WinterFest 2022

[Zachary]

Just curious to hear what people here would say about the differences between the two and which one they'd recommend. We'll likely only do 1 of the two and I'm leaning toward KD for the easier trip.

I honestly believe WinterFest is the better Christmas event at this point. BGW still has better shows, but every other category goes to KD now in my opinion—holiday lights, food, attraction variety, and even shopping are stronger at KD. WinterFest is cheaper, less crowded, and just simply more enjoyable if you ask me. Highly recommend visiting.

 

[Crunchewy]

I've only been to winterfest once (pre-pandemic), but I did enjoy it more than I was expecting. The lights and music were great. The kids enjoyed the skating rink, we did a couple rides, had some food. We didn't do any shows (most xmas shows are not my thing), so it was a little light on things to do, then, but was still worth the trip from Baltimore. We plan to go this year.

 

[mtorange]

FWIW, KDFanatics is reporting that Four Drummers Drumming will be completely redone this year.

This is the first I’ve heard of this, but their sources are usually reliable.

 

[BTS202]

I'm curious how KD's event compares to Busch Gardens. We've done Christmas Town a few times and have always enjoyed it, though we haven't done it the last 2 years.

We usually just go to look at lights, grab a little food, and do something with Santa for my nephew. But BG is 3 hours from us, while KD is an hour and a half. I honestly avoided WF the first few years to let KD get their feet under them, but it seems like this would be a good year to go.

Just curious to hear what people here would say about the differences between the two and which one they'd recommend. We'll likely only do 1 of the two and I'm leaning toward KD for the easier trip.

The way I describe it to people is if you have small kids, KD is THE BEST. They offer so many free activities plus they do the cookie decorating and several other things that our kids love so much. BGW is better for couples, date nights, tweens/teens for sure. It's a little more sophisticated and I do not mean that in a negative way towards KD as we prefer KD over BGW Christmas event hands down. We went last year to both in the same week and our kids asked EARLY in the night at BGW if it was time to leave. They were 7 and 3 at the time. They had fun but at KD parents can ride a lot more rides with smaller kids. If it was strictly a date night or a couple out together, I would suggest BGW as it feels more like a Hallmark Christmas movie to me and KD feels more like a Christmas festival if that makes any sense at all. There is SO MUCH MORE to do in our opinion for families and little kids at KD and it seems like we always run out of time but always have so much fun. Only complaint is that KD is only open 5-10pm and BGW opens 2-10pm. That is the only thing I wish KD would change is open at 2 or 3 so you don't feel so rushed.

Short version: If you have small kids going with you, KD for sure. If you are going with friends and older teens, BGW is probably your best bet.

 

[Nicole]

While I agree that CT used to be more sophisticated and better for couples, I think it has long since degraded to the point that Winterfest is just better for everyone. It has more and better specialty food, it has more things to do, and the decor is much better than BGW’s now. Honestly, I see very few reasons to pick CT over Winterfest.

 

[BTS202]

While I agree that CT used to be more sophisticated and better for couples, I think it has long since degraded to the point that Winterfest is just better for everyone. It has more and better specialty food, it has more things to do, and the decor is much better than BGW’s now. Honestly, I see very few reasons to pick CT over Winterfest.

Can't argue with that!

 

[outhikn]

KD blog post with the new WinterFest-specific food options - where some look pretty interesting:

Tis the Season for WinterFest Food

 

[RKRCC]

Very festive and they have turkey!!!!! It is awesome to see this selection and theming to the season. I wish another park would try half this hard….

 

[Mushroom]

Food looks fantastic, although I’m a little disappointed that it looks like none of the Jungle X restaurants have been added to the lineup.

The biggest thing that Christmas Town has over Winterfest, in my opinion, is simply that Christmas Town has a larger footprint. The whole park is open for CT whereas Winterfest very much still feels like a partial-park event. I really hope they expand into Jungle X in the next few years.

 

[Jonesta6]

Wondering if it's the difference from half-assing if they did the whole park vs whole-assing with the limited footprint.

Tbh though, all they're cutting off is JX and the back end of the long Dominator corridor - the focus is the holidays and not rides so it doesn't feel all that much smaller.

