Photo TR: Holiday World 8/4

[XGatorHead 8904]

I know it's taken me a while to get this up, but my TR's tend to get a little wordy...

Those of you looking for a TR recounting marathon rides on Raven, Legend and Voyage will be sorely disappointed. As much as I would like that, it’s just not possible with a 3 year old, but just as much fun is had watching her enjoy the rides she can go on. We did manage to ride 2 of the 3 though.

We got to the park about 10 minutes after opening. On our way in from the parking lot, Pat Koch was out there greeting all the guests. Last time we were there in 2003 we saw her in the park with a pan & broom sweeping. This shows to me that they really care about the place, a feeling that you don’t get from many of the corporate owned parks.

Our daughter talked us into renting a wagon, which we’re glad we ended up doing. It was only $10, $5 of that was a deposit you got back at the end of the night. Not a bad deal at all!

Our first stop was the Santa Claus statue. It was there that my wife realized that there had not been film in the camera all weekend, so all the pictures we took at Grandpa’s house with him, my aunts and cousins were non-existent. You may be asking yourself, “Film? What’s that?” Yes, I’m one of the 3 Americans who have not gone digital yet. I’ve had the same trusty camera since junior high, and I say it takes pictures that are just as good as many digitals. Once the film situation was corrected, a nice gentleman took our picture for us.

Our daughter just sat under Santa on her own, we thought it was funny.

We had about 15 minutes before the Santa’s Storytime show was to begin, which we wanted to see since you don’t often get to see Santa in August, but a little person in our group wanted none of that. She wanted to get right to the rides! She’s so like me in that way, I think I’ll call her Mini-Me.

Our first ride was their Antiques. After a ½ hour wait(!), we selected our driver.

She’s used to driving the cars in Nick U, but she really had a blast driving the grown-ups around!

Next were the canoes…

and Salmon Run.

We rode their new carousel, which has a beautifully painted dragon which Mini-Me fell in love with, and she stood and looked at it for quite a while. We went next to the Freedom Train, a mini train with Mother Goose scenes along the way. While in line, a kid about 10 years old who was on the other side of the queue divider tapped me on the arm and asked “Can I get in front of you?” I couldn’t believe the gall of this kid. I said “No, wait in line like everyone else!” And we were situated in the part of the queue were there were two full rows of people in line between us. Later I heard this same kid tell the family behind him that he didn’t feel like walking through the Holidog’s Funtown to get to the other side, so he was going to get off at the other station. Well, the train does a complete circuit around Holidog’s Funtown, but there’s only one station. This kid was unbelievable. But enough about him, onto the train…

Someone seems to be having more fun than Miss Hannah Montana next to her.

Amazingly we got the same chauffeur for the Jeeps that we had for the Antique cars!

Mini-Me’s coaster count has now increased to 2!

The Howler is a little more intense than LBGC, but that didn’t stop someone from putting her hands up!

Next is Eagles Flight. Mini-Me and I shared a bird. My wife was very nervous about that because she knows how I loved to snap the ones at KI. I promised to keep my arm around her at all times, and I did. However, try as I might, I wasn’t able to get that bird flying like I used to. I don’t know if I’m out of practice or if it’s just a difference between the two scooters, but I did my best and we had a great time on it anyway.

We moved on to Thanksgiving, where we took a spin on Turkey Whirl (we love tilt-a-whirls!)

then onto Gobbler Getaway, a dark ride similar to SD&THC where you shoot targets to help the farmer find all of his turkeys that have escaped. Very colorful and cute little ride.

As it was now lunchtime, we went to Plymouth Rock Café. While we were standing outside looking at the menu, the very nice associate washing the outside windows told us about their menu. The adult entrée came with 3 sides, and the child’s came with two. When my wife said that she wished she could order the child’s for herself, the associate said that she could. The associate agreed with her that 3 sides were too much to eat in this heat. We had a nice 5 minute conversation with this associate, who was very helpful discussing the menu with us.

So I got a meal with ham, mashed potatoes & gravy, green beans (which were some of the best I’ve ever had anywhere), and fried apples. My wife got chicken & dumplings, stuffing & sweet potato, while Mini-Me got ham, corn on the cob and mac & cheese. Each meal came with a corn muffin, and my wife got a slice of pumpkin pie while Mini-Me and I shared a Pudding Parfait. Our grand total was $24.95 plus tax. My wife quipped “That would have only gotten us 3 slices of pizza and a Coke at Kings Island.” The cashier just smiled, perhaps she’s heard comments like this before?

It’s hot, our bellies are full, so what better place to go than the waterpark? Some of the rides here are similar to rides at KI, and at HW my 38” daughter can ride their versions but not KI’s. The problem was that the lines for those were so long, we ended up not doing those anyway. Their new wavepool, Bahari, had great waves and is a much better pool than their original, The Wave. We spent a lot of time in both, as well as Jungle Jets, a cute little area with water jets coming from the ground, trees and numerous pipes. We spent a little time in Monsoon Lagoon and Kima Bay, and did both of the lazy rivers. Because of the lines, we missed Watubee (Snowy River) and Zoombabwe (Snowy River in the dark). Maybe next time.

