gigacoaster2k

Holiday World is well worth the trip. GO!!! KI and CP do not have free sunscreen stations.. I really wish they did. Hot doesn't begin to cover it. The heat and humidity combined with direct sunlight was awful, and the heat index temp was almost unbearable. Around 5 pm, the temp was 100 with a heat index of 110. When we applied sunscreen, we didn't feel the heat on our skin anymore. So it not only saved us from sunburn, it saved us from heat exhaustion.

THANK YOU. Kat was offended by that comment too, and she told me yesterday that she was glad I said something. I'm not going to sit here and be a doormat when someone insults me and/or my friends. I don't care who you are.

I disagree. HW offers free parking, free sunscreen, and free drinks. Their food prices are very low. On the back of my season pass, it states that you can get 10% off your food and merchandise purchases all season when you present your pass. You also get to bring up to 4 guests and save $4 on each guest's admission.. that makes your friend's 1 day admission ticket to HW $31.95 (very reasonable, if you ask me). A CF platinum pass is now $160, and people still buy them. CP's season pass is $109.95 now. KI's regular season pass is $99, but doesn't include parking, so there is an extra $40 for the parking pass.. there's $139.98 right there. Neither KI nor CP's regular season pass offers any of the special benefits of gold or platinum, not to mention that CP and KI's food and merchandise prices are much higher than HW's.

I know it would sound crazy, but I'm not sure I wish Holiday World was closer. The charm and excitement probably wouldn't be as great if I lived, say, an hour away.. I'd get used to the park too fast.

My last Holiday World PTR had almost 100 photos in it, so I figured that was enough for now. I really love Holiday World. Sparkling clean park, sincerely friendly and helpful employees, great tasting food, low prices, well done theming in the park areas and in ride queues, free parking, free sunscreen, free drinks, no trims on the coasters.. it's a dream come true.