 

[mwhinva]

KD also had put out a video of WF prep work going on in the park. One short part of the video showed the Mistletones rehearsing on the Gazebo stage; which is now located just in front of the log flume entrance. So the gazebo stage has been moved for 2022.

 

[mtorange]

KD also had put out a video of WF prep work going on in the park. One short part of the video showed the Mistletones rehearsing on the Gazebo stage; which is now located just in front of the log flume entrance. So the gazebo stage has been moved for 2022.

I also wanted to add that they seemed to be singing a song I hadn’t heard them sing before (All I Want For Christmas Is You). I wonder how many other shows are getting an overhaul?

 

[Nibbins]

I went out to the November Nights preview on Sunday. Unfortunately, a lot of the restaurants were closed, but that was understandable since it wasn't busy at all.

Notable is that Tinker's Toy Factory moved from the Peanuts Showplace to the Kings Dominion Theatre.
It's also a different show from last year even though it's not listed as new. I'm not sure if they have several shows on rotation to change it up from year to year or if it's a new production.
Last year the story was about Tinker not having enough Christmas Spirit because he liked old-school toys that aren't popular.
This year the story is centered about Santa having back pain which causes the elves to worry that he might not be able to do Christmas.

The character actors were great and interacted with my daughter several times throughout the park and even sitting down with her to draw for 10 minutes in the Elves post office.
And she finally got to write her letter to Santa. (Busch Gardens wouldn't let her do that when we went there the previous week)
The Elves make a great show about the letters, hooking them up on a washing line and pulling them across the room over everyone to the other end with the mailbox.

There was a wide variety of crafts available again for free in the Snoopy area.

The lights were beautiful and largely the same as last year.

They didn't have the Parade running yet.

 

[Nicole]

The event menus are linked to a QR code. There are a lot of interesting looking holiday dishes.

PDF Viewer

qr1.be

 

[RollyCoaster]

A (delicious!) Turkey Dinner at a winter holiday event? Busch Gardens would never…

 

[Zachary]

I had ham for dinner just now. It's just objective truth that a Christmas event with ham is better than a Christmas event without ham. Better luck next year Christmas Town.

 

[Zachary]

For the record, KD was not prepared for the crowds tonight at all. Things were fine at first but by 7 things started getting bad. Friends just waited a full hour for food. Completely unacceptable.

 

[bwick29]

New for 2023, Fast Lane Plus includes food lines too!

Just kidding, but I wouldn't complain if they did.

 

[RollyCoaster]

I hope the efficiency of things get better. I personally didn’t have any issues with lines given that I left around 7:20; however, the park did seem to get quite busy from the time I got there. I was very happy to see that all listed food locations seemed to be open and was especially happy to see that the already superb entertainment talent got an upgrade overall.

The Kris Kringles actually perform throughout all of I-street. They sing in the shops, by the Eiffel Tower and by the front entrance. Love this addition! Tinkers Toy Factory got a fun new story. I enjoyed every bit of it but the audience participation part. This show definitely fits the KD Theatre better than Charlie Brown ever did.

Park was beautiful as always. My Turkey dinner was very nice, as was the fresh baked cinnamon bread that compares to the same treat at Dollywood.

Did anybody get to see the parade last night? Haven’t seen much about it yet. Was wondering what the scale of it was and how others felt about it.

Overall good quick first visit. I’ll be back many more times to take in the rest of what Winterfest has to offer. We have another winner this year and I think everybody else will enjoy it as well, especially once efficiency gets up to the usual standard.

 

[Zachary]

I was very happy to see that all listed food locations seemed to be open

We actually did a pretty comprehensive survey of the food locations open throughout the park and this definitely wasn't what we saw. In fact, we actually saw at least one close before the crowds really even showed up. Culinary operations were the big downer for me last night and the many inoperable locations played a large part in that.

Did anybody get to see the parade last night? Haven’t seen much about it yet. Was wondering what the scale of it was and how others felt about it.

I didn't see it until after they parked all the floats (was stuck with dining nightmares) but it looked to be the same size and scale as the Carnivale parade. SUPER impressive and it brought SO much energy to the front of the park at closing. Really ends the event on a festive high note. Excellent addition.