Leaderboard

^The kids Halloween stuff was in Soak City for many years, not just one year, and was well received by guests... While I love the ideas proposed, the same reasons they moved Halloween stuff back to main park would be an even bigger driver for Winterfest - how many million lights would they need to do so in Soak City so that people don't complain? What about entertainment over there? Do you remove lights from main park to place over at Soak City? Never say never, but it seems unlikely Soak City will be used as they still have enough area to expand with in main area and better crowd control.

The Disney Dish had a great discussion on Tariff impact on a ride. This was from a few months back. But basically park and manufacturer negotiate a price. The threat of a tariff happens. The park says what’s changing. The manufacturer has to go to their suppliers to find their new price(and do the suppliers have to check their prices etc), then they set their price. They send it to the park then board votes. But if the tariffs change again, then the process can start over.

Fall and the Halloween season are fast approaching. We've seen some movement for Halloween Haunt as Plague Productions has been working on a new maze in the old Club Blood/Blackout building, as well as items being moved out of The Crypt's building. 2025 is set to be Kings Island's 25th year hosting what has been called one of the scariest events in the Cincinnati area. Carowinds just released a teaser video for this year's SCarowinds on Facebook. It features a red candle lit against a dark background with an eerie rendition of happy birthday playing over it. Some audio distortions interrupt the music as well. The teaser ends with the candle being blown out and "25 YEARS OF FEAR" and #SCarowinds25 coming up on the screen. The caption on the post says "A party to die for..." Could this mean anything for Kings Island as well? Both KI and Carowinds will be celebrating this anniversary this Fall, and it would be wonderful to see Haunt get some more love as well. I sure hope the event delivers well this year! Link below for the post on Carowinds' page. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1GgEKhRBXo/

Not sure if Island Smokehouse and Coconut Cove Cafe have heat (know they have AC but not sure about the heating capability - and then there also has to be heat in a few sets of restrooms). Think building heating may be the biggest investment cost issue with trying to expand Winterfest into Soak City. The tubing hill currently in Action Zone could be relocated to the wave pool similar to how Kentucky Kingdom has their sledding hill in their wave pool. Move the vendor booths around the Tower over to Soak City to create the village (which opens up the very congested area currently around the Tower) and perhaps move Santa from Rivertown over to Soak City, maybe in a temporary heated “tent”. Add some lights in the trees and a few large garland trees to complete the village. It would be exciting if the park could pull this off, but very doubtful considering budget and personnel cutbacks happening in the new Six Flags environment. My biggest wish is that KI would bring back the KI singing penguin puppets to Winterfest 3.0 which were part of Santa’s Toy Factory at the original Winterfest as well as in Winterfest 2.0 (then got dropped when Tinker’s Toy Factory took over for the now Winterfest 3.0) - they were always a hit with all the kids and even adults. They still may be around someplace in the theater in deep storage and their soundtrack is likely in the archives.

Another thing I wanted to add to this is that I feel Kentucky Kingdom might be a "safer" park for families compared to Kings Island. Even with the chaperone policy in place, it's not uncommon to see young, unruly guests causing problems for people visiting Kings Island. I know it's difficult for parks to control what types of people visit their parks, but it doesn't really seem like there's enough security to help enforce the chaperone policy. I've visited Kentucky Kingdom multiple times a year and for my recent visits, you can find security stationed all throughout the park, even on days where crowds are light. In addition to that, the type of troublemakers you would typically see at Kings Island aren't nearly as prevalent at Kentucky Kingdom. Personally speaking if I was a parent, I would probably feel a lot comfortable taking my kids to Kentucky Kingdom over Kings Island unless the latter could better enforce their security measures.

How about a Christmas scavenger hunt? With hidden pictures of Christmas images scattered around the park, possibly with a checklist, I think that would be fun for the entire family!

Use Soak City as a new area called "Santa's Village." And this will sound weird but they could use the slides that don't enter pools (so excluding Tropical Plunge, Zoom Flume, Thunder Falls, Paradise Plunge, and Riverbank Slideout) as regular drained slides.

let me rephrase how I said that. I don’t care about the theft because KI doesn’t care. The self serve pop stands were installed to save money. They do that to offer the image of choice but ultimately it’s less people needed to fill drinks. So again to stop the theft they limit the options. They could hire someone (as stated it’s obviously cheaper to let theft happen than stop it) but the chain appears to be suffering from issues across the country. Times are tough or money is hard or kids will be kids. Theft has always happened. It’s how do you prevent it and KI appears to have chosen the least costly way (and most inconvenient for the rest of us)

What ideas do you have for future Winterfest events? 1. I’d like to see BLSC plaza used for a model train display 2. How about putting an “ice castle” meet and greet on the “mountain” also know as Flight Commander pad? 3. WindSeeker Tower could be used for a light show, perhaps Christmas tree number two. 4. Of course SR&R could operate with an awesome light package. 5. Theme the back of Coney Mall to Rivertown as the Ice Kingdom with those white jeweled lights like the trees in Ice Zone. (They are beautiful!) 6. Perhaps an area dedicated to the Nut Cracker Ballet. There are so many things they could add. I’m excited for next year!

