Seeing the banner on the Eiffel Tower brings back a lot of memories from the Golden Celebration at Kings Island in 2022. It was a wonderful season at KI and hopefully it will be the same for Kings Dominion!
Kings Dominion’s 50th Anniversary Celebration
- Thread starter horsesboy
- Start date
Honestly I was majorly let down. I knew it wasn't going to be on the scale of Kings Island but I expected more. Ten minute show every 15 minutes for 2 and a half hours. It is just some lights pointing at the tower with different colors based around some songs with the word celebrate in them. Honestly it is "oh thats neat" while walking past. Not a "I gotta go see the show."
Supposedly it’s not done yet, and some of it interacts with the Street Party show coming to the park in a few weeks. I saw a couple videos of it tonight and I agree that it was a bit underwhelming.
I am very bummed that we did not get the drone show or fireworks that the other parks got for their 50th.
I am very bummed that we did not get the drone show or fireworks that the other parks got for their 50th.
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There is some synced lights around I-street, but still very underwhelming. It does add to the atmosphere but I still wish there was more. You can see the tower lit up from around the park which was nice.
I give the new light show a 6/10. The programmed spotlights and projections around the Eiffel Tower look incredible, and the programmed colored lights on the International Street buildings look great too, but the presentation feels unfinished. The trees around the back half of the I-Street fountain (closer to the Eiffel Tower) are bathed in colored floodlights that flash in sync to the music, but the front half doesn't have any trees lit, so the only show lighting here comes from the buildings. Also, the I-Street fountains are inexplicably not lit at all. That's a huge head-scratcher considering colored, synchronized lights have been used on the fountains for previous light shows (Lumina in 2019) and the colored fountains were featured prominently in the marketing for this show.
The soundtrack is solid, it's a high-energy mashup of different songs focused on the word "Celebrate" (Kool & The Gang, Pitbull, Rare Earth, Jonas Brothers were the artists I picked up). I noticed a lot of people dancing to the music, the energy was high, and it's fitting for the 50th celebration. (I do prefer the instrumental electronic music they used for previous shows like Lumina and Starlight Spectacular, but the "celebrate" theme does hit the vibe for the 50th).
Overall, the Eiffel Tower plaza looks fantastic, the soundtrack is good, the lights that are set up look great, and the energy is awesome. But this light show looks super unfinished. This was its second weekend, so I'd really expect it to be looking more complete by now. (Based on the comments above, it sounds like maybe a bit more was added to it since the previous weekend.) Maybe the fact that almost the entire entertainment department was recently laid off has something to do with it...
If the park ever has the chance to put together Starlight Spectacular's immersive synchronized lights in the wooded Center Street walkway, Lumina's synchronized fountain lights, and Light the Night's new programmed spotlights around the Eiffel Tower, they'll literally have one of the coolest nighttime sendoffs of any park anywhere. For now, Light the Night is certainly a cool way to exit the park, and I'm glad it exists, but it falls a little short of its predecessors.
The soundtrack is solid, it's a high-energy mashup of different songs focused on the word "Celebrate" (Kool & The Gang, Pitbull, Rare Earth, Jonas Brothers were the artists I picked up). I noticed a lot of people dancing to the music, the energy was high, and it's fitting for the 50th celebration. (I do prefer the instrumental electronic music they used for previous shows like Lumina and Starlight Spectacular, but the "celebrate" theme does hit the vibe for the 50th).
Overall, the Eiffel Tower plaza looks fantastic, the soundtrack is good, the lights that are set up look great, and the energy is awesome. But this light show looks super unfinished. This was its second weekend, so I'd really expect it to be looking more complete by now. (Based on the comments above, it sounds like maybe a bit more was added to it since the previous weekend.) Maybe the fact that almost the entire entertainment department was recently laid off has something to do with it...
If the park ever has the chance to put together Starlight Spectacular's immersive synchronized lights in the wooded Center Street walkway, Lumina's synchronized fountain lights, and Light the Night's new programmed spotlights around the Eiffel Tower, they'll literally have one of the coolest nighttime sendoffs of any park anywhere. For now, Light the Night is certainly a cool way to exit the park, and I'm glad it exists, but it falls a little short of its predecessors.
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The biggest element specifically for the 50th anniversary really shouldn't fall short of normal, main-season predecessors from many years ago (some even in pre-Winterfest lighting/electrical upgrades and pre-fountain-renovation times).
Given what KD did for TWO YEARS during the 40th, what World's of Fun did for their 50th two years ago, and what Kings Island got for their 50th last year, it's hard not to feel like we're getting massively ripped off.