Kat (violakat03) and I both decided to go to Holiday World for her birthday yesterday. Her birthday was June 18, but we needed an excuse to go to this amazing park! We left her house around 6:30 am. When we got to Louisville, Kentucky, we stopped at Walmart to grab some things we needed. I had been keeping an eye on my weather radar, and we exited Walmart to see very dark and nasty storm clouds. I checked the radar to see a giant red storm with black and purple in it, heading straight for our next part of the route. We attempted to go around the storm, but the rain got so torrential that Kat couldn't see out her windshield even with her wipers on high. The clouds were turning a sickly shade of green and looked like it would drop a tornado at any second. We booked it away from the storm, parked under the awning of a gas station and waited for the storm to clear our part of the route. It finally did, and we were off! We got to the park around 11:30 am CDT. The main lot and Legend lot were both full, and they were directing people to overflow parking. I prayed and hoped that we hadn't driven this far just to see a jam packed park.. but thinking that many might be at the water park. The temperature was already at 90 with a heat index of 99.. and was supposed to get hotter. We had to park way in the way back, so we took the tram to the front of the park. Kat bought her one day ticket, and I went to the season pass center to get my season pass! Regular price is $139.95, and if you have a coupon you get it for $109.95.. as an ACE member, I got my pass for $84.95! Kat has a pic of me with it. We entered the park, applied about a gallon of sunscreen, and Kat got her funnel cake that she had ben craving. Then it was off to none other than Voyage! We got in 2 rides on that, and then headed to Legend. After this, we noticed that we were both getting sunburnt even after applying 2 layers of SPF 30. I rarely burn, so this was very strange. We hit up the free sunscreen station, and then got a ride on Liberty Launch. This ride was slightly painful for me. It bounced so hard that my shoulders hit the top of my restraint.. and my shoulders were a good 3 inches below the restraint. Kat wanted to get her credit on Howler, so we rode that, and then went for Raven. It was so blazing hot by this time that we decided we were ready to hit Splashin Safari. The temperature was 93 with a heat index of 109. It was terrible.. my clothes were damp with sweat and I could not drink enough liquids or apply enough sunscreen to stop myself from getting light headed. We took the tram out to Spooky (nickname for Kat's Vue) and drove it to a spot way up front. We grabbed our water park stuff, re-entered the park, and made a beeline for the water park. First was The Wave, one of two wave pools. This was quite refreshing, but the waves weren't that big and didn't last long. Next was the water slide Otorongo. Of course we chose the craziest one we could find. That was a lot of fun.. although I was starting to feel exhausted from the heat. Next was their lazy river called Congo River. It cooled us off quite a bit. But when I went up the steps to exit the pool, I nearly passed out from dehydration and had to grab onto a rail to hold myself up. I got myself to the Oasis and chugged a cup of Gatorade, and felt much better. Next was the Bahari Wave Pool. This one was interesting. The waves were so choppy that they nearly knocked people over and were going a good 5 feet high. One of the waves nearly knocked off my bikini top, and while I was fixing that, the next wave took my bikini bottom off. Kat came out of her top a few times too, and hilarious as it was, we decided to back off of the wave pool before we were kicked out for indecency! Our last water ride was the lazy river called Bahari River. We went to ride Pilgrims Plunge, but wouldn't you know it broke down as soon as we got to the queue entrance. They lowered the boat back down and turned the water off. We were hungry by this time, so we got some nachos and burritos at The Alamo. Great food, and their prices are reasonable too. While eating, we started to hear thunder. It was our plan at the end of the day to marathon Voyage, so we ducked into Plymouth Rock Cafe until the storm passed. (How come it ALWAYS storms when I go to Holiday World??) After the storm went away, we made a beeline for Voyage. We ended up getting 9 more rides in before the queue closed. I got stapled on 2 of my rides, which ticked me off.. who wants to be stapled on Voyage?? NOT ME! After the rides had closed, Kat and I went to the fudge and glass blowing shop to get some fudge (which reminds me, she still has my chocolate fudge!). She got a caramel apple with that, and I was suddenly very depressed about having to leave. I went to a souvenir shop and got a Voyage shot glass and a Holiday World bumper sticker. We left the park around 9:30 CDT. Somewhere around the northern part of Kentucky, we got very, very tired and pulled over to a rest stop (one of the few we saw), and slept until about 6 am (our time). We finally woke up long enough to get back on the road. I got back to my house around 8:15 this morning. Though blazing hot, stormy, and somewhat tiring (we must have applied about 20 layers of sunblock, no exaggeration), I had a great time. It's nice to just have a girls day out once in a while.. even though my throat is all scratchy from yelling "90 DEGREEEEES!!!" every time on every one of Voyage's 90 degree banks. Ride count: Voyage - 11 Legend - 1 Raven - 1 Liberty Launch - 1 Howler - 1 Otorongo - 1 Bahari Wave Pool - 1 The Wave - 1 Bahari River - 1 Congo River - 1 Season Pass - 1 (yes, I'm counting that!)

Some of the employees at both Cedar Point and Kings Island really need an attitude adjustment. I do not appreciate having eyes rolled at me when I politely ask for a specific seat, grumbling when I am pouring sweat and just want a cup of ice water, or ride ops literally yelling at me to take my flip flops off when it was just something I simply forgot.. even after I apologized to one ride op, she got all snippy and muttered something under her breath. Excuse me? This is how you treat your customers? I am a platinum passholder and I spend money in the park. What more do you want? Take a hint from Holiday World.. SMILE AND BE NICE TO US, AND MEAN IT!! If you hate your job that much, don't work there!

Jasper, have you gotten a chance to ride Raptor in the very rear seat? Tom, Kat and I got that chance at CoasterMania, and we were all blown away by how violent (but not rough!) it is in the back seat. Getting yanked through the cobra roll, zero-g roll and all the other elements in the dark was a totally new ride experience.. the three of us are officially addicted to the rear seat of Raptor!

Wow, you really did have an amazing time! That is so awesome that you were that lucky to get that many rides in. I totally agree with you about Blue Streak. It sits in Raptor's shadow and is overlooked so often. I love the air on old Blue, especially in the very back seat.

I was wondering if this was happening to anyone else. I freaking hate being stapled on ANY ride or coaster. I got stapled on maXair once and I was muttering cusswords under my breath.

