicely decorated and is so different from the generic Winterfest Way (where now they only have the three religious setups that don't get lit until closer to/for their respective holidays). 
• Bring back Everest the Elf! I know he's probably broken but I want him back!
• Move Yuletide Follies to the International Showplace or put some benches in front of the Bandstand. Anything would be better than standing there the whole time. I can understand that part of the Tree Lighting Ceremony is that you should be able to turn around to see the Eiffel Tower light up, which is why I suggested using the other open venue. They can use the Bandstand as a little home base for the roaming band/characters and/or a spot for the school ensembles the park is offering a venue to play on.

Thanks for reading and Happy Winterfest!

[robintodd]

Went last night and had a fantastic time.  Here were the highlights:

1) The meatloaf burger at Juke Box was fantastic.  Unlike the other offerings they have a meatloaf burger displayed (unwrapped) and when you order they grab one out of the hot box behind the counter!  Definitely the same quality as when it was at the Brewhouse and it's nice to get fries, onion rings or both as a side.

2) Tinkers show is FANTASTIC (I saw the 2nd show, extremely long line(s)).  It is a broadway style "review" with fantastic sets and props.  Definetly more money was put into this than previous shows and is by FAR (in my opinion) the best Winterfest show they have ever had.  I put it on par with Phantom Theatre Encore.  So much energy and Santa no has a much bigger part in the show and the addition of Mrs. Clause is a welcome addition.  I got a little teary eyed when the did the "in the mood" number, it brought back such great memories of Woodchopper's Ball Revue.  Another favorite part was the TAP NUMBER!!!!  Nice to see a couple of nods to the choreography from the tap number in PT Encore.

3) The park looked fantastic.  Nice to see the Trolly not runnng along Coney Mall, always seemed to be more of a nucance than anything.

4) Cannot wait to try the 2 new Fry options at potato works.  They look really good.  I'm going to have to make extra trips down so get all the food options in this year (the turkey ball looks better than last year's version).

5) The parade was like last year and continues to be a must see for me.  The energy that is put into the event is amazing and I can't tell anyone involved with pulling it off how much I truely appreciate the effort.  

6) One noticable deletion was the replacement of the plastic old time figures in front of Antique Cars (I didn't see any on top of Juke Box either).  There are new lighted trees there so I'm afraid they won't make a comeback.  If they are no longer going to display/use them (I didn't see them anywhere else in the park).  I hope they sell them online, I would love to have one.

All in all it seems to be an upgrade from last year.  I'm sure there are things that may show up in the weeks to come (crossing fingers for the return of the plastic old time figures somewhere else in the park).  Well done to all involved and will be looking to return several times this season!!!!!!!!