Given what KD did for TWO YEARS during the 40th, what World's of Fun did for their 50th two years ago, and what Kings Island got for their 50th last year, it's hard not to feel like we're getting massively ripped off.
Corporate really slashed a lot of things this year that other parks had for their 50th anniversaries. It REALLY sucks. However, I’m going to wait until the 50 Years of Fun Street Party show begins before judging the entire event.
With that being said, I agree with everything said above about the light show. I was hoping for more, honestly.
With that being said, I agree with everything said above about the light show. I was hoping for more, honestly.
Speaking of which, I still don't understand why the 50th anniversary wasn’t a two-year celebration like the 40th was. Was it due to different GMs or something else?
Yeah I saw Kings Islands 50th drone show and couldn’t wait to see a version of that at KD……um yeah so much for that. They had drones, fireworks, pyrotechnics on the fountain, and a giant “KI50” logo on the tower itself at the end.
I guess this is the big con of traveling to different theme parks is seeing budget allocations up close. Also it would be tough to do something quite as extravagant involving the tower since out International Street *whispers* has trees.
I guess this is the big con of traveling to different theme parks is seeing budget allocations up close. Also it would be tough to do something quite as extravagant involving the tower since out International Street *whispers* has trees.
That's why I think Worlds of Fun is such a great comp. They're about the same tier park as we are and they got a new coaster alongside their 50th like we did. That said, they also got a big firework and drone show, a huge museum, and all sorts of other things too. Even their merch was way better than ours. KD deserves so much more—and I'm sure if our 50th had happened a year or two sooner we would have gotten a far better celebration. Just another victim of this awful merger.
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KD did get this for what it’s worth. See @outhikn’s post here. They’ve also added 50th anniversary flags and banners all over International Street.
I really do think the culprit for this particular show is that Six Flags laid off literally almost the park’s entire full-time entertainment staff right as this show debuted. From what I understand, only the entertainment department head himself survived the layoffs. That’s a tall order for one person to somehow figure out how to get an entire immersive light show finished. (Not an excuse, but another example of how awful these cuts have been and will continue to be for the guest experience.)
I’m trying to wrap my head around how a drone show would work at KD with all the trees, so that could also be why they never pursued it. They would probably want to launch them from behind Pantherian, or over the lake now that Anaconda is gone… lake would be best for visibility around the park. You could get a good look at them from the plazas around Chicken Shack and some parts of CAG. Definitely not International Street though.
KI’s was visible from pretty much everywhere. I watched them in Coney Mall my first night, but the following day someone told me I had to watch them from International Street. She was an expert and told me the exact place to stand. The sky is so open there and you could see everything as they incorporated the fountains and Eiffel Tower into the show. It was really spectacular but I still enjoyed them from Coney Mall and they can be enjoyed anywhere in the park.
Since International Street is virtually out of the question as a viewing spot at KD maybe they decided it wasn’t worth it.
I don't require a drone show or even fireworks. In fact, I think those are poor investments as they aren't lasting changes. I'd much rather the money be spent on restoring elements of the park for the next ten years like what we saw out of KD's 40th.
Ultimately I just believe we deserve a similar level of investment into the celebration overall as our sister parks received—and we definitely are not getting anywhere close to that.
Ultimately I just believe we deserve a similar level of investment into the celebration overall as our sister parks received—and we definitely are not getting anywhere close to that.
Up my apologies, I should clarify, it was a light up light at the top of the tower that came on at the end of the show.
You can buy a brick to be in the park in Old Virginia.
www.kingsdominion.com
Things to Do in Richmond | Richmond, VA Events | Kings Dominion | Kings Dominion
Looking for things to do in VA? Come to Kings Dominion & enjoy a wide array of events, shows & more! Make Richmond, VA your summer destination this season.
www.kingsdominion.com
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I've never impulse-bought something more quickly in my life.You can buy a brick to be in the park in Old Virginia.
Things to Do in Richmond | Richmond, VA Events | Kings Dominion | Kings Dominion
Looking for things to do in VA? Come to Kings Dominion & enjoy a wide array of events, shows & more! Make Richmond, VA your summer destination this season.
I got mine!You can buy a brick to be in the park in Old Virginia.
Things to Do in Richmond | Richmond, VA Events | Kings Dominion | Kings Dominion
Looking for things to do in VA? Come to Kings Dominion & enjoy a wide array of events, shows & more! Make Richmond, VA your summer destination this season.