I also doubt that Soak City would be a candidate for this treatment. At the rate things are going, either it would be: 1. So poorly done ( champagne taste on a beer budget) that it would be a joke, or 2. WinterFest is cancelled in total. From what I've heard, WinterFest was very beloved at Kings Dominion and we know what happened there.

I really like the idea of incorporating some of Soak City into Winterfest! There could be some issues with getting guests to go out there though. There was one year where The Great Pumpkin Fest (or some variation on the name) was held in Soak City, and it did not go well enough to warrant keeping the location for future events. Maybe it could work if there were less of a walk between the dry park and Soak City -- like how it is between Carowinds and Carolina Harbor -- but not really with the current layout. Having a much better train display should also be on the Winterfest priority list. I've heard that it used to be themed to "Home For The Holidays" back in either Winterfest 1.0 or 2.0, and that sounds like an awesome way to change things up a little! It apparently had some displays of soldiers and people coming home for Christmas with some other fun displays as well. Anything to make that loop a little more tolerable in the cold. Otherwise, just don't use it for Winterfest and turn it into a haunted train or trail maze for Haunt! It could even be a premium experience if the park wanted to cut down on crowds that would go for it.

Idk how possible this would be, but theming the train ride around "The Polar Express" would honestly be awesome if done right. Then have a stop in Soak City where that could be where kids could meet Santa and stuff like @Winterfestguy proposed above.

What happens when a regional giant starts to slow down? For years, Kings Island has been a dominant amusement park in the Midwest, drawing millions from Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Columbus, Louisville, and beyond. But since the debut of Orion and the pandemic in 2020, the park’s strategy has noticeably shifted. Instead of major thrill investments, we’ve seen smaller additions like Adventure Port, Snoopy’s Soap Box Racers, and RiverRacers. At the same time, prime areas like The Vortex plot and Crypt building remain unused. Could the park’s focus on family offerings—and the merger signal a pause in high-thrill investment? And if so, what does that mean for the rest of the region? Could Holiday World and Kentucky Kingdom step in to fill that gap? Both parks are strategically located and serve overlapping markets with Kings Island—especially in Southern Indiana and Kentucky. If either park were to invest more aggressively in their lineups, would it be enough to shift public attention? Could increased competition begin pulling guests from markets that have historically defaulted to Kings Island? If Kings Island continues to slow-roll major thrill ride development, guests may start to ask themselves: why wait for something big when another park is already stepping up? So the real question becomes: who will seize this moment? Kings Island isn’t going away, but if it goes eight years without a major thrill ride, its grip on the region could loosen. Will Holiday World or Kentucky Kingdom use this time to reposition themselves as more than just local alternatives? Could one bold investment change the way thrill-seekers see the region? In a market driven by momentum and excitement, now might be the perfect time for smaller parks to step into the spotlight. Is this the time to strike? Absolutely. The only question left is: who will do it first?

It’s interesting how often Kentucky Kingdom is overlooked when discussing regional theme park influence. When you look at a map, Louisville and Lexington are only about an hour apart, making Kentucky Kingdom the most accessible park for a huge chunk of Kentucky’s population. Compare that to Kings Island, which is closer to a two-hour drive from Lexington - not exactly ideal for a casual day trip with kids. There’s no denying Kings Island has the edge in ride variety and overall scale, but for the average family of four, Kentucky Kingdom might be the better value. Season passes are usually more affordable, parking is simpler, and you can go multiple times without it becoming a major logistical effort. For many Kentuckians, Kings Island becomes more of a “special occasion” or once-a-summer visit, while Kentucky Kingdom is the go-to for more frequent outings. It may not grab headlines the same way, but Kentucky Kingdom probably holds a larger share of the Kentucky market than people realize — especially in that Louisville-Lexington corridor.

An issue I could see rearing its ugly head would be that a lot of the higher-up people who knew what they were doing at Kings Island have either been laid off or moved to higher positions in the Six Flags chain. Unless those people come back to the park, or new ones come in that care about more than just profit, the park may not look as good as everyone would like. A new KECO would be very nice. It could bring parks like Canada's Wonderland, Carowinds, Kings Dominion, Fiesta Texas, and Kings Island (and more) back into the "theme park with awesome thrill rides" category. Too bad Six Flags would probably never let Kings Island go unless it were pried from their cold, dead, corporate hands.

KI being able to reinvest all of its own profit back into the park would be such an interesting scenario that I'd be all for. No debt, no obligation to shareholders, just being able to do what benefits the guests and the park long-term. While being a part of a larger chain does have its resources and benefits, a chain burdened with debt and private equity looking over the shoulder seems to do us as a park more harm than good.