After a quick visit to our locker (which was only $10, $7 of which was a deposit, compare that to Boomerang Bay’s locker prices!) to change, we started making our way to Rudolph’s Reindeer Ranch via the Halloween section. On our way, I noticed that the line for Raven was non-existent. I had contacted HW the week before about their parent swap policy, and they use the system KI had in the 70’s & 80’s: kid waits with you in line, one parent rides then gets the kid handed off to them while 2nd parent rides. We weren’t sure how this would fly with Mini-Me since she’s used to doing other things while one of goes on a ride, but we explained it to her and it ended up being fine. Raven was a walk-on, and I went first. When I got back, the first thing Mini-Me says to me is “Was that ride fun, Daddy?” I had to laugh, because we’ve asked her that very same question so many times after she’s gotten off a ride for the first time.

After we’re done with Raven, which is a nice coaster (but I still like Beast better), we go to Rudolph’s Reindeer Ranch. The rides in this section remind me of carnival rides, but that doesn’t matter to the target audience. What all of these rides in this section have to do with Christmas is beyond me. There’s the seahorses:

a little carousel:

planes:

and this is a ride straight out of the 1950’s… Rockets With Guns!

We were at the bumper boats and we were talking to one of the ride ops there. While Mini-Me was on the ride, my wife said “It seems like everyone who works here wants to be here”, and she was right. All the associates we spoke with were friendly, helpful and did not have an attitude like they had somewhere better to be, unlike so many times at our home park.

I see a common thread in the last five pictures. She’s such a ham with that smile!

We had just enough time to get to Voyage! We promised the little one that we would ride another one for her if we had time afterward.

I had been looking at this one all day… It’s hard to miss. The structure (I had never seen a steel support/wood tracked coaster before, only the other way around), the banking and the trains rushing through them were amazing. My wife even wanted to ride, and she’s really decreased her coaster riding over the past couple of years due to how they make her ache. But she couldn’t pass up riding the #1 woodie in the US. We waited in line 30 minutes, during which time Mini-Me fell asleep in my arms. We lined up towards the front of the train, it was either 3rd or 4th row, and I handed Little Miss Sleeping Beauty over to my wife. To answer a question that was asked of me at the Diamondback unveiling, being a bigger guy, I had less trouble fitting into Voyage and Raven than I do many of the coasters at KI.

The anticipation mounted while climbing the lift. The sun was just under the horizon, I knew nothing of the layout, and I really had no idea what to expect besides the two obvious huge hills at the beginning, the awesome banking towards the end, and the fact that there were some tunnels.

Wow, that thing moves! I started the ride with my hands up like I always do on coasters, but there came a point when I had to lower them and hold on. The speed was relentless, it didn’t let up. I noticed one short section of brakes before a tunnel, but it slowed you down only a little. There were some great sharp turns, and the ride seemed to go on and on. When we were finally done and were in the brakes before the station, I learned the true meaning of the phrase “catch my breath”. I was having so much fun that I think I forgot to breath towards the end, and finally got the chance in the brakes. As my wife handed Mini-Me over to me, she asked if I thought she could handle it. All I could say was “YOU HAVE TO RIDE IT!”

As I stood there with my daughter sleeping very soundly in my arms, I wondered what my wife would think of it. Well, when her train came back and was sitting in the brakes, the train that was in the station at the time couldn’t be dispatched because they had to re-set something. Maintenance responded very quickly and had them moving within a few minutes. My wife loved it, even though she and the girl behind her both lost their hair scrunchies.

I tried to lay Mini-Me down in the wagon so we could head out, it was only two minutes until closing. This of course woke her up and she asked, “What we gonna ride?” We headed to Turkey Whirl since it was the closest, but as we were headed that way the ride op closed the line. A glance over to Gobbler Getaway showed that it was still open, and we ran over there. One of the ride ops saw us hurrying through the queue, looked at her watch and saw it was time to close up. She closed the doors behind us, so we were the last riders on that for the day.

We had a great time, with tons of free lemonade and Gatorade to boot. This might just become a yearly thing for us for a while, even with the 3 hour drive home in the dark! Of course, once someone gets taller, I think we might alternate trips with a certain peninsula up north…

[RailRider]

Great TR, Im looking forward to when my mini me is more of the age to ride.

[Ashers]

What a great trip report! The picture of your daughter looking back while she's driving the antique cars is just about the cutest thing I've ever seen! I love how she was hamming it up for every picture....but it just looked like she was genuinely having a GREAT time! It sounds like you guys had a wonderful time and I can see your daughter in a few years with her little hands up on things like The Beast! I had no idea that Holiday World was such a good value as well...all that food for $25?! Your TR really makes me want to visit HW now. Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

~Ash

[XGatorHead 8904]

Thanks RailRider & Ashers! It's great when they get big enough to ride, it will be fun to see what new things she can ride each year.

