**UPDATE** New photos have been uploaded showing even more work done on International Street, the Royal Fountain and The Winter-Festhaus. Check them out by clicking right here! Enjoy!

The regular season nears its end, but PKI will not sleep long. The magic of the holiday season is upon us. For such a spectacular event, preparations must begin long before the horrors of Fearfest are returned to their graves.

Work on the fountain continues to progress as most of the fountain base has been covered with wood and the construction of small buildings has begun on the fountain base as well. Presumably these will be utilized as the sheds where people can either rent or don skates.

Holiday Illuminations has begun to come alive on Rivertown's Swan Lake. Already visible is a large floating barge with several Christmas trees mounted on it. Saturday they had a few strings of light lit up, but nothing in comparison to the amazing show that is to come.

The Winter Festhaus is starting to take shape. Decorations have been hung from the ceiling which give the building a classic red and green coloring. Wreathes are hung around the building, and now there is a circular stage constructed in the middle.

Footers have also been placed at the base of the tower to anchor the lights that it will soon have.

The countdown begins until the holidays are upon us, but until then enjoy the last week of the season!

Click here to see the photos!

Regards,

Ryan

PKICentral.com -- Where every day is a walk in the park.

Those are going to be some monster christmas lights if they need footers that big...

I am not going. Winterfest is just not for me.

Awsome update! I cant wait I have longed for WinterFest ever since they annouced it back in July I'm happy it's back because Iam one of those people that really dont care for FearFest Winterfest is right up my ally!

I can not wait to go to this, I love Christmas and this is going to be awsome.

-Jake

I for one am really cant wait til WinterFest begins I hate the long cold off season this will tide me over plus I love christmas.

Even with the 06 discount it is still expensive for a young family............It needs to be like 14$ for an adult and kids 10 and under 7$.

Shoot they will make good money on food and parking

The park is really looking nice with all the preparations for Winterfest. Also, the Animation Station has all of its windows covered up as they prepare the inside for Santa`s house. It definantly looks like they are going to bring back WinterFest with lots of cool effects. It is looking great!

Even with the 06 discount it is still expensive for a young family............It needs to be like 14$ for an adult and kids 10 and under 7$.

I agree. It is too expensive for us to drive down from Columbus and then to pay for all four of us. I guess we will have to just go to the Columbus Zoo lights. It is free since we are members. I wish Winterfest was that way too. Hopefully someone will post pictures so we know what we missed.

Finally, the past returns skating on the fountain will definitely be fun, since I think the last winterfest was the last time I skated.

Did you have to pay to skate on the fountain?

As I understand it, skating on the fountain will be free with admission to WinterFest. If you do not have skates, then you can rent them from the skate rental building (the buildings that you can see in the pictures on the fountains) for a nominal fee). If you have your own skates, you can use those.

Ice Skating on International Street Fountain – Nostalgic holiday tunes echo through the crisp air as ice skaters of all ages glide across the area’s largest ice rink, adorned with gorgeous metallic fountains. Special guest star skaters – including classic Nickelodeon pals – will join guests on the ice for a spin around the fountain. Please note that there is an extra charge for ice skating.

Please note that nothing is free.

Yep. I stand corrected. That was not in the original annouoncement. But it doesn`t surprise me. I wonder how much they will charge for skating and how much for skates.

More photos have been added including Swan Lake during the day as well as further fountain progress thanks to CoastersRZ.

Click here for more!

How skating used to be done was that you'd buy an ice pass and just clip it onto your jaket zipper. You could use your own skates or rent them there. If you've never skated, I'd use the ones that are there as they were hard rubber and gave good support.

Looks to me like you have buy tickets to eat. Anyone that is going better look over the Winterfest site so they know what they are going to get.

this is going to "date" me..... but if I am not mistaken- and someone can correct me. but the last year they had winterfest, i think parking was free and general admission was a whopping $5.95

Yeah, parking was free. And I can't tell you about admission because I either had a season pass each year or was an employee.

I just cant wait to skate on IStreet under the glow of the tower. Sorry but I have been wanting to do that since the last Winterfest. Nothing else like it.

I cant wait to go Ice Skating Iam getting my tickets Saturday.

Skating will be an additional charge... probably in the neighborhood of $7. Skate rental will likely be an additional $3.

The skating on the fountain is being produced by an outside vendor... so they are upcharging to cover their costs.

Shaggy

OK, I think that's ridiculous! I understand the reasoning behind it, but WinterFest keeps getting more and more expensive - even for passholders!

Upcharging for such things is a common occurance at most places that offer Winter events. Every Zoo I can think of (that holds winter events and feature ice skating) charge extra for it.

Winterfest always featured skating on the fountains... and always charged extra for it.

Shaggy

And I completely I understand that...I just don't like it! :-)

What I don't remember is if Season Pass holders used to be charged admission for WinterFest...

And I completely I understand that...I just don't like it! :-)

What I don't remember is if Season Pass holders used to be charged admission for WinterFest...

I think that's crowd control more than anything. They've been edgy about events selling out ever since the announcement, and if passholders were free, they'd have no idea how many people were going to show up. Plus they're making quite a bit of money on the side this way, of course.

Season Pass holders were always permitted into Winterfest as part of their pass.

Yes, I got a letter from "Craig Ross" which a couple weeks ago. It was more a marketing ploy to hurry up and buy your pass for next season before the price goes up, and your chance to buy cheap Winterfest tickets is gone. In the letter he explained that the cost to pass holders was to keep the park from being flooded with people. They will only admit a certain number of guests into the park each night for Winterfest. I was lucky enough to be able to snatch up some Winterfest tickets at $12.50 a piece, on P&G day back in mid-September, which is the best deal I`ve heard of for Winterfest tickets. Any word on if your parking pass on your season pass will still be valid for Winterfest parking?

I'm willing to say that no, your parking pass will not be good. They told us the price at the press release, but I can't remember what it was... I think it was $4, but I'm not sure.

SERIOUSLY guys... I think you're missing the point of Winterfest. It's not so much about the skating or rides, but rather it's about the amazing show they're going to have going on.

I bet you any amount of money that the event will be fantastic but you guys will still tear it to shreds for the littlest things.