^While that all makes sense, sadly, until they estimate the loss is greater than the cost of loss prevention, they will let it continue. Speaking of, did you see the FB post where someone was calling out a mom that had her kid steal pizza at Festhaus and the comments were either trolling and/or thieves themselves as so many jumped on the OP and telling her to mind her own business and it is just a pizza. This is a business, not a charity. Theft is theft and will result in higher prices.

Also, for the Kentucky Flyer / SkyCatcher thing, I think the best course of action for those attractions would probably have them rethemed to fit in with the water park. Give SkyCatcher a parasailing theme and Kentucky Flyer a surfing or hurricane theme. Yes, I know it sounds weird to have two dry-park attractions themed to fit in a water park. Yes, I know SkyCatcher could probably be relocated quite easily to have it placed somewhere more logical in the park. However, I don't think Herschend is going to want to invest in relocating Kentucky Flyer. Coasters, especially wooden coasters, aren't as easy to relocate as something like a flat ride. It's definitely not impossible, given that Kentucky Flyer is a smaller-scale wooden coaster, but I'm not sure if the park really wants to go through the trouble of doing that just to make the water park more cohesive.

Kentucky Kingdom's 2026 attraction has already been "revealed" online from shipping documents. I will post it in the spoiler below for those who don't want to be spoiled.

KK is definitely planning something for 2026 (there are teasers for it that specifically say Spring of 2026 on them). And my hunch is, it'll be something big. Either a coaster or another significant themed area, because the thing about Discovery Meadow is that most of its attractions are rides that were moved from the front of the park to the back. But the byproduct of that is the front feels barren. Everything from the main gate to the Lightning Run queue has been absolutely GUTTED. Lots of real estate for either one big attraction or several small ones. The park has a lot of room for growth. There's all that newly-empty space in the front of the park, plus the old T3/Raging Rapids area which isn't even accessible anymore. At this point the most difficult problem to solve seems to be that Kentucky Flyer and SkyCatcher are just in a super awkward location. I don't know how you solve that problem without taking some real estate away from the water park or relocating the picnic grove and building that plot out into a proper midway.

Yeah, this is a big deal for me as I'm diabetic. Lately, a lot of establishments -- including KI, as my experience yesterday at the drink stand across from Kill-Mart -- have been messing up the fountains, so a Diet Coke pours a Regular. To the people who clean and fill these machines, the mistake seems small but for me, a Regular Coke can do more damage to my BSL than eating half a Shaq-A-Roni, so I'm finding myself defaulting to water instead for peace of mind. Kinda hard to do that when many of these fountains don't even carry water.

Are Snickers bars on the dining plan?

^as Terpy used to say, they already have your money and must figure the money made by non drink passes isn't enough to justify more open.

Funny you mention that! I've been thinking about this specific topic and thought it would be super cool for KI to get a ground-up RMC in the Timberwolf/Skyflyer/Bat plots with the lift hill rising above the back seats of Timberwolf and turning then dropping into the valley where the stage is for an incredible drop. Depending on how it was done you might even be able to get a pretty tall drop without needing such a high lift hill, similar to Orion's situation.

Inter-park competition is a favorite topic for enthusiasts, but it's just not that important for a park like KI. The siphoning off of a few thousand people in Louisville and maybe Indianapolis is not that important on the grand scale. Even at the height of the coaster wars, PKI and CP were competing for thrill seekers in the Columbus market and maybe some double visitors from outside the typical market who might like to go see both. It's not KI vs. the other parks; it's KI vs. any other form of entertainment.

I'm just going to be blunt. It would be a true embarrassment for Kings Island if they had to delay the 2026 family thrill attraction while Kentucky Kingdom opens their Vekoma SFC no problem. I could see that scenario swaying a lot of families in the KY/IN demographic to buy season passes for Kentucky Kingdom instead if Herschend does their marketing right.

Both KK and HW have sizeable and newly cleared areas as well, the later we know is getting something in 2027.

Both KI, KK and HW are targeting the same audience: family. Who executes better? Currently, in my opinion, not KI. Look at Good Gravy vs Soapbox Racer. Look at Discovery Meadow vs Adventure Port. ( AP was very well done, mind you, it's just tiny compared to DM)

I'd vote against turning an existing Haunt maze into a Winterfest attraction. Maybe if the maze were moved elsewhere in the park, but Haunt cannot stand to lose another maze (and needs at least two more as it is). The lines are already far too long most nights with only six mazes and two shows. If we were to get a new Winterfest attraction like Entertrainment Junction had, I'd love to see it go either in the other side of Action Theater or take over another space whose occupants can be moved elsewhere.