Magnum XL-200 would be the exception to that.

Well someone else said they agreed with you, and they were serious. Just trying to stop a bad thing before it gets started.

Well maybe it is a great idea for people who have the money. A lot of people don't.. and that is what I am taking into mind. My parents raised me on how to save money.. they didn't feel the need to spoil me rotten in order to show that they love me (which many parents do without realizing it). KI's birthday party offer is quite a splurge for something as simple as a birthday party. If I had kids, I would much rather have the simplicity and affordability of bringing cake and ice cream home from the store and letting them play with their friends and their new toys in the back yard, the same way my parents did. I was happy with that.

Option A: $370.50 total for a 10-person party Option B: $386.50 total for a 10-person party Are they for real? That's a nice idea, but with the economy the way it is, that is downright ridiculous.

Nothing that anyone in the Glam Rockers group wore was inappropriate or extremely revealing. Did you happen to look at the photos of our group? Thank you very much for an insult that was not deserved. As KIC members, and/or members of a distinguished coaster enthusiast group, we do have some common sense. In reality, aside from the feather boas we occasionally threw on, we really were not dressed much differently than some of the general public. Go pick out something we wore that is so disgusting that it would have gotten us ejected from the park (which we were not). Find a photo and circle the malicious piece of clothing, and tell us in detail why the person shouldn't be wearing it, and why it is not in accordance with park rules and regulations. Go ahead.

I am so glad you enjoyed your trip! I absolutely adore Holiday World. I have nothing bad to say about the park!

I've seen more boobs at KI than I used to see at Cruisefest Nationals. I wonder if some people own a mirror.

How far away from a certain park have you heard of, heard or seen a coaster or park being advertised? My boss recently went on a week vacation to Virginia Beach, and told me she saw a billboard advertising Diamondback way down in Virginia.

Totally agree. I love seat 1 and seat 2. You can hear the chain stop and then it just kind of hangs over the edge of the first hill for a few moments before the drop.

Completely agree with you, Brandon. I remember one of my first night rides on Voyage at HoliWood Nights when the storm was rolling in. A fantastic bolt of lightning cracked the sky right before we dove into one of the tunnels. I heard several people on the train cheer, or say "Whoa!" A few even clapped. You could also see lightning reflecting off the track as we went through the course after the turnaround. That is something I will never, ever forget.

I second your entire statement about Voyage, I too was at HoliWood Nights. That coaster just totally blew me away. On my first visit to Cedar Point, I also fell madly in love with Millennium Force. The height and speed is so extreme.. yet the layout is so smooth and exhilarating, with no trims or MCBR to slow it down or ruin it.. and it has a stellar view from the first hill. Night rides on that thing are freaking sweet.

OH WOW.. !!!

This may sound like a stupid question, but my curiosity is getting the best of me. I was talking to one of my coworkers about how I occasionally gray out at the bottom of Millennium Force's first hill because it pulls so many Gs (I've heard it pulls 5 Gs at the bottom), and he said that when you gray out, you lose brain matter. Is this true?

You aren't kidding. I see people chug soda all day when it's hot, refuse to wear sunblock, eat tons of greasy food, and then wonder why they want to sit out for most of the rides during the day. Oh also, getting sunburnt dehydrates you faster. So does drinking sugary and/or caffeinated drinks all day. I realize that a lot of people think they are invincible and don't need sunblock. Sorry, but don't whine to me when you look like a lobster later and want to go home because "you don't feel good." Getting sunburnt dehydrates you, and both can lead to heat exhaustion. Drink water, wear sunblock, and don't eat greasy food. That's what I do, and that's why I can run from ride to ride without slowing down.

I'm fine on giant spinning rides like Delirium and maXair, Skyscraper, etc. I can even ride Super Himalaya at CP with no problem. Now when it comes to carnival flats like Troika, Chaos, Monster, etc. where the seats spin separately from the base of the ride, forget it. So many people don't understand why I won't ride those things. They will make me nauseous for an extended period of time. I didn't feel so hot after my 7th ride in a row on Raptor in the rear seat or on my 10th ride in a row on Diamondback, but I really didn't care.