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I'd have to disagree with the thought about budget appearance. Adventure Port is very well done. Camp Snoopy is well done. The new part of Soak City spruced up the area. I don't think they skimped in the appearance, the aesthetic is good. It's just that the areas they did do are small.

I think a Big Bear Mountain style coaster would be a great fit in The Bat area if/when Six Flags decides to retire it. Have it utilize the terrain and run through the forest. Give it a "Dark Forest Adventure" style theme. If not The Bat area, the area in between The Crypt building and The Beast would work. I would prefer to see a multi inversion focused coaster on The Vortex site mainly due to the departure of Vortex and Firehawk and Invertigo's future being likely up in the air.

Maybe they could render it orange and blue so we could see what a Vortex homage would look like.

No charge on the facade, yet...

ML Designs created a concept of a Vekoma Ghostrider with an extended layout in The Vortex plot and it actually fits pretty well!

I really hope the day go back to something similar to what the ride used to be, but I understand that the current entryway is more “grander“

Oh yes I'm agreeing with you!

I’m not trying to sound cynical, but I’ve seen front yard Christmas displays that look better than what guests watch on the train. I’m not saying there isn’t any physical effort being put in putting up the lights around the route but it’s been the same thing since 2017. Paramount went through the effort of pouring concrete footers and putting up huge billboards and having a show scene.

Swap the cars between engines and slap a wreath on the smokebox door: voila

I've made a Planet Coaster ride of what I think Vortex could look like if it was a 15 inversion monster. Stats: 187 ft. 76 mph. 15 Inversions 5451 ft in length. 4.1 G.s The coaster also features a dual sided locker system like on Siren's Curse. But the lockers are found at the top floor. Two Disability elevators for each side. Genesis is a fictional company and the antagonist of the ride.

^ I just looked that up on YouTube. That’s almost exactly what I’ve always had pictured in my mind of what I wish would go in that spot!

That looks incredible.

I did not go through any of them. I refused to pay.

@Orion-XL200 Heck, you could have a company sponsor the train ride for Winterfest too if it’s a budget thing to try and allocate some funds to the train. I don’t think anyone would be confident in voting it best holiday event if not all parts of the park aren’t 100%- and that goes for the train too. They don’t even decorate the locomotives with lights or wreaths.

It’s a shame that none of the Winterfest maintained their synchronized lights over the years

Order of the Dragon dominated all of the Kings Island mazes, It's Knott's scary farm level good.

Winterfest, definitely was chilly! Got into the park as turnstiles had opened, first thing we did was redeem our Fast Lane and use the restroom. We checked out the merch shops on I-Street. The former KI Collections (I can't remember what they named it for this event) had Orion and some other merch for $2.00, plus 70% off Christmas decorations. Throughout the night, I noted that there was a lack of Winterfest merch as in years past and there wasn't a shop completely dedicated to Christmas decor (thankful for that). We then headed to Enrique's for the Mac n Cheese bar. The line moved quite slow, so I took the opportunity to join the wifi. Pictured below is who Winterfest/Halloween Haunt is sponsored by . The food was just okay. Plenty of options, but I felt like mine became soup after they had drenched my tots with queso blanco. We rode Racer North and then made our way around the park. The park mostly looked great. One thing I had noticed was sound in the park was very off. Some areas were real quiet, while some weren't. The giant LED tree in Coney Mall had a rectangular section just glitching out, that was fun. The pathway between Coney and Rivertown by the open plot where Vortex still should be, felt lackluster. Would love for something to revitalize that area, maybe an arrow looper? We ended up going to see What The Dickens. It was a good show as always....love that the same jokes have survived including the Six Flags bit! We then made our way to Tinkers. To be honest, the best part of the show was the set. I struggled to hear any of the words that were being sung. I did like that Tinker played a bigger part and Poindexter took the background more. We rode Racer South and then joined the parade crowd. To me the parade lacked energy, the sound was awful....only coming off the floats (maybe it was an area sound issue, not sure how it was elsewhere on the route), and it is unchanged. I think the parade needs to be updated a bit. We wanted to grab a ride on the train. It was the train with some lights. They didn't play the 12 Days of Christmas...which in a way was better, since the lights don't match up with the song as you pass along them. But yeah, some lights. It's pretty embarrassing to have these beautiful light displays that only half of them work properly and the ones that the half work have only half of the halfs working. I get that it's not necessarily a priority to the park, but there's an entire season after Winterfest to work on the displays (I'm sure there's a point where some staff wonder what to do or could have a 1/2 hour here and there to work on lights). It's just sad. Pic below for an example of one of the brand new displays dead. After the train, it was time for food. I wanted Coney BBQ and a 9:15 (when I could get my 2nd meal since I ate at 5:15), there was no turkey or any of the festive foods. How nice that they didn't prepare enough for opening night. We then decided to try Chicken Shack....doors were locked. So we settled on Festhaus. I got lackluster chicken tenders and fries (they didn't have any of the festive foods). While there, we caught the show and it was great! By the time we finished eating, we strolled I-Street. I picked up a King Kobra Coasterdymanix ride car for $5 at Emporium because I bought something else in the store (a pack of trading cards). Headed out for the night after this. Noted the sign (pic below) with a QR code to have the event voted for in the USA Poll. I'd give opening night a solid 6/10. Could have been worse, but definitely could have been better. If you go to any antique store, you're likely to find these blow molds.

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!!!!!!!!