I'd say retheme one of the Haunt Mazes to a Christmas themed maze, to go along with WinterFest, not scary but something for everyone of all ages to enjoy!

I was looking back at my 2017 Winterfest map (I miss the paper maps) and think it would be awesome for the park to look into: Temporarily enclosing the Skyline Pavilion seating area, similar to what they do at Coney Bar-B-Que and Chicken Shack. Bringing back shows like "'Twas The Plight Before Christmas" and "What The Dickens?!" the former was in the aforementioned Skyline Pavilion while the latter was in the Peanuts Showplace Moving the Coca-Cola Polar Bear Plaza to Action Zone. Renaming Adventure Port for Winterfest so it fits better into the event. Adding a big tent or two (or building some buildings) for people to warm up inside. Canada's Wonderland has one of these and really needs more as well. Other Six Flags parks have some additional area names (RIP Kings Dominion's Winterfest) that I think Kings Island could pull from. Winterfest doesn't necessarily need to be revitalized, but something to shake it up a little could be fun and refreshing!

As long as our big Christmas tree doesn't look like this one I saw at Carowinds...I think we're good IMG_4037.MOV

I'll be there! I currently have on long pants, jeans, a long shirt, t-shirt, sweatshirt and I will be weating a coat, plus hat and mittens. However, even with all of this on, my face was still cold when I was shoveling ~15 minutes ago. Dress Warm!

I’d love to see more indoor or covered/heated areas. We missed a close call with very good weather this year, but tonight (the last night of the event) is going to be frigid! Any way to hop from indoors to indoors along the way would be fantastic! Whose going tonight? It’s bound to be incredibly beautiful with the snow covering the midways!!!

A christmas peanut dark ride New years celebration.

Add some garland and ornaments to the first level of the Eiffel Tower, kind of like how they did with Haunt this year. And if they could, have one side of The Racer running.

Two things, both regarding the giant Eiffel Tree. brighter lights on the star ease up on all of the lighting changes.. I get that the light strands have a billion or so functions. choose 5, let them go longer And perhaps a New Years Eve event. other than that- for a park that is notorious for "over-hype / under-deliver"- this one exceeded all expectations. Well done, and hopefully an indication of things to come!

I actually love this idea! With all the things they do for the haunt, what about a walk-through Christmas Carol...kid friendly...but almost like a play of a Christmas Carol except you walk through it. Anything extra they could add for indoor entertainment would be a plus!

It would be wonderful if they could open them, but I think they can only operate with higher temperatures. I would love to see a “lodge” type spring-up building in the woods behind either the Crypt building or behind The Racer with comfortable setting around a Roaring fireplace where guests can enjoy an atmosphere similar to the Reds Grill sing along and watch it snow from the lodge windows. All would be Comfy and cozy having spiked drinks and singing carols.

I'd like to see both sides of Racer open for WinterFest. I'd also like to see Woodstock Express open. I mean most of Planet Snoopy is already open.

KI closes platforms with anything additional on the Eiffel Tower. The higher platform is closed during Haunt when they have the eyes up, and they closed the Eiffel Tower two weekends before Haunt ended because they were starting to string up the lights for Winterfest. With that in mind, it's highly unlikely that the Eiffel Tower will be open during Winterfest or late Haunt in the upcoming seasons. Edit: any changes to either Drop or WindSeeker for Winterfest would likely also result in premature closings.

Winterfest has been outstanding this year, with so much to see and do. Honestly, my only recommendations for next year are these: 1) If they are going to bring "Everest the Elf" back, at least give him the proper deep ("Al/Haunt) voice! 2) Viking Fury and Shake, Rattle and Roll could possibly be added to the rides lineup and 3) If they are going with the new 4-10 hours, maybe push ahead some of the show times to match this.

I think there should be an exclusive spot for Scrooge and his fans like me! Bah Humbug! But I will say this, Winterfest has helped diminish the holiday blues, just a little.

Great idea! I could see several “new years” band stand venues throughout the park with live band performers like in nyc with a “ball drop” from the WindSeeker and have a year on top of the tower. Who knows, maybe next year...

How about doing a New Year's countdown event with fireworks at midnight or maybe do it at 10 instead for the kids like the zoo does? I mean, it's not like Kings Island doesn't know how to do fireworks...

Drop Tower decorated to look like "The North Pole." Open the Eiffel Tower observation deck (probably the 265' platform) to get a 360 degree birdseye view of the event. Maybe call it "Santa's Treehouse." This may not be a possibility due to the windchill and the wires that may be all over the platform for the lights.

I’m sure that they’re always willing to talk. Plus the park has a fantastic relationship with EJ. Maybe it could happen!

Let's make that happen. I'm actually headed there tomorrow.

Maybe a partnership with EnterTRAINment Junction?? Paging @BoddaH1994 to get that ball rolling!

A good model train display would be a welcome addition in my book.