Kings Island Winterfest 2024: Shooting Star Drive Through

Coming out of my winter hibernation to share my biggest project from this year! The new Winterfest Way Shooting Star Drive-In walk through at Kings Island! This installation was inspired by the Coney Island roller coaster of the same name as a tie in to the 50s era theming of classic Americana drive in theatres. I wanted to create something with a strong visual aesthetic that stands out from our other installations while utilizing the existing backdrop of the Backlot Stunt Coasters parking garage structure.

A new technique I've been trying to introduce this season is adding better mobility and modularity with our builds that allow us to construct things fully behind the scenes and then place them on location in a way that we can modularly adjust on sight for this such as uneven surfaces, rain runoff and other things that are difficult to account for until we are on location. The Ticket booth is a great example of this, where it was constructed in 4 primary parts, each of which can be lifted from our shop and placed easily on sight, and when the season ends deconstructed and stored in a more compact fashion. I picked this idea up from our décor team lead Laura Spence who created some Haunt décor pieces on a smaller scale using shipping pallets as the bases.

I also want to thank our Scenic and Décor departments and their leads, Holly Gronas and Laura Spence for helping manage this project through its construction and installation as well as Lori Crone and Nick Thomas from our sign shop who helped me properly learn how to handle the park CNC router on my own allowing these builds to feature more intricate and precise cuts and shapes. I would also like to give a shoutout to Robert Amore and Ben Houser for their expertise on lighting and sound that was incorporated into the area to add further immersion. Last but not least my Supervisor Kevin Brunck who has given me a great amount of encouragement and support this year through all the builds and designs we have done.