And that picture of her driving is my desktop wallpaper.

Compared to KI, the food prices are VERY good at HW, especially with not having to pay for drinks (but I'm sure that's built into the admission price).

[gigacoaster2k]

Your daughter is just too adorable for words. <3

Just reading about the food you ate made my stomach growl

Voyage looks a-mazing. Everyone I know who's ridden it has raved about it. I live 4 hours from HW, but the more I hear about it, the more I am wanting to go.

(hey! I made it from "tourist" to "local!" )

[indianapolisman]

Glad you had a good time at Holiday World. It's easy to see someone had a Great time with all those smiles.

I'm a little jealous hearing about the ride on the Eagles. I'll have to get down there one more time this year.

Thanks for the trip report, my daughter enjoyed it also.

[LongLiveTheSmurfRide]

Nice detailed report. Voyage rocks, right? I love that coaster. It like never lets up and seems to get faster near the end.

By the way, I don't think there's anything you can do to their eagles to get good snapping. I've gone there 4 times and always try, but they're either too slow, or the cables are too spaced out or something. If you go to http://www.flyeraddicts.com/ they rate different flying scooters. The ones formerly located at KI rate a 5 out of 5 where the HW ones rate 2 and a half, if that tells you anything.

[indianapolisman]

Nice detailed report. Voyage rocks, right? I love that coaster. It like never lets up and seems to get faster near the end.

By the way, I don't think there's anything you can do to their eagles to get good snapping. I've gone there 4 times and always try, but they're either too slow, or the cables are too spaced out or something. If you go to http://www.flyeraddicts.com/ they rate different flying scooters. The ones formerly located at KI rate a 5 out of 5 where the HW ones rate 2 and a half, if that tells you anything.

I didn't even know that G.G. built one for Indiana Beach that's just the reason to revisit the Beach.

I haven't been since like 95'. Great find, thanks Smurfride.

[The Interpreter]

What a wonderful trip report, and what a darling daughter the two of you have.

Don't worry about the birdies....as a snapper extraordinaire (who has been yelled at by many, many ride ops over the years), the MOST I have ever been able to get out of the Holiday World version is a tiny pop. A friend of mine once made a loud snap there and they shut down the ride and had maintenance check it! Seriously!

[Tomkatt7]

There is nothing cuter than a little kid on a carousel!!!

[BavarianBeatle]

I took my kids to HW for the first time this year. They loved it more than that penninsula up north. The chicken and dumplings were excellent, and, if your cashier was the same one we had back in July, she absolutely had heard the comparison to the prices at KI before. The workers there were wonderful!!! One little girl was off duty and talked to us in line for the Raven and ended up riding with my son. She was very kind to the boys even though she wasn't even working at the time!! My kids loved the diving show as well. And you described The Voyage almost word for word as I did!! Overall, that was a TR that I can relate to. You captured the spirit of a day at HW masterfully!!!

[luff]

Great trip report. My family went to HW last year for the first time. My kids loved it. The park has a lot of what I would call medium sized rides that have height restrictions that are much lower than the comparable rides at KI. Since my son is short for his age, and my daughter is very petite, they got to ride a lot more rides than usual.

We also liked the diving show. I liked it because i was able to sneak off and ride the Raven with no lines.

[XGatorHead 8904]

Thanks for all the nice comments everyone!

Special thanks to LongLiveTheSmurfRide and Terpy... it's good to know my snapping issue on the Eagles wasn't a problem on my part. I'd like to think I still know how to do it. I like the flyeraddicts site, now I know what parks I can go to for my fix. It was almost a case of "don't know what you've got until it's gone" with KI's. When rumors first started circulating in the KI offices about the scooters being moved to Carowinds, I made it a point to ride them as much as possible. It's good to see people enjoying it in the pictures from Carowinds (even with the terrible Danny Phantom paint job), but after viewing the site I'm now in a nostalgic mood for them.

One ride that we had wanted to do was Raging Rapids. My daughter would have been able to ride, but can't ride WWC at KI which is basically the same thing. We just simply ran out of time, there was so much else for us to do.

Next up (besides 2 planned trips to KI this weekend): Magic Kingdom on Sept. 15th and Disney's Hollywood Studios on Sept. 17th.

[LongLiveTheSmurfRide]

Wow, can I be your 29 year old son? I want to go to the Magic Kingdom so bad. Haven't been there since '94. Hopefully when my fiance and I get hitched, I'll talk her into stopping by there on the honeymoon.

[XGatorHead 8904]

Sure, why not. But since you're 29 I expect you to have a job and pay your own way!

My wife and I went to Busch Gardens Tampa, Epcot and Universal during our honeymoon in 1997. We haven't been to Studios since 1995, so we're overdue for that park.