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Now that we’re exactly one month away from Grand Carnivale’s return, I thought I’d check the website to see if there were any updates. Two things in particular caught my eye.

1) Spain is coming to Grand Carnivale this year! It also seems that China might have been cut from the celebrations, as it isn’t listed on the website anymore… but that may not mean it’s gone for good.

2) Could we have different floats this season? The website talks about a giant cuckoo clock (Germany) and marionettes (France), neither of which I remember from last year’s parade at KD. I think Kings Island had the clock float last year, but I’d have to do more looking around to see what the other French floats looked like.

Other than that, there isn’t really any news regarding the event. Hopefully we hear more soon!

 
Apologies for the double post (at this point, I’m quintuple posting…), but I was looking at the park hours to see when Soak City would be open during Grand Carnivale, and I noticed that the park has starred the dates for Grand Carnivale on the calendar.

The good news is that Grand Carnivale now has the same closing time of 8pm as opposed to the alternating 7pm and 9pm closes. The bad news is that as of now, Grand Carnivale will NOT happen on Tuesdays during its run. This is different from in 2019 where the event ran for 23 straight days. It’s safe to say that if you plan on attending the event, avoid the park on Tuesdays.
 
Kings Dominion just updated their website with a TON of information about Grand Carnivale this year, including a menu and schedule. I’m intrigued by this alligator king storyline…

 
After reading the park's info. We have 6 countries this year (+1). The original 5, plus Spain (additional parade float for Spain?). They are having the same 6-9 Tasting card setup for this event as it was for the "Taste of the Season". The biggest change is that you can use the same tasting card over multiple visits during the Carnivale event.

Looks like the park has upped their game with the event food items. Each country will have 4-5 food items for sale. The menus seem to have a greater variety and are more "up-scale".

CORRECTION: Food tasting cards.

The SIX tasting card is good ONLY on the day of your visit. $5 discount if bought online.

The NINE season pass tasting card is good for MULTIPLE VISITS during Carnivale. Does not mention any online discount.
 
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After reading the park's info. We have 6 countries this year (+1). The original 5, plus Spain (additional parade float for Spain?). They are having the same 6-9 Tasting card setup for this event as it was for the "Taste of the Season". The biggest change is that you can use the same tasting card over multiple visits during the Carnivale event.

Looks like the park has upped their game with the event food items. Each country will have 4-5 food items for sale. The menus seem to have a greater variety and are more "up-scale".

CORRECTION: Food tasting cards.

The SIX tasting card is good ONLY on the day of your visit. $5 discount if bought online.

The NINE season pass tasting card is good for MULTIPLE VISITS during Carnivale. Does not mention any online discount.

Thankfully, China being excluded from the earlier version of the website was likely just an oversight. And yes, I would assume that Spain would have its own float in the parade.

I really like the idea of a season long tasting card, but I wish that it wasn’t only limited to pass holders.

Other details: The scavenger hunt from Taste of the Season must have been a hit, as they’re doing another one for Grand Carnivale that seems to replace the Adventure Club challenge from 2019. Also, there are exclusive Carnivale games this year. I also like how the dance party portion runs throughout the event rather than just after the parade, though my guess is that this change was made due to the early closing time.
 
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As somebody that's trying to eat a lot less meat and no red meat, the tasting card isn't for me, given what's on the menus. I've never been a parade person either, so really I'm not sure this event has anything for me anyway. I didn't go last time, but maybe I should have since perhaps this event pulls at least some of the crowd away from the rides? Is there more to this than a parade and food?
 
I don’t do parades either but I recommend giving it a chance. It’s a ton of fun and one of the best quality events KD has ever produced. To answer your question, they also have acts that take place all around the tower for the majority of the day and an amazing final sendoff on the Grandstand every night, coupled with fireworks of course.
 
As somebody that's trying to eat a lot less meat and no red meat, the tasting card isn't for me, given what's on the menus. I've never been a parade person either, so really I'm not sure this event has anything for me anyway. I didn't go last time, but maybe I should have since perhaps this event pulls at least some of the crowd away from the rides? Is there more to this than a parade and food?

Along with what @RollyCoaster said, if you enjoy theming, the decor itself is worth coming to check out. Each section of International Street is dedicated to one of the six countries and they have oversized props that are used for photo ops. That, and they have characters walking around that you can interact with similar to Midway Merriment at WinterFest, including mimes and explorers and a king and queen.
 
Sneak Peek at the 2021 Carnivale Parade Floats. This includes Spain. Some floats look familiar from 2019; some look modified, others look new. I assume we got another set of floats. As of last year, 2020, Cedar Fair had ordered a 3rd set of floats as they had intended to expand Carnivale to a couple more Parks last year.

Carnivale Parade Floats 2021.
 
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I actually can't wait to see this since I didn't go to the event in 2019 at all. It's a hard sell for me on the food samplers when it costs 50% of my gold meal plan.
 
As somebody that's trying to eat a lot less meat and no red meat, the tasting card isn't for me, given what's on the menus. I've never been a parade person either, so really I'm not sure this event has anything for me anyway. I didn't go last time, but maybe I should have since perhaps this event pulls at least some of the crowd away from the rides? Is there more to this than a parade and food?
I don't recall a lot of wait for rides then either way then. That's more significant now so we can hope the parade and 8 PM closings will result in significant improvements at closing time. It can cause difficulties getting around though, since the parade starts down between Timbers and AZ. A small mob formed at the end around the tower.

Parade path is already marked with wide yellow stripes.
 
Oh noes!
Their main dish for Germany is "Wiener Schnitzel".

OK, I can live with Wiener Schnitzel as a “German” dish. It’s quite popular in Germany and you can get it in pretty much any restaurant in Germany. There are “more German” variations, like the Jägerschnitzel (schnitzel with mushrooms and cream sauce) or the Zigeunerschnitzel (schnitzel with a bell pepper sauce) but fine.

To put German chocolate cake on the menu is unforgivable however.
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German chocolate cake is not a German dish at all.
Formerly known as “German’s chocolate cake”, this dish was invented by Samuel German, a British American, in the USA to sell baking chocolate for General Foods.
No one in Germany would make cake like this.

The Grand Carnivale is great though.
The Parade was a lot of fun, my little one loved the crafting and QR treasure hunt.
Haven’t tried any of the foods